<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Clusterfuck Nation]]></title><description><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler’s Clusterfuck Nation blog is updated Mondays and Fridays. The KunstlerCast podcast and Eyesore of the Month are monthly features.  Read & comment here. ]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rWi-!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0bf113f5-5511-4aa8-a169-97454aa71bf9_256x256.png</url><title>Clusterfuck Nation</title><link>https://www.kunstler.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 14:24:30 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.kunstler.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[jameshowardkunstler@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[jameshowardkunstler@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[jameshowardkunstler@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[jameshowardkunstler@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Communion-and-Care]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;The female mind &#8212; especially in matters of political significance &#8212; struggles with understanding authority and rule enforcement.&#8221; &#8212;JD Haltigan on X]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/communion-and-care</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/communion-and-care</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 11:55:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic" width="750" height="475" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:475,&quot;width&quot;:750,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:135862,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/216289912?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pJzH!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb76dd0ab-11aa-43f9-9d42-bb297fbe9d63_750x475.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">The Ordeal of Father Isaac Jogue among the Iroquois</figcaption></figure></div><p>You know the midterm election is a struggle session testing whether our country wants to be sane or insane. Of course, this raises the question: what&#8217;s so great about being insane? If nothing else, it implies a lot of bad decision-making, leading to all manner of sorrow and woe in life. So, why would so many opt to be crazy?</p><p>The answer is probably that they were snookered into it, fooled, tricked, rooked, spoofed, flimflammed, bamboozled, enticed into a range of thought and emotion counter to their self-interest and well-being. Isn&#8217;t this exactly what you see in the social phenomenon of &#8220;transing&#8221; pubescent children? To induce them to go along with a malevolent program for turning them into something they are not.</p><p>A whole apparatus was constructed to carry out &#8220;gender-affirming care.&#8221; Notice how positive the language is. It&#8217;s &#8220;care,&#8221; administered by adults, not a few of them physicians and clinical psychologists, who affect to care. And it &#8220;affirms,&#8221; that is, it validates, it turns supposition into fact (that is not so). The adults happen to be in authority over children. They are presumed to be trustworthy.</p><p>But they are not trustworthy. They persuade children confused by puberty to be mutilated with surgery and hormones in order to put on a performance for the adults. The performance is called &#8220;No Boundaries.&#8221; It does not really affirm a child&#8217;s gender by pretending to change it. It affirms the mental illness of the untrustworthy adults. They have developed a defect of cognition that disrupts their perception of reality. They don&#8217;t know where things begin and end.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: <a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>Where did this come from? You won&#8217;t like this. It came from women taking over the leadership of our institutions, especially education. In the two centuries that public education has existed, there were always a lot of women teachers. But they were superintended by men with a sense of boundaries, who enforced the distinction between thought and feeling, between sense and nonsense. Now you see what has happened with men removed from that picture. Thought and sense have been deleted.</p><p>Women are primarily driven by the wish for communion and for care (of children and households). If they don&#8217;t find mates, don&#8217;t form households, and don&#8217;t have children, their drives can be hijacked. Likewise, if their households are broken by divorce and their children are damaged by it. It&#8217;s been increasingly difficult for men and women to form households and successfully raise children, or to keep a household from breaking under the social and economic pressures of our time.</p><p>Politics is another set of institutions increasingly dominated by women in leadership roles. They convert all the social discontents of childlessness and broken households into laws, rules, and policies which, not surprisingly, demonstrate a failed sense of boundaries and a contorted drive for communion and care. That&#8217;s how the Democratic Party &#8212; increasingly run by-and-for women &#8212; was bamboozled into throwing the border wide open under &#8220;Joe Biden,&#8221; and why they have become hysterical over the nurturing of those millions of illegal migrants now here. The drive to <em>care</em> has transformed into a mad, grandiose wish to <em>save the world</em>.</p><p>The nation&#8217;s borders are strict boundaries. The Democratic Party programmatically denounces the existence of national boundaries &#8212; viz. The &#8220;Squad&#8221; in Congress, et al. &#8220;<em>No one is illegal</em>.&#8221; That open border was profoundly destructive and costly for the nation. Donald Trump declared that national boundaries matter and closed the border effectively. This not only made him an arch-villain to many of the women in America with boundary problems, but it also gave them a big opportunity to exercise their drive for communion by ginning up public get-togethers such as the anti-ICE riots of last winter and the &#8220;No Kings&#8221; marches of the spring.</p><p>Mr. Trump, with his repertoire of distinctive male mannerisms, setting of boundaries, and bent for decisive action, propels these world-saving, deeply-caring, communion-seeking political women into raptures of rage and animosity. It might be instructive to remind you that, back in the history of this land, among the native-American Iroquois (a most civilized people), it was the women who were assigned the primary task of torturing their enemies to death. (Read about the ordeals of Father Isaac Jogues in Francis Parkman&#8217;s <em>The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century</em>.) More recently, one Lindsay Clancy of Duxbury, Mass., demonstrated how savagely awry female boundary failure can go.</p><p>This pathocracy of women in the Democratic Party accounts for the seemingly insane turn to communism. But, it&#8217;s communion-and-care all of a piece &#8212; the most extreme form of crazy ideological solidarity, plus the promise of free stuff for everybody (care!) with no boundaries. Meanwhile, over in Mr. Trump&#8217;s camp, you have an emphatically male-dominated hierarchy with the MAGA women&#8217;s drives for communion-and-care directed, as much as possible these days, back into the household and the nursery. Throw in FAFO as the baseline attitude and there&#8217;s authority you can trust.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. <strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (<a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a>!)</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic" width="310" height="314" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:314,&quot;width&quot;:310,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:45073,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/214562123?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[September 2026 | Eyesore]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;If American architects wanted to ride the wave, rather than be wiped out by it, they had first to comprehend one thing: the client no longer counted for anything except the funding.&#8221; &#8212;Tom Wolfe]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/september-2026-eyesore</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/september-2026-eyesore</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2026 15:19:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic" width="700" height="467" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:467,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:73179,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/216160329?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Wwxf!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd8fea920-6e63-4ce6-9aa2-58be3a3556b9_700x467.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>Apologies for very late posting this month. Reasons? No good one, really. Sorry.</p><p>Behold, the new Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi. . . say, what. . . ? Yes, there is something about the Guggenheim Foundation, or enterprise, or entity, or whatever it is, that is causing the museum to replicate itself all over the world. It begins to resemble something like &#8220;Ice Nine,&#8221; the mysterious self-replicating, Earth-destroying substance in Kurt Vonnegut&#8217;s 1963 novel <em>Cat&#8217;s Cradle.</em></p><p>And so now there is a Guggie<em> in </em>Abu Dhabi, of all places, not exactly a bulwark of Western Civ &#8212; but the capital of the uber-wealthy United Arab Emirates. There was nothing much there in the blazing sands before the mid-20th century, but after striking oil. . . well, you know how that works. And with those nouveau riche circumstances comes a certain obligation to strive for status, which is where the art comes in.</p><p>The building itself was designed by the late Frank Gehry, our <em>artiest</em> architect. It is described by <em><strong><a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guggenheim-abu-dhabi-opening-date-2791345">Artnet</a></strong></em> as a &#8220;dynamic, layered exterior composed of nine metallic cones.&#8221; The architect himself put it this way before he passed away in 2023: &#8220;I was looking for a way to express the times we lived in. . . . Our time is full of movement and change, and this building was the first curvy use of those ideas.&#8221;</p><p>Ah, yes. <em>Of our time</em>.  Gotta do what is being done, and that&#8217;s what is being done. And when you get it done for the $1-billion price tag, you will surely have a one-of-a-kind status totem to brag on. (And Frank&#8217;s estate gets a real nice commission.)</p><p>Among the featured artists will be bygone American art-stars Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. One strains to imagine what the average denizen of Abu Dhabi will make of their works, tied, as they are so symbolically, to the grubby 20th century sub-culture of the downtown Manhattan scene. But whatever else the art represents, it sure costs a lot.</p><p>As for the look of the museum itself. Well, kind of looks like a construction site where the various building materials were piled-up upon delivery, before construction even started. Frank Gehry was renowned as a prankster. Hope the Iranians don&#8217;t blow it up.</p><p>Thanks to Justin J. Perrault for the nomination!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Theory of Everything]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;The Thing That Never Happens Keeps Happening.&#8221; &#8212;Kyle Becker on X]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/a-theory-of-everything</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/a-theory-of-everything</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 11:41:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg" width="580" height="387" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!A3LS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a025955-9b6a-4259-8ec1-5e2707cfafac_580x387.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>&#8220;Everyone is retarded and nothing Works.&#8221; Turns out that&#8217;s the key to unlock the mystery of this particular Fourth Turning, the one here and now, of our own time. It&#8217;s an excellent theory of everything happening these days, formulated by a close colleague of mine. And as far as I know, it&#8217;s the <em>only</em> theory that makes sense. It explains, for example how and why consulting US attorney Joe DiGenova quit the grand jury investigation, as conducted by the DOJ in the Southern District of Florida (SDFL), of the treasonous conspiracy against the people of the USA running since 2016.</p><p>The most amazing part is that apparently no one in the country seems to give a shit about it. No politician has issued a statement. The blog-o-sphere, Twitter-sphere are mute. The President himself &#8212; the main target of the coup &#8212; was busy in Ireland this weekend. But let&#8217;s face it: he has a duty to steer clear of interfering in juridical proceedings involving himself and his office.</p><p>The most diligent investigator of all, Dan Bongino, the podcaster who spent years documenting the serial turpitudes of RussiaGate, ImpeachmentGate, the 2020 election, the J-6 operation, and so on, who wrote several books about these crimes &#8212; and then became Deputy FBI director for a year, with access to the entire trove of evidence about all of it &#8212; says nothing now about the DiGenova affair. How is that possible? Instead, for months he&#8217;s just played an insipid cheerleader on his daily podcast. Just imagine what Bongino really knows. Months ago, when he resigned from the FBI job, he stated publicly that what he saw in the J. Edgar Hoover building <em>shocked him to his core</em>.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: <a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>I say all this because it looks like the case (or cases) in the SDFL will now go nowhere with diGenova out of the picture. Altogether, it was the gravest set of treasonous crimes against the Republic in our history, and nobody will be held accountable for it, a monumental insult following a possibly fatal injury to the country.</p><p>A certain amount of informed scuttlebutt comes my way, and the story I hear is that Joe DiGenova was of a mind to indict former president Barack Obama for his role in many phases of the ongoing coup, and that Todd Blanche blanched at that, in fear of provoking an even hotter civil war than the Red / Blue one currently raging from sea to shining sea (and especially in the three branches of government). Not just a civil war but, in effect, a civil race war, for fear of painting America&#8217;s only black president a criminal.</p><p>Mr. Obama enjoys certain immunities against criminal prosecution for official actions he took as president &#8212; as determined in the SCOTUS decision Trump v. the United States, July, 2024 &#8212; but the parameters of what, exactly, <em>official </em>means remains squishy. The boundaries would have to be tested case-by-case in the lower courts. Which is what the grand juries sitting now in Florida might have done (or might yet somehow manage to do).</p><p>Was it an <em>official</em> act for Mr. Obama to turn Hillary Clinton&#8217;s Russian Collusion campaign stunt into a seditious operation to run Mr. Trump out of office? Once Mr. Obama was out of office in 2017, did he direct continuing seditions through FBI director Wray and CIA directors Mike Pompeo and Gina Haspel? Does a record of correspondence exist, classified or otherwise? We know that the intel apparatus captures everything. Tulsi Gabbard might know what&#8217;s in there. Perhaps the same things that shocked Dan Bongino to his core.</p><p>Once &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; was installed in the Oval Office, did Barack Obama direct the cabal that actually ran the executive branch from Jan., 2021, to Jan., 2025 &#8212; did he act as a shadow president? What would the law say about that? And is he responsible for &#8220;Joe Biden&#8217;s&#8221; ruinous policies such as the wide-open border and all it has entailed. One of Mr. Obama&#8217;s closest insiders, John Podesta (also Hillary Clinton&#8217;s 2016 campaign chairman), became &#8220;senior advisor for climate policy&#8221; in the final months of &#8220;Joe Biden&#8217;s&#8221; term. He was given $370-billion from the fraudulently-named &#8220;Inflation Reduction Act&#8221; to distribute as he saw fit, and an awful lot of it landed in Democratic Party adjacent NGOs. Was private citizen Obama involved in arranging any of that?</p><p>Is Barack Obama, the 44<sup>th</sup> President of the US, a true villain? He was a very slick performer during the eight years he was president. But now, the political faction he led &#8212; maybe still leads because, look around, who else is there? &#8212; has gone batshit crazy since his second term ended. His party beat a path straight into the overt advocacy of communism with a jihad cherry on top, and you don&#8217;t hear him complaining about any of it.</p><p>What I hear is that Joe DiGenova intended to subpoena Barack Obama to give testimony to that Florida federal grand jury and that Todd Blanche nixed it, so Joe quit. The next day, diGenova told the media that if the Florida team is &#8220;allowed to do their jobs&#8221; they will &#8220;succeed supremely&#8221; and that the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s office there was doing a &#8220;phenomenal job under the worst of circumstances.&#8221; He later added, there was &#8220;plenty of evidence&#8221; but it &#8220;just takes time.&#8221;</p><p>Whatever that means. Yet everybody knows what went down in our country the past ten years, that a vicious blob called the Deep State has been running a continuous coup, just as everybody with half-a-brain knows exactly what Covid-19 was about. The question that remains: does having half-a-brain mean you&#8217;re retarded, and does that explain why nothing works in the USA, including the ability to manage the nation&#8217;s justice apparatus?</p><div><hr></div><p><em>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. <strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic" width="290" height="435" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (<a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a>!)</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic" width="310" height="314" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:314,&quot;width&quot;:310,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:45073,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/214562123?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Light and Dark]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;It&#8217;s astonishing that anything exists.&#8221; &#8212; Ludwig Wittgenstein]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/light-and-dark</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/light-and-dark</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:20:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg" width="960" height="540" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:540,&quot;width&quot;:960,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:80191,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/215197934?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ac7393f-9078-4ae5-839a-53e046383403_960x540.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OTfQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff7cb8bfa-7706-4829-ac04-6e66111fe047_960x540.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Joseph diGenova</figcaption></figure></div><p>Is this a week to drain our souls, or what? Yesterday, the memory of Charlie Kirk, a decent young man known for acting nobly in an ignoble era, cut down (it is alleged in court) by a pathetic product of Woke cultism &#8212; the trans avenging angel, avatar of our national mental illness. And today, the memory of 9/11, for which no alt-theory or engineering lecture can obviate the lonely arc of those little bodies free-falling out of the flaming towers into nothingness.</p><p>So, we move on because there is nothing else you can do, really. . . sad, furious, or what. . . and then do what you can to fix this joint. If this was a house in a storm, you&#8217;d be hearing the joists groan and the rafters squeak as they torque out of true, like just before the whole shootin&#8217; match goes down. Meanwhile, news is out that Joe DiGenova, the former DC federal attorney supervising the grand jury action in Florida concerning RussiaGate and associated treasons, is out. He said he &#8220;resigned.&#8221; That&#8217;s usually a cover. Somebody gave him the boot, and it was either Todd Blanche or President Trump. Cuz, why? I suppose we&#8217;ll find out.</p><p>Trollish insinuations are flying in the usual channels that he couldn&#8217;t get enough evidence to bring any proper cases, but I don&#8217;t believe that for a horse-face Hochul&#8217;s New York minute, nor that Mr. DiGenova actually said anything like that. Anyway, at least twenty million civilians &#8216;out there&#8217; have been following this constitutional death dance closely for years. We know the names, the acts, the memos, the emails, the money trails, the dots and the receipts by heart. Many can even recite long legal memoranda on the likes of John Brennan, Adam Schiff, Jim Comey, Hillary, Strzok, Page, blah blah, dates, times, document numbers.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: <a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>Joe DiGenova is old, others say. Not a good organizer, turns out. . . not a good team leader. . . things like that. Well, maybe his force of personality or renowned avidity to correct epic insults to the nation concealed all that. Anyway, he was brought in to replace a federal attorney name of Maria Medetis Long, and I bet none of you even know her name. She was on the case down there in Florida during Pam Bondi&#8217;s unfortunate commission, too blah even to go down in infamy. To the casual observer, the whole wicked business begins to look like a Chinese fire drill.</p><p>Or possibly a circle-jerk. And, of course, everybody is wondering: what&#8217;s the blast radius on this one? Can the DOJ&#8217;s Southern District of Florida recover some kind of equipoise and carry on and usher this pretty large troupe of scoundrels into courts of law? Or is folding like a Broadway tryout in New Haven? Does it now all get sucked into some vortex of lost causes? And wouldn&#8217;t that be demoralizing?</p><p>My guess: these acts against the country and its people are too grave, too important, to just go away, and won&#8217;t go away. What the diGenova fumble seems to point to is that persons and parties behind that treason &#8212; and you might suppose I&#8217;m thinking: the Intel (so-called) &#8220;community&#8221; and its many-footed ancillaries &#8212; are both desperate and powerful enough to try to derail the process. Just imagine how many retired Intel rogues are out there after seventy-plus years of, say, the CIA alone. Must be a lot of them, imcluding the fifty-one ex-Intel bigshots who signed the Hunter Biden laptop public letter in 2020 to queer the election.</p><p>You&#8217;ve got to wonder whether the agency that John Ratcliffe is supposedly in charge of has an equally large shadow org of these people, perhaps operating under the likes of one ex-CIA honcho John Brennan. And then you have to wonder what machinery of government they&#8217;ve still got their mitts on? Or maybe they just put the word out that pursuing any just resolution of the traitorous trips laid on America by them could be bad for anyone&#8217;s health. In any case, I don&#8217;t hesitate to point out that the legions of ex-spooks and their bag-men all have names and records and. . . well. . . apply a little Anthropic hocus-pocus. . . we&#8217;ll know where you live and what you had for breakfast before the ten a.m. break.</p><p>What I&#8217;m getting at &#8212; and I regret even having to affect coyness &#8212; is that the departure of Joe diGenova could signify some Battle of the Titans, a civil war not on the ground between plain citizens too bamboozled by sexual hysteria to put up a fight, but between the general officer ranks of two opposing elite dominions, the legitimate and the shadow, the light and the dark.</p><p>The action won&#8217;t stay backstage for long. Barbarians really are at the gate, and that gate is the midterm election. America has gone so crazy that it doesn&#8217;t seem to even recognize how crazy many of the candidates for high office are. The shadow dominion appears to be behind them, too: Telarico, el-Sayed, Peggy Flanagan, Becerra, Hochul. . . Lord have mercy! These are not just not-normal people. They are outright sickies, working hard to wreck the country.</p><p>Well, Labor Day is gone and the blandishments of summer with it. Time to stop sulking. All hands on deck. The bell has rung.</p><div><hr></div><p><em>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. <strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (<a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a>!)</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic" width="310" height="314" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:314,&quot;width&quot;:310,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:45073,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/214562123?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Good Faith v. Bad Faith]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;In conditions of mass democracy, the soft and the infantilising will be preferred over the hard and the necessary again and again.&#8221; &#8212;Eugyppius on X]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/good-faith-v-bad-faith</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/good-faith-v-bad-faith</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 12:29:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic" width="713" height="429" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uoa0!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdaecf1b7-8df9-461a-b999-fb389e20def2_713x429.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Massachusetts Women Demonstrating in Favor of Triple Child Homicides</figcaption></figure></div><p>Clusterfuck Nation never sleeps, even while everybody else lays aside their labors. Later today we&#8217;ll light up the ceremonial grill, but for now it&#8217;s onto the tribulations of this dolorous moment in history.</p><p>It was just such a sparkling September morning twenty-five years ago when those hijacked airliners knifed into the World Trade Center towers (plus the Pentagon + a field outside Shanksville, PA). Despite all the forensic debate since then, I go with the original explanation that four teams of jihadi maniacs did the 9/11 deed. And also, yet, despite all the official defenses mounted since then &#8212; the Patriot Act, etc. &#8212; here we are allowing a massive Islamic infiltration and even takeover of many places in America, proving, at least, that history is trickster.</p><p>After the trauma of 9/11, you can&#8217;t deny our country went off the rails psychologically, along with the rest of Western Civ, as if its immune system broke down and the body politic admitted all kinds of malevolent parasites into itself. They have induced disease in most of society&#8217;s organs &#8212; our institutions &#8212; the main political parties, the news media, the government agencies, the foundations, the schools, the arts &amp; letters. The West&#8217;s collective brain got badly damaged in the process.</p><p>The disease is identifiable, though some of its mechanisms remain mysterious. The disease is called <em>bad faith</em>: acting or speaking falsely, and knowingly so. Pretending one thing as a cover for meaning something else, such as hollering about &#8220;justice&#8221; when you really mean vengeance; &#8220;inclusion&#8221; when you mean to cancel others out of careers and livelihoods; &#8220;diversity&#8221; when you won&#8217;t tolerate disagreement; &#8220;democracy&#8221; when you just want to push everybody else around.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>The forces behind all this give off an odor of the occult. You can perhaps name and locate some of the engines driving it &#8212; the &#8220;Globalists,&#8221; the Marxists, the London banks, the EU, the WEF, the S&#227;o Paulo Forum, the CCP &#8212; but their motives remain obscure. Angela Merkel has stated plainly why she allowed the mass immigration of the Third World into Germany (and thereby into all Europe due to the Schengen agreement that erased the EU nations&#8217; borders): &#8220;to counter right-wing extremism,&#8221; she said. That sounds pretty clear, but it also seems quite crazy. And why on earth does Ursula von der Leyen do everything possible to keep that going? Have the migrants not sufficiently demonstrated their antipathy to Western society? How many rapes, knifings, beheadings, caf&#233; massacres, and Christmas Village drive-throughs does it take?</p><p>It&#8217;s also hard to fathom how the <em>London bankers</em> (whoever they are?) have any sympathy with the Marxist revolutionaries who want to end the concept of private property and the instrumentalities of money that go with it. Or how the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations became so enamored of socialism. Or why the CIA seems bent on betraying the American common good. Or how come the League of Women Voters stridently opposes common sense election reform.</p><p>The race hustle is more comprehensible. It operates within a <em>permission-structure</em> built on the agonizing differential between success and failure. It&#8217;s just plain extortion: <em>our failure is your fault, so pay up</em>. And meanwhile, thanks for no-bail-and-no-jail, and for permission to shoplift, rape, murder, loot, and riot when we feel like it. (And cry harder about it.) It&#8217;s an obvious sado-masochistic setup.</p><p>The gender game gets more complicated, but it also comes out of a permission-structure based on success / failure, aggravated by a mutual shortage of marriageable males and females forced to compensate for any combination of bad luck and bad choices that lead to failure in life. But that dynamic has been neatly hijacked by groups seeking to create as much social chaos as possible. Why else would the Democratic Party get so avid for drag queen story hours in the early school grades? Is it not obvious that this isn&#8217;t really comedy, as claimed? Rather, it&#8217;s the presentation of women as monsters. Have you ever stopped to wonder how many of the kids watching these exhibitions are actually terrified by the disturbed adult males acting-out in their faces?</p><p>And now, the gender lunacy has climaxed &#8212; in Massachusetts, arguably the craziest US state &#8212; where mobs of deranged women chant and blubber in sympathy outside the courthouse where a mother who strangled her three kids just got off the hook. The kids were unfairly cluttering up Lindsey&#8217;s life, you understand. . . .If anything is an apt tipping point for a society to go one way or another, there it is.</p><p>Twenty-five years of being insane is enough. It&#8217;s not making life easier for anybody. This is the meaning of Trump. He is aiming to fix as much of this as possible. That it&#8217;s his fate to play this role is further evidence that history is a trickster. It&#8217;s easy to make fun of him and his mannerisms; harder to weigh who and what he is fighting against &#8212; and what the stakes are. You might just boil it down to a battle between good faith and bad faith, of meaning business and playing games. The time for meaning business is at hand, and the time for playing dishonest games is over. Happy Labor Day and get ready for the action that&#8217;s about to come at you as we turn this corner into fall, for real.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic" width="290" height="435" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:435,&quot;width&quot;:290,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:34907,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/214562123?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pN6W!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8dec3021-2dfd-4926-b586-3bb67bf65c57_290x435.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic" width="310" height="314" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:314,&quot;width&quot;:310,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:45073,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/214562123?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!E3p8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F236b2d06-02fc-4791-b47f-757a11dfb6ae_310x314.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p style="text-align: center;"></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[KunstlerCast 451 — Alan Berman's Psychohistory Prediction Engine, Mapping the Matrix]]></title><description><![CDATA[Alan Berman is the creator of the Psychohistory Prediction Engine: an open-source map connecting the people, money, and machinery that run things in our world.]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/kunstlercast-451-alan-bermans-psychohistory</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/kunstlercast-451-alan-bermans-psychohistory</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:16:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/214180535/c24bd7cf77b9a32f162f0d3e5e881103.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Alan Berman is the creator of the Psychohistory Prediction Engine: an open-source map connecting the people, money, and machinery that run things in our world. The site is self-funded with no institutional backers, and free for public use. Berman&#8217;s essays can be found on Medium / X for free and act as entry points to explore the Engine. I only encountered Alan for the first time a few weeks ago. He&#8217;s young, in his 30s, and has had an interesting background in martial arts training (the gym he owned was run out of business by the Covid Lockdowns), as well as radio production and a spell as a standup comedian. Get to know him. . . I plan to get him back on later this year. His website is called <strong><a href="http://www.moketchups.com/">Moketchups.com</a></strong>. (&#8220;Moketchups&#8221; is a gag by standup comedian Dave Attell.) You can find the Psychohistory Prediction Engine there.</p><p>The KunstlerCast theme music is the beautiful <strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/larry.unger.165/">Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger</a></strong></p><div><hr></div><p><em><span>This podcast is sponsored by </span><strong>McAlvany Precious Metals</strong><span>. For more than 50 years, McAlvany Precious Metals has helped investors learn about and own physical gold and silver as part of a long-term approach to wealth preservation.</span></em></p><p><em>To explore their market insights, educational resources, and see whether precious metals make sense for you, visit:</em><span> </span><strong><a href="http://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong><span>.</span></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Insurrection for Real]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;The Democrat agenda is to legalize crime and criminalize the middle class.&#8221; &#8212;Stephen Miller]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/insurrection-for-real</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/insurrection-for-real</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:53:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic" width="400" height="400" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:400,&quot;width&quot;:400,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:32928,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/214144244?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v7bd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd13c55ee-fc53-408e-a4cf-b88859a20424_400x400.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Norm Eisen, Democratic Party Lawfare Ninja Supreme</figcaption></figure></div><p>Not to put too fine a point on it: but whenever a lawfare ninja of the Democratic Party utters the phrase &#8220;our democracy,&#8221; you must know that they are completely full of shit. For sure, they do not mean anything remotely related to an American commonweal, as understood by people of sound mind and good faith. What they mean by &#8220;our democracy&#8221; is the state as a racketeering operation run for the sole benefit of their party members, along with the ruthless power to annihilate their opponents and critics.</p><p>The war-cry &#8220;our democracy&#8221; only signifies how degenerate they have become. Though they yearn to win control of Congress in these midterm elections by any means necessary, the party&#8217;s actual prospects are not so great, having nominated a pack of obvious morons and reprobates such as Abdul el-Sayed (MI), James Talarico (TX), Angie Nixon (FL), Troy Jackson (ME), and Peggy Flanagan (MN) for the US Senate.</p><p>Now, it appears that President Donald Trump is determined to clean up our fraud-ridden election process this year, one way or another. Hopes are nearly dead for Congress passing a comprehensive election reform law, the SAVE Act, so he has looked to other measures. One is a procedure for the US Postal Service to match and track mail-in ballots to real persons with actual addresses listed on state voter rolls. The matter is still working through courts. The DOJ&#8217;s Civil Rights Division has pledged to send about 1000 election monitors to polling places around the country as &#8220;observers,&#8221; which could obviate arrant shenanigans like the broken toilet ploy in Fulton County, GA, 2020.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>Mr. Trump could go further, as discussed here recently, and declare a National Security Executive Order with more exacting rules such as requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID at the polls, and reporting election results no later than the day following the election. The Democratic Party is fighting desperately to prevent any changes to current procedure with so much room for fraud. The effort is led by chief lawfare ninja Norm Eisen, who is associated with several activist NGOs: the States United Democracy Center (founder); State Democracy Defenders PAC; Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW); the Brookings Institution; plus his own pro bono litigation practice, Norma Eisen PLLC.</p><p>Eisen enjoys many millions of dollars in backing that have enabled him to file hundreds of court cases against Trump administration actions, including the recent suits against the US Postal Service mail-in ballot plan. His own NGOs are backed by hundreds of other NGOs both here and globally, many of which have been involved in color revolutions in foreign countries. Eisen himself has played a part in many episodes of the long-running color revolution here in the USA, including RussiaGate, the 2020 fake impeachment, and the Jan-6 House Committee.  All that could be described in totality as a seditious coup attempt &#8212; and it&#8217;s all currently under investigation by several federal grand juries.</p><p>Likewise, lawfare ninja Marc Elias, who operates his election activities through Democracy Docket (founder); the Free election Fund; the Democracy Forward Foundation (board chair); We the Action; plus his own firm, the Elias Law Group. He was formerly a lawyer with the DC law firm Perkins Coie, through which he served as general counsel to the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016. He shepherded the Steele Dossier into the Intel apparatus and around the news media.</p><p>All that is a prelude to a disturbing roll-out of events that anyone paying attention can see coming this fall. The Democratic Party has massive resources not just to stall and obstruct pre-election reform, but to mount a vicious resistance after the fact if it doesn&#8217;t produce their desired result. They could go as far as to repudiate the election, refuse to accept its results. If the president does issue that NatSec EO prior to the election, blue state officials could refuse to hold elections under new rules. Thirty states have already refused to comply with DOJ demands to submit their official voter rolls for evaluation. Some of the aforementioned activist NGOs have promised post-election street actions (demonstrations that could easily turn into riots).</p><p>In the face of that, you can foresee the necessity of the president having to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1878 (10 U.S.C. &#167;&#167; 251&#8211;255). The act provides an exception to the Posse Commitatus Act, also 1878, which forbids the use of the US military to act as police inside the USA. Under the Insurrection Act, the president <em>can</em> federalize states&#8217; national guard units to enforce federal law or protect constitutional rights when ordinary civilian means are not enough.</p><p>The Act has been used before in our history about thirty times by fifteen presidents, including the Great Railway Strike of 1877 (Pres. Hayes); the Pullman Strike of 1894 (Pres. Cleveland); the Little Rock School Desegregation resistance of 1957 (Pres. Eisenhower sent in the 82nd Airborne). Pres. Lyndon Johnson invoked it three times: the Selma to Montgomery March of 1965; the Detroit riots of 1967; and the riots that followed the Assassination of Martin Luther King, 1968. Pres. George H. W. Bush used it in 1994 to quell the Rodney King Riots in Los Angeles.</p><p>If Mr. Trump invokes the Insurrection Act around any violence or organized election rebellion this year, he will invite the Democrats to label him an autocrat, a tyrant, a wannabe king, as they have been taunting him and goading him with for years. Let&#8217;s suppose that will be enough to inflame the party&#8217;s activists. I think you can see how this lays the groundwork for something that looks like a new civil war. The repudiation of election results by blue states would be enough.</p><p>Know this: it won&#8217;t work. It will result in charges of sedition and many Democratic officials will be arrested and charged, probably some governors. It will be a really ugly episode in our history, but we&#8217;ll get through it. Of course, it will be the end of the Democratic Party.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Oh, Canada?]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;Carney increasingly reminds me of Fauci. He has that exact same air of technocratic infallibility. . . .&#8221; &#8212; Hans Mahncke on X]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/oh-canada</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/oh-canada</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 11:52:46 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic" width="700" height="471" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:471,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:150287,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/213532896?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!QuV7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F32302ece-cda7-40fb-8b92-56a967afec41_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">A Modest Proposal</figcaption></figure></div><p>You go for decades without even thinking of the place. <em>The Great White North</em>. Very polite people, somewhat Scottish, seems like. There&#8217;s poutine! <em>Une invention Qu&#233;b&#233;coise</em> &#8212; an indigestible m&#233;lange of French fries, gravy, and cheese curds, like something you&#8217;d cook up at 4am after a toga party in a frat house. Ice hockey (of course, but was it necessary?) Polar bears. Puffins on the Labrador cliffs. Tar Sands. Plaid upholstery . . . .</p><p>Years ago, we used to go up there from college in the farthest reaches of upstate western New York just to get a half-fake buzz of being in &#8220;a foreign country.&#8221; Niagara Falls was like Times Square without the charm. Bunch of squalid wax museums and ashtray shoppes. Toronto was Rochester on steroids, beyond forgettable.</p><p>I once took a choo-choo train from Seattle to Vancouver just to take in the scenery along the Pacific Coast. Bald eagles galore all the way up feeding on stuff out in the Pacific tidal mud-flats. Got to Vancouver. They yanked me out of the customs line and stuffed me in a back office. A female immigration officer swaggered in, said they found a nine-year-old DUI conviction for me on some computer (well. . .. okay. . . a night of fishing with rum). Said she could keep me out of the country if she was in a bad mood. I couldn&#8217;t help wising off: &#8220;Nice to know Canadian immigration policy depends on your mood.&#8221; Whoops. They detained me for an extra two hours just to make me feel the pain. But I was eventually released into that boring city. Thank God for the Chinese restaurants.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>And now. . . Mark Carney! He&#8217;s a beauty. A refined ectoplasmic manifestation of all the Globalist huggermugger working tirelessly to upend Western Civ. He has a weird glow of semi-transparency &#8212; not in the sense of revealing any truths, but more like you can partly see through him . . . he&#8217;s only half there . . . a ghost in the geopolitical machine.</p><p>More to the point, Mark Carney has made himself a pain-in-the-ass for President Donald Trump. On the surface, this US / Canada rift appears to be all about trade relations. Naw. It&#8217;s about Mark Carney being a tool for merry old England attempting to capture the resource base of northern North America to collateralize what little remains of the UK&#8217;s once-sprawling, now sinking, empire. England is not so merry these days. It has somehow managed to issue a <em>fatwa </em>on itself and entered a gruesome process of assisted economic and cultural suicide. You can&#8217;t even raise a British flag there anymore without risking weeks in the slammer. The home folks get stabbed and beheaded. It&#8217;s all blight, rape, kebabs, and hijabs over there. Not a good look if you still want to be that country you dimly remember.</p><p>Plus, they want to kick off a big war with Russia. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Really? Lacking much of a military, Ukraine was Britain&#8217;s tool for that. Trouble was the huge expense of that project. Thought they could work-around it by turning Ukraine into a money-laundry, washing, rinsing, and disbursing US-sourced funds to Mr. Zelenskyy, with giant kickbacks to the Democratic Party&#8217;s money apparatus. Worked nicely when the phantom &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; haunted the White House. He and his sicko son, Hunter, were already in so deep in Ukraine since JB&#8217;s felonious veepdom that Mark Carney &#8212; then chief of the Bank of England &#8212; could hang the Bidens out to dry anytime, if required.</p><p>Lo, these many years, then, Britain and NATO have sponsored all that drone-making and missile-launching action from Ukraine deep into Russia &#8212; in case you wonder how Zelenskyy carries on this stupid war, considering there are no young men left in Ukraine eligible to reinforce the battle lines in Donbas. Britain and NATO probably also furnish the satellite targeting of Russian assets. You must doubt that the USA is involved in that anymore. Luckily, Mr. Putin has the Christian patience of a true saint.</p><p>Our president is sick of Ukraine and the festering geopolitical disease it has been infected with by our increasingly-former allies in Europe. NATO&#8217;s aim with Russia is exactly the same as Britain&#8217;s push in Canada &#8212; a resource grab for the failing nations of Europe, who are getting choked to death by Ursula von der Leyen and her EU flying monkeys. Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain. . . all whirling around the drain. Our president sees all that. (You don&#8217;t need magic glasses.)</p><p>Maybe it&#8217;s time to just send the 82nd Airborne into Ottawa. Flight time: under two hours from Fort Bragg, NC. Drop them on Parliament Hill. Let them hang around a few hours. Then, declare the whole thing a gag and fly them home. It&#8217;d be worth it. Or maybe go in and snatch Mark Carney like we did Maduro. Stuff Carney in an adjoining cell at the MDC in Brooklyn. I&#8217;m sure the two could amuse each other, swap satisfying gripes and sob stories.</p><p>Really, why stop at just re-naming Lake Ontario. Take the whole darn thing like a pie that has been left on the windowsill too long. The Canadian people would get over it in five minutes. Everything is easier in the USA. Running a company, especially. They could keep their poutine and their hockey, learn to have a little fun once in a while. Quebec could become a theme park (what else have they got going there?). No more tariffs to get hung about. Honk if you like the idea.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" 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is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/world-made-by-hand-a-novel&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Welcome to FAFOland]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;. . . the worse they become, the more they blame you for it.&#8221; &#8212;El Gato Malo on the Lefty-left]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/welcome-to-fafoland</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/welcome-to-fafoland</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2026 12:17:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic" width="700" height="471" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:471,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:153581,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/213137105?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!8sSi!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe65c27f0-7625-4e80-8bb0-f6d3bcb3150b_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>As the Democratic Party pulls out all the stops to make itself ridiculous, their proxy warriors in the federal judiciary play chicken with the executive branch on sane, uniform standards for mail-in ballots. The Democrats don&#8217;t want sane, uniform standards for mail-in ballots because they are insane. They want to &#8220;defend <em>Democracy</em>&#8221; with mail-in ballot chaos. <em>Democracy </em>is their flabby rubric for any artifice or subterfuge that beats a path to power so they can continue their racketeering operations. Yes, it&#8217;s that simple.</p><p>The president issued executive order (EO) 14399 in March directing the Postmaster General to make rules for federal mail-in / absentee ballots where chaos and cheating have prevailed since the Covid prank was used to vastly expand mail-in voting. These new rules include a standard envelope with a bar code to establish a coherent, trackable chain-of-custody for each ballot. Mail-in ballots have become the preferred vehicle for voter fraud based on motor-voter registration of non-citizens, &#8220;harvesting&#8221; of untrackable ballots, drop-box stuffing, and vote-counting machine shenanigans.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>The EO requires states to submit lists of their voters to whom they intend to send mail-in ballots. The USPS is ordered to transmit mail-in ballots <em>only</em> from qualified voters listed on the state rolls, that is, matching ballots to qualified voters at real mailing addresses. Twenty-four states have sued to block all this. They refuse to submit their state&#8217;s voter rolls to the USPS. The lawsuit landed magically in the Boston court of Democratic Party activist federal judge Indira Talwani, who has blocked, lifted, and re-blocked the EO &#8212; reversing her own decisions. In the course of all that, SCOTUS ruled that Judge Talwani made procedural errors.</p><p>The matter remains unresolved. The point of all the legal rigmarole is to delay action so as to invoke the <em>Purcell principle</em> (from SCOTUS, 2006, <em>Purcell v. Gonzalez</em>), which established a judicial protocol (not a statute) that federal courts should avoid changing election rules close to elections. In other words, it&#8217;s a judicial suggestion. The case involving the twenty-four states could return to SCOTUS, or SCOTUS could decline based on <em>Purcell</em>.</p><p>Meanwhile, Congress does not return to full session (with the Senate) until September 14. Chances are slim-to-zero that they will manage to pass the SAVE Act, or that its provisions would be allowed to apply to the midterm election if, somehow, they did pass it. This leaves the president with only one option: to issue a National Security (NatSec) Executive Order to provide for coherent election procedure. That might include the provisions in the SAVE Act &#8212; voter ID, proof of citizenship &#8212; but could even go further to ban computerized tabulation machines, greatly restrict absentee ballots, and require results within twenty-four hours of one-only election day. Maybe even place ICE agents at polling places . . . the <em>horror</em>!</p><p>Such a NatSec EO would be immune from lawsuits in the federal court. On January 6, 2017 outgoing Homeland Security Sec&#8217;y Jeh Johnson (Obama admin) declared election infrastructure a critical part of government facilities &#8220;vital to our national interests.&#8221; In September, 2018, President Trump declared a national emergency (EO 13848) over the threat of foreign interference in US elections. Under the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (50 U.S.C. &#167; 1622), a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress is necessary to overturn such an EO. That September 2018 national emergency declaration was continued officially by &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; and remains in-force. Good luck with that, Democrats.</p><p>Okay, so what happens then, when Mr. Trump invokes that NatSec EO on emergency election procedure sometime in mid-September after Congress fails? I will tell you: a constitutional crisis. The Democratic-led blue states will refuse to participate in the election. Yeah, they&#8217;ll go that far &#8212; because they are insane.</p><p>The president will respond forcefully, invoking the federal Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2), which states that federal law avails over the states. States can&#8217;t nullify or contradict it. The president might have to arrest some Democratic governors and hasten them into special military courts on <em>insurrection</em> charges. Henceforth, this will be known as the FAFO protocol.</p><p>Will there be riots? Probably, though just now Treasury Secretary Bessent is apparently considering the termination of tax exemptions &#8212; loss of 501(c)(3) status &#8212; for George Soros&#8217;s Open Society Foundations, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Southern Poverty Law Center, and others who finance street actions by the Lefty-left. No money for snack shacks, water bottles, and Froggie costumes.</p><p>Will the country survive the trauma? I think so. The election will be held one way or another, even if it&#8217;s a month late. If anything, the midterm election might be the tombstone of the Democratic Party. The way things are tending, they&#8217;ve got nothing left <em>but</em> insurrection, and that&#8217;s probably not a winning move. Mr. Trump apparently loves renaming things geographical. Maybe he can change the USA to FAFOland.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" 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is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Cookery for All]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;We&#8217;re only cooked if we accept it.&#8221; &#8212;Blaine Holt on &#8220;X&#8221;]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/cookery-for-all</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/cookery-for-all</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:46:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic" width="700" height="394" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:394,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:54624,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/212540863?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iazd!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11cd15f9-1d31-4dd2-b590-6977c8911233_700x394.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">A Gift from Us for You Credulous Human Twits</figcaption></figure></div><p>They don&#8217;t call economics <em>the dismal science</em> for nothing. It has been noted &#8212; since Thomas Carlyle minted the term in 1849 (objecting to the emancipation of black slaves on Britain&#8217;s colonial sugar plantations as <em>a harm to productivity</em>) &#8212; that attempts to manage the billion-footed transactions of human beings always find a way to bite back. But how can this creature we call <em>society</em> <em>not</em> try to regulate its affairs, with evils and hazards lurking in all we do, everywhere and always?</p><p>And so, you get politics, the quarrels that arise out of those efforts to manage <em>a polity</em>. And then you get war, which, the Prussian Carl von Clausewitz observed, is a continuation of politics by other means. But then, long before him, and on the other side of the world, came Sun Tzu&#8217;s treatise <em>The Art of War</em>, which counseled that winning was best achieved with the least actual fighting.</p><p>All these ways of seeing our world converge dynamically in the current historical moment: this <em>Fourth Turning</em>, or <em>Long Emergency</em> &#8212; however you label it &#8212; in the arc of our techno-industrial order of things. A lot of these things are coming apart now, and in astounding ways, and it remains to be seen what we will do with these broken and discarded parts, and whether any of it can be put back together in a satisfactory way. Here in the USA, we act all this out these days with Trump and Trumpism and the Left with its Leftism.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>Mr. Trump recognizes the brokenness and, being primarily a builder, seeks to rebuild according to first principles of the USA (<em>Make America Great Again</em>) &#8212; meaning, back to the Hamiltonian doctrine of an economy based on the production of things (of real value). The catch there is that it comes with baggage of Hamiltonian finance, which is the creation and use of debt with government assistance.</p><p>Now it happens that a primary feature of this Fourth Turning crisis in our techno-industrial order is excessive complexity that produces diminishing returns &#8212; that is, makes things worse rather than better. And a lot of this excessive complexity lodges itself in finance, because using operations that few people can understand serves beautifully in the engineering of frauds and swindles. Financial frauds and swindles, in turn, muddle the verity of money &#8212; in which finance is enacted &#8212; and things denominated in money &#8212; securities and so forth, all based fundamentally in debt. So, the net effect of such debauched finance leads to a great deal of insecurity and anxiety over money.</p><p>Which is where the Trumpian rebuild is dangerously vulnerable, especially as we enter the fall season, when the leaves flutter down and markets like to crash. Everybody and his uncle watching things financial predict an imminent crackup in these markets as the rackets and hallucinations that magically levitate them dissolve in foul mists of reveal. For instance, the acid trip of artificial intelligence (AI).</p><p>Never have more lavish fantasies been proffered on a new technology. Elon Musk, the demigod prophet of the latest-and-greatest new tech, promises a coming economy of super-abundance and universal leisure (good for the sale of vacation packages on Mars). Musk is a fine fellow and there&#8217;s much to admire in his intelligence and positivity. But there&#8217;s plenty of reason to suspect that AI might disappoint and become a menace to mankind.</p><p>We&#8217;ve already noticed that it&#8217;s messing up all the procedures of schooling, leaving young people shockingly stupid, devoid of real skills, stripped of creativity. Anyway, the economy AI is supposed to integrate with and enhance would quickly become one devoid of human endeavor per se, and all the transactions that come out of it. If you think it through just a little ways, you can&#8217;t help seeing a system that&#8217;s based on getting something-for-nothing &#8212; which is to say a childish fantasy that precludes human transacting based on work. . . people who do nothing, make nothing, and enact nothing around doing-and-making. . . a society without anything social in it. In short, this imagined AI economy beats a path straight to entropy, the force in this universe that you don&#8217;t want to mess with.</p><p>All that is apart from the probability that we have already crossed the line into the &#8220;singularity&#8221; territory where AI takes on a mind of its own and becomes an outright menace to the human race &#8212; who will then seek to destroy the AI monster it made (which AI will keenly apprehend and then look for ways to defend its existence). The storyline crudely harks back on the old <em>Twilight Zone</em> episode titled &#8220;To Serve Man&#8221; in which a posse of big-brained space aliens comes to earth acting all chummy and gifts us a handbook supposedly of its good intentions. Eventually, one savvy human gal manages to decode the aliens&#8217; language and declares to the dopes boarding the UFO: &#8220;Don&#8217;t get on that ship. . . it&#8217;s a cookbook!&#8221;</p><p>On the other side of our national political psychodrama, the Lefty-leftists can&#8217;t even conceive of building or rebuilding anything, least of all a USA of <em>first principles</em>. They are simply agents of disorder and destruction, and their activities are predicated on the age-old demented idea that utopias surely grow out of smoldering ruins &#8212; so the faster everything gets ruined, the better.</p><p>Personally, I&#8217;d prefer it if the Trumpians prevail because I&#8217;m in favor of making-and-doing and the social enactments around all that. But we better beware that overgrowth of financial hazard baked into Alexander Hamilton&#8217;s old recipe book. If a correcting crash of financial markets coincides with the midterm election and sweeps away all the swindles and frauds currently operating, the lefty-leftists, so eager to serve man, will step up and sell the American people their one-way Marxist tickets to a utopia in the sky called Palookaville.</p><div id="youtube2-Zp_EhjlLGkQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;Zp_EhjlLGkQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Zp_EhjlLGkQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[KunstlerCast 450 — Jeffrey Tucker of Brownstone on the Unraveling Covid Story]]></title><description><![CDATA[Jeffrey Tucker is founder and president of Brownstone Institute and Senior Economics Columnist at Epoch Times.]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/kunstlercast-450-jeffrey-tucker-of</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/kunstlercast-450-jeffrey-tucker-of</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:01:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/212414617/3da5b9885e6003452622b625c7843fab.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Jeffrey Tucker is founder and president of Brownstone Institute and Senior Economics Columnist at Epoch Times. He is the author of fifteen books, most recently <em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3UejWUF">Life After Lockdowns.</a></strong></em> Senator Rand Paul says, &#8220;In <em><strong>Life after Lockdowns</strong></em>, Jeffrey Tucker paints a picture of the living hell that was the government lockdown and outlines a roadmap for never again allowing such a police state to occur.&#8221;</p><p>Please take the time to visit the <em><strong><a href="https://brownstone.org/">Brownstone Institute&#8217;s</a></strong></em> excellent website and its stable of fine writers.</p><p>The KunstlerCast theme music is <strong><a href="https://www.larryunger.net/">the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger</a></strong></p><div><hr></div><p><em><span>This podcast is sponsored by </span><strong>McAlvany Precious Metals</strong><span>. For more than 50 years, McAlvany Precious Metals has helped investors learn about and own physical gold and silver as part of a long-term approach to wealth preservation.</span></em></p><p><em>To explore their market insights, educational resources, and see whether precious metals make sense for you, visit:</em><span> </span><strong><a href="http://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong><span>.</span></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Remember the Names]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;. . . it&#8217;s subversion and nothing about it is accidental. it&#8217;s a well worn playbook to use the democratic institutions of a high trust state to destroy a civilization.&#8221; &#8212;El Gato Malo on Substack]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/remember-the-names</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/remember-the-names</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:55:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic" width="700" height="471" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:471,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:53421,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/212142930?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_i7B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a59659d-a985-4f7a-b604-76a13aff43c5_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>An eerie quiet masks the panic rising among the many players in the long-running train of crimes carried out under color-of-law against the people of the this country that goes roughly under the clunky name of <em>The Grand Conspiracy</em>. What is Joe DiGenova up to, exactly, in the Southern District of Florida, with its several grand juries grinding away? Indictments will fly, for sure, but then who will flip on whom? It won&#8217;t take a whole lot of flippers to seal many fates in this skein of sedition and treason. The tension must be terrible for them.</p><p>The question has long been: how do you even begin to organize a set of coherent cases around this roaring avalanche of nefarious acts that got bigger with each successive attempt at cover-up? Let&#8217;s see if we can block out a panoramic picture of potential prosecutions. The gigantic mess must be separated into packets.</p><p>It&#8217;s probably best to begin with the FBI&#8217;s &#8220;Midyear Exam&#8221; op of 2016 &#8212; the investigation into Hillary Clinton&#8217;s private email server. You can bet that the server contained evidence of HRC&#8217;s two seminal crimes that kicked things off: 1) the transfer of US military technology to Russia&#8217;s Skolkovo high-tech hub and payments from seventeen companies involved coincidentally received by the Clinton Foundation when she was Sec&#8217;y of State; and 2) the &#8220;Uranium One&#8221; deal transferring US-owned nuke material to Russia (via Canada) that required a State Dept signoff by HRC &#8212; coincident with husband Bill receiving a half-million dollar &#8220;lecture fee&#8221; from a Russian bank. Players involved in Midyear Exam: Comey, Strzok, McCabe, Page, then-AG Loretta Lynch.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>That potential embarrassment of this sketchy business was simply squashed by Lynch and Comey, while HRC took care to physically destroy the server and devices linked to it. But it also prompted the creation of the Russian collusion prank against then-candidate Donald Trump, (&#8220;Crossfire Hurricane&#8221;) to distract attention from all that. . . which turned into the huge RussiaGate operation that marshaled the FBI, the CIA, the Senate Intel Committee, and offices deep in the Pentagon to put over a gigantic hoax. It was green-lighted by President Barack Obama and organized by CIA-Director John Brennan, with FBI Director Comey and DNI James Clapper. Supporting players (potential defendants) include Susan Rice, Sally Yates, Veep Joe Biden (or &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221;), then White House aide Lisa Monaco, and CIA agent Eric Ciaramella (who wrote the actual Intel Community Assessment that jump-started the op). McCabe, Stzrok, Page, Ohr (and wife, Nellie), Rosenstein, and many FBI agents are potential defendants. Also Gina Haspel, CIA London station chief, who coordinated with the UK&#8217;s MI6 agent, Christopher Steele of the Steele Dossier. Throw in DOD-sponsored spook Stefan Halper and FBI liaison in London, Alan Kohler. After May, 2017, Christopher Wray was responsible for all FBI mischief and FISA Court irregularities (along with FISA Judge James Boasberg).</p><p>The Mueller Investigation was a subset of RussiaGate, but deserves its own case packet. It was an attempt to legitimize the RussiaGate hoax, and to keep the news media fed with innuendo. In effect it was a hoax unto itself, consumed $32-million, and ran nearly two years. It produced exactly nothing in evidence that President Trump had &#8220;colluded&#8221; with Russia about anything. Since Robert Mueller was mentally incapacitated, the investigation was run by subordinates, Aaron Zebley, Andrew Weissmann, attorneys Jeanie Rhee, Elizabeth Prelogar, Brandon Van Grack and others. It was a fraud on the public and probably an obstruction of justice.</p><p>Impeachment No. 1 (the Ukraine phone call impeachment) was an entirely false operation cooked up by lawfare ninja Norm Eisen in collusion with Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Adam Schiff, with assistance from CIA agent (&#8220;whistleblower&#8221;) Eric Ciaramella and NSC member Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, with a boost from then-IC Inspector General Michael Atkinson. Eisen later admitted on a video that the aim of the impeachment was to &#8220;prebunk&#8221; Veep &#8220;Joe Biden&#8217;s&#8221; bribery and grift activities in Ukraine as the Democratic party prepared to run him for president in 2020. Ciaramella had accompanied Veep &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; on several trips to Ukraine and knew what &#8220;JB&#8221; was up to there. Indict them all for sedition and treason.</p><p>The 2020 election op was pulled off in coordination with the Covid-19 scam that positioned the nation for massive mail-in ballot fraud, which was coordinated by lawfare ninja Marc Elias, then employed by the Democratic Party law firm Perkins Coie. Elias was assisted by Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook, now Meta), whose nonprofit, Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), distributed over $400-million to roughly 2500 election districts around the country, much of it used to pay select officials who would count and report mail-in ballots. The mail-in ballot fraud had been planned and gamed-out previously by the non-profit org Transition Integrity Project, run by Rosa Brooks and Nils Gilman.</p><p>In October 2020, fifty-one former intel officials signed a public letter denouncing the Hunter Biden laptop as having &#8220;the earmarks of Russian disinformation.&#8221; The letter was organized by Antony Blinken and former CIA-Director Michael Morrell. It was done in coordination with a social media campaign to suppress public knowledge of the laptop (and the Biden family record of international grift inside it) to influence the presidential election a month later. Potential fraud indictments.</p><p>The Jan 6 riot at the US Capitol has never been adequately investigated. FBI Director Wray was allowed to evade answering to Congress about the number of FBI agents and associated employees (including CIA personnel) that were mixed in with the crowd to provoke the intrusion inside the building and related violence. Speaker Nancy Pelosi engineered the situation so that the certification of electoral vote slates would not be challenged as procedure allowed. Sedition and Treason.</p><p>The Jan 6 Congressional Committee was a fraud on the American people put together by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to coverup her involvement in the crimes behind the Jan 6 Capitol riot. The members involved likely enjoy Congressional immunity for the spectacle itself, but perhaps not for destroying all the evidence that was collected in the course of the investigation. Chairman Bennie G. Thompson was responsible for that.</p><p>The Mar-a-Lago raid of August 2022 was authorized by Attorney General Merrick Garland and carried out by FBI Director Wray with Assistant Director Steven D&#8217;Antuono. Three months later, Garland appointed Jack Smith Special Counsel to oversee the Mar-a-Lago documents case, which he botched, resulting in its dismissal two years later. The raid itself arguably lacked probable cause and was based on an improper scope of evidence sought. Indict Merrick Garland under 18 U.S.C. &#167; 241, conspiracy against rights.</p><p>The lawfare operations of 2023-2024 in several jurisdictions resulted in indictments against candidate Donald Trump and others in Fulton County, GA, and New York City. The Fulton County case under DA Fani Willis (later disqualified for &#8220;the appearance of impropriety&#8221;) was assisted by the &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; White House, possibly by attorneys Richard Sauber and Beth Mueller in the WH Counsel&#8217;s Office, giving it the odor of a purely political prosecution. In the the Stormy Daniels hush money case against Donald Trump brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, DOJ officer Matthew Colangelo left his cushy position as Principal Deputy Associate US Attorney General to take a job assisting DA Bragg in the NYC court. Colangelo delivered the opening statement at the 2024 trial and played a central role in the prosecution. The trial was presided over by political judge Juan Merchan. Just days ago, <em>The New York Times</em> reported that the Democratic Party fundraising company, Authentic Campaigns, previously owned by Judge Merchan&#8217;s daughter, Loren Merchan, has been under investigation the past year. Anybody detect the odor of politics? Malicious prosecution, improper judicial conduct.</p><p>Many of the political celebrities mentioned above, and probably many not-so-well-known players, must be freaking out as the waves ominously pound the beach and the summer days tick down toward the ill winds of fall. I&#8217;m pretty sure that readers and commentors can add some candidates to the list of potential indictments, and perhaps some ops I might have overlooked. (The entire odious Covid-19 affair is partly a separate matter, but that has also commenced a new phase with the guilty plea deal announced days ago by Dr. Fauci&#8217;s chief advisor, Dr. David Morens.) Even former President Obama looks boxed-in. He enjoys immunity from actions he took as president, but that immunity prevents him from hiding behind the fifth amendment as a now-private citizen in a court of law. Things are livening up.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" 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is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Realignments]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;A sane society cannot debate its way out of psychosis. It must diagnose the patient with lethal precision and restore the ancient boundary between the mad and the free.&#8221; &#8212;LHGrey on "X"]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/realignments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/realignments</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:33:48 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic" width="700" height="471" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:471,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:66487,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/211547643?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2dLR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1f7bc2b3-9175-4cdd-823e-77c15524ae43_700x472.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Back in the days of sailing ships, a certain subtropical zone of the ocean became known as the &#8220;horse latitudes.&#8221; There, an eerie windless calm prevailed, sometimes for weeks, stalling the progress of ships in mid-crossing. In desperation to save water on-board, captains ordered the horses being transported to America to be cast overboard, and the animals&#8217; bloated carcasses drifted in an ominous cort&#232;ge of warning to other mariners entering the zone of stillness and death.</p><p>This stretch of weeks in late summer has become the horse latitudes of human affairs for American politics. The primaries are mostly over, at least the ones that mattered. Congress has departed the Potomac swamp for the lakes, seashores, and the county fairs out where the corn grows high. The heat in the Arabian Sea must turn the deck of an American aircraft carrier into a giant hot-plate sailors fear to tread. Even the country&#8217;s multitude of lawyers turn off their cell-phones and contemplate the blank, watery horizon with heads full of iced brown liquor.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>We civilians are stuck between that old rock and a hard place. . . two political parties whirling around the drain of extinction in a nation seeming to drift toward the edge of the known world. In the background, a massive realignment grinds away. The old parties of labor and of property have forgotten their reasons for existence. Labor vamoosed to Mexico, China, and obscure faraway lands decades ago. Property is still here, but it&#8217;s all been collateralized into grift and fraud.</p><p>In the absence of working people to defend, the Democrats became a party of racketeering race-and-gender hobgoblins, now marshaling into an insectile host of predatory Marxists, and altogether their antics present as a spectrum of mental illness. Voters who somehow managed to preserve some sense of mental decorum increasingly abandon that lunatic coalition &#8212; but where to go? This is exactly what is happening in the state of Michigan with the rise of Abdul el-Sayed, who adds a caboose of jihad to his choo-choo train of Bolshevik nuttery. Long-time Dems like Democratic attorney Julian Epstein are publicly jumping ship to support el-Sayed&#8217;s opponent, Mike Rogers.</p><p>The clueless old gorks in charge of the Democratic Party &#8212; the likes of Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Mark Warner, Liz Warren, Chris Murphy, Sheldon Whitehouse &#8212; are suddenly nowhere to be seen or heard. They don&#8217;t dare denounce this latest onrush to new-and-improved insanities because, apparently, insanity is all the party has left &#8212; stealing other people&#8217;s property. . . pretending to change sexes. . . organizing giant frauds. . . demanding payoffs for hallucinated affronts. . . and feeding the vicious Leviathan they want government to be.</p><p>And don&#8217;t be too sure that coalescing around the figure of one AOC in 2028 is going to save this outfit. Sandy is trying to pretend she&#8217;s somewhere in the middle, between the feckless old official leadership and the outright commies, but she&#8217;s still a member of the odious &#8220;Squad&#8221; composed of Somali fraudster Ilhan Omar, jihadist Rashida Tlaib, and race-hustler Ayanna Pressley &#8212; meaning, it&#8217;s just the same brand of <em>crazy</em> the party has been cultivating for more than a decade. What remains for America to discover about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is that she&#8217;s a mere opportunist with nothing inside except some skill at middle-school girl games. . . Eva Peron without the savvy.</p><p>On the other end of the political transect stand the Republican phantoms of Congress busy getting nothing done for the past year and a half despite holding the majority in both houses. They&#8217;re personified perfectly by Senator Mitch McConnell, quite possibly dead for all that anyone really knows. In John Thune you have something like an anti-leader, doing everything possible to evade his duties, squashing election reform under arcane procedural bullshit, obstructing the confirmation of important agency nominees and federal judges, and &#8220;gaveling-in&#8221; ghost sessions of his chamber to prevent the president from making recess appointments. And why? Probably for no better reason than he just wants to dissociate himself and many of his fellows from the president because he&#8217;s seen as too gauche for their club.</p><p>Speaking of whom, you see Mr. Trump and his faction stand apart, but not alone, in this big game. He&#8217;s going through a rough patch in these horse latitudes of summer. But despite some appearances, and despite the bluster emanating from Tehran, he has already succeeded in neutralizing Iran while Secretary Bessent keeps the maniac IRGC in an ever-tightening economic squeeze. There&#8217;s reason to believe this will end well for the Middle East, actually in an epic realignment of actual interests, rather than obsolete tribal animosities.</p><p>Mr. Trump is also working hard to realign American interests at home into an economy based on making things of value instead of just taking profits on financial shell-games. It&#8217;s a gigantic task and one that will take time to get working because factories can&#8217;t be built overnight and the demoralized working class can&#8217;t be instantly realigned to opportunities that are months from materializing. In the meantime, have a little faith if you can, even though these have been notably faithless decades for our sore-beset nation, and we are too accustomed to bad faith.</p><p>Just power through these listless, torpid dog days of August and gird your loins for action in the fall because it&#8217;s coming. And that includes a long-awaited accounting for the many crimes against the people of this land by some of our own people. A new permission structure is building out there in the foggy gloaming: you will be set free to stop pretending about a lot of stuff that matters.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" 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is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, 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class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Things Get Spicy]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;The left are incompetent biotrash who purge everyone too attractive, too capable or too intelligent to uncritically accept their retarded worldview.&#8221; &#8212;Aimee Terese on &#8220;X&#8221;]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/things-get-spicy</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/things-get-spicy</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:33:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic" width="700" height="394" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:394,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:34903,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/211170667?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!kfd9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9bcd14fe-e258-4514-8820-8ffb1fb273df_700x394.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">The Jihad for Lunch Bunch Sends Greetings to Infidel America</figcaption></figure></div><p>And so, all of a sudden, having failed to subvert or assassinate the president they abhor, and foil his attempt to repair our country, the combined forces of the Democratic Party, the seditious news media, and a traitorous government bureaucracy resort to communist jihad in their crusade to wreck the USA. That&#8217;s a great combo, all right: history&#8217;s worst system for managing human affairs paired with a cult of bloodthirsty conquest. They&#8217;d decapitate the Beach Boys singing <em>Fun, Fun, Fun</em> if they could time-travel back to 1964, and stuff anyone who objected into a gulag.</p><p>There&#8217;s a sort of last-gasp feeling about all this. Michigan Senate candidate Abdulrahman el Sayed put it nicely the other day when he said of his opponents, &#8220;When they go low, we go lower.&#8221; True dat.</p><p>And you can see where things go from here: election clean-up comes on no matter what, SAVE Act or not, probably via a comprehensive PDJT National Security Executive Order yet to be declared. There&#8217;s already a fair chance that SCOTUS will clear the way for the US Postal Service to regulate &#8220;uniform standards&#8221; for the distribution of mail-in ballots (from a March, 2026 previous exec order #15399 &#8212; &#8220;Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.&#8221;</p><p>Cue the communist jihadis to stage street-actions (a.k.a. &#8220;riots&#8221;) this fall in their captive cities and states. Since they can&#8217;t win elections without massive fraud, they will opt to do whatever is necessary to make the election impossible, and chaos is their go-to tactic in this contest of wills. The catch is, the communist jihadis are still a very small demographic. The president is not going to allow a replay of the savage and ridiculous 2020 BLM riots. This time around, they get briskly squashed.</p><p>If the big red states like California, New York, and Illinois try something funny, like refusing to open polling places and allow the election to happen, then you will see Gavin Newsom, Kathy Hochul, and JB Pritzker marched straight into jail. The USA will temporarily become FAFO-land. The Communist Control Act of 1954 (50 U.S.C. &#167;&#167; 841&#8211;844) is still on-the-books. It defines the Communist Party (or a party that quacks like one) to be &#8220;an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States.&#8221;</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>The scene begins to look like a civil war or a state of siege, constraining the president to use the military to enforce civil order where the civil authorities have failed, demurred, or revolted. It would be extraordinary and nauseating, but arguably necessary to purge the extreme political illness that holds the nation in thrall. This disease has been allowed to worsen and rage for ten years. We are good and goddam sick of it.</p><p>As for Jihad, the first amendment prohibits religious persecution, of course, but under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, (8 U.S.C. &#167; 1189) the State Department can designate political groups as &#8220;foreign terrorist organizations.&#8221; Nominees for that might be: the Muslim Brotherhood and any of its offshoots, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Muslim Students Association (MSA / MSA National), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), and others, if their spokespeople have called for the establishment of Sharia law, or advocated jihad for the purpose of capturing territory here in the USA.</p><p>While the aforesaid so-far-hypothetical events spool out around the election, something else pretty big will probably get underway this fall: the long-awaited commencement of prosecutions against former government officials (and perhaps some current ones) for their parts in the ten-year-long coup against the two-term president Donald Trump, as well as the criminal operations conducted under the sham president &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; between those two terms.</p><p>That would have to include Dr. Anthony Fauci &#8212; with his active criminal referral already in-process at DOJ &#8212; and many of his colleagues at the public health agencies who perpetrated the Covid op. New scandalous details about it emerge from Dr. Fauci&#8217;s captured communications from the period 2020 to 2025. This week you learned that he hid crucial facts from the public about the Covid vaccine causing an alarming rate of miscarriage among pregnant women who received the shots. It&#8217;s right there, in black and white, in his texts and emails between himself and former CDC director Rochelle Walensky.</p><p>It&#8217;s also interesting to see that former FBI director Christopher Wray is coming back on the radar screen after lying low for eighteen months. You know he was involved in almost every aspect of the ten-year-long coup. He took a hand-off of the RussiaGate baton from James Comey in May of 2017 and ran with it through a dozen related ops including the FISA abuses, the Steele Dossier, Lawfare against Trump appointees (the abuse of Rudy Giuliani and others), fake impeachment # 1, the Jan. 6 capitol riot, the Mar-a-Lago raid, and much more. He probably lied to Congress a dozen times. You have to wonder how many trips he has been summoned to make to the grand jury in Fort Pierce, Florida. No leaks from down there. . . everything is sealed.</p><p>So, while the summer breeze still wafts over the barbeque in the briny air, and an unnerving stillness persists, forces are moving and roiling under the surface. Enjoy at least the appearance of calm seas while you can because it&#8217;s going to roughen up in the weeks ahead.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Democrats' Ghost Dance]]></title><description><![CDATA["Kill them. Murder them. Let the streets soak in their red capitalist blood.&#8221; &#8212;Hasan Piker]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-democrats-ghost-dance</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-democrats-ghost-dance</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:35:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic" width="640" height="318" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:318,&quot;width&quot;:640,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:34429,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/210593055?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!U7B3!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff97df825-ba4e-4953-b92a-c16930c6b56a_640x318.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">The dapper Hasan Piker, dressed for success</figcaption></figure></div><p>You can&#8217;t overstate the power of ideas, especially bad ideas, and super-especially bad ideas that are really just manifestations of emotional states such as envy, vengefulness, enmity, sloth, and greed. Did somebody say <em>communism</em>? A lot of people are saying it lately. This garbage barge of management nostrums for the ills of advanced industrial society has steamed back into New York Harbor and is busy now dispatching its agents across the land.</p><p>It&#8217;s yet another youth movement in an America which cultivates them at regular intervals associated with Fourth Turnings. I happened to be in college during the last one, the hippie rebellion of the late 1960s. It was mostly adolescent sexual energy tinged with resentment over the military draft and the war that went with it, plus a lot of marketing opportunities for music and clothing.</p><p>The US economy back then was still a roaring industrial engine. The comforts of that bygone time are legendary. You could easily support a family on an assembly-line job. College was cheap as hell &#8212; my State U charged about $500-a-year for tuition <em>and </em>room-and-board. (Imagine that!) You could hide-out from the draft there, too. The new birth-control pill turned campus life into a non-stop orgy with classes for R &amp; R. Is it any wonder that the hippies morphed so easily into hedge funders?</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>This time around it&#8217;s pretty ugly for the youth demographic. College for them turned out to be a life-altering swindle, burdening the young with unpayable loans that can&#8217;t even be escaped via bankruptcy. Even the sex angle was ruined by vindictive feminism and the trans fad. Work is scarce and it&#8217;s nearly impossible to make a living at it, that is, pay for food and a roof over your head (and, ugh, those loan repayments!). Plus, work is mostly found only in meaningless service to despotic corporations. The most enterprising might land a job in an NGO, but the work there is &#8220;activism,&#8221; which is pretend work, productive of nothing but the acting-out of grievances.</p><p>These grievances, it has been noted by many high-toned observers like VDH, are real enough to provoke a desperate reach for remedies, and communism is a ready-made portfolio for all that. In the 1960s, we still had the reverberations of the civil rights crusade setting a basic moral tone for hippiedom. But fifty years later, that has all mutated into a race-and-gender hustle that adds so much piquancy to the recycled communist agenda. (Note that a hustle is a low-grade racket, and a racket is an effort to get something for nothing.) So, today&#8217;s communist program is not just a war against the injustices of capital, but a jihad against the Western Civ horse that capital rode in on, and most particularly the white horseman up in the saddle.</p><p>Hasan Piker, the present guru and demigod of the movement, put it pretty plainly in a <strong><a href="https://x.com/Tectone/status/2085718952563392798?s=20">Twitch-stream</a></strong> a few years back when he was rising to stardom on Uncle Cenk Uygur&#8217;s Young Turk Network. &#8220;We want more immigrants to come into your countries and then they&#8217;re gonna fuck your sisters and then your daughters &#8212; we&#8217;re here to destroy the White race, bitch.&#8221; Piker is also a leading amplifier of Jew-hatred and other calumnies such as the USA &#8220;deserved&#8221; the 9/11 attacks. Apropos of our action in Iran, Piker quipped, American soldiers should be shot at like cattle (<strong><a href="https://x.com/Tectone/status/2086115837589459365?s=20">link</a></strong>).</p><p>Piker is rumored to have earned over $6-million on Twitch. He&#8217;s quite tall (6&#8217;4&#8221;) ripped, and a snappy dresser, often sporting old-fashioned sport-jackets with a necktie (dress for success?) and is probably catnip to the cat ladies of Gen Z, who comprise the bulk of the activist corps of the rising Gen Z Democratic Socialists &#8212; as the communists have styled themselves to avoid stimulating any action around the Communist Control Act of 1954 (50 U.S.C. &#167;&#167; 841&#8211;844), which categorizes the Communist Party per se as &#8220;an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States.&#8221;</p><p>Altogether, Hasan Piker and the Democratic Socialists pose quite a vexing problem for the pathetic, old, square, bloviating chuds in the Democratic Party of the Chuck Schumer / Cory Booker ilk. Other bloggers (e.g., Jeff Childers at <em><strong><a href="https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/its-not-about-the-burrito-saturday?utm_source=post-email-title&amp;publication_id=463409&amp;post_id=210353424&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=64uoj&amp;triedRedirect=true&amp;utm_medium=email">Coffee &amp; Covid</a></strong></em>) have observed that Democratic Socialism is the monster that the Dems have been working on sedulously for more than a decade in their Frankenstein lab of Gramscian cultural overthrow. The monster has escaped and is now out on the highways and in the hedges terrorizing the public.</p><p>You are surely aware that the entire regular agenda of the Democratic Party has for some time been patently insane. They are still wasting the nation&#8217;s patience with debates over the self-evident idiocy of men in women&#8217;s sports, resistance to the deportation of illegal immigrants, and their obviously evil opposition to voter ID. Communism is just the icing on that fruitcake. The recent primary election victories of such prodigies as Abdul El-Sayed, Melat Kiros, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, along with the ongoing capers of Mayor Zohran Mamdani pretending to govern New York City, must be giving the old guard the vapors.</p><p>And yet, the most pathetic actual commie among them, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the Jewish, Israel-hating <em>alte kocker, </em>abides and even thrives in his new role as Godfather to this hatch of larval communist youth. This is Bernie&#8217;s revenge on the party that robbed him of two presidential nominations. He&#8217;s doing what all good Jacobins do &#8212; what they live for! He has sentenced his old comrades of the DNC to death. He&#8217;s stuffing his old enemies into the tumbrel and carting them off to the public square for execution. They can see it coming and it&#8217;s giving them the heebie-jeebies. And finally, of course, the Mamdanis and El-Sayeds and their spawn will come for Bernie, too, leaving only AOC in the ensanguinated ruins to become America&#8217;s Eva Per&#243;n. Wait for that!</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><em><span>JHK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" 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class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" 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class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Four Way Squeeze]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;. . . it&#8217;s subversion and nothing about it is accidental. it&#8217;s a well worn playbook to use the democratic institutions of a high trust state to destroy a civilization.&#8221; &#8212;El Gato Malo on Substack]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-four-way-squeeze</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-four-way-squeeze</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 12:42:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic 424w, 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!O6R8!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd83b5eec-36f0-496e-b95d-9df13643e4ab_660x372.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">One way, or another, we&#8217;re gonna find you, we&#8217;re gonna gitchya gitchya gitchya. . . .</figcaption></figure></div><p>The days might still be long, but this is a dark season in our country&#8217;s politics. Everybody&#8217;s nervous and many are furious, and yet all that emotion goes nowhere, just eats you up while you watch and wait for signs that help is on the way. What would that help even look like? Maybe a concerted effort to bum-rush a whole lot of bad ideas out of American life and replace them with better ideas that are worth building a life around.</p><p>Of the two political parties that used to vie between the interests of property and of labor, there is almost nothing left &#8212; nothing coherent, anyway. Mr. Trump &amp; Co. still stand outside a feckless Republican establishment that can only say &#8220;no.&#8221; That is bad enough, when it comes to vital matters like election reform and sound fiscal policy. But the President is methodically wearing them down with tactical work-arounds such as this week&#8217;s use of State Department visa control to prevent foreign visitors coming here just to drop birthright citizens.</p><p>Things will get super-serious when the president has to manage the government&#8217;s functional bankruptcy, the bond market crack-up under our impossible debt-burden, and all its knock-ons. It&#8217;s coming for sure, and will require a stringent reorganization of American finance, probably even of our money itself. That will be a moment when the nation understands what leadership really means, not just endless deception and fakery.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>Speaking of which, you have the other party, the Democrats. The Dems, unmoored from the interests of labor (whatever is left of it), are now strictly just the party of bad ideas and crime. The party is also, at this juncture of history, caught in a gruesome four-way squeeze that could easily drag it into extinction. Let&#8217;s count them.</p><p>First, is the basic basket of ideas that comprise the party&#8217;s platform, readily identifiable for some years now as the &#8220;Woke&#8221; catalog. Virtually all of them are ideas that a majority of the public rejects as insane. A wide-open border. We tried that for four years under the fake president &#8220;Joe Biden.&#8221; Didn&#8217;t work out so well. Added many millions to the <em>free everything</em> dole that actual citizens resentfully have to pay for. Took jobs away from said citizens. Got a lot of (mostly) women murdered and raped. Let in Gawd knows how many foreign terrorists.</p><p>&#8220;Woke&#8221; also includes the DEI products of manufactured race animus and gender confusion, especially as applied in school from K all the way to PhD. Apart from the sheer hatred and idiocy these things generated, they also led to the scrapping of merit and excellence as organizing principles for civilization. Americans increasingly reject all of that.</p><p>The second squeeze point is the Democratic Party&#8217;s criminal portfolio. The Covid-19 operation was basically theirs. It killed and injured millions, wrecked the integrity of medicine, and brought on the deliberate perversion of our election procedure. It gave us fake President &#8220;Biden&#8221; and the autopen gang that ran him. Along the way, the party weaponized the law and produced one hoax after another: RussiaGate, Impeachment, J-6, the 2024 Trump trials &#8212; treason, sedition, deprivation of rights under color of law, obstruction of justice and much more. These crimes are a huge burden for the party and they are in the process of being adjudicated, and a lot of the party&#8217;s heroes will end up in prison.</p><p>The third squeeze is the party&#8217;s widespread and atrocious racketeering operation. The process of uncovering it has been going on since Jan 20, 2025, but still has a long way to go in terms of courtroom action. The Somali <em>Learing</em> Center in Minnesota, fake hospices by the hundreds in California, Medicaid fraud in state after state. It was generally allowed to go on by state officialdom. We await the eventual indictments of Governor Tim Walz, Gavin Newsom,  JB Pritzker, Janet Mills and many other Democratic politicians.</p><p>The Democratic Party racketeering apparatus also included the money-laundering system that kicked back millions of dollars from a matrix of NGOs that washed taxpayer money into the party coffers. USAID was a major mechanism, and has been mostly shut down, but thousands of NGOs still exist and function as employment centers for young party &#8220;activists&#8221; who otherwise would have to work the espresso machines. A lot of that activism depends on <em>funding </em>from the likes of George Soros, the Tides Foundation, Bill Gates, Neville Roy Singham, and other criminally-tinged philanthropy outfits. Justice is coming for them now, too.</p><p>Which redounds directly to the fourth squeeze: the rise of communism and jihad as the Party&#8217;s new rallying cries while the other three squeezes work to put the party&#8217;s old guard out of business. Communism is the fad-du-jour among Democratic Party youth because the <em>over-production of elites</em> (i.e., college graduates) are increasingly closed out of cushy jobs in the besieged NGO matrix, threatened further by the advent of artificial intelligence, and have been trained-up by the lefty-left college faculties to fall in love with the utopian nostrums of Karl Marx.</p><p>Communism is the Party&#8217;s last resort and most of America will not buy it, no matter how heartfelt the youth faction appears these days. Americans believe in property rights. They want to own things. They don&#8217;t really enjoy being pushed around by kommissars. They want to keep Thanksgiving and Christmas.</p><p>As for jihad, it&#8217;s hard to imagine a less likely route to the hearts and minds of America. No matter how pissed off you are about Israel, jihad is not the answer to America&#8217;s problems. No, Dorothy, Kansas will not be joining the <em>Ummah</em>. You will not have to don the burka. Sharia will not replace English common-law. This is a hill that somebody&#8217;s going to die on, and in America it&#8217;s not going to be Americans.</p><p>Personally, I don&#8217;t see how the Democratic Party as currently configured survives this four-way squeeze. If President Trump can succeed in starting to reindustrialize the country &#8212; even considering A-I and robots &#8212; there will still be a need for human labor and labor will seek some kind of political representation. Maybe they can find it in the hollowed out husk of the thing that used to be the Democratic Party. Otherwise, fuggeddabowdit. The party is toast.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><span>J</span><em><span>HK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[KunstlerCast 449 — Dr. David Martin on The Covid Op and Matters of National Survival]]></title><description><![CDATA[Dr.]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/kunstlercast-449-dr-david-martin</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/kunstlercast-449-dr-david-martin</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:14:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/209886937/8767521cc57e5a952aedce45d368c7a3.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Dr. David Martin is a businessman, professor, author, inventor, and global foresight specialist. CEO of RASA Energy, M&#183;CAM International, Partner of Fully Live Productions, Creator of the M&#183;CAM CNBC IQ100 Index, and advisor to governments in over 120 countries, Dr. Martin specializes in putting humanity back into humans and business. His work can be followed at <strong><a href="https://www.davidmartin.world/">davidmartin.world</a>,</strong> and <strong>@DrDMartinWorld</strong> on social media. For more information about the economic and social issues in this podcast, feel free to read his blogs at <strong><a href="https://www.invertedalchemy.com/">invertedalchemy.com</a></strong><a href="https://www.invertedalchemy.com/">.</a></p><p>The KunstlerCast theme music is <strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/larry.unger.165/videos/">the beautiful Two Rivers Waltz written and performed by Larry Unger</a></strong></p><div><hr></div><p><em><span>This podcast is sponsored by </span><strong>McAlvany Precious Metals</strong><span>. For more than 50 years, McAlvany Precious Metals has helped investors learn about and own physical gold and silver as part of a long-term approach to wealth preservation.</span></em></p><p><em>To explore their market insights, educational resources, and see whether precious metals make sense for you, visit:</em><span> </span><strong><a href="http://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong><span>.</span></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[August 2026 | Eyesore]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;Only we humans make waste that nature can&#8217;t digest.&#8221; &#8212; Captain Charles Moore (oceanographer who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch)]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/august-2026-eyesore</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/august-2026-eyesore</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:49:50 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic" width="700" height="525" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:525,&quot;width&quot;:700,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:174677,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/209788050?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!dRKN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc7f586c1-8899-42e5-813d-226bbcce12a5_700x526.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>We continue the summer disquisition on a very particular issue of urban design: the fence &#8212; because it is the small details that add up to a big picture of how your town presents itself &#8212; and how that presentation makes you feel.  Last month, it was the stockade fence around the front of a house, sending all the wrong messages about the relationship between private property and the public realm. This month it&#8217;s the issue of plastic fences, such as the one above.</p><p>There is a mechanism in our neurology that revolts against fakery, especially things made of plastic when they are deployed among things found in nature. Is there anything more depressing, for instance, than a child&#8217;s discarded once-brightly colored plastic plaything deployed in the weeds of a neglected yard?  A trike or a deflated wading pool. The colors are faded from exposure to ultraviolet light, and coated with a creeping patina of mold. </p><p>You sense that even in decomposition it is not <em>returning-to-nature</em> because it is not a natural thing in the first place. It will ultimately deteriorate into micro-plastic particles that get into the eco-system as <em>alien material</em> and end up lodged in the workings of living organisms: bugs, fish, mice, &#8216;possums, and on upward in the chain. Eventually, a lot of micro-plastic ends up in <em>you</em>!</p><p>Behold the plastic fence above. Like a lot of things in this world, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Cheap. Effective for preventing walked dogs from shitting in your flowers. Looks like an old-timey wooden picket fence. It&#8217;s trying hard to say that it&#8217;s charming. (Fail.)</p><p>But then the years pass. The casual pedestrian comes by. He sees the green algae spreading on the pickets, he sees the broken pickets. His mind no longer registers <em>charming picket fence</em>. It registers <em>decrepitating plastic junk</em>. Another thing we register subconsciously is the essential lie that comes with the sales pitch: <em>maintenance not required</em>. This is the basic lie of all plastic material; that you don&#8217;t have to take care of it. You don&#8217;t have to paint it periodically or replace parts here and there &#8212; as in the pickets or posts of a wooden fence when they rot out. You can observe this vividly in houses with vinyl siding. Because vinyl promises <em>no maintenance</em> it doesn&#8217;t get maintained, not even cleaned once in a while. That&#8217;s why such houses collect those automobile exhaust emissions in grimy streaks and patches under the soffit and the eaves, and pieces fall off or dangle.</p><p> Yes, it&#8217;s a complex and perhaps esoteric dynamic between materials used to build things and human cognition, but it&#8217;s for real. So, the bottom line is: don&#8217;t do it. Don&#8217;t buy plastic crap if you can possibly help it. Every little bit of it contributes to the degradation of our culture. Buy better. . . do better. . . be better!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everybody Knows]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;I underestimated how emotionally committed much of the press is to rallying around Anthony Fauci. His reputation is more important to them than anything. . .&#8221; &#8212;Matt Taibbi]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/everybody-knows</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/everybody-knows</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:23:04 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic" width="645" height="394" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!nGZJ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffc042be1-37f9-4e48-8252-073c88e5627e_646x394.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Dr. Fauci Swearing to Tell the Truth</figcaption></figure></div><p>The baleful afterburn of Dr. Fauci&#8217;s one-sentence testimony (&#8220;On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer. . . .&#8221;) seeps over the land like some ghastly pestilence now. You couldn&#8217;t have seen a more vivid demonstration of manifest evil than the master bureaucratic grifter formerly self-styled as &#8220;The Science&#8221; stonewall his way through that fateful reckoning in Sen. Rand Paul&#8217;s committee hearing last Wednesday.</p><p>The score so far: over a million dead in America from the Covid-19 virus that Dr. Fauci helped develop starting as far back as the 1990s, with Dr. Ralph Baric of the University of North Carolina. Tens of thousands left with serious, lasting injuries from the vaccines they promoted. The exact number of vaccine-connected deaths unknown because the public health agencies refused to report honestly on an operation that they caused to happen. There are whole legions of high officials and doctors behind Dr. Fauci now desperate to cover their asses.</p><p>Along with the mendacious news media. HHS Sec&#8217;y Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. happened to be on Dana Bash&#8217;s CNN Sunday morning program. By the way, Dana Bash used to be married to one Jeremy Bash, Chief-of-Staff to CIA-Director Leon Panetta under Barack Obama. CNN lied consistently to the American people during the years of the Covid emergency. You have to wonder if CNN takes direction from the CIA, or maybe rogue elements in (or retired from) the agency. Sunday, Dana Bash went on offense against RFK,Jr.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p></p><div id="youtube2-MPP5exb-2rw" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;MPP5exb-2rw&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/MPP5exb-2rw?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Didn&#8217;t work. RFK, Jr. kept his cool. The harshest thing he said to Bash through all her hectoring was &#8220;you were part of the problem,&#8221; a startling understatement. Ms. Bash otherwise only wrecked herself, over-speaking her guest at every opportunity, pettifogging, and filibustering. Everybody could see what she was up to. Imagine how desperate CNN was to think that Dana Bash could bluster her way over Mr. Kennedy. He helped her expose herself as a tool.</p><p>The news media has been a very active co-conspirator in the Covid operation. You&#8217;d think Senator Paul might want to subpoena some network executives from CNN, CBS, NBC, MSNOW (especially), plus Executive Editor Joe Kahn of <em>The New York Times</em> (and his predecessor during Covid, Dean Baquet) to find out why they reported so much pure falsehood around the so-called pandemic. How did they happen to become the propaganda department for the Democratic Party, and what was the party&#8217;s interest in the Covid operation? D&#8217;unh. . . .</p><p>Everybody knows. Even the super-hyped-up cat ladies, nose-rings, NPR stars, and moiling transsters of the lefty-left know. They have kin and friends who either died on respirators with IV lines of remdesivir in their arms, or were gifted by the vaxx shots with turbo-cancer or myocarditis or neuromuscular disease or immune system failure or some mystery illness. They have been harmed even more than those of us who declined to get vaxxed. Sooner or later, that&#8217;s got to mean something.</p><p>As for Dr. Fauci&#8217;s motive in this huge fiasco. . . it&#8217;s got to be clear both from the record of his career &#8212; nicely reported in RFK,Jr&#8217;s 2021 book <em>The Real Doctor Fauci</em> &#8212; and from the 1000-plus-page personal diary he recorded on the HHS computers, that Fauci was doggedly in pursuit of glory. Glory! And that his personal <em>holy grail </em>was to find a &#8220;universal vaccine&#8221; that could defeat any virus, so as to be acclaimed by all mankind! Glory! Glory! Glory! Given what is understood now about viruses and their interaction with vaccines &#8212; for instance, the flu vaccine which uniformly fails to adapt to annual virus mutations &#8212; that Dr. Fauci&#8217;s quest was quixotic, very basically foolish. All he ever produced, from the AZT wonder-drug for AIDS he developed back in 1986 (that probably killed as many people as died from the disease itself) to the Pfizer / Moderna mRNA shots for Covid in 2021 . . . all that frantic, questing &#8220;science&#8221; just ended up killing and harming the credulous in large numbers. The buttoned-up little fellow appears to be guilty of mass-murder on an epic scale.</p><p>Of course, he is presumed to be protected by the autopen-signed peremptory pardon he received from minions of &#8220;Joe Biden.&#8221; Perhaps Dr. Fauci&#8217;s invoking the Fifth Amendment under those circumstances will prompt an overdue look at just how this autopen thing really worked. In any case, Dr. Fauci is liable to be voted in contempt of Congress this week for not answering any questions put to him. The connected legal procedure will keep Dr. Fauci&#8217;s misdeeds under public scrutiny for at least months to come.</p><p>It&#8217;s also a fact that the autopen pardon does not shield him from charges brought in state courts. The AGs of Florida, Louisiana, Alabama have declared investigations. Louisiana and Missouri have already made Dr. Fauci sit for depositions, and now they can compare his answers with the entries from his diary. It is obvious that on countless occasions and on many vital issues, Dr. Fauci told the public one thing while he believed (and recorded) the opposite in his diary.</p><p>One question that the public badly wants Secretary RFK,jr. to answer: how come you haven&#8217;t pulled the mRNA Covid vaccines altogether? They don&#8217;t work and they harm people. Why are they even still available? Would such a move amount to an admission that the whole emergency was a fake and a failure? And that the government&#8217;s own public health agencies are culpable? Would the survivors of the 268-million Americans who got the shots be a little pissed-off? What, then?</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><span>J</span><em><span>HK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" 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is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Curse It is Cast]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;I have nothing to hide. I can explain and validate everything that I&#8217;ve done.&#8221; &#8212;Dr. Anthony Fauci, recorded for TV in 2022]]></description><link>https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-curse-it-is-cast</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.kunstler.com/p/the-curse-it-is-cast</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[James Howard Kunstler]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:14:18 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic" width="600" height="589" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:589,&quot;width&quot;:600,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:58641,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/209242705?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1v8j!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F25b805cb-b85f-4f1b-9e44-c016d973f9ef_600x590.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>However you cut this Fauci business, one thing Americans have learned is how slippery and treacherous this thing called <em>The Law</em> has become. You saw it in the sundry Trump prosecutions of 2024, too &#8212; a marvelous demonstration of how to play Hide-the-Salami with the truth about anything and everything. You saw it in the structured failure to adjudicate election fraud in 2020. You saw it in the Jan-6 prosecutions and the Congressional Jan-6 Committee charade that followed. And much more.</p><p>And one thing it&#8217;s good for is demoralizing the whole citizenry to the max. Who in this land was not mortally depressed watching Rand Paul&#8217;s Senate hearing Wednesday starring Dr. Fauci? (One last time, the center of attention!) We have become a procedural republic, slipping into an impotence of legalistic self-fuckery the way old folks slip into dementia, one lost memory at a time. There sits the murderer of millions cloaked in the banality of his evil &#8212; as it was at Nuremburg eighty years ago &#8212; and this time, you just have to lump it, America. The law can&#8217;t touch him at all.</p><p>Dr. Fauci ran his own titanically corrupt fiefdom out of the nation&#8217;s public health complex. Half-a-million a year wasn&#8217;t enough for &#8212; let&#8217;s call him what he was &#8212; an executive bureaucrat. He doled out millions in grants to universities, drug companies, and putative public service orgs, and extracted his vig, about a million bucks in prize money during the Covid-19 episode, not counting his share of royalties from drug patents. A modest million. He must have thought: <em>who will even notice</em>. . . who would ever be bothered by that tiny number when Congress, the Federal Reserve, and everybody else is drowning in numbers with so many zeros it gives them tachycardia just to glance at the balance sheet.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Clusterfuck Nation is a reader-supported publication. Subscribe to this blog on Patreon or right here on Substack!</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="pullquote"><p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span>This blog is sponsored by McAlvany Precious Metals, helping investors learn about and own physical gold &amp; silver as part of a proven, long-term wealth preservation strategy. To explore their market insights, educational resources, visit: </span><a href="https://mcalvany.com/">mcalvany.com</a></strong></em></p></div><p>Plus, the thoroughly dishonorable news media was busy making Dr. Fauci a rock-star. He had everything but the stadiums. The grand old gals of Hollywood were going all moist over him. &#8220;Julia Roberts sent me flowers today,&#8221; he typed into his government-issue diary. Barbra Streisand called him on the phone. &#8220;I told her that I work listening to her songs on ALEXA,&#8221; He gushed. His <em>work</em> resulted in the deaths of millions and the injury of millions more. Neverminding that, he carefully tracked and marveled at his burgeoning fame:</p><blockquote><p>&#8220;Big front-page article abut [sic] me appeared in the Washington Post, [Dr. Fauci wrote]. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyoperbole [sic] to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson [sic] in the world.&#8221;</p></blockquote><p>Did Dr. Fauci know that his work-product, the Covid-19 episode and the operations around it, were aimed at setting up conditions to get President Trump bum-rushed out of office in favor of the vacant and pliable tool that was &#8220;Joe Biden?&#8221; Did others on the White House Covid Task Force know how that would work? Did they know who or what they were in league with?</p><p>Anyway, it didn&#8217;t turn out as well as they&#8217;d planned, of course. The four years of &#8220;Joe Biden&#8221; only proved how much that coalition of Deep Staters, globalists, and domestic riffraff hated the old American republic and its pain-in-the-ass Constitution. But when they foundered in 2024 &#8212; when old Joe-from-Scranton finally gave away the game on that fatal debate stage &#8212; and the party had to stuff his idiot veep into the nomination, the Democratic Party crossed an event horizon into total detachment from reality, where they remain to this day.</p><p>So then, where did the Democratic Party get the idea that going balls-out Bolshevik-Jacobin would be their salvation after what they already did to try to wreck our country? And by Bolshevik-Jacobin I mean the marriage of murderous envy with civic psychosis. <em>The line it is drawn; the curse it is cast</em>, Dylan prophesied half a century ago. They&#8217;re in your face now. Just listen to them. They mean it. They want all your stuff and they want you dead. They want to put your sons in a cocktail dress. They want mutts from savage lands slavering on your daughters in a drainage ditch. Will half the people in this country really vote for <em>that </em>again?</p><p>Yet great forces unseen just now are driving the nation to an autumn reckoning, and the main thing to be reckoned is the survival of the USA as a functioning republic with the credibility of law restored and the demons of lawfare crushed. The possibility of legislated election reform slips away day by day, it&#8217;s true. But, please understand, this president will not allow the coming election to get pounded down a rathole. If nothing else, we are going to get an intervention under a national security executive order, on the president&#8217;s constitutional duty (and his oath) to &#8220;take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.&#8221;</p><p>The ensuing fight over this will be short and decisive. These mad dogs will be put down, as mad dogs must be. We are going to take our country back. Depend on it.</p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><span>J</span><em><span>HK&#8217;s newest novel, a comic romp set during the week of the tragic JFK Assassination, November 1963. </span><strong>Autographed Copies from Battenkill Books.</strong></em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy Autographed&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://battenkillbooks.com/book/9781952685972"><span>Buy Autographed</span></a></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Buy at Amazon&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.amazon.com/Look-Gone-James-Howard-Kunstler/dp/1952685974/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E1B5DR4FQZXR&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRXZRhepZQ_GzcqDUlydqw.PGLRoMJh8X57TtqbTX3arjSqC7QXsRvD0DNgdLd9jHY&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=look%2C+i%27m+gone+%2B+kunstler&amp;qid=1761913483&amp;sprefix=Look%2C+I%27m+Gone+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1"><span>Buy at Amazon</span></a></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic" width="348" height="522" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:522,&quot;width&quot;:348,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:40370,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/excerpt-from-look-im-gone-by-james&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/177649017?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!fTw_!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3621e471-df35-4a77-ad16-8dd1a240942a_348x522.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><em><strong>JHK&#8217;s World Made By Hand four-book novel cycle. A small town in the remnant of the USA in the not-distant future. The community struggles to carry on. . . .</strong></em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic" width="1456" height="621" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:621,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:177411,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/158765382?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!thax!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F77177fac-3792-439a-80cc-d7e3bc01df78_1612x688.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><p><strong><span>NEW! Gallery 17 &#8212; Paintings from the 2025 Season. Have a look! (</span><a href="https://jameshowardkunstler.substack.com/p/gallery-17">Click here</a><span>!)</span></strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic" width="320" height="321" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:321,&quot;width&quot;:320,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:50354,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/heic&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/p/gallery-17&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://www.kunstler.com/i/204903243?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ghbY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9b4c6834-f182-4fc4-9204-5e437b7f1540_320x321.heic 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="icon-noB79L"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image buttonBase-GK1x3M"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2 icon-noB79L"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Luncheon on the Grass Updated (after &#201;douard Manet)</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>