When I was young and naive, I assumed that the passage of time would result in a more civilized society here and around the world.  On some level, that made sense  One looked back into history and beheld millennia of brutal dictatorship, grinding poverty, cruel slavery, destructive wars, and above all, near universal illiteracy.  Surely, or so I foolishly thought, as the centuries sped by, the condition of Man would improve until we finally reached that shining city on a hill we’ve heard so much about.  In Ronald Reagan’s famous speech, he saw America as the city, a shining example of stability, prosperity, and freedom.  Although “shining city on a hill” is often associated with Ronald Reagan, he was far from the first to use that phrase.  The concept can be traced to the Sermon on the Mount.  But I digress.  I was horribly wrong.  Man is not moving toward greater civility and stability.  If anything, he’s running full tilt in the other direction.  The reason isn’t a mystery.  Although the average Man in the street, the woods, the village, or wherever would be perfectly happy just to have peace, some personal security, and a full stomach, and although today’s society is perfectly capable of supplying all those things to every person on this Earth, it isn’t going to happen because somebody has to be in charge, and once in charge, the leaders invariably become power-hungry, money-hungry pricks, who gleefully abuse, starve or kill their people if it puts another dollar in their Swiss bank accounts.  Think that’s too cynical?  In his Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce defined a cynic as, “a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.”  Politicians may talk a lot about their dedication to “the people” or to “democracy,” but they’re really just out for themselves.  Again, Bierce had it right, when he defined politics as “a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.”  Think about it.  We’re still hearing about world hunger.  But for the greedy pricks who run the impoverished areas of the world, and the crazy Woke bastards who are running the so-called developed areas of the world, it wouldn’t have to be that way.  There are enough energy sources, food sources and modern farming and food processing techniques to ensure that no one goes hungry.  People are still starving though, for two reasons.  First, the food, money for food, medicine and other supplies sent to the Third World is stolen by the crooks running those countries, and the people be damned. Haiti’s a perfect example.  Tens of billions of dollars was sent there after the 2010 earthquake.  All the money went in, and life in Haiti now is worse than it was in the aftermath of the earthquake. (for more on Haiti, see Frank on Friday, January 18, 2018).  The second reason that hunger persists is the fault of the Woke imbeciles in the developed world.  Maybe it’s because the developed world became too prosperous.  Maybe we just had things too good.  I don’t know, but the Woke kooks in the so-called First World seem determined to destroy civilization.  The First World succeeded because of industry.  The industries themselves, and the personal industry of people who worked hard to better themselves.  The Wokesters  oppose industry, and would have humanity back in caves if they had their way.  The First World societies were orderly because the governments enforced laws to protect people and property.  That’s what separated us from the so-called Third World, but due to Progressivism, we’re regressing.  Wokesters are opposed to law enforcement.  Although we could feed the world, progressives won’t allow it.  They insist on outlawing oil and gas.  No energy, no industry.  No industry, no jobs.  No jobs, no food.  They won’t permit us to produce more food to give the hungry either.  Farmers in California could feed the world, but progressives won’t allow them to use the water they need to grow the food.  They pump potable water into the ocean to protect an endangered fish.  Damn the fish!  People are endangered you stupid bastards!  They don’t care.  They know better.  These are the same caring people who outlawed the use of DDT, an insecticide that had been used in the Third World to control mosquitos.  Without DDT, millions in Africa died of malaria.  Too bad, but it was for their own good.  Progressives have spoken.  Besides, there are more important issues.  The Woke are spending all their time worrying whether they used the proper pronouns to refer to the latest addition to the LGBTQ-whatever crowd.  They’re too busy permitting marauders to steal and kill without legal consequences, as a way to atone for past abuses for which they were in no way responsible, and which will in no way remedy past wrongs.  They oppose guns, but they won’t lift a finger to remove them from the hands of inner city teenagers who murder 10,000 people a year.  They’re too busy teaching children to hate their country, and even to hate their own genders, while denying them the ability to think for themselves.  And, of course, they are much too busy trying to convince what’s left of society to legalize, and even to encourage the use of dangerous drugs.  They oppose cigarettes, but they embrace marijuana smoking, which poses a greater danger to the lungs, not to mention the brain, than Joe Camel ever did.  Now, they’re even supporting legalization of psychedelic drugs.  Clearly, they favor a population that is ignorant, stoned, and perfectly compliant.  They are giving us the world that both George Orwell and Aldous Huxley warned us about so long ago.  They practice Orwellian double-speak.  They warn of misinformation while misinforming us.  They proclaim “no one is above the law” while they flaunt the law, and permit others to do so.  Females are male.  Males are female.  Just yesterday, I swear to God, the CDC issued a directive warning that a drug used by biological males who have turned female, which permits them to lactate, may produce milk that’s not safe for babies.  It’s truly madness.  And they’re ushering in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, by relying on AI technology instead of human experience, and by promoting a docile, tranquilized population.  A population which has but one duty.  To return the same crooked pricks to power election after election.  It’s not a Brave New World.  It’s a Depraved New World, and I , for one, want no part of it.