Season's Greetings and a Big Thank You

A year ago today, I had a grand total of 343 Substack followers. Today, I have 1412, so y’all have given me the best Christmas present of all for a writer, and I want to thank you for it.

I now have followers in 48 US states(I must be doing something wrong for Vermonters and Alaskans) and 71 countries around the world. Just in the last 60 days, I’ve picked up people in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkiye, Russia, Pakistan, India, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. I see you and appreciate all of you.

None from Israel. Ever. Gee, I wonder why?

This year has been a wild, tragic, and sometimes hilarious ride on a tumultuous planet rocked by ongoing global warming, a massive and corrupt Empire refusing to face the reality that it’s days are numbered because it no longer works for its own people, and by a new information technology eroding the control of the powerful in ways not seen since the invention of the printing press.

The internet has come of age, and the fact that you are reading this now is what I call hard evidence in support of that claim. Substack itself is partly a backlash against clumsy attempts at censorship by our power elites.

During the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church tried smashing printing presses which were printing the Bible in languages the common people could actually read, and thus undermining its own authority.

They failed, of course. Every time they smashed a printing press, three more would pop up nearby. Now, our would-be rulers suppress an internet platform, and a dozen more pop up around the world. Our ruling classes have lost control of this technology and they’re not going to get it back.

Eventually, they will lose control…period. It is inevitable, both their destiny and ours, because that’s just the way human history goes. In even these dark times, remember that control shall pass one way or the other, and there will still be joy, love and courage come what may. That is also the way human history goes.

Thank you again, please accept my best wishes for this holiday season, and strap in for 2025. I guarantee it will be interesting, maybe even

Thank you for reading, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and good luck.