Welcome to the brave new world of cold hard authoritarianism. (You WILL enjoy it.)

Criminalizing political differences used to be something reserved for places like the old Soviet bloc, Communist China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. It appears that the good ol’ U.S. of A has jumped wholeheartedly into the, um,  welcoming embrace of those nightmare nations.

You can’t mention violent acts committed by trannies on social media. We did, and got suspended from Twitter.

But The Pilot can strongly insinuate Calvary Christian Church aided and abetted threats of violence against trannies — and possibly power substation sabotage –  by protesting a drag show at Southern Pines’ Sunrise Theater.  No problem with that.  No suspension from any social media platforms.

Never mind the tranny that murdered those nine people at the Nashville school.  Never mind the publicity surrounding the national “Trans Day of Vengeance.”  *There’s nothing to see or say here about the trannies.* 

Our health care is being shoved fully into the welcoming embrace of the government bureaucracy.  Imagine IRS-style compassion deciding whether you really need those pills or that device or that procedure.

We’re all being pigeon-holed into little groups and being told to fear everyone else.  Or, in the case of white men, to kowtow and bow and beg for forgiveness from all we have “oppressed.”

What history lessons are in schools start with and focus primarily on the Civil Rights movement and the hippies. The Civil War gets a little lip service, thanks to slavery.  Our Founding Fathers are dismissed as slave-owning bigots. “Oppression” of blacks and women are the key themes.

Our churches feature pious lectures about “social justice” and hymns about socialist utopia.

Look at all the people being held in jail in DC — many without charges, or for doing things like accepting an officer’s invitation to enter The Capitol building. Lives have been ruined, and more are about to be.  Drive-bys are reporting that more than 1000 additional MAGA activists and Trump supporters are still to be arrested.

Meanwhile, Antifa and Black Lives Matter nut jobs can physically attack police and firebomb buildings.  Few to no arrests.  And Kamala Harris even bailed some of them out of jail.

The aforementioned nut jobs rioted near The White House so fiercely that scores of officers were injured and president Trump had to be evacuated.  *YAWN* said the drive-bys and the political establishment.

A mob can trash and burn down a city, and that city’s cops will get “trained” about, um, “sensitivity” and “social justice.”

The far-left prosecutor in New York City  has indicted former president Donald Trump for an out-of-court settlement he made.  Legal experts on both sides of the aisle say the case against Trump is weaker than the one George Holding pushed against John Edwards. (And Edwards got a hand-slap.)

The Trump indictment is a first in the nearly three centuries of our country’s history.  Our politics have always been nasty and brutal — especially from 1861-1865.  But since then, we’ve come together and cobbled together a society where people’s rights and property were protected from government tyranny as well as other Americans.  At least we thought we did.

Wearing a red MAGA hat in public can get you verbally or physically assaulted.

Protest against government overreach, and you’re very likely to get an FBI SWAT team on your front porch.

Stories like Pfizer’s alleged COVID misconduct and our state’s financing of pediatric sex change procedures get shadow-banned thanks to a compliant drive-by media, special interest domination of advertiser dollars, and government strong-arming.

The uniparty in Congress is claiming their Tik Tok ban legislation protects us from the Commies. Actually, it may give the authoritarians another tool to crack down on liberty-loving troublemakers.

We’ve got DEI, CRT, and SEL ravaging our schools, colleges and workplaces.  White men are declared the enemy and openly discriminated against.  Dare to speak against this trend, and you’re declared a bigot and black-listed from future employment or education opportunities or even business opportunities. Shades of Hitlerian Germany and The Soviet Union.  Keep your mouth shut, do what you’re told, and we MIGHT let you live — or possibly prosper.

I like how FL Gov. Ron Desantis says his state will not aid extradition efforts by NYC against the former president, a NYC native who is now a Florida resident.

Trump has been indicted by people from a city where pooping on the sidewalk is a normal, every-day activity.  Good luck finding some of the former president’s peers to serve on his trial jury. 

There’s no doubt that Trump can’t get a fair trial in NYC.  But does that matter, though, to the authoritarians in both parties giggling to themselves over this latest development?  The visual of Trump getting fingerprinted and mug-shotted is what they want and need.  That provides them a key piece of ammo to dismiss and discredit the rest of us out here trying to preserve what little freedom and liberty we have left. 

Political dissent is an important part of this country’s fabric.  Being able to destroy someone and ruin their life because they get in the way of your political ambitions is wrong on so many levels.

What’s going on here is not that different from what people in Russia, the Old Soviet bloc, Vietnam, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela have already been through. Look how, um, *well* things have turned out in those places.

Neither the Republicans nor Democrats CAN or WILL save us. Our hard work can. Leaders who love and still believe in liberty can.  Are there any left?

Regardless of who you voted for in 2016 or 2020, the Trump indictment should give you pause.  There, but for the grace of God, goes YOU. ( and your friends, and your family …)