Yesterday we watched as fortune favored us. What two days ago had been a high probability of angry supercells and a better-than-even shot at “tornadic activity” became a rather ordinary spring Friday. Here on the north side of Harrison we saw some sporadic rain showers and one three-minute downpour.
Believe it or not, most of the time the sun was shining. It wasn’t the day we thought we’d have, that’s for sure.
The wind kicked up around 4pm, as expected. One strong gust, recorded at 45mph around 6:30pm, knocked out power to the campground — for all of 15 minutes.
The Mountain got maybe a little more weather than we did. As close as a mile south of the campground, we saw standing water. Clearly it was a hit-and-miss thing ’round here.
Central Arkansas, of course, wasn’t as lucky. We watched Ryan Hall Y’all‘s excellent streaming coverage as a tornado slammed Little Rock, another decimated Wynne, and supercells raked town after town along the I-40 corridor.
It all was part of an extraordinary outbreak stretching from northern Iowa down to east Texas, moving east into neighboring states well into the night. At one point there were 20 active tornado warnings in that north-south swath, reaching a staggering total of 150 by the end of this weather event. The radar images, not to mention video of twisters captured by storm chasers, were downright disturbing.
I suppose our luck won’t hold out forever, but Deb and I feel damned charmed today.
“‘If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace’; and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.”
Thomas Paine (The American Crisis, Number I, published December 19th, 1776)
I forgot to mention yesterday how Deb reacted when she heard that Trump had been indicted.
She can’t wait, she said, to buy a t-shirt with MAGA on the front and The Mug Shot on the back.
Keep in mind that neither of us has decided yet to vote for Trump in the 2024 Arkansas GOP primary. This isn’t about a candidate — it’s about our country. Either you get it or you don’t.
I want to go back to something that Glenn Beck said on Tucker Carlson’s show Thursday night. He cautioned that The Fundamental Transformers — that’s my characterization, not his, of Democrats, the Uniparty and other progressives — are moving with intent to “inflame” Patriots. He urged us not to “strike out,” because the enemies of Liberty want “violence from the Right.”
Both his observations and his advice are correct — for now.
I believe that Beck is the kind of guy who’ll always counsel us against violence. “Pray for peace,” etc. I understand that. And while we can’t allow ourselves to be baited or goaded into acting foolishly, eventually we’ll run out of other cheeks to turn.
Now is not the time for violence. But that time will come.
John Parker knew that he was dying, tuberculosis ravaging his once-strong 45-year-old body. But on the morning of April 19th, 1775, he left farm and forge, mustered his company of Massachusetts Militia and led them onto Lexington Green.
“Stand your ground,” he famously exhorted his men as British regulars advanced toward them. “Don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
The Patriots prevailed that day and in the revolution that followed. Five months after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Captain John Parker would succumb to the disease afflicting him. He never saw the noble cause for which he fought declare and win independence.
But his command gave birth to a nation.
We will have our Boston Massacre. But we’ll also have our Lexington Green and our Old North Bridge, our Valley Forge and our Yorktown. Until then, we resist. And in time the frustrated enemies of Liberty will “mean to have a war.”
Violence will come to us — dismiss any illusions you harbor about that — and in that moment we will respond. For now, we carry out the time-honored orders of Captain Parker.
We stand our ground until we have no choice but to stand and fight.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB
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