As 2020 draws to a close, there are many who are breathing a huge sigh of relief.
But I’ve got to say, I can’t really understand that. It’s not like everything is going to be okay, just because the year has ended and a new year is starting. Disasters don’t wait for a convenient time, nor do they pay any attention to the calendar. They come when they want to and don’t care how inconvenient it is.
With that being the case, there’s a good chance that we’ll see the disasters of 2020 spilling over into 2021. But even then, we have seen really bad years followed by better ones in the past. So there’s a good chance that 2021 will be better than 2020, but that doesn’t mean that it will start out that way.
Each year tends to have its own collection of disasters. While 2020 is considered by many to be the “worst year ever,” I can remember other years where people said that. Things tend to look much worse when we’re looking at them up close and in person. Then, after time, they don’t quite seem so bad.
As usual, I’m looking forward to the next year, trying to foresee what is coming down the pike. As I was never issued a crystal ball, this can be a bit tricky to do. All I’ve got to go on is what I see going on in the world around me and my gut instinct. While those aren’t perfect, they have helped me to avoid getting caught up in a lot of problems in the past. So, I’ll continue to count on them.
President Trump Stays in Office
I’m going to really go out on a limb on this one, considering that the electoral college has already cast their votes; but I think that President Trump is going to stay in office. While he has stated that he is committed to a peaceful transition of power, if he loses, he hasn’t yet conceded that he has lost. There’s still a possibility that the results in various states could be overturned and he could win.
Another way that he could win is if even one member of Congress objects, when the electoral votes are opened on January 6th. Since there are already Congressmen who have stated that they will object, it appears that Congress would have to vote. Should that happen, there are those who are saying it would mean a win for Trump.
Either way, it is clear that there have been a huge number of irregularities in this election cycle, few of which have been adequately addressed. It seems like the courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court, don’t want to do a thing to ensure election integrity. Congress will have to do so, or accept that election fraud is the norm and a “reasonable way” for our elections to be conducted. Such a decision would have long-lasting effects on future elections.
The election fraud has to come out. That’s not to say that it will be an easy process. Nor will it be a comfortable one. It could literally tear this country apart. But if the country is going to continue, then we need to have a voting system w can have confidence in. We don’t have that right now. Trump needs to continue fighting, not only to win but to clean up the process.
There are many problems with him continuing the fight, not the least of which is that roughly half the country won’t accept him remaining in the White House. They didn’t accept it when Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016 and they aren’t going to accept it now.
Another Huge Democrat Scandal is Buried
It’s clear that the voter fraud problem in the country is a Democrat problem. If there was any of it that was a Republican problem, you can be sure that the mainstream media would be all over the story. But they haven’t. That leads me to believe that it is strictly a partisan problem.
That’s not to say that Democrats will be punished for their dishonesty. The mainstream media will cover it up, just like they do every other Democrat scandal. The vast majority of the public will never hear about it and it is quite possible that the narrative which will be sold to the general public will be that Trump stole the election. They’ve already laid the groundwork for that story.
I’ll personally be happy if the fraud that has been part of this election will bring about election reform so that the fraud in future elections can be at least lowered. It has been increasing from year to year and we can’t afford for it to continue as it is. If it does, we will effectively become a country with a one-party political system. And that party is the party of socialism.
Massive, Widespread Social Unrest
We’ve already seen massive social unrest in 2020, started by the killing of George Floyd and hidden under the cover of the Black Lives Matter movement. While most of that violence has been perpetrated by ANTIFA and not BLM, some of it has been people operating under the banner of BLM.
These people, and others on the left, have made it imminently clear that we can expect a huge increase in rioting, and violence in general, if their candidate doesn’t get to move into the White House on January 20th. That’s not surprising, considering what they’ve done in the past. There is apparently a massive hidden organization behind all the rioting and violence going on and they won’t allow such an opportunity to pass by.
What they are attempting is a violent overthrow of our system of government. This dovetails with those in politics who are calling our country a democracy, rather than a republic. As a democracy, the mob rules, playing into the hands of those who want to change our country and our political system into something totally different, as they are the ones who control the mob.
But even if I’m wrong about Trump staying in office, we can still expect to see an increase in violence in 2021. The cities which have had the most rioting during 2020 were all Democrat-controlled cities. This shows that the people who are doing the rioting aren’t just against Trump and the Republican Party.
It also shows how much of a difference it makes who is running the politics of a particular city. Part of the reason the preponderance of rioting has occurred in Democrat-controlled cities is that they have been able to get away with it there. They haven’t been able to get away with it in cities controlled by Republican mayors and city councils.
Civil War
There have been many who have said that we’re heading into another civil war. I’ve written on it myself. But I’ll have to say, what we’re going to see isn’t what people are thinking. It’s not going to be like the last civil war. Rather, it’s going to be more like gang warfare on the streets; coming and going, with no clear battle line and no clear boundaries.
This ongoing fighting is going to be in fits and spurts, breaking out in different parts of the country and disappearing just as fast. It will come from one group or another trying to use violence to get their way and being countered by a group from the other side. Much will be spontaneous and short-lived, quickly moving underground, before authorities getting a grasp on what is going on.
Basically, I’m talking about guerilla warfare; and like most guerilla warfare, it will be the innocent bystanders who suffer the most. Extremists on both sides will do the fighting, but they probably won’t be the ones doing the dying. That will be people who are killed or wounded by stray rounds, fired by people who aren’t being all that discriminate about their targets.
Another Pandemic
Probably the defining disaster of 2020 is the COVID-19 pandemic. Ever since it was first announced on December 31st of 2019, it has dominated our culture and our news. While there are plenty of people who are daydreaming about it ending as soon as 2020 is over, things just don’t work that way. If it actually ends on January 1st, that will indicate that it was nothing more than a political stunt from the very beginning.
But I don’t think that’s the case, even though the disease has been politicized. Rather, the political party of it seems to be coming from China, not anything happening in our country. Now, here’s the scary part, the same Chinese lab which “accidentally” released this virus has other bat viruses they are studying. How many such labs are there and what is the purpose of their studies?
The line between studying virology and biological warfare is a fine one. While the purpose is vastly different, the method of studying disease is the same. How can we know that the purpose of these labs is pure scientific research and doesn’t have a more nefarious purpose?
There’s a small group of people who are pushing the narrative that China intentionally released COVID-19 on the world. I don’t know if that’s true or just another conspiracy theory. I do know this though; when it was clear that the pandemic had started, China was quick to buy up as much of the world’s supply of PPE as they could, leading to the shortages in our country, as well as others. That doesn’t look good. It’s the type of action that they might take if they wanted the disease to spread.
Ever since the beginning of this pandemic, I’ve had the feeling that something else is waiting in the wings and that this is just a dress rehearsal for the bigger pandemic to come. I’m not the only one who has felt that either. I’ve talked to many others who have the same gut feeling. I hope we’re wrong, but I can’t help feeling that we’re right.
If this pandemic was in any way intention on the part of the Chinese government, then it would make sense for them to release a much worse virus on the world, now that we’re becoming accustomed to dealing with this one. For one thing, it would take time for our medical community to realize that it was something new, with the confusion making it harder to battle the disease. For another, if their goal is financial, then they need a bigger gun to cause another nationwide lockdown. It’s not going to happen on that scale for another wave of COVID, no matter how bad it gets.
Saber Rattling from Our Enemies
Our enemies overseas have been rather quiet for the last couple of years. I’d say there’s a good chance that they are looking at a Biden presidency as an opportunity to start rattling their sabers again and threatening our country. They’ve backed off because they are afraid of Trump, but if I’m wrong and Biden actually ends up in the White House, they’ll see that as an opportunity.
There are a couple of strong points backing this idea up. First of all, Biden was Vice President to Obama, who didn’t take a strong stance against any of our enemies. Remember the infamous “red line” in Syria? Obama’s style was appeasement, not standing strong. It seems reasonable to assume that Biden will be the same.
It’s typical for our enemies to “test” a new president, to see how they will react. Once they see Biden reacting the same way that Obama did, they will realize that they can get away with anything and will go back to their old tricks, especially Iran, North Korea, and Russia. We can expect more threatening language out of all three, along with nuclear and missile testing.
We might even see an attempt at that if Trump remains in office. These countries don’t necessarily understand our political system and tend to project their own onto us. That could lead them to think that the shenanigans which have happened during the elections indicate a weakening of Trump’s position. If they do, they’ll try and test that theory, hoping that they can get away with it.
Guns and Ammo Shortages
There are already gun and ammo shortages in the store and I’m sure they will continue. The left has been making so much noise on gun control, that it has people stockpiling guns and ammo once again. We had shortages all through Obama’s presidency and Biden looks like he will create the same sort of shortages through his rhetoric.
But there’s more behind it now than there was during Obama’s presidency. The fear then was that Obama would sign some executive order, taking away our Second Amendment rights. We’ve got the same thing going on with Biden, but that’s not all. in addition to that, there’s the very real fear of ongoing civil unrest, which is causing many leftists, who have never owned a gun in their life, to change their tune and buy their first gun.
That’s why the shortages we’re seeing now are worse than those we saw during Obama’s presidency. It’s also why the problem is going to continue. As long as we have civil unrest, we’re going to continue to see ammo shortages in the stores.
Shortages in the Grocery Stores
The ongoing disasters will cause a series of additional shortages in grocery stores. Now that people have seen what happens when panic buying starts, they will be on the lookout for it; quick to rush to the store, as soon as they think another run is going to begin. In doing so, they will create that run, emptying the store shelves once again.
Unless the grocery industry makes some changes in the way that they do business, I think that shortages are going to become the new norm, with people stocking up every time there’s a potential for disaster. They will do this much more than ever before because they have the experience of having seen those empty shelves.
Natural Disasters
I actually think that 2021 is going to be a light year for natural disasters. While I’m sure we will have some, I don’t expect it to be as bad as 2020. Historically, a really bad year for disasters, like hurricanes, is followed by a year that’s fairly light. I expect to see that yet again.
That’s not to say that we won’t have disasters, or that they won’t be bad. We could very well have a massive hurricane, on the order of Katrina or Harvey. But we won’t have as many of them. I don’t see any way that we’re going to have the 31 named storms that we had in 2020.
Wildfires are another area where I expect to see some improvement, although by no means does that there won’t be any forest fires. There are forest fires every year. Rather, I don’t expect to see as many in 2021, as what we have had in 2020. I also expect to see an improvement in forest management to help reduce the overall number of forest fires and their severity.
