"The Taxman" (opens in separate window)

games nations play

saturday, april 18th, 2026

You have entered the season of chaos. Better get used to it. The center quit holding a long time ago, and now even the margins are quivering. Buckle up and batten down. It will probably get rougher and weirder. Struggle is everywhere.

Will Iran reopen Hormuz or not? They really only have days to stop playing games with the rest of the world. It will soon be clear whether they can negotiate in good faith. It doesn’t look good. Their theology of jihad contains a permission structure for lying to their enemies to accomplish their aim: which is, to annihilate the hated infidels (that’s us). I am sick of serving in Congress with immoral freaks who abuse their office and bring dishonor to the institution.

That is the reason for this conflict, by the way. They have promised over and over again to destroy us. Why not believe them? The thousand pounds of enriched uranium is still stashed somewhere in the country. It has only one purpose, to be made into bombs, and they’re not allowed to keep it. The message is pretty simple, but they don’t seem to get it. There are probably big fissures between the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), the secular government of President Masoud Pezeshkian, and the regular army (the Artesh). Are they even able to communicate with each other? You and I don’t know, though Mr. Trump and his people might know.

I doubt that Mr. Trump wanted to drop the hammer on Iran last Tuesday, as he vowed to do. But it might eventually be necessary to turn the lights off there if they don’t stop screwing around. Does Iran have an inexhaustible supply of missiles and drones, as some observers seem to believe? I doubt it. We blew up their factories. We have the option and the ability to track down whatever they’ve got left in storage and destroy it. One way or another, we are going to end Iran’s ability to be a problem for the rest of the world.

The American Left (the Democratic Party) would like nothing better than for Iran to thumb its nose at the rest of the world (at us especially), because the American Left has launched its own sort of Jihad. It has been waging war on the rest of us in America for ten years, and you can be sure that, as springtime blossoms over the land, they intend to ramp up the action.

Expect Act One on May Day. That is the day that the Left customarily celebrates socialism. It started off decades ago as a holiday for industrial workers. There are few enough of those left in the USA these days that they constitute less than a critical mass of all American workers. They have been replaced by grifters, fraudsters, and other parasites looking to get money-for-nothing from the rest of us without working at all. That is the Democratic Party’s raison d’être. They are now strictly a racketeering operation.

The Left will stage widespread demonstrations around the country on May Day. The several No Kings demos in cold weather were rehearsals for the spring and summer fun. You can expect the May Day action to turn into riots. Antifa is still very much at the Party’s beck and call for sparking that sort of thing. The idea behind it is to provoke the president into reacting forcefully to the Left’s riots so they can brand him “a tyrant.” If May Day is insufficient to accomplish that, wait until the extravaganzas around the Fourth of July when the USA ostensibly gets to celebrate our 250th birthday as a republic.

Considering that the Republican majority in Congress was unwilling to pass an election reform bill, it is also a fairly sure thing that sometime between May Day and July Fourth the president will have to issue an executive order setting out requirements for a free and fair election: voter ID, citizens only, highly restricted and tightly regulated mail-in voting, no electronic ballot-counting machines, etc. That alone will inflame the Left, who cannot win elections without ballot fraud.

Of course, Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, Mary McCord, and the lawfare ninjas will file lawsuits to negate any executive order on election procedures, and their select federal judges will issue injunctions against it. Which will provoke Mr. Trump, in turn, to go full Abe Lincoln on them and declare an insurgency requiring extraordinary executive powers to overcome the Left’s ploys — just as Mr. Lincoln had to overcome the traitorous Confederates of his time. That will get Mr. Trump branded “a super-tyrant.”

From that point, we’re really in uncharted territory. But, it being the nation’s 250th birthday and all, a great majority of US citizens may be in no mood by then for any further pranking and punking by the Left. They will be more than eager for trials, perhaps by military tribunals if the corrupt federal judiciary proves intractable.

This is the kind of thing we have to look forward to as 2026 keeps rolling out. But meanwhile, events might get even hotter over in Euroland. The joint is primed to blow. They’ve had enough jihad, too, and enough of the retarded political leadership that allowed it to be inflicted on the people of Europe. It’s already started. Ireland is about to go up in flames, a case of the government’s utter betrayal of the people. After Ireland, cue the United Kingdom. They’ve had enough of hostile Islam and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It’s going to be a long, hot summer. They don’t call this the Fourth Turning for nothing.

© 4.10.2026 by James Howard Kunstler, "ClusterFuck Nation".

A Day In The Life.

Up at 10:00a on Saturday, a mild, 57°F, windy, overcast, breezy morning, I upped the heat, made coffee, fired-up the Win-7 Pentium HP Desktop to let its 32 million lines of code load, had breakfast, had a couple smokes in the garage and checked the leftover errands list. I scanned the weather -- nice but dry weather for the next 8+ days, and ***FIRE HAZARD*** declared region-wide -- and the rapidly-breaking news, tuned into the "CP Show Podcast" from last week, and relaxed for the morning.

I had some quick, local errands to run, and after those, I kept scanning the news, but the weather forecast caught my eye: upper 80s and low-90s for the coming week. Drought and ***FIRE HAZARD*** everywhere in the Susquehanna Valley Region. Swell. Summer's coming soon. I spent time on the back patio, enjoying the nice day, as I smoked (Marlboros), watched the evening news, and switched to Discovery's "Homestead Rescue" until 1a. Lights out

Sometimes I think... and then I forget.

Up at 9a on Sunday, a bright, sunny, windy 59° morning, I skipped the heat and made coffee. I lounged around until almost noon, got ready for the day, and started 2 loads of laundry. I had a few condo chores to do, and the day went fast,

Laundry done, chores done, I took a short nap on the LR couch. I watched the evening news, and switched to History's "American Pickers" and Discovery's "Filthy Foprtunes" until 1a, and called it quits for the night.

Up at 8a on Monday, skipped the heat, made coffee and tuned into the "CP Show" from 9-12. No pain so far. After breakfast, I got ready for the day, and left for the usual Monday trip down south, on 4 errands. Traffic was heavy, and slow. It was over 2hrs until I got home. After unloading, I had lunch, did a couple of small chores, and had a 2hr snooze on the LR couch.

I closed the condo as the evening news came on, had dinner and switched to MT's "Iron Resurreection" and "History's Greatest Warriors" until midnight, and unplugged. JoAnne, my cleaning lady, would be in at 8:30a tomorrow.

Up at 0-DARK-THIRTY (6a) on Tuesday, a 71° morning, forecast to hit the upper-80s, turned on the AC, made coffee, and scanned the news and weather websites. Got pain this morning. JoAnne arrived and got to work. Sis arrived at 10:30 and we left for an 11a appointment, at our Family Funeral Home, to get our funeral procedures arranged and paid for. Back home by 12:30p, Sis left, JoAnne had finished and closed-up, so I had lunch, and relaxed after doing some minor chores.I took a 2hr nap, and the t-storms moved into the area, for the next 5-6hrs.

I like t-storms and rain, snow and blizzards, so I enjoyed the deluge. I watched the news, and switched to History's "Curse of Oak Island" until midnight. Lights out.

Up at 9a on Wednesday, a sunny, clear, 73°, forecast to hit 93° -- far too hot, far too early -- I left the AC set at 73°, made coffee and tuned into the "CP Show", while checking the phone for messages. Just 2. I called my CPA to schedule next Monday for picking-up my finished tax returns. I had an ealy lunch, and got ready for the Weis Markets (Enola PA) delivery, between 12-2p. Amazon/Weis notified me that the delivery was "delayed, but on the way", and it finally arrived around 3:15. I tipped the driver, unpacked the load, and headed for the couch, with a lot of pain.

The short nap, combined with aspirin and Tramadol, helped with the roaring pain, for the next 3-4hrs, as I watched the evening news, skipped dinner, and switched to Discovery's "Conspiracies & Coverups" (new series), "Expedition Unknown" and "Expedition Files" until 1:30a, and bagged it for the night.

Awake at 8a on Thursday, I rolled over and went back to sleep until 10:15. I needed that. I left the AC at 71°, made coffee, and scanned the weather and news. The lawnmower crews were here, and temps were forecast to hit 93°, though yesterday it was "only" 88°. I had pain again, but a 250mg aspirin fixed hat for a few hours. Sherry would be coming by around 1p, so I lounged around until 12noon, and got ready for the day.

Sherry arrived around 1p, and we stayed inside, due to the heat. We had 4 great hours together, and she was gone by 5:30, with some stops to make on the way home. I watched the evening news, had dinner and switched to History's "Ancient Aliens" until 1a. Lights out.

Up at 8:30a on Friday, a sunny, windy, warm 72° morning, I left the AC at 73°, made coffee and had a smoke in the garage. Just a little R/S pain. After tuning into the "CP Show", I got a delivery from Amazon. I had several local ewrrands to run, so I left around 12noon, in heavy lunchhour traffic. Back home in an hour, I worked on a garage project, and began to feel very sick...

After throwing-up and with a temp of 100.6°, I collapsed on to the LR couch, and went to sleep. I'll get this posted, maybe, tomorrow...

As The Worms Turn.

The Russians have a phrase for it: negotiation-incapable (ne peregovorosposobny). That is what the Iran delegation demonstrated during a long day of talks with the US team over the weekend in Islamabad. What part of “no nukes” didn’t they understand? All of it, apparently. The corollary question on the table — arguably more pressing for Iran — was: how much more punishment are you willing to suffer to sustain your dream of atomic bombs? You have no defenses left, no control of your air-space. Do you just want to sit in the dark for the next hundred years? They’re holed up in a bank demanding three large pizzas, a helicopter, and a personal phone call from Sydney Sweeney.

Such is the obduracy of the Shia death cult. They have no friends left in the world. Russia, you think? Not really. That relationship was pegged to geopolitical dynamics that are dead and gone. Russia is much better off normalizing relations with the USA so we can both be safe and secure in our spheres of influence. Europe is busy committing suicide. In this situation, China is little more than Iran’s very unhappy customer. Maybe Uncle Xi Pooh Bear can try talking some sense to whoever is left in-charge at the IRGC. . . give up your lunatic bomb dreams and just re-open the dingdang gas station! Pretty Please!

Anyway, why interfere with US operations in Hormuz? The USA is wresting control of the Persian Gulf from these maniacs who can’t be trusted to just stay open for business. Japan, the two Koreas, Indochina, India, also have to stand by with mounting frustration as these jihad-happy idiots starve Asia’s economies. A change in Iran’s attitude can’t happen soon enough and Mr. Trump is on the case. The blockade starts at 10a.m. today, Monday. Whatever’s left of Iran’s revenue stream goes out the window. Maybe they lob some rockets and drones at our ships. Maybe they hit something, maybe not. We’ll see where they launch from and that will be the end of X-number of remaining launch sites. Then there are the bridges, the power plants. FAFO mofos.

About those 1000 pounds of 60-percent enriched uranium (their precious bomb fixings). . . . You must imagine that it is either buried deeply under the rubble of Fordoz and Isfahan, or maybe distributed in many secret hidey-holes all over the place. . . or perhaps sitting booby-trapped somewhere. In short, there are many reasons to think that no special forces operation will be able to get at it. So, the only other conclusion is that Iran must be driven to a place where they will surrender the stuff willingly themselves. That could be a harsh place.

While you stay tuned to events there, plenty more developments break elsewhere in this raucous world. Viktor Orban was voted out in Hungary. How did that happen? Maybe genuine public sentiment (sixteen years of Viktor O enough?). Maybe a whole lot of Soros money involved, plus EU backstage ballot shenanigans. Mr. Orban conceded graciously in any case, patriot that he is. Expect a blizzard of narratives to follow. The truth will be hard to sort out. And it remains to be seen whether the new president, Peter Magyar, will throw open Hungary’s borders, hoist the pride flags, and give up importing Russian oil and natgas — all per the EU’s policy regime.

Here in the homieland, the fabulously loathsome Rep. Eric Swalwell, lover of Fang-Fang and accused multiple rapist of his office girls, shameless serial liar, and all-around uber jerk-off, has lost his shot at bringing additional ruin as governor to the forlorn state of California. Might even be ejected from his seat in Congress. Oh, happy day!

Rumored to be released this week by the House Intelligence Committee: the transcript of former Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson’s testimony about events that led to Impeachment #1 of Donald Trump in 2019. The transcript has been locked away in a vault since October, 2019. Tulsi Gabbard rooted it out. The shadowy Atkinson played a crucial role in positioning “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella to spark off charges of the “Ukraine quid pro quo” phone call against the president. Ciaramella was then a CIA agent planted in the National Security Council. He may have been involved earlier in co-authoring the fake Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that kicked off the RussiaGate hoax in 2017. For Impeachment #1 Atkinson reportedly changed the whistleblower rules to allow Ciaramella to convey second-hand hearsay from sketchy NSC member Col. Alexander Vindman to Rep. Adam Schiff, then chairman of the House Intel Committee. The chain of actions suggests the impeachment was a CIA setup.

The CIA director at the time was Avril Haines. Ms. Haines ran the London CIA field office during the period when former MI6 agent Christopher Steele was concocting the notorious Steele Dossier at the center of RussiaGate. It has long been suspected that RussiaGate was a joint CIA / MI6 operation. Isn’t it about time that Avril Haines sat for a deposition in these various matters? It might be nice to know if our main Intel Agency was involved in serial schemes to overthrow the US government.

© 00.00.2026 by James Howard Kunstler, "ClusterFuck Nation".

https://www.kunstler.com/p/as-the-worms-turn

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© 00.00.2026 by ???, "???".