Tales Of The Macabre

 

4

Months went by and without no inexplicable or frightening occurrences happening, the witch stories slowly dissipated. That is, until the strange events began.  All the cats in town began to gather in the cemetery in what was known as Potter’s Field, the area where criminals, unknown drifters, the very poor were all buried.  It was a wide swath of useless land on the very outskirts of the cemetery near to swampland. 

It was a perfect place to dispose of the unworthy, unwanted or unknown before the time of DNA and fingerprints.  In all my years I could not recall ever digging a grave in this wasteland, but I could tell by the lay of the land even with no markers present it was very much full with graves.  Graves dug by who or how many will never be known but there are plenty of them I can assure you.

At first the cats would return home to eat, sleep and go about their normal routine after a night at Potters Field but after a while they stayed there all of the time.  If a heartbroken child or old lady came to coax their pet home it would acrimoniously hiss and run from them.  Soon no cat could be found anywhere but at Potter’s Field.  That is, except the three black cats at the home of Monica, always stationed on her front porch.

I soon noticed there were no birds around, no robins, sparrows, blue jays, only grackles and in ever increasing numbers.  There were flocks of them everywhere, picking at fruit and vegetable on the vine or tree, and soiling cars and fresh wash hanging in the sunshine to dry.  It was hard to find a place that wasn’t contaminated by their presence, their excrement splattered everywhere. And their constant shrill cry that assaulted the ear from sunrise to nightfall.

And without the cats, mice and rats began to increase their populations and boldness.  They lost all fear of humans and sometimes leaped onto dining room tables while people were still eating dinner in their homes.  The situation was becoming unbearable with all the filth from these creatures and not to mention extremely unhealthy.  People were beginning to fall ill, overwhelming the few doctors in town.  Leptospirosis was a far too common diagnosis.

 

5

Once again my status as an expert on these things began to rise and I was often asked if this was a curse by the witch queen in retribution for what the town had done to her all those years ago.  I was asked if someone should go beg Monica to stop the punishment in return for whatever she asked for.  It was said maybe she only wanted an apology for what happened in the past or maybe she wanted money, but whatever she wanted she needed to return things back to the way they were.

But who would make such a request? Who had the courage to face her?  Who knew the true witch she was?  Much to my chagrin, all fingers pointed to me as the one.  I am not heroic, not even brave, and this idea I should confront the witch unnerved me to the core.  I immediately rejected any such suggestion but still the ever growing chorus persisted. Eventually beaten down and shamed into the role I acquiesced with great fear and reluctance.

With tremendous trepidation I approached the old house with the cats, huge tomcats, hissing in conjunction with the horripilation of their back hairs. My knees were knocking together when I rapped on the door and waited with pounding pulse for Monica to answer my faint tapping. When the door swung open my heart leaped into my throat. I think I might have even gasped.

Standing before me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, even though she had a look of contempt on her face and fire in her green eyes. She said to me “What is it?  Can’t I have some privacy without you yokels driving by or looking in my windows?  And now you’re coming to my house?  What’s wrong with you people?  Don’t you have anything else to do?”

Flustered, I didn’t know how to answer so I blurted “Sorry miss. But we, us in town, were wondering if there was something you wanted from us?  Have we angered you and if so how can we make amends?” She looked confused but still angry as she said “What are you talking about?  But yes you make me angry by your constant spying on me and it needs to stop.  That’s how you can make amends.  Now get out of here and don’t ever come back” and slammed the door shut in my face.

I quickly retreated back to the road, relieved that my ordeal was over and I was still alive.  But I knew the people in town will not be satisfied with my report.  And I also knew the woman was the witch I saw in the cemetery and she wasn’t telling the truth about her purpose here or that she didn’t want something.  I went to take a fast glance over my shoulder to be sure she was gone but couldn’t believe my eyes.  In the old hickory tree that dominated Monica’s front yard roosted hundreds of grackles. I leaped upon my bike and sped for home.

I knew that once I return to town I was going to make it very clear I was never going back to that house or facing that woman again.  They needed to find someone else for the job. I’m nobody’s fool, that’s for sure and certain.  The look in her eyes told me more than I ever wanted to know.

6

The town of Hopkins Falls became like a medieval village.  It was overrun by vermin, bats had settled in vast numbers everywhere, rats roamed the streets, even the dogs had all disappeared under this onslaught. Some said it was the grackles that pecked the dogs to death then ate the flesh and finally carried off the fur and bones to build nests. But I didn’t see any of that myself.

I was very busy digging graves for the many residents who were dying.  Most of the townspeople looked as if on deaths door, dark sunken eyes, sallow skin, and thin frames. The town council decided it was past time to call in help so a plea was made to the governor.

Medical personnel, experts in vermin control specializing in rats, bats, birds, even cats were brought in to offer advice and assistance.  But nothing changed. People still died, bats and birds flapped overhead, rats and mice scurried underfoot. The town had developed a malodorous stench of guano and feces throughout. The town reluctantly had to hire a helper for me due to the amount of graves needed as I was quickly becoming exhausted from pickaxe and shovel.

Serious plans were being developed by the CDC to evacuate the town and seal it off until a cause and cure could be found.  But suddenly virtually overnight, it stopped.  The CDC urged everyone to leave in spite of this in case of a resurgence, but the stubborn townspeople refused to leave.  With no obvious disease or virus present, the government really had no basis to forcibly remove the people and eventually left.  I know I had no place of refuge to retreat to, Hopkins Falls was the only place I knew.  Most of us were glad to see them go.

None of us was willing to declare witchcraft as the source of our problems to anyone outside the village for fear of retribution from Monica.  Promptly people regained their health and strength, the cats came home and killed the rats and mice, the bats left and the foul stench faded away.  All that remained were the grackles who now flocked to Potters Field.

The general consensus now was to let Monica alone, try to coexist with her in peace. Maybe that’s all she wanted after all, to live in Hopkins Falls like she did centuries before. I think she showed us only a little of what she was capable of and that was plenty enough for even the most hard headed residents. It sure was for me. We now knew how adept she was and didn’t want any more of it.  And hopefully she realized that none of us were the ones responsible for imprisoning her in that tomb.    As for the grackles, we left them alone as well.

7

After about a year of peace all hell broke out. As I lay in the cemetery one drunken sleepless night I heard a voice coming from the direction of Abigail’s broken tomb. I stumbled over and saw Monica atop it and speaking in the direction of the grackle birds in Potters Field in a strong and resolute voice. For the first time ever the birds stopped their incessant chatter and silence filled the air. She spoke with great rancor and conviction with fists waiving and thrusting in the night air.

“Two hundred and two years ago this very night occurred the slaughter of our coven, us, by this town.  Into this mass of graves you were dumped like so much trash and I was deceived into believing my daughter was dead inside this tomb, this vault I was imprisoned in.  They quickly walled me in when I was rend helpless when I stepped into the enchanted pentagram on the floor.  There I remained until the earth opened and set me free.  And now I will set you all free from the earth you are restrained in.  Your spirits are within the birds, I have summoned and bonded them to these birds these last years and now it is time for you all to rise and reunite with your spirit. I summon you my witches, rise!  Rise!  Rise!”

I could see the soil moving over the graves like a snake slithering through the forest.  Then I saw one hand, then another then many prod through that foul earth soon followed by many heads and shoulders and full bodies skeletal in nature rising in a foul stench of death and decay with birds alighting on each and every one bring flesh to the rotting bones of those disinterred.  Soon there was a sea of unearthly creatures standing in that field with arms and fists raised in victory, their voices all blending into a ghastly chorus of cackles and runic babble.

Victorious, Monica, or was it Abigail, continued.  “Now we must take our revenge, not on these present day dolts in this village but rather we must return to our reign, our Time of the Witches where those who harmed us must pay.  I and my three familiars have found a way to use this broken tomb to return to the past and place of our attempted demise and betrayal and punish those who did this to us.  Follow me now witches, follow me now to revenge!”

And with that she shape-shifted back into the rotting hag I first saw and jumped into the tomb via the same gap she was freed by.  Soon single file, one by one, the others followed behind her until there was none left in the cemetery and for the first time in years it was filled with the silent sound of the dead as it should be. With a rumble the ancient broken tomb of Abigail collapsed upon itself leaving only rubble where it once stood and again the silence returned.

 

I sat there dumbfounded at what I had witnessed and finished off my bottle. Now I don’t have to be a college professor to wonder if those witches massacre our town forefathers does that mean all of us will just disappear since our ancestors will not be around to continue our family trees?  What will the future bring, or do we have no future or even a present? Will we all just evaporate? I shuddered and reached for a fresh bottle and drank myself to oblivion.

 

The next day the townspeople noticed the grackles were gone.  Passers-by noticed the three black cats were no longer on Monica’s porch. Shortly thereafter it was determined the old house to be abandoned, empty, Monica gone. Much welcomed relief went through the community that was soon followed by curiosity as to what happened to Monica and the grackles. But this time I knew to keep my mouth shut.

 

 

Opinion

 

Those who cannot remember the past… 

T.L. Hesse                                                                              June 6, 2021

Are condemned to repeat it

Philosopher George Santayana is credited for the above quote and it never rang more true than today.  What we are seeing directed towards conservatives and most pointedly White people is little different from what Hitler and the Nazi party aimed at the Jews, Gypsies, the disabled, and others that didn’t meet the standard of being Aryan perfection. The Nazis blamed the Jews for all their woes as the left now blames Caucasians for all that is wrong with the world.

Discrimination, what used to be called reverse discrimination, is now the norm. Even the Federal government practices it, for example the stimulus program to help farmers has White farmers last in line although they do 95% of the farming.  Affirmative Action, college admission quotas, racial quotas of all types are always set to leave the White people last because of their “inborn privilege”.

Critical Race Theory is being taught everywhere now and so called “White Privilege” is touted and spewed at every turn.  Reparations should be paid to people who never felt the sting of slavery, forgetting that many White people were also slaves, some under the guise of “indentured servants” but many Whites also were slaves in every sense of the word as well.  

I am no more responsible for slavery than I am for the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs.  But I can say a huge number of White men fought and died in the Civil War to successfully end slavery; however the left feels that means nothing because they are owed everything or so they think.

Now Asians are getting the short end of the stick as well at least in university admissions and racially motivated attacks, which the left tries to blame on Whites even though the facts and surveillance videos prove otherwise. Education is being further dumbed down with standards such as SAT tests and advanced mathematics now being deemed racist.  Asians and Whites do well in these fields therefore everyone else is being mistreated, making it racist to excel because others do poorly.

History is being racially rewritten via entertainment.  For example, the Broadway show “Hamilton” with all Black cast or a film about David Copperfield with a man from India in the title role. Are these hypocritical examples of the recently minted “crime” of cultural appropriation?  I always heard imitation was the sincerest form of flattery but I guess I heard wrong.

Curiously the Left is all for open borders throughout the world but very much against the admirable use of cultural objects or practices found in other places and countries, thus this horrible cultural appropriation is a no-no, especially if done by White people. So no wearing of the green on Saint Patrick’s Day if you’re not Irish from now on.  

Hollywood and the MSM never miss a chance to disrespect the Caucasian race although we are supposedly over 60% of the population of the United States.  I am always reminded of the old movie of Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” when Lenny has had enough and begins to fight back after having his face slapped numerous times.  There used to be a Black comedian named Slappy White whose name I now find ironic these days.  If only his middle initial was “D”.

The Nazis bullied Europe taking what they wanted and disregarding various groups of people as being human.  Earlier in the takeover of Germany Hitler had his Braunhemd, known as the brown shirts, to terrorize the populace and harass the Jews with the Kristallnacht being the most infamous of their mayhem.  He had various buildings along with churches and synagogues destroyed and blamed most of it on the then current government, the Weimar Republic, he was trying to overthrow.  And by these sinister means he did indeed overthrow it eventually.

Once he took full power Hitler tasked his personal physician, Dr. Morell, with keeping him pumped up on drugs to function. He also had filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl to glorify the regime and vilify the opposition in film.  He had Joseph Goebbels to spread propaganda in speeches and print and of course Dr. Mengele to run ghastly experiments on humans.  Sound familiar yet?

Hitler had allies, most of which were not Aryan.  I’ve often wondered if these allies realized, especially the Japanese, understood they would be next on the elimination list if Hitler prevailed and actually ruled the world?  We can see traces of this stupidity today in those who hate their White skin and speak out against it with such fervor and venom.  Remember, during the Nazi era Soros betrayed his own Jewish people too. 

Do these self-loathers somehow think they have a free pass if White people are made to be second class citizens?   Perhaps because now at this time they are useful idiots to the left, they believe the two tiered justice system we now seem to have will continue infinitely and they will always prosper like Soros?  But sadly for them it’s not likely to happen this time around. 

To these people I will say read the Constitution of the United States carefully.  Discrimination of any kind is not to be tolerated including religious beliefs and skin color, and that includes any coming from you.  If our system is so unbearable, please leave, go someplace more to your liking. It might be a wakeup call for you. I lived for years in a third world country and believe me, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.  Go to the southern border and ask one of those people why they are so desperate to come to such an evil place as you see the United States.  Let me enlighten you.

The southern border is being flooded with people not entering legally but are welcomed with a cornucopia of benefits while the American population is under house arrest and enduring other unconstitutional mandates. The American population are being paid, overpaid, at the present time, although it’s finally changing in Republican states, to stay home and not work although many jobs, good paying jobs, are going unfilled.  And those with businesses of their own are being forced to close.

What if, desperate for workers or even by design, these plentiful jobs go to these newly arrived replacement workers?  What if once the jobs are filled suddenly the government spigot is completely turned off and those Americans relaxing at home are suddenly penniless?  Would they have been systematically replaced as they lounged on the couch watching sitcoms and eating popcorn? Would they have been herded into an economic boxcar?  Think not?

Are you willing to bet your life that it can’t happen?  How many times have you thought “it can’t happen” and then it did?  This is not the world we grew up in anymore nor is it the country that was founded in blood so all men could be free and equal.  Also, unlike the left, I capitalized “White” when referring to Caucasians, as all races being equal.  I again quote the words of George Santayana “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

My American Thinker Post #4

 May 8, 2021

The long dark winter and what we should do to make it a spring thaw

By T.L. Hesse

It seems we have quickly fallen into a deep crevasse in just a few months of the Harris/Biden administration as we stumbled along in the blizzard of Joe's long dark 

winter.

It's a bizarro world of opposites.

Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact

The wheels have stopped

What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out

When you reach the top

You're on the bottom

—Bob Dylan, Idiot Wind

Wrong is right, no justice is justice, executive orders supersede and bypass Congress, courts mean nothing.  Our elected representatives travel the country encouraging disorder and riots.  Illegals are treated better than citizens.  And on and on.  So much damage has been done; how can we possibly reverse it?

Like all humans, President Trump made mistakes.  He received bad advice from people he thought he could trust, should have been able to trust, actually, and got burned on more than one occasion.  He was a newcomer to Washington, one who wasn't welcomed by any means, and knew no one.

The political lifers still there seized the opportunity to rock the boat trying to navigate the swamp.  That's how he got a useless attorney general — two, in fact — and generals who were fighting the wrong war.

The administration, White House, all down the line of government, had people keeping their jobs who should have been let go.

It's ironic that the man known for the phrase "you're fired" didn't use it in real life often enough.  But now he is wiser and knows the game.

Unfortunately, the people who owed him their careers and livelihoods refused to stand up for him, including his own vice president, Mike Pence, when the election was hijacked (in my opinion), and now he is sidelined.

Down but not out.  He'll be back with a vengeance, I'm sure.

I believe that, much as we change the oil in our cars, we now need to change the oil, add antifreeze, and grease the wheels of government.

When we prevail, and I do believe we will, the following must be done.

1. People out of their positions should also lose their security clearances.  I know that when I left a job, I wasn't allowed to keep my company email address, nor was I still privy to the inner workings of the company.  So why do these people get to keep tabs on secrets when it no longer concerns them?

2. The laws on the books must be followed.  Ex-presidents should not be allowed to run a shadow government and travel around the world back-stabbing the current president.

3. Fire all career "public servants" and ambassadors, appointed officials, et al.  Vet those who take their place.  If this causes the wheels of government to slow down for a while as they learn their positions, so be it.  It will all be worth it in the long run.  This can be done one department or institution at a time, as long as it's done rapidly.  There are countless true patriots out there who would love these jobs and would do them well.  This vetting also includes political organizations.

4. Expect the agenda to be followed.  If there is a speaker of the House or Senate leader who doesn't follow through on what he was elected to do, remove him immediately.  Why we are still suffering old Mitch is beyond me.  Any member of Congress fomenting insurrection or riots is un-American anyway and needs to be expelled immediately.

5. State and local governments need the same vetting as anyone in federal office.  The days of talking out of both sides of their mouths must be over.  Anyone found to be on the take from anyone or place needs to be fully prosecuted, removed from office, and banned from office forever.  This includes relatives of the officeholder.

6. Hire people based on ability and not to fill a quota bucket.  Race, religion, sex, and everything else so "important" at this time shouldn't be a factor in hiring practices.  Get the best person for the job, period.

7. Learn from the bad examples currently in government.  Practically everything they do is wrong; Biden made his reputation on bad choices, and Harris doesn't even deserve mentioning, although I shudder to think what would happen should she take over.  Even with Obama toiling behind the curtain, we know that her world-stage faux pas instances will be cringe-worthy.

8. We need to stand by our allies and treaties.  Changing dance partners every time a new administration come in power does not present a feeling of security to our allies around the world.  Rather, it presents opportunities to our enemies to point out our unreliability.

9. Law enforcement must be allowed to do their job without fear of being unfairly accused of wrongdoing.  Take the politics out of policing, and stop the spying on private citizens — i.e., the Post Office.  Corruption must not be tolerated, and bad cops must be removed from the force.  This includes the FBI and CIA.

10. Most importantly, teachers must be vetted and tenure eliminated.  Teachers' unions need to be dismantled.  Any school receiving federal funds must teach civics and promote American values.  We are the only country in the world teaching our young to hate their own country.

There are other things I haven't covered, but these ten are among the most important to me.  We need to correct our course and get back to the founding principles that forged our country.  What we are now is almost unrecognizable.  We seem to have developed a coating of ice when we fell into that crevasse, one that froze us to inaction.  It's time to warm up, thaw out, and get ready for the fight — not a fight of arms or missiles, but one of action in our political systems to weed out the destruction and those who cause it.  Stand up and be

counted.  Bullies push you until you fight back.

If we don't fix it, who will?

I have recently read some essays in which the writer suggests forming secret organizations to combat the bizarre world we now are in, which will change nothing.  Others state that nothing is going to change no matter what we do.  So should we just surrender?  I think not.

Let's support new politicians to rout the proven poor performers or RINOs.  Term limits will never be passed by those in power, so it's up to us to make term limits happen by our votes.  Question shady voting laws or practices, and support recounts.  Consider a run for office yourself; school boards are a good start.  I believe that a return to the old days of paper ballots and one day of voting is necessary to help cut down on fraud and cheating.

Are these all new ideas?  No.  But what other rope do you have to climb out of the crevasse?  And we need to ponder this question.  If a president is elected by fraud, and it is proven, does everything he and his administration did become invalid?  God bless America.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

My American Thinker Post #3

 

April 15, 2021

China's finger-trap plan and what we should do

By T.L. Hesse

A centuries-old puzzle, sometimes used as a practical joke, is the Chinese finger trap.  It’s a simple woven bamboo tube into which an unsuspecting victim puts both index fingers but then cannot release themselves from the tight bondage of the tube, no matter how hard he pulls.

This brings to mind the "one belt, one road" project advanced by China all over the world, especially in Africa, South America, and the poorer parts of Asia. 

A poor country, grateful for Chinese aid, readily accepts the offer of a road or bridge.  After completion, China asks for payment as per the vague agreed upon terms that were presented more in terms of goodwill and helpfulness than tit for tat.

Now the debtor country may have a new road or bridge, but new money did not come with it.

China demands payment of some sort, and the poor country, still bankrupt, often pays with a naval base or a port, perhaps an airport, or key factory, or mine — whatever is advantageous to the Chinese.  Threatened and intimidated, the poor country reluctantly agrees and loses an important asset.  The Chinese dragon sinks its fangs and talons into the hapless country in prelude of swallowing it whole, gaining yet another foothold in a different hemisphere or region, sometimes ours.  Perhaps "stranglehold" is a more accurate term.  Surprisingly, the conundrum is that many such countries haven’t learned that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  China has no compunction about lying to achieve their objectives.

Not long ago, Kenya lost an important commercial port to this scheme.  A few years ago, Ecuador lost control of nearly all its oil.  Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Montenegro — they all fell into the trap.  Luckily, a few countries are wising up and are working to contain China.  Japan, Australia, and India were never in hock to China, but they are in this group.

The U.S., not so much.

A different form of this Chinese finger-trap trick is used on greedy politicians, individuals, corporations, and even supposedly benevolent organizations such as the National Basketball Association and World Health Organization. 

Nike and Apple look the other way as their products are being manufactured by slave labor while genocide is taking place. The NBA sees a vast new audience. Quickly they find there is no simple way out of this financial quagmire even if they wanted out.

And there certainly is no shortage of American politicians and many diverse corporations on the take. 

China had surmised in recent years that a nuclear war, or even a conventional one, with the U.S. would be impossible to win (although with its aggressive military buildup, there seems to have been some rethinking), so in this logic, the way to conquer the U.S. was to basically purchase it.

The one brave man, President Trump, wise to the Chinese's plan and willing to stand up to them, had to be removed even if it took a pandemic and eminent world depression to accomplish, in tandem with questionable election results achieved, no doubt, with Chinese help, to top it all off.

China has seeded our educational system with its communist ideology, has spread heavy doses of propaganda via social media and Hollywood, and may have bought off politicians, judges, and their families, et al. 

And they have been quite successful at it, as demonstrated by our current government.

The world is both bewildered and amused by what is happening in the United States while most of us are simply sickened.

We have a different but very effective form of the "one belt, one road" project, one perhaps even more lethal, as it is based on human greed, being applied.  Our country is moving toward socialism and communism every day.  We have elected officials openly hostile to our system and way of life, disdaining our history, sullying our traditions and heroes, and ignoring settled law.

Our capital is surrounded by fencing and troops, a slap in the face to all that is American.  China presents "one belt, one road" as a return to prosperity for all countries involved, just like the good old days of the Silk Road.  But in reality, it is only for China’s benefit, as always these things are.

So what is the secret of the Chinese Finger Trap?  How does one find a release from its bondage?  You must push the ends toward the middle where the woven construct is freer in size, large enough to escape its grasp.  To try to run from it by yanking your fingers in opposite directions will not undo the trick, but only tighten its grip.

We must all gather toward the middle as one force and push the ends together to escape what's going on here, which includes China’s grasp. 

That means all those on China’s payroll must exit from office or position.  Products made by slave labor must remain unpurchased.  Propaganda films must stay unwatched.  Career politicians need to become extinct.  The brainwashing must stop.  Colleges and universities on the take need to be shunned, school systems teaching un-American courses must be purged of leftist teachers and leadership.  The 1619 Project must be scrapped and President Trump’s 1776 project introduced.  Citizenship, civics, patriotism need to be taught again.  American values are paramount to our survival.  We must push toward the middle.

Pride in country and oneself are priorities, and there is no shame in being who you are, no matter what your color, including white.  Family ties, religion, and all the things that made America great need to be revived and the dark scourge of socialism scrubbed away.  We must have the rule of law for everyone without exception.  Law and order is not a disgusting term, as it has been made to seem.  A lawless society cannot flourish, any more than Somalia, Libya, or any of a number of such countries can.

We need to be self-sufficient, not beholden to anyone or anything for our vital supplies of energy, medication, minerals, and food.  Our borders must be controlled.  We must take care of our own, our veterans, our homeless and those addicted, before we add more un-vetted people who just dilute our resources and add to illegal vote counts.

And most of all, we must be careful, very careful, before we allow ourselves or anyone who speaks for us, to ever again insert our collective fingers into a trap.

Image: Carol via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5, CC BY 4.0.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.

My American Thinker Post #2

 

March 21, 2021

The Great Pretender

By T.L. Hesse

Who’s really running the show? Just imagine the following scenario: President Joe spends an evening – actually, more like an afternoon -- watching old classic films, one of which, perhaps, is a Cold War-era action movie about a Russian invasion. When not dozing off he thoroughly enjoys the film. He has his early-bird supper and shuffles off to bed. Later that night, about 3:00 am, Joe wakes up and locks himself in the bathroom with the nuclear football.

Jill suddenly wakes up and tries to check on Joe, but the bathroom door is locked. While she calls his name and tries to get him to open the door, Joe is busy typing in the nuclear codes he has scrawled on the palm of his hand. In his confusion, he blends reality with fiction and believes the movie was real life.

By the time Jill gets a Secret Service agent to help break down the door, old Joe has already started the launch sequences to annihilate Russia, and North Korea for good measure. Once entered, these codes can’t be canceled. Russia and North Korea are alerted to the strike and launch retaliatory nuclear missiles. World War Three has started or perhaps the end of the world as we know it.

Don’t think this could happen? Some Democrats are not so sure. Why else do they want to wrestle these codes away from this senile old man? They didn’t even try this with their nemesis, President Trump, but they’re doing it for their own man. They know the reality of his condition. He’s a danger to everyone, even the world. Shame on all those who put him in this position, including wife Jill and former boss Obama.

These two of all people should have known Joe was not capable of fulfilling the duties of this office. But their greed and lust for power and, in Jill’s case, status, drove them to ignore that obvious and nuclear disaster could be the result or any number of other terrible things damaging to the world or country.

All evidence points to Obama pulling the strings behind the curtain. In a circumstance such as the one played out above, though, even Obama can’t predict what a man in mental decline might do. It’s apparent that Joe won’t be in office much longer judging by his recent gaffs and infrequent appearances, but it only takes one time for something like this to happen. Is tomorrow that day?

I believe the idea to take the codes from Joe and give them to a committee will also benefit control over his successor, Harris. Obama and his time don’t trust her with the codes, and they won’t trust any who follow her either. However, one knows a committee rarely agrees on anything so, by the time the codes would actually be entered, it probably would be too late for response or surprise.

The more likely setting would be for Obama to have the football again, even if the Democrat operatives put out smoke and mirrors about a team making the decision to launch. Because in truth, what we actually have is a behind-the-scenes dictatorship and that dictator is Barrack Hussein Obama. Joe is just a cover, using his phony affable charm and well-practiced wide smile to gain office for the sham by hook or crook and slip Obama’s real choice of Harris through the back door.

I’m reminded of a children’s fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen, written in 1837. In it, all the vain Emperor’s supporters admire his alleged new clothing while the rest of the populace (like certain female Secret Service agents poolside) see only a naked old man. In truth, his supporters see the same but they are pretending otherwise. For the moment, anyway.

Joe is what is called in the business world a hatchet man, someone who is brought in to do unpopular things, change procedures, fire people, cut salaries and, when his task is done, he is usually fired himself. Joe’s good at it because this nasty-by-nature man has no empathy for the thousands he puts out of work.

Soon Joe’s time will be up, the Executive Orders all filed, and the leftist congressional crap signed on the dotted line. He'll then be moved out to pasture. He may not even be aware it happened and might believe he’s still the man.

The only opposition to his removal will be from Jill and the rest of the Biden family that is used to the money train Joe engineered over the years. They know, as Hillary Clinton has discovered, that once the power and influence are gone, so is the money tree.

So, when Joe is removed and Harris is elevated, who will be the vice president? Schumer, Pelosi, Sanders, Michelle Obama? How about Adam Schiff or Gretchen Whitmer, maybe Newsom? Is your stomach churning yet? What if they reach across the aisle “in the spirit of unity” and get a “Republican” like Romney or Collins? How about Kasich? Does that make you feel better?

It’s quite frightening how much damage has been done in just a few months. What horrors await us in the next few years? We are flooded with people across the southern border, bringing all manner of problems with them, the least of which is COVID, all at this old man’s invitation. They even get a Tee Shirt.

We are now the second-class citizens who are not supposed to exist in our country, with no hope, only devastating change on the horizon. We remain for the most part under lockdown, unemployed, without insurance or welfare. Is this what the Obama/Biden campaign slogan of “hope and change” really meant?

However, the new people (read: population) are greeted with everything under the sun, even a free ticket to wherever they care to go, much to the chagrin of the Greyhound Bus Lines CEO. No COVID passport needed (not even a test); no ID needed to vote or seek medical treatment; food and lodging and, of course, money are provided, all on the taxpayer’s dime.

What a paradise, the USA! Who wouldn’t come to such a place? The land of the freebie? It’s similar to what happened centuries ago, when marauders would reach a distant shore and the locals thought they were gods of some sort, usually to their ultimate demise.

Another slice of the American pie gobbled up is when a business hires a replacement (usually a foreigner on an HB visa working for less money) for your job and you are instructed to train him before you are let go. And make no mistake about it, you are being let go. Our country and our population are being replaced through this leftist osmosis right before our very eyes. But don’t worry: Joe is Building Back Better.

IMAGE: Joe Biden. YouTube screengrab.

My American Thinker.com Post

 

Parallels of the pendulum and the pit

By T.L. Hesse

Edgar Allen Poe's classic 1842 short story, "The Pit and the Pendulum," is about a victim of the Spanish Inquisition who is imprisoned in a black dungeon with a deep pit in the middle.  It's so dark and foreboding that he must feel his way around, but he can hear the grinding of stone against stone and the swish of a large blade swinging above him.

He realizes the walls are slowly closing in, and the large, sharp pendulum that swings above is lowering in tandem with the ever-constricting walls, making his space even smaller, pushing him slowly to the edge of the pit and his demise.

His choice is to be sliced by the blade overhead or fall into the pit filled with ravenous rats.

Just as there is almost no footing left to avoid the pit, a savior named General LaSalle of the liberating army grabs his arm as he begins to fall and saves him from certain death.

Our present political situation could be represented by this story with the left as the inquisitors tightening the walls around an imprisoned America along with a relentless blade swinging over her head, cutting our laws, traditions, and history.

Our laws and rights are being ignored or cast aside.  Executive orders are the new law, a rule by edicts with no need to go through Congress, which is fenced in like a concentration camp. 

Conservatives and supporters of President Trump are being blacklisted and accused of all sorts of misdeeds while the left does as it pleases with impunity.

Certain races are considered good, while others are the source of all evil, inherently racist. 

Our children are being indoctrinated to hate their country and people and to be ashamed of our great history due to the distortions being taught.

Our citizenship is being made a mockery of as even the right to vote for our own leaders is being diluted by non-citizens, with citizenship set to be handed out cheaply and the gates open for even non-citizens to vote in our elections illegally.

It seems widespread voting fraud and cheating are considered permissible as long as they benefit the chosen party.

There's no need for legal immigration; everyone is invited to come on in, even if he is carrying COVID to spread or is otherwise infected.  It all seems to be a move to replace the current despised population.

These disparate people are uneducated and therefore easily manipulated.  Some are used to being told what to do, while others bring in a sense of entitlement.  Therefore, they are excellent choices for the new American population.

As the walls squeeze in, our rights as a free and independent country are being diminished toward a one-world government cartel, even to the point of severely harming our own interests in the process. 

How did this all happen?

We did it to ourselves in some cases by complacency and laziness — by not vetting the politicians that run for office, nor holding them accountable once they get elected. 

By never questioning how these elected officials go from almost broke to multimillionaires once in office.  By believing everything we hear on the nightly news, no matter how slanted, distorted, or untrue it may be.  By wanting all the free stuff being promised instead of having to work for it.  By not bothering to vote in person, by leaving the election system vulnerable to fraud by voter identity theft.

How did the school curriculum get so out of tune with the truth and history?  We the people complacently let it happen.  We the people are the ones who tied the hands of America and left her in the dark, dank dungeon of socialism and dirigisme at the merciless hands of the leftist inquisition by our meek acquiescence.

Who is our General LaSalle?  When will he come to rescue us?  Who will save America from the pit or the blade's lethal swath?  My hope is that it is Lady Liberty reaching her righteous hand to pull America from her demise.  It's you and me, all of us who believe in America, the United States, and all it represents.  We are liberty.  We have to unite and link hands together to pull ourselves out of this morass.

If we need a convention of states, then let's plan one.  If we need to recall corrupt politicians, then let's get started.   And we certainly do not need to re-elect backstabbing representatives who promise one thing but do another.  We should force the removal of those party leaders who do not follow our desires.  Yes, I mean you, Mitch, Liz, Eric, Nancy, and Mitt, among others, many others who must go.

It's time for term limits, voter ID, and government that works for the people.  We must ensure that America stands forever in the form the Founders created.  We are facing the enemy within that we have long been warned of that is being aided and abetted by our foreign adversaries.  They all long to carve up America and glut themselves at the feast.  It's up to us to prevent this from ever happening.  We will soon have yet another president in a person that no one wanted and a new vice president (that none voted for) once the current "president" is no longer useful to the left cartel.  Don't expect this change at the top to be an improvement.  It won't be.

If your governor is tyrannical and working against your interests, then recall him.  The same with mayors, state senators, and/or rogue attorneys general and any other scofflaws.  Don't wait for the next election cycle.  It will probably be too late by then. 

We must start to act and do it now before it is too late.  America is steadily being nudged toward that precipice.  The poison now in our veins is quite quick-acting.  It won't take as long to kill the country as it did to conceive it.  Don't ask if there's a doctor in the house; rather, be that doctor, be that General LaSalle, that hand of liberty.  Save America from the perils of the pit and the pendulum.  Start today.

 

Tales Of The Macabre

 In The Time of the Witches

Part 1

 

TL Hesse

 

1

My name is Louis and what I am about to relate is true.  I was there and I saw it all come to pass.  But first let me give you a history of the events preceding this happening.  I am the town grave digger in the small village of Hopkins Falls Massachusetts. This area was once plagued with witches, no one knew exactly why, the history is very vague, but there were so many it was almost a task to find a woman not a witch. But the most feared and powerful was Abigail who ruled over them all.  She caused many deaths and illnesses, poisoned wells and wilted crops in the fields and was simply evil beyond imagination. 

I don’t know how exactly, some say it was with the help of a white witch or a rival witch or just plain luck, but the good people of the village managed to trap her in a tomb right here in this very cemetery almost two hundred years ago.  A few years later, so they say, after it was apparent she was truly removed from Hopkins Falls, even after some unsuccessful nocturnal attempts to free her, the other witches eventually left the area, perhaps to find a new queen.

Everything was peaceful after that for so long, for almost two hundred years now, the witches were eventually forgotten about or turned into local urban legends to scare small children at night.  But one fateful night, about three years ago disaster struck our village in the form of a massive earthquake during the night. Many houses and buildings were destroyed and unfortunately some people died as well. As usual, I was drinking alone in the cemetery at the time and saw what happened before my very eyes.

As bad as that all was perhaps the worse was the tomb of Abigail was split open by the quake leaving a gaping hole across the middle.  I saw for myself with my own eyes that awful night when a hand, fingers twisted like a mandrake root or branches of a hawthorn tree, snaked its way out of the tomb followed by a form so hideous to the eye it defies description.  The wraith stood on top the ancient tomb and cackled in the stormy night, lightening flashing.  Suddenly she transformed and became the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, sexy and svelte, with piercing emerald eyes.  Then with the next lightening flash, she was gone, just disappeared into the night. 

Now I admit I’d been drinking that night, trying to stave off my constant insomnia, but I know what I saw was real.  And although everyone scoffed at my story when I told it the next day, no one could explain why the tomb was empty, just the fragments of what must have been a long rotted wooden coffin remained, but no bones, hair or teeth, not a scrap of cloth or metal, nothing.

Some claimed her body was probably stolen years ago for some kind of ritual or that the tomb was always empty, the story of the witch queen was all just a hoax, perhaps to lure tourists to this little town, which I will admit, doesn’t have much going for it to bring visitors to it.  But I know what I saw and no one can convince me otherwise.

2

Some months later most of the damage had been repaired, funerals long over, my busy time digging the graves at an end, things seemed to be back to normal in Hopkins Falls.  But one day the town was abuzz over the newcomer who had moved into an old house just outside the town.  No one could remember the last time someone actually moved into Hopkins Falls, in fact usually it was just the opposite; people were always moving out of the town.

I had heard she was young and very beautiful, but what stopped me in my tracks was that she had green emerald eyes, just like the wraith I saw climb out of the witches’ tomb those months before.  Although my heart was racing, I knew I had to see for myself this woman, if she was indeed the apparition from the tomb. 

I soon found myself on my bicycle wheeling towards the house at the edge of town.  I didn’t know what I was going to do when I arrived there, knock on the door or peak in the window or maybe just keep on biking down the road? But that was all decided for me when I reached the crest of the hill right before the house and saw her standing on the porch looking directly at me with those green eyes.

Unnerved, I almost dumped my bike but I regained enough composure to meekly nod my head at the lady dressed in black on the porch and continue on down the road.  Arms crossed, she maintained her stare as I passed her house without moving or acknowledging my nod.  My heart felt about to burst as I quickly plodded a route back that would not have me pass her way again.  I was sure it was she, the one from the tomb.  And it almost seemed that she had recognized me even though I thought I hadn’t been observed that night in the cemetery.

I felt a cold chill envelop my whole being.  Am I now in danger for what I had seen?  What could I do to protect myself from evil?  I had no idea what to do and I had no one to ask.  I knew I would just be laughed at or told I drink too much or spend too much time alone in the cemetery.  Both of which I do.

My insomnia throttled up after that trip on my bicycle, I almost never slept except for scattered cat naps during the day, but even those were quickly ended by any sudden noise or commotion.  But I took some small comfort in that so far I had not been visited by what I now believed was the ancient witch queen in disguise. 

Although drunk that night, I could still vividly remember what I saw after the transformation from beast to beauty. She had long legs, ones that started with slender shapely thighs below a plump rear that can only be described as an upside down heart.  Those thighs narrowed to sexy calves ending in thin ankles with small dainty feet.  The top side of that inverted heart shaped butt were curved hips and tiny waist gently rising up a subtle broadening back leading to a slender neck. Her jet black hair cascaded down her back in a long raven flow.  Her face was very beautiful, oval shaped with pouty full lips and liquid eyes of green. Her fingers were long and delicate, her voluptuous breasts full and inviting.  Exactly like the newcomer in the old house.

Many of the local men, both married and single, were enthralled by her beauty and daydreamed of a romantic encounter with her, but none were bold enough to approach her. It was said her name was Monica but no one knew her last name or any more about her. She was the mystery girl of many a man’s dream in Hopkins Falls and the subject of many a catty remark by the women.

Strangely she was never seen in town, even to buy supplies.  There was much speculation on how she fed herself.  Some thought she had a perhaps married lover that brought her necessities during his late night illicit encounters, one that may have even purchased the house for her.  Naturally this brought yet another round of rumors as to who that lover might be.

And that was another thing, she seemed to never need any repairs to her old house, no handyman or plumber was ever summoned. She quickly became the talk of the town, almost an obsession, especially for the jealous women who felt threatened by her beauty. And those birds, those grackles that flocked in her yard day and night.  Why was that happening?  They were disgusting birds, much like crows, black but with an iridescent purple blue sheen to their head and neck.

All in all, it was very strange and soon some of the talk turned to what I said I saw that night of the earthquake in the graveyard. Could she be Abigail returning to the town that imprisoned her hundreds of years ago?  Did she plan on revenge? All those who harmed her were also in the cemetery she came from, there was no one living that caused her suffering, so why would she take revenge on innocent people?  They played no part in what their ancestors did.

This churned and boiled for several weeks until finally it exploded like a pressure cooker left on the stove for too long. Some wanted to confront Monica, others wanted to hide and beg for mercy if she came for them.  Suddenly I, Louis the drunken gravedigger, became the authority on the subject.  People sought me out, even brought me bottles of rum, to ask me my opinion or to once again relate my tale of that dreadful night.

I must admit I somewhat enjoyed the attention and newfound respect, but the truth of the matter was I didn’t know any more about it than anyone else, other than what I had witnessed.  I could only say that if she was indeed Abigail now in a pretty wrapper as Monica, those who lusted after her would be repulsed if they saw the vile worm infested rotting meat I saw climb from the tomb that dwelled inside that lovely wrapper. I would laugh and wisely repeat the old adage my grandmother often said, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’.

3

The road in front of Monica’s house became well traveled.  Many were scouting her out, observing any activity so as to have a new piece of gossip to share. It was well reported that Monica had three black cats that never left her porch, as if guarding the house.  Black cats!  Aren’t they the thing of witches?  And she herself when rarely spotted was always dressed in black as well. 

Rumors flew, it was said she had a large cauldron in the back yard that was always brewing something with a never ending fire under it and there was always an old broom on the front porch. Wasn’t all this the things of witches? Lord help us, Abigail has returned to kill us all!

The more sensible tried to calm things down, these were just unfounded rumors, no one actually saw a cauldron, and a broom on a porch was just a broom, used for sweeping the porch and that is all.  Many people had cats, because she liked black ones meant nothing, it was just her preference.  Some people liked calico cats, did that mean something sinister?  This was the twenty first century, not the 1800’s, so get a grip on yourself and your wild imagination.

But still the madness prevailed and there was actually talk of gathering a mob and burning her house down.  It was at this point the sheriff stepped in and declared he would pay a visit to Monica as sort of a well fare check and to welcome her to the community.  Everyone needed to let him do his job and he would handle it and let them know what he found if they just remain calm.

The sheriff drove out to the old house. Before he left his car he noticed nothing unusual but as he approached the porch the cats stirred and the hair on their backs raised up. Cautiously he made his way onto the porch and knocked on the door.  The cats were now hissing at him which was starting to make him very uncomfortable.  He loosened the snap on his sidearm just in case the cats were rabid when Monica quickly opened the door.  “Afternoon madam.  I’m Sheriff Barnes and I’m seeing if you are doing ok here and to welcome you to our community.”  He was taken aback at the sight of her and darkish demeanor.

“But I must admit, Miss Monica is it, I’m curious as to why you chose Hopkins Falls to move to.  Seldom do we get a new citizen.  More people leave than move in, I’m afraid to say. You don’t have to answer that, I was just wondering. Sorry.”

She looked for a long moment at the sheriff who couldn’t help notice her exquisite beauty and the fact her eyes were the same bright green as those of her cats. Finally she let out an involuntary sigh, that staggered zigzagged sigh of the melancholy, a subtle stuttered practice death rattle from deep within the soul before she spoke in a sad but melodious voice.

“I have just suffered the loss of my entire family.  I moved here to be left alone until I can recover from my loss, where I have no friends or neighbors to interfere with my grief, my healing. Most people have good intentions, but in reality they cause more grief then they alleviate. I wish to be left alone at this point in my life and my real estate agent found this place for me.  Now if there is not anything else, I bid you good day” and closed the door.

With the cats still hissing at his heels, the sheriff retreated to his squad car and left the scene. He wanted to check the property but under the circumstances and the lady’s discomfort he felt he had no just cause to do so; especially without her permission, which he was sure would not be forthcoming.

He returned to town and gave a brief summary of his observations and concluded with “What we have here is a young woman deep in grief who simply wants to be left alone. She wears black because she’s in mourning. I say for you all to mind your own business and let her alone.  It’s none of your business who visits her property or what she does on it or how she gets her supplies or what pets she has. Now leave her alone and I don’t want to hear any more of this witch nonsense.  That all started with one of Louis’s delirium tremens episodes anyway during an unfortunate earthquake.”

This explanation satisfied some, others determined to step up their surveillance. I felt a bit insulted, although I do admit to an occasional hallucination after I’ve been drinking hard.  But I know what I saw that night. And I saw the witch climb out of her tomb and transform into Monica and disappear. And that’s a cold hard fact.  I just couldn’t prove it.

 

 

{End of part 1.  Part 2 upcoming soon.}