Human beings have more than one identity. We may be Englishmen, yes—but we may also be fathers, sons, cousins, Armstrongs, Mancunians, Northumbrians, Europeans, white men, Indo-Europeans, Her Majesty’s subjects, and homo sapiens sapiens. Some of these identities are some near, some distant; some are concrete, some abstract.

We can place human beings on a continuum of identities. Many such continuums could be formulated, but for simplicity’s sake, let us take the following sequence:

family → clan → tribe → polis/city → folk → nation → race → empire → humanity

Right away, we notice that the nation is but one level in a broader field of belonging, not the starting point of social life and not the final possible identity. We can usefully place these identities not only on a line, but also within a series of concentric circles, as in the famous heatmap diagram.

As these identities expand outward, two things happen at once.

First, scale increases. As we move from family to clan up to folk and thence to humanity, more people are bound together, and with this increased scale, greater political and military power becomes possible. We can accomplish larger and larger projects.

Second, immediacy decreases. The more people in your group, the fewer you personally know. You may still be related to them by blood, but this kinship is much weaker, and as we shall discover, it must become symbolic if it is to survive. It is impossible to be loyal to what you do not know, and it is impossible to know millions of people personally, so your loyalty becomes mediated through social institutions, and through social technologies like myth, law, ritual, language, etc.

The core principle is that the wider the identity, the more politically powerful, but the more emotionally abstract and mediated. The larger the scale of belonging, the thinner that belonging is.

Family, for example, is the deepest and most immediate identity. We encounter our family daily. It is personal to us, inherited, embodied. By the time we arrive at the city or polis, though, shared life has changed. It is still kinship writ large, but at this point people are bound together not only by blood, but by civic life—by abstractions such as office and law, and by portable identities such as citizenship. The folk is broader than the city, but usually still below the full nation. The nation is a late consolidation of these earlier forms, taking kinship feeling from family, clan, and tribe, taking civic order from the polis, and taking culture from the folk—but it scales them to a point where it can defend itself against other nations. Empire is wider than the nation as well. It may contain many peoples, or even many races across vast territory, commanding impressive military power. But its identity is thinner than national identity, so it depends on a strong state. Humanity is the widest identity, and is perhaps barely even morally intelligible.

Continue reading … Why Do We Care About Millions of Strangers?

From Huter der Irminsul

“For the good of the German people”—these words should be more than just a formula in an oath. They stand for responsibility, for duty, and for the promise to serve humanity and protect it from harm.

The ancients believed that an oath was sacred. Not because ink on paper made it significant, but because a person’s word determined their worth. An oath was a bond, an honor, and a responsibility. Whoever broke it lost more than trust—they lost a part of their dignity.

And today?

Perhaps the most dangerous development is not anger. Not conflict. Not differing opinions. The greatest danger begins where people stop believing that words still carry weight. Where promises are made, but no one expects them to be kept. Where trust slowly dies—not loudly, but day by day.

Justice does not mean that the powerful can do as they please while the people silently bear the consequences. Responsibility does not end with an election, and an oath does not end with the spoken sentence.

A people has the right to ask questions. A people has the right to criticize. And a people has the right to demand accountability.

For whoever makes a promise must be held accountable. Words without deeds are merely shadows—and shadows do not build a future.

And woe to him who breaks his oath.

The ancients said:

“A sword can be reforged. A house can be rebuilt. But a broken word leaves a crack that even time does not always heal.”

Perhaps therein lies a message that still holds true today: A people does not live on walls, wealth, or power. It lives on trust. And when words lose their value, something begins to break that no gold or strength in the world can replace.

My Reaction to Huter

We no longer live in a high trust society. There are many reasons; differing religions, races, cultures, ideologies. But one of the most glaring is the failure of those in authority to keep their word. Elected officials are required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Constitution. Once elected, they routinely violate that oath. Election promises become mere blather to trick the voter with no intention of ever being kept (I’m talking to you, Donald J. Trump as well as the rest).

And woe to him who breaks his oath? Not today. We fail to hold anyone accountable for their violations and lies. Until we do, all of us will continue to suffer and they will continue to gain power and riches.

We must return to The Old Ways, to Folkishness. We begin by withdrawing our support for and obedience to such people. We begin by keeping our own words and speaking truth. It’s a start.

Trust is something inherently personal; it is produced in families and neighbourhoods, as well as cultic communities. It results from kinship, or else from shared work and shared hardship. The nation draws upon this social capital, but it does not produce it by itself.

We should think of social capital like any other capital—as a resource which must be replenished. Nationalism depends on a reservoir of trust produced by lower forms of life. If nationalism dissolves those lower forms, it drains the reservoir from which it draws its own strength.

“MADE IN CHINA” used to mean it would BREAK in days

Now China is building screens that can bend, stretch, survive water, resist shattering, and still look insanely vivid.

Sorry, what year are we in again? pic.twitter.com/5ChdFBApmV

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) May 22, 2026

BREAKING: Israeli intelligence officials claim Iran is planning a major "surprise missile and drone attack" against Israel and Gulf states after the negotiations failed, saying Israel "must" immediately strike Iran to prevent it, per Jerusalem Post.

— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) May 22, 2026

The arguments over political systems, what makes them possible, what undermines them, and so forth are doomed to go on until Man is no more. Some of the most basic ones – the fundamental questions beneath all political discourse – arise from considerations of size: How large or small should a political unit be to attain stability?

     The arguments over whether to tolerate “globalization,” and to what extent, are part of this. Commercial currents that flow above political units confound many people’s notions. Businesses that operate internationally seem to flout some of our political aspirations. Or perhaps it’s that they flout the aspirations of politicians; that’s equally likely.

     I’ve long held that bigness in business requires bigness of governments. There may be exceptions, but they would be cases where truly huge amounts of capital and labor are required to pursue such enterprises. However, when power-wielders turn their voracious attentions to business, it’s the biggest players that they go after first. Also, really big businesses tend to need more competition than the marketplace will naturally provide them; Alfred Sloan recognized that when he arranged for the divisions within General Motors to compete against one another. All this suggests that bigness, even if it confers an advantage in certain fields, comes with compensating disadvantages that limit its value.

     Many of the dynamics that characterize businesses in competition also apply to political units – governments. But governments are loath to admit it. The European Union came into existence mainly because of politicians’ desires to rule a nation larger than their homelands, a nation that could compete politically and economically with the United States. American politicians, analysts, and influential commentators encouraged it for reasons of their own, some of which are unclear to me.

     Large or small? World-girdling or localized? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? The questions are pressed in many fora. But answers are slow to appear.

     The following first appeared here on May 14, 2020.

---

     Wes Rhinier at NC Renegade has penned a short piece about what he foresees for America. His expectations are bleak. In particular, he’s troubled by the many plaintive calls for “a leader” for “the coming civil war.” Here’s the part that plucked at my fiddlestrings:

     We are all too divided. We all have our own ideas. It’s always been a problem in this liberty movement.

     I think a Balkanization is more likely to happen. Or maybe small confederations happen.

Read the Whole Article Here…

Germanic mythology has much to teach, even to the Abrahamist (Christian, Muslim, or Jew). The Germanic Gods and Goddesses, unlike in the Abrahamic faiths, are not ‘perfect.’ They provide examples from which lessons can be learned. Here is one such …

When the Gods needed to bind the monstrous wolf Fenrir, no chain could hold him. They used a magical fetter, but the wolf demanded trust.

Tyr, god of courage and justice, placed his right hand in Fenrir’s jaws. When the wolf realized he was tricked and bit the hand off, Tyr didn’t flinch. He paid the price so the world could have more time.

True sacrifice isn’t loud or glorious; it’s quiet, irreversible, and done for something greater than yourself.

A parent giving up dreams for their children.
Someone choosing integrity over easy gains.
Standing firm even when it costs you permanently.

Tyr teaches us: real courage is willingly putting your hand in the wolf’s mouth, knowing it won’t come back the same, because some things are worth the loss.

What wolf are you willing to bind?

The Israel lobby takes out Thomas Massie and kills MAGA in the process. The good news is, we’ve now confirmed how the system works. pic.twitter.com/ZUwgM5GhOk

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 21, 2026

If Massie loses tonight, this is my political opinion for the rest of my life. pic.twitter.com/kRIA5EoboL

— Dan Arnold 🇺🇸 (@dirtydan_4547) May 19, 2026

In case you still don’t know why Massie lost pic.twitter.com/24AwwF9aeQ

— Garbage Human (@GarbageHuman24) May 20, 2026

A group of sheep is called a flock. They’re not even hiding what they think of us.
Flock Surveillance Camera Map

Have you heard about Flock AI Cameras? They’re everywhere. In fact, there are now nearly 100,000 of these creepy surveillance cameras in the United States alone. These cameras don’t just take your photo… these images are analyzed by AI to catalog your license plate, model, year and color of your vehicle, any bumper stickers, and much more. When you drive by one of these, you no longer need to have your phone on in order to notify the government of exactly where you are and where you are going. And don’t get me wrong, even if your phone is off, it’s tracking you. If it’s on, and you have your location services turned off, it’s still tracking you. Down to the meter. Only if you leave it at home, OR, if you must carry it, leave it off AND place it in a faraday bag, like those produced by Mission Darkness, do you have a chance of that evil thing not telling your masters exactly where you are every minute of the day.

Read more…

If this doesn’t make you mad, you’re either stupid or your dead.

GOP Vice Chair Blake Moore:

"Our Republican priority will always be to put government ahead of Americans." pic.twitter.com/VUlaCnnN0c

— FactPost (@factpostnews) May 20, 2026

I met with Thom Tillis when he was speaker of the House in North Carolina. He met with three of us in his office to explain how successful he was and how the Republican Party was more important than the people of the state. After we left, I was asked about my impression of him. I said he was refreshing: a politician who didn’t lie concerning his priorities. Arrogance has no boundaries and we continue to suffer fools who supposedly represent us.

First day of warm weather and police had to impose an emergency 8PM curfew in Long Branch, NJ

"Large crowd of unruly teens" pic.twitter.com/sWYnrKBS2g

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 20, 2026