‘Memorial Day Declares: The Folk Religion of the US Is Pleasure and Mammon’

 

This Memorial Day we will hear the high-sounding phrases we have heard in the past, that we are stopping the normal routine of life to honor all the US soldiers who have died fighting in wars.  However, when one looks at how the peoples of the States will actually be spending the Memorial Day holiday, the honoring of fallen soldiers is about the furthest thing from the minds of very many of them.  The news stories about Memorial Day reveal where their focus and interests lie:

First, hitting the road.  This is one of the most common stories one runs across, how many millions will be driving, flying, etc., to some faraway locale:

AAA projects 45.1 million people will travel at least 50 miles from home over the Memorial Day holiday period* from Thursday, May 22 to Monday, May 26. This year’s domestic travel forecast is an increase of 1.4 million travelers compared to last year and sets a new Memorial Day weekend record. The previous record was set back in 2005 with 44 million people. Despite concerns over rising prices, many Americans say they’re taking advantage of the long holiday weekend to spend time with loved ones, even if the trips are closer to home.

 

“Memorial Day weekend getaways don’t have to be extravagant and costly,” said Stacey Barber, Vice President of AAA Travel. “While some travelers embark on dream vacations and fly hundreds of miles across the country, many families just pack up the car and drive to the beach or take a road trip to visit friends. Long holiday weekends are ideal for travel because many people have an extra day off work and students are off from school.”

Second, movies.  After travelling, the focus is often on the rollout of Hollywood’s summer blockbusters, and this year’s selections are bigger and more Trumptastic than ever:

The Memorial Day box office is on fire.

 

Disney’s live-action redo of Lilo & Stitch and Tom Cruise‘s final Mission: Impossible movie, from Paramount and Skydance, fueled the biggest start-of-summer holiday weekend of all time, based on Sunday estimates. Lilo & Stitch blew away all expectations with a record-smashing, four-day domestic debut of $183 million, and a jaw-dropping $341.7 million globally, while Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning opened to a series-best $77 million domestically and $190 million worldwide. The domestic numbers includes a three-day weekend tally of $145.5 million for Lilo, and $63 million for Final Reckoning.

Third, spending money.  Consumerism is the final piece that completes the Memorial Day celebrations:

While Memorial Day sales tend to be focused on big-ticket purchases like furniture and appliances, the top category consumers say they’ll shop is food/beverage, which correlates with hosting – and a high likelihood of shopping at grocery and big box stores. Eating at a restaurant or bar came in second, and clothing purchases in third, which tracks with Memorial Day serving as the gateway to summer (and a weekend for summer prep).

 

Top Memorial Day weekend purchases:

 

·         Food/beverages for a cookout, 34%

·         Eating out at a restaurant or bar, 19%

·         Clothing, including shoes and accessories, 17%

·         Home improvement and gardening, 17%

·         American flags or patriotic decorations, 15%

·         Home goods/décor (e.g., plates, pillows, art), 13%

·         Party decorations and serving ware, 10%

·         Electronics (e.g., laptop, smartphone, smart watch), 10%

·         Pool or beach gear (e.g., swimsuits, towels, floats), 10%

·         Tickets to an event or festival, 10%

 

Our survey also revealed that more shoppers are planning to shop Memorial Day weekend sales this year, with 36% (up 18% vs. 2024) of consumers planning to shop the sales and spend an average of $289 (-$8 vs 2024).

To sum up:  For the average person in the United States the meaning of Memorial Day is travelling to a strange new place to which he has no roots so he can watch a Mission: Impossible movie marathon on one screen while buying an IKEA couch on another and taking a bite out of a brontosaurus-sized burger smothered in bacon and sausage besides.

Voilà!  Holiday perfection!

With such misguided goals that are bereft of any meaningful spiritual aspects, it is no wonder that many in the States have mixed feelings about Memorial Day:

 . . .

The rest is at https://orthodoxreflections.com/memorial-day-declares-the-folk-religion-of-the-us-is-pleasure-and-mammon/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

‘Insights into Theopolitics from an Episode in New France’

 

Sometimes seemingly small and insignificant events contain within them things of much deeper importance.  Such is the case with a controversy that has been roiling one of the States of Dixie:  la Nouvelle France, Louisiana.

The Louisiana Senate once again appears to be doing its customary dirty work in this legislative session (i.e., protecting the entrenched interests of the powerful and wealthy in our State), by refusing to bring up some of the vehicle insurance reform bills passed by the House for a vote, and modifying others.

Many folks are rightly upset at the senators’ actions, which they decry as a violation of democracy, defined by them as an unquestioning obedience to the will of the voters.  If the Senate is standing in the way of good legislation, why not just get rid of it? – that question was the upshot of some of talk radio host Moon Griffon’s commentary of recent days.

We are wading into deeper waters now; critical issues are being touched upon.  Let’s begin grappling with them.

First, there is the misunderstanding of democracy.  People believe that this system empowers the individual, but, when implemented at the population scales at which it is used here in the US and in many other democracies/republics, it actually disempowers most people.  This is because money is needed for the candidates – who are unknown to the greater number of voters in their districts, cities, States, etc. – to advertise, to introduce themselves and their platforms to the voters.  Those who provide the candidates with the campaign cash needed to win an election obtain by far the most influence with individual candidates, not the voters.  Democratic elections in which there are thousands of voters (or more), as many political observers have pointed out, from G. K. Chesterton to Ron Paul, is merely a mask for oligarchy/plutocracy.  Such is the case with the Senate (where the wealthy personal injury lawyers hold a lot of sway) and most other elected offices in Louisiana and elsewhere.

On the other hand, elections in small towns and other little districts where all the voters and candidates know one another, are a different matter entirely.  No amount of advertising is able to propagandize about any of the candidates effectively.  In the small jurisdictions, it really is the voters who are empowered rather than the oligarchs with their money bags.

Second, the total identification of ‘the people’ with the government is not the definition of freedom but of totalitarianism.  Wilhelm Rӧpke makes this point in his book A Humane Economy (ISI Books, Wilmington, Del., 1998, pgs. 67-8).  That overly simplified form of government is the kind that was found in France, Russia, and others during their terrible Revolutions.  Just governments are naturally complex, just like the society that they reflect and rule over.  A good government will therefore have different offices, departments, branches, levels, etc., and will be accountable not simply to the whims of ‘the people’ of the current moment but to higher authorities:  God, the Bible, natural law, fidelity to ancestors, and so on.  This will sometimes exasperate us, as the different interests represented in the government sometimes frustrate plans that are favored by a majority of the voters, but it is no different than disagreements in a family that must be smoothed over.

This leads to a third point.  Time, as one writer whose name eludes us pointed out, is also a critical component of the government.  If a desired policy is good and just, support for it amongst the electorate will remain over many election cycles.  Eventually, enough officials will be elected to implement it.  Patience and endurance are therefore virtues that are needed in societies where elections are used to select most government officials.  We cannot dismantle and remake our governments because the issues, legislation, etc., we are supporting doesn’t immediately become law.  That, once again, was what the Revolutionaries practiced, to their great harm and disappointment.

This is not to say that the position in which Louisiana’s citizens and those of other countries find ourselves is not rather dire.  It is in some respects.  Things do need to change in our governments.  But the focus needs to be on the right things if beneficial reform is to come about.  Foremost amongst them is the Christianization of our politicians.  Most of them, as we have said before, are only Christians In Name Only (CINOs).  They are, to use the Lord Jesus Christ’s words, hirelings rather than real shepherds who are ready to lay down their lives for the sake of the people they represent (St John’s Gospel 10:11-13):  They are just in it for whatever material benefits (i.e., plunder) they can get for themselves and their cronies.

It is perhaps Providential that, as these discussions about our government officials are going on, the Feast Day in the Orthodox Church of St Constantine, a pagan Roman emperor who converted to Christianity, and his mother the Empress Helen was celebrated (21 May; reposed in the 4^th century).  St Constantine would be a good role model for our officials to emulate, as the hymns in his honor illustrate:

 . . .

The rest is at https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/insights-theopolitics-episode-new-france.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

‘Don’t Like Carbon Capture? AI Is a Whole Lot Worse’

 

Folks who have been around The Hayride for more than a few days will know of the many problems with carbon capture and sequestration.  As bad as this phony industry is, at least it still involves work done by actual human beings.  This is quite different from what awaits us with artificial intelligence (AI).

A leading AI researcher by the name of Daniel Kokotajlo was interviewed by The NYT’s Ross Douthat, and some disconcerting details were shared about what lies in store for us in the near future.  As it relates to employment opportunities, AI is going to devastate them.  This is Mr Kokotajlo speaking:

‘We predict that they finally, in early 2027, will get good enough that they can automate the job of software engineers.  . . .

‘The next step after that is to completely automate the A.I. research itself, so that all the other aspects of A.I. research are themselves being automated and done by A.I.s. We predict that there’ll be an even bigger acceleration around that point, and it won’t stop there. I think it will continue to accelerate after that as the A.I. becomes superhuman at A.I. research and eventually superhuman at everything.

‘The reason it matters is that it means we could go in a relatively short span of time — a year or possibly less — from A.I. systems that look not that different from today’s A.I. systems to what you can call superintelligence, fully autonomous A.I. systems that are better than the best humans at everything. In “AI 2027,” the scenario depicts that happening over the course of the next two years, 2027-28.  . . .

‘Historically, when you automate something, the people move on to something that hasn’t been automated yet. Overall, people still get their jobs in the long run. They just change what jobs they have.

‘When you have A.G.I. — or artificial general intelligence — and when you have superintelligence — even better A.G.I. — that is different. Whatever new jobs you’re imagining that people could flee to after their current jobs are automated, A.G.I. could do, too. That is an important difference between how automation has worked in the past and how I expect it to work in the future’ (Rod Dreher, ‘AI Apocalypse Coming Hard And Fast,’ roddreher.substack.com).

We are already seeing the first-fruits of this latest technological/industrial revolution:

‘Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that AI will be doing all coding tasks by next year—but an existential crisis is already hitting some software engineers. One man who lost his job last year has had to turn to living in an RV trailer, DoorDashing and selling his household items on eBay to make ends meet, as his once $150k salary has turned to dust.

‘Tech layoffs are nothing new for Shawn K (his full legal last name is one letter).

‘The software engineer first lost his job after the 2008 financial crisis and then again during the pandemic, but on both occasions, he was back on his feet just a few months later.

‘However, when K was given the pink slip last April he quickly realized this time was different: AI’s revolution of the tech industry was playing out right in front of him.

‘Despite having two decades of experience and a computer science degree, he’s landed fewer than 10 interviews from the 800 applications he’s sent out. Worse yet, some of those few interviews have been with an AI agent instead of a human.

‘“I feel super invisible,” K tells Fortune. “I feel unseen. I feel like I'm filtered out before a human is even in the chain.”

‘And while fears about AI replacing jobs have been around for years, the 42-year-old thinks his experience is only likely the beginning of a “social and economic disaster tidal wave.”

‘“The Great Displacement is already well underway,” he recently wrote on his Substack’ (Preston Fore, ‘Software engineer lost his $150K-a-year job to AI—he’s been rejected from 800 jobs and forced to DoorDash and live in a trailer to make ends meet,’ yahoo.com).

When communities begin to unravel as unemployment soars, where will people look for help?  Traditionally those with political power provided them with aid of some kind, whether materially or etc., the old notion of noblesse oblige.  But in the AI-powered and -controlled future we are heading into, those with by far the most political power will be the same Big Tech overlords who own the AI systems that are oppressing everyone, who have been and are now discussing this new era as a dictatorship ruled by themselves.  Per Mr Kokotajlo again:

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2025/05/garlington-dont-like-carbon-capture-ai-is-a-whole-lot-worse/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!

‘Carbon Capture Is a Trojan Horse for Technocracy’

 

Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is quite obviously a sham.  It does not produce anything of real economic value.  Like the derivatives that led to the 2008 financial crash, the economic value of CCS is very much an illusion, which will likely bring about another disaster in its wake, whether financial or otherwise.  Nor does it benefit the environment, as carbon dioxide is not causing rapid warming of the planet.  As we noted once before here at The Hayride, CO2 levels rise in response to rising temperatures, not the other way around.

There is thus no good reason for enormous amounts of money to be ‘invested’ in CCS.  Why, then, is it being promoted so heavily?  Because it furthers the cause of globalist control of mankind (and worse, as we shall see), a process termed technocracy by a relentless researcher into it, Patrick Wood.

The New World Order types began ballyhooing about CO2 in 1968 at a meeting of the Club of Rome.  They published the findings of their research in a 1972 book, The Limits of Growth, in which to no one’s amazement they wrote breathlessly (cue Rush Limbaugh’s mock panting) about CO2 ‘causing irreversible changes in the earth’s climate’ (p. 81, PDF version; available as a free download here).

The vilifying of carbon dioxide, which is essential to the flourishing of plants and the production by them in turn of the oxygen that people and animals need, has produced in our own day things like carbon credits to offset one’s carbon footprint:

‘CERs [Certified Emission Reductions—W.G.] are units (carbon credits) issued by UNFCCC, measured in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. Anyone can purchase these units on this platform to compensate (or offset) emissions and/or to support these projects. They can be used by individuals, businesses and organizations to reach carbon neutrality by compensating their footprints, while they help project developers to continue to finance their green projects. The prices per unit are set by project developers, who also receive the full profits from the sale of the units directly: UN Climate Change is not a party to the CER cancellation contract between purchaser and provider. The platform is free of charge, for both buyers and sellers’ (‘United Nations Carbon Offset Platform,’ unfccc.int).

Some of these scams/schemes remain voluntary, for the moment.  But they are swiftly moving into the realm of mandatory participation.  In Europe, for example:

‘Starting in 2027, the European Union will expand its emissions trading system (ETS) into new territory with the launch of ETS2. While the original ETS primarily targeted heavy industry and power plants, ETS2 directly impacts ordinary citizens — their homes, their cars, their daily lives. Under the guise of ’saving the climate,’ the EU will steadily make gasoline, diesel, and gas for heating more expensive. But let’s be honest: ETS2 has very little to do with protecting the environment. It is about economic control, wealth redistribution, and the consolidation of power among banks, large corporations, governments, and the European Commission. 

‘Formally, everything remains ‘voluntary.’ You may continue driving a gasoline car. You may continue heating your home with natural gas. But every choice that deviates from the state’s ‘sustainability goals’ will become economically unbearable. This is not a direct expropriation of property, but it is economic subjugation through price pressure, regulation, and redistribution of the proceeds. Instead of free choices, citizens and companies are financially forced to adopt government-approved behavior’ (Rob Roos, ‘Freedom in the EU? Only if You Can Afford It,’ europeanconservative.com).

Where is all of this heading, someone may be wondering?  Patrick Wood gives an indication:

‘The deathly economic state of today’s world is a direct reflection of the sum of its sick and dying currencies, but this could soon change. Forces are already at work to position a new Carbon Currency as the ultimate solution to global calls for poverty reduction, population control, environmental control, global warming, energy allocation and blanket distribution of economic wealth. Unfortunately for individual people living in this new system, it will also require authoritarian and centralized control over all aspects of life, from cradle to grave. What is Carbon Currency and how does it work? In a nutshell, Carbon Currency will be based on the regular allocation of available energy to the people of the world. If not used within a period of time, the Currency will expire (like monthly minutes on your cell phone plan) so that the same people can receive a new allocation based on new energy production quotas for the next period.  Because the energy supply chain is already dominated by the global elite, setting energy production quotas will limit the amount of Carbon Currency in circulation at any one time. It will also naturally limit manufacturing, food production and people movement. Local currencies could remain in play for a time, but they would eventually wither and be fully replaced by the Carbon Currency, much the same way that the Euro displaced individual European currencies over a period of time.

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2025/05/garlington-carbon-capture-is-a-trojan-horse-for-technocracy/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!