April 4, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Wrap Up

April 4, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Wow, what can I say but just wow. This book has fundamentally changed my thinking about my understanding of right and wrong. Up until now, I have believed in universal and binary thinking originating from sound fundamentals. I have come to change my understanding to think that right and wrong are generational and that is natural.

As we have learned, we are near the end of the sixth full cycle of the American experience. Can you image that just two cycles ago, it was a widely shared belief that slavery was justified? It was actually even biblically sanctioned because people that looked different were lessor. As saecula change, so do right and wrong. I have to believe that if I was alive in that time instead of now, my beliefs would have supported the status quo and not a radical abolition ideals of the time.

It is very hard to say how much our generational identity is truly ordained because of circumstance or other factors. I shared many of the cultural experiences of my generation but I also missed out on many of them as well. Because we lived in the country, because my parents are early boomers and took on less of the boomer characteristics, because we weren’t left home alone until later, because we didn’t have free reign of the TV, I was aware of Gen-X even if I didn’t fully participate.

Other portions of my generation I have exhibited in spades. The part where I am self-reliant and not willing to get involved in other peoples business. I am certainly a reluctant leader that only takes the position when there is no choice. Certainly, we all couldn’t be born this way or there would have been no class presidents or team captains. But when it comes to the real world, my generation is still waiting until they have to step in. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wait long enough that the Millennials just side step us.

After reading this book, I saw an example of how history can help us in real life. We have often heard the phase ‘study history so that we don’t repeat it’. If you follow the turning’s theory that is just plain not true. But, what I took away from it was I never understood how the GI generation could just trample all over the Constitution. I have come to realize that the Constitution had nothing to do with it. It is when the Hero generation is in charge, it is just the way things are going to be, legal or legitimate or not.

The Artists are going to continue the Hero’s lead. The Prophets are going to question everything from the Hero and Artist Generation. Finally, the Nomads are going to ignore it all until it falls apart and the next Hero generation takes charge. If you think about a cycle, this actually makes perfect sense in all aspects of life.

For most of my life, I have always bought into the marketing that the GI generation was the ‘Greatest’ generation. Now that I see that they actually broke the natural cycle of passing the baton to the Silent generation. Feeling emboldened by their success in every aspect, they kept the party going. The Silent’s stayed true to form and never really assumed power and not rock any boats which allowed the Me generation (Baby Boomers) to take over directly. They have brought their awakening and reborn fundamentalism to do the same thing to Generation X.

If I am being honest, it was the GI generation that started the mess our country is in by not following the natural laws even though naturally we were bound for trouble. My fear is that we have artificially influenced the natural cycle to cause a more delayed and catastrophic fourth turning. If there is one thing, there is nothing that I can really do about it but prepare for the eventual hard times.

If I were to prognosticate, I would say that Generation X missed the boat. I think that we may be entering the fourth turning right now. Many of the things that Trump is doing seems a lot like we just entered the Crisis. I don’t think that it is a crisis to eliminate a bunch of government bloat, but it is a dismantling of the system as we have known it. Whatever happens, we have taken a position of no coming back.

When the political winds swing the other way and they will, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a full on ‘Idiocrasy‘. I would imagine that we will have several cycles of this extreme push and pull. The net of Crisis is a diminished America. I do not see any way that a country who a significant portion of the citizens believe that men are women and vice versa are grounded enough in reality to thrive in a way that Americans have typically in the next high.

I have already stated how I feel about the book. I will now add it to my reading list. It is one thing to have books about what the world is doing to you. This book covers the why those things are happening. It doesn’t mean that I agree with what is happening, but I understand it in a way that I have never have before. You might read it and get something completely different but that is the beauty of this endeavor.

I stated last week that the next Friday series is going to be Revelations from the Bible. I think I will take it several chapters at a time. I don’t think that I will have an introduction week but if there is any need for background information, I will include it with Chapter 1. I have never read it but I see that it has 22 chapters. Since it is relatively short, I will probably read ahead and group as I see appropriate.

End Your Programming Routine: I have to say that last year was a struggle between Dante and Sun Tsu. In fact I almost gave up on this. Not reading but writing about it here. This book I thoroughly enjoyed and I am even sad that it is over. It gave me such perspective that I am taking a gamble on Revelations. I would probably read it anyway, but let’s see what we get out of it.

April 3, 2025 – Gone to Carolina

April 3, 2025 / / 0 Comments

My nephew is getting married this weekend in North Carolina. They actually moved cross country to Charlotte right after Christmas this year. We are going on a lightning trip to be there leaving tonight and back on Sunday. Charlotte was the closest city to when we lived in South Carolina at only 30 minutes away. In some ways, it seems like our second home even though I haven’t been back since leaving our driveway in 2004.

But, we aren’t going anywhere close to Charlotte. We are going to western NC in the foothills of Appalachia. It is definitely a beautiful area but not home (#2). That’s OK because we are not going to have time to do anything fun or reminisce anyway. I have already looked at the weather and we are going to get some typical Carolina spring warm, wet and humid.

There is a chance that this will effect Altf4. Although I am very much ahead on things, there is a possibility that some kind of unforeseen situation will happen. It is also likely that I will get some good ideas from this trip so I am excited. Flying into Asheville, I expect that we will see firsthand damage from Helene as well.

I’ll be back in a couple of days. Tomorrow will be normal with my conclusion of the Fourth Turning which is already written. I have decided on how I want to handle Revelations. Week 1 will be books 1-7, including introduction. Week 2 will be books 8-20 and Week 3 will be books 21 and 22 with conclusion. I want to wrap that up around Easter, then we will be onto something new, likely Ayn Rand again.

We keep moving along. Just to make things interesting, I ran across this the other day. It is thought provoking. So, I will leave with this.

April 2, 2025 – Cross Training

April 2, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I won’t say that I grew up skiing, but I did go probably once or twice a year in the high school years. Once I got to college, I purchased my own skis and would go four or five times a year. But once we moved to South Carolina, I got rid of them and never did it again. That is, until a couple of weekends ago.

We have been to the snow a number of times over the years. Sometimes it was to take out of town family to take lessons. Sometimes it was to take our kids to take a lesson. Always, I would just stay in the lodge with my wife while they did their thing. The truth is, I was never a good skier and I was afraid that being older and out of shape was a recipe for injury.

Our exchange student loves the snow. He has been invited four or five times since he has been here. So, this was a family trip. Since my kids had very limited experience, we decided to take lessons. Good decision since it has been 25 years since I had even been on skis. My wife asked me, do I want beginner’s or advanced lessons. I think that I already know about the snow plow, so I chose advanced.

It turns out that there were eight levels of lessons. We ended up at level 4. Since my one and only lesson was a couple hours at 14, I actually learned a lot of things that I did not know. Plus, equipment rental was included in the price of the lesson. The result was that I am way more confident now than I was before we went on the trip.

There was a lot of struggle with this experience. At first, I couldn’t get my boots to buckle. After carrying everything downstairs to the rental, the tech just undid the buckle. Then, as I was testing the boot fit, one of the instructors told me that the boots were too big. It was not easy to get my feet in the boot, I was already sweating profusely just trying to test fit.

The new equipment does seem to be better than it used to be. The one and only time I fell was getting on the chairlift with my boys when they did not leave enough room for me to sit down on the chair. During our lessons, we practiced control, skiing back and forth across the mountain. This technique took a lot of physical effort. Rather than carving swiftly down the mountain, we were inching our way down. Runs were taking 30 minutes.

By the time the lesson was over, I was definitely ready for a break. My knee was hurting a little bit and my thighs were burning. There were periods of total sweating from the exertion of control. After we had lunch, I decided to sit it out while the kids went off.

After an extra half an hour, I went out alone. By this time the mountain was getting a lot busier with new people all over the easier slopes, I do mean all over. This meant that I had to practice my controlled descent even more intensely. By the time I got to the bottom, my physical reserve was gone. I didn’t want to risk tweaking my knee or eating it a bunch of times.

The reality is that I didn’t get my money’s worth from a lift ticket and rental standpoint. I was only skiing about two and a half hours. But I definitely got my workout’s worth. The next day, I could hardly walk up the stairs, my thighs were still burning and I was out of breath going up and down to my office. Having not skied in so long I had no idea what muscles were going to hurt. I feel good about what I got from the lessons and my confidence has improved tremendously.

End Your Programming Routine: I stand by my decision to quit early. I could feel my body fatigue on the last run was at the edge of empty. It was definitely more fun than sitting in the lodge all day but it doesn’t make me want to run out and buy skis again. I still think cross country skiing might be a better fit for me now. After a good long hike the day before, I was bushed for several days afterward. That sounds like good cross training for me.

April 1, 2025 – April Fools Day 2025

April 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I remember the days that comedy was king. It was staying up late to watch Saturday Night Live, sitcoms were the top shows on TV and slapstick comedies were the most popular movies. Now, I was a kid and taste’s change in me as well as the culture.

I can list off movie after movie that you had to see if you wanted to be in the in crowd like Airplane, Caddy Shack, Police Academy, Vacation, Revenge of the Nerds, Ghostbusters and many, many more. Some were more risque than others but yet still very popular amongst my grade school peers like Porky’s and Sixteen Candles. Nevertheless, comedies were everywhere.

I had a friend in middle school that gave me a cassette tape of the Dr. Demento show. It was a radio show that played all kinds of wacky songs and comedy bits on a weekly radio show. My brother and I listened to it several times and laughed and laughed. I don’t remember the time slot or station but it seems like it was on too late or a station that we didn’t get very well.

It’s always the friends. We weren’t permitted to stay up to watch Saturday Night Live mostly because we were committed to church Sunday mornings. I now occasionally watch it here and there and mostly find it disappointing rather than catching a good night’s sleep. But, it was pretty common to hear all about it on Monday morning at school.

My parents were interesting. They were very strict about how much TV we watched or movies we could rent. But, we could listen to the radio or read almost anything. But, if they heard somebody they respected say something, it was lights out. One time our Scoutmaster said that we were banned from listening to Guns n’ Roses because of their drunken behavior on an awards show. That then followed through to my household as well.

Of course we disobeyed. I really liked their music (still do) and that was really hard to enforce. I look back on a lot of this stuff now and I think that it is pretty tame compared to what access to things kids these days have. I have even asked myself, would I try to prevent my kids from watching or listening to this or that? My bias says no.

It is hard for me to remember whether Dr. Demento got banned or not. I kind of think yes. After listening to this YouTube throwback, I have to say that it does not appeal to my now either. But, to be twelve again, in a more innocent age this was entertainment. Some of those songs are still stuck in my head from that tape all those years ago.

This kind of humor seems pretty innocuous. A lot of it wouldn’t pass the DEI filters of today. I think that the root of humor has to be laughing at yourself first. How else would you have a parody song with the ‘Yoopers’ stereotyping themselves. Funny thing is that a lot of these songs would make it occasionally on popular radio. Dr Demento was just a show of all these kinds of songs strung together.

End Your Programming Routine: Just like last year, I am not big on pulling pranks. Listening to this kind of takes me back to the days of Mad magazine. Not everything in there was funny either. Some of it I didn’t get until much later in life like the parody lyrics to Born in the USA changed to Porn in the USA. All of a sudden, I felt like I was back to my youth.

March 31, 2025 – Stay Safe Out There

March 31, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Big news that was not unexpected happened last week in the bio tech sector. 23 and Me declared bankruptcy in order to sell the company. I have a little bit of experience with it and I share that today as well as what I see went wrong. I finish today off with some general tips on what to do to protect yourself in the future. Keep your head on a swivel when it comes to protecting your identity.

Important: Instructions on how to remove data from 23 and me: https://www.kmvt.com/2025/03/24/idaho-ag-issues-consumer-protection-alert-after-23andme-files-bankruptcy/

March 28, 2025 – The Fourth Turning, Chapter 12

March 28, 2025 / / 0 Comments

This is the last chapter and a very short one at that. With that, I would say that this is all about re-enforcing the totality of the theory. Remember the end of the Mayan Calendar 2012? Remember that there was a component of nut jobs saying that it was going to be the end of the world because that is what the Mayan’s predicted?

What everybody misunderstood was that it was not the end of the world, but the end of the saeculum, however they calculated it. Some people might have next year’s calendar hanging up but there are not many that have the next five hundred years. The Mayan calendar was this. There was no reason to plan beyond what is theoretically in focus.

Indigenous people inherently understood the circular nature of time. Whether it was the Anastazi rock drawings or Mayan calendar time is always measured in circles. I mean the clock is actually circular as well as the seasons and so is the earth. I am not sure how we actually lost track of this idea of beginning, end and begin again when it is so natural.

I have become more aware of native thinking since I have been watching Life Below Zero: First Alaskans. I have heard enough repetitive language that I am almost sure some of the dialog is coached. I don’t think that it makes it untrue. There is an extreme amount reverence for their elders and ancestors. But it also emphasizes the roles people are to play based on the position in life.

These are some of the most hardcore people I have ever seen in my life. They heat their homes with wood and there is not a tree on the island. That means that every bit of wood that they burn has to be found on the beach and drug back to their homes. Not only do they do that for themselves but also for the the people that cannot do the work themselves.

When an animal is killed, the head is removed and placed in alignment to where the animal was going. This is to ensure that they continue their journey into the afterlife. This reverence for life is not just spiritualism but this belief that the Hindus would call karma. It is the right thing to do because they believe in circular time. Do right now so that things will continue to go right in the future.

It is not like the show is some kind of documentary, but the lesson that we can take to heart is that we take from the land to survive. We must not take too much, not just for our future survival but also for all the generations that proceed us. If we manage to be successful for long enough, at some point we will return to the earth. That is circular thinking.

Be it country or kingdom or dynasty or empire, at some point it will end. It has too. The fourth turning could be the end of the world or America, a degraded country or a regeneration. The next conflict has the capability of ending life as we know it. Will it? Hopefully not but it is hard to say. One thing is for sure is that if we want the future to be as good as possible, it requires us to be proactive today. We can just hope that it is enough.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week will be my final reckoning for The Fourth Turning. No spoilers here today. The book ends with the bible scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV). While it seems like a little bit of a rip-off to end my work with the exact same quote that the book does, I want to re-emphasize that Christianity is also circular even if the ‘church’ is not. We are still waiting for the prophecy of Revelations and the next coming. By no coincidence, this will be the subject of my next Friday series.

1 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens: 2    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

March 27, 2025 – New Year, New Gear, Part 7

March 27, 2025 / / 0 Comments

This week is all about water. I purchased an MSR, in-line filter. This is going to be my solution for water filtration and protection from water born pathogens. Not only is it more inexpensive than the pump filter but it is more compact as well. Don’t get me wrong, the filter itself was not cheap but at $50 it sure beats $300. It is supposed to be good for 1500 gallons, that should do for a while.

I decided to purchase the filter from a sporting goods, big box retailer. The price was a couple of dollars cheaper than Amazon or REI. More than price, I wanted to spend my money with an entity that holds the same values that I do. That would be primarily staunch second amendment support rather than wishy-washy at best. I will still patronize the others when they have what I need, but given the choice I want to spend my money where it matters.

I know, you probably do not care where I bought it or why I chose a particular retailer. The thing that kind of, sort of chaps my hide is that the filter came with a missing part. The female quick connect was not in the box. It appears if somebody opened the package, I can see that the paper is torn where there was a sticker holding the box together.

I can surely say that I don’t really know how to communicate this. I suppose that I could return it but the most important part is there, the filter. I can buy the missing component and move on. So that is what I am going to do. Time after time my experience with purchasing open packaging, this happens. Unfortunately, I bought it online and didn’t get to pick in the first place.

I have already mentioned this before but I do plan on purchasing a second filter as a back-up. In theory, I would get the component I am missing and I really only need one. But, I realized that there are cheaper in-line filters. The Sawyer brand is half the cost and is also a smaller form factor. I will most likely go in that direction rather than a direct replacement.

The plan is to splice the filter in between the reservoir outlet and the draw end, quick connection. This will be one compact, self contained package for the water that I need on the trail regardless of source. I think that this should work out nicely.

The other hydration bladder pictured is my backup that I will carry. This provides me with the confidence that should I have a problem with my primary one, I will have another. This is not just for backup however. The plan is that if I need to leave the trail for water, I can carry twice as much, eliminating the need to refill before the start of the day as well.

I specifically chose this hydration bladder for three reasons. It is 3 liters in size, it has a carry handle so that I can more easily carry it bare from the source and it fills from the bottom rather than a twist cap. My thoughts are that filling from the bottom allows for a more flexible way of collecting water if the source is shallow. I may have need to collect water in my secondary bladder so that I can transfer to my primary.

You know when the battle plan falls apart? On first contact with the enemy. My next purchase is going to be the tent. Once I have that, I am ready to switch from my training pack and start to do some overnights. I won’t have everything I want or am planning on buying but I will have everything I basically need for my trip. I need to get some familiarity with all of these things to make sure it is working as anticipated.

End Your Programming Routine: I have some backpacking experience so I am not going into this endeavor blind. That being said, a lot of my plan is theory or how I think it is going to work. I need to get to the testing phase as soon as possible so that I have time to maneuver if and when things don’t go as I am expecting. I will not be going far away from civilization and just for over night but it will be valuable insight that I need.

March 26, 2025 – Experimenting For Peace of Mind

March 26, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I am in the opening phases of meal planning. I am planning on using freeze dried meals for at least some of my meals, preferably both morning and evening. One of the things that I have no handle on whatsoever is how much fuel will I need for this. As with all containerized gas, even a fuel style gauge wouldn’t be terribly helpful other than giving something to worry about.

So, I set about running a test. How long does it take to heat up water to boiling and how long will a full cannister burn. From that information, I will be able to devise a usage calculation to tell me how much fuel will I need.

Technically speaking, I could probably do this on the trail during my practice runs. But I think an actual controlled experiment not only will give the information faster but also probably will be more accurate. Trying to keep track of stuff in the field is difficult unless you are extremely disciplined. I try to do this at the rifle range, even keeping notes and I still forget stuff all the time.

I performed this experiment using the 100 gram fuel cannister. It is the smallest and I would think the fastest to complete. I will extrapolate the results to a 230 gram cannister which is what I think I want to take with me but I don’t want to run the test for double the amount of time.

The other potential variable of the test is that I am burning a Jet Boil brand cannister. The larger size (more locally available) is the Kovea brand. I am going to assume that the fuel weights are as advertised and that both brands are the same fuel mixture generating the same BTUs.

Here are some variables that I cannot test here. The first one is elevation. Because air pressure is lower at higher elevation, water will boil at a lower temperature. This effect becomes prominent at elevations greater than 3000′. Assuming complete combustion (full BTU conversion), in theory elevation should add runtime to the stove.

Another is temperature. The outside temperature will presumably be lower in the morning and warmer in the evening. I performed my test at ambient basement temperature which was 62 degrees F. Those effects will possibly cancel each other out taking more time in the morning and less in the afternoon.

A larger temperature component would be the starting point of the water. I started with tap water which is probably around 40 degrees F. If my water is straight out of a mountain stream, it could be 33 degF. It could also come from my pack which may be 90 degF (I really hope not). So, that may range from no effect to longer run time.

The final variable I could test is how much water do I need to heat up? I ran two measurements 1L time and 1/2L time. For freeze dried meals, I will likely only need 1/2L but for breakfast, I very will want some coffee or tea. I think it is always better to heat up more than you need for cleaning purposes as well. I guess what I am saying is it seems like 1L is probably the realistic measurement.

To my surprise, the 100g cannister ran for two hours. I found that 1L took 9:20 to boil and 1/2L took 5:40. If I round up, I should get 12, 1L boils or 20, 1/2L boils. This tells me that one 230 gram cannister should be more than adequate for my meals for a week. That would be a 4.6 hour (276mins) run time with 27, 1L or 55, 1/2L boils.

One critical thing my test did show me is a result of the fact that I didn’t run it straight through. I found that the igniter only worked the first couple of times. I do see it sparking but I cannot say if that is a gas issue or an igniter issue. As a result, I will need to have a secondary ignition source. I already have a lighter in my pack so that should be good to go. More testing on this is definitely warranted.

End Your Programming Routine: I now have peace of mind. The only other consideration I may make is redundancy. If I choose to only bring one cannister and a leak develops or some other issue, I may be stuck. I could choose two 100g or one spare 100g or none at all. I have not yet decided if I want to bring a back-up. That is to be determined.

March 25, 2025 – You Bast**d

March 25, 2025 / / 0 Comments

This project has become way too complicated considering my starting point. I already had the wire on both ends of the wireless bridge. One of them was already terminated and powered. It should have been as simple as pointing the two devices at each other, terminate the other and… go.

After I got the one wire terminated (see last week), it was dead. I rebooted and reset each unit and then they connected. So, I plugged my computer in with ethernet cable and things were great. I was done. Two hours later, the router was flashing red. I rebooted them multiple times and no connection.

I moved the wireless router back into the original position and then I spent an evening wiring up the outside router again to try and bridge the lack of reliable connection of mesh routers between buildings. My operating theory was that the overhead, yard light strings were enough of an obstruction that maybe I would need to raise the wireless bridge on my house to clear all of the things in the way.

My Life Below Zero watching has influenced me quite a bit. I realized that I put off a lot of things because of weather. So I went outside and raised one wireless bridge in the rain. I aimed a laser to make sure that they were pointing to each other. Even though I had to re-wire the basement because I stole all the length of the cable to raise it, all the ladder work was done.

The next day, I finished the wiring. I went outside to check the power indicator lights and the hose clamp that was holding the wireless bridge unit to the mounting fixture was snapped. The wireless bridge was dangling by the ethernet cable. Back out came the extension ladder. I had to go to the store to get more hose clamps because I didn’t have any replacements. But, that was OK because my remaining length of cable was 12 feet too short to finish the run as well.

I had to take the significantly longer trip to Home Depot because my local hardware store does not carry bulk Category 6 cable. When I got back, I quickly ginned up the remaining cable and tested for connection. The two bridge units were talking. But, I had committed to making Ramen that night and I needed the time so I had to stop there. I had nothing left after cooking for three hours.

I know the question that you are asking, has this effort been worth it? As of right now, the units have been up for over a week and they are still not working. I have tried to check all the things on my side and am waiting for a response from customer service for various technical reasons. From the reviews I have read, I am suspecting that they will send replacement units.

The manufacturer claims that these units are paired from the factory. Like all things of ignorance, I used the wrong units for each side and so I had to re-program them. All of the issues that have happened made this project much more difficult than it should have been and are possibly part of the connection problem. I doubt it, but I cannot rule it out.

Based on my knowledge and experience, I possibly mis-judged the complexity of the job. While it is a 50/50 probability that you will put up the wrong units like I did, somebody without my experience would be stuck. I could have just as easily picked the right unit with line of sight. This all presupposes that there is nothing wrong with the units (which I highly suspect).

What I am trying to say is that if your networking and troubleshooting skills are low, it very well might work on the first go. If I would have read the user manual more carefully before I started, I would have tested them on the ground before I started. I would have installed the units in the right order. I probably would have placed them where I originally did but I would have eliminated a lot of the noise that is frustrating me. But if they are not, it could be very difficult to do successfully. In that situation, I would recommend professional installation.

I think that I have eliminated all of the wireless complaining in my house now. Aside from getting this wireless bridge working, there are additional touches to add. Are there dead spots that we frequent outside to place the outdoor unit? Does that take the place of another unit indoors? Each ripple causes another smaller one.

End Your Programming Routine: As you can see, this project is probably never done. The range extender I didn’t talk about could be utilized, I am thinking my shop area. Eventually, my wife is going to want another camera in the driveway area where I have no coverage. And so it keeps going. Hopefully the next ones are not nearly as difficult as the one that is basically done.

March 24, 2025 – Think You Know Vietnam?

March 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

There are a lot of movies where I think, I’d like to see that. Ken Burn’s The Vietnam War is one of those. I have watch his Civil War series many years ago. This is less of a review of his work than an analysis of what we as a people should learn from Vietnam. I consider myself fairly well versed but I learned quite a few things from this. To be honest, nothing should be a surprise but I have been fooled by the Team America propaganda over the years.