Pandora's Pryzm

Jessica A. Marshall

JM: OK, that's interesting. What's your take?

AS: I can't say where I got it but the guy that gave it to me can't say where he got it. He seems to know a good bit more than he lets on but...

JM: Want to comment after I play it? Or stop along the way?

AS: Run it all and we can come back later to pieces.

JM: OK, here goes...

Unnamed source: Four men are in a house in rural [undisclosed state]. The recording begins after the fourth one arrived about five minutes ago. The aliases Waylon Smith (WS), Kenneth Jones (KJ), Francis Brown (FB), and Sean Baker (SB) are used.

WS: ...said that before the last election. Probably everyone else here thought the same thing. If Trump hadn't won there would be a civil war... or the beginning of one, before the term was over. We know that they would be doing not of they'd won.

FB: I know I thought so, I was on edge the whole time - not that I'm not now - because of what was coming.

WS: We dodged a bullet - funny seeing as how Trump literally did that - but I'm not breathing easy. This will stall if the midterms go bad, as most believe they will. Almost all reform stops and he's pretty well... a duck with no feet at all.

SB: We haven't made enough progress, won't even after four years, to make much of a difference. Even if a Republican is elected in '28 that's no guarantee that things don't go south in another four years. Look at Reagan-Bush.

WS: Yeah, we had a chance but it was... too few Reagans and Trumps and too many Bushes and probably whoever comes next. Vance may or may not be better than Bush - I'd say better but not by enough - the best that happens is that things don't get worse right away.

SB: Vance seems to be the most likely candidate. Is he as bad as Bush? I'd say no... how can you be that bad? But weak? I'm not thrilled with what I've seen.

WS: Not as weak as Bush but Bush was worse than weak. He was a tool and Reagan knew it - he did what he had to do to have a chance. Rubio is a better choice... if he'd do it.

(background voices, movement, possibly a door opening/closing)

FB: Anybody want a beer?

(several affirmatives, movement, door sounds about five minutes)

WS: Like I said... who thinks Rubio wants it or can do it?

FB: Wants it? Good question... depending on how things are going in 2028. If Trump has done pretty well a lot of Republicans are gonna want it and that will make for some interesting primaries. Rubio and Vance will - barring something unexpected - be the front-runners and probably the only ones with a chance. If it looks good I would guess both would want it.

KJ: If it's going well I don't see anyone else having a chance if both go for it. If they're smart then whichever ones wins the nomination is in good shape.

WS: What would being smart consist of?

FB: A clean primary. If Trump has done well... enough that he would be elected again if he could run... either one should win. Being smart is having a clean primary, a love-fest if you like, and neither drags up anything that can be used against them in the general. Let the people choose and whichever wins chooses the other as veep.

WS: I like it. Rubio looks to have the best shot in that case and I would guess that Vance would accept the number two and probably Rubio would do the same. It's what would be best for the party.

KJ: Both are smart enough to see that... hopefully do it. And both are young enough for it not to matter if they have to wait eight years for a shot at the top.

SB: Another sixteen years of Republican presidents. I like that a lot. What are the chances?

KJ: (laughs) You're kidding, right. That would be epic.

FB: Why it won't happen. Eight is the best either party has done in recent years. Clinton sucked so we got Bush 43 who sucked less and so got Obama. They managed to bounce Trump after four and installed a brain-rotted puppet. He - or his handlers - fucked it up enough that people wanted Trump back. That was lucky for us but the trend is toward the Democrats increasing their ability to stack elections with fraud... I don't know if the Republicans can pull off another one.

WS: Anyone think that will happen? It's iffy even if Trump gets the Iran thing gone pretty quick and the economy is good... unless it's raining C-notes it's gonna be hard.

SB: So 2028 looks like 2020?

WS: A lot.

FB: With Newsom or Harris?

WS: It could happen if things go wrong enough, and raining twenties instead of C-notes would be bad for the sheeple. So yeah, it could happen.

FB: You don't think they'll be smart enough to run someone like Shapiro or the guy from Maryland... Moore?

SB: Shaprio's out because Jewish. Moore, he'd be another tool like Biden and if they can pull it off with Harris or Newsom he'd be easy. Sadly they not only don't care - they tried to run Biden until it became apparent he was too far gone - but Newsom or Giggles.... actually I don't see Giggles being viable. Newsom and someone else, maybe...

WS: They might be smart enough to pull off a Perot and that could put either one in.

KJ: Perot?

WS: You're probably too young. Clinton never got fifty percent of the so-called popular vote but Perot cost Bush a lot of states. From my own experience and what other investigations showed that near zero percent of Perot's votes came from Democrats - all came out of Bush's share.

KJ: Ouch.

WS: Exactly. The Democrat vote is 43%, maybe a little over now, locked in. Considering that so many of them are dead or don't exist or are illegals or harvested from nursing homes that's not surprising. These days a Perot wouldn't have to get the 19% he got the first time or the five or six or whatever the second time around. One percent would do it.

SB: They smart enough to pull that off?

WS: I doubt it and it would cost a lot - Perot was filthy rich and had a lot of supporters - raising enough money to field a third party in every state, or even enough red states, would be difficult.

SB: Perot's performance was organic?

WS: It began that way. How much money and work Democrats put in I can't say but they were glad to see it. Bush would have won without Perot - Perot hated Bush by the way so there's that. As for the 1996 election it was closer and without Dole the bite he took... it would have been close.

SB: Can the Democrats pull off something like?

WS: Questionable. Nader hurt Gore just a little but probably kept Florida close enough that the Democrats almost overturned it. So even a lame third-party to suck votes - in just a few states - could do it. Winning in 2028 is probably going to be like in 2024 - make it too big to rig.

KJ: That's not good. They could run someone like Newsom or Harris and win.

FB: Don't think they won't. The party bosses will decide regardless of what the flock decides.

WS: I believe they will do just that. The idea is to install a puppet, as Biden was, and the party bosses run the show. The fact that Harris is a dumb as a brick and Newsom isn't much smarter is an assed.

KJ: Biden was like a bunch of junior high students operating by consensus, and not the high-IQ ones.

WS: Couldn't have said it better. (laughs) In fact I said that many times.

FB: We better order more ammo and supplies.

WS: Yep. Look, I didn't think Trump was gonna make it even after he literally dodged the bullet. That's how iffy I see things even after a miracle saved us. Literally, and in that context I can see that things may go south again in 2028. But it seems that's where we began yesterday. What do we do, and what do other people do?

FB: More ammo.

WS: Yeah, next time will probably be it. This time would have been - you think those people in the J6 gulags wouldn't still be there if Trump hadn't been elected? They'd be building new ones and filling them. If 2028 goes wrong, even if they only have the presidency and it's unlikely to be limited to that - they'll have the DOJ rounding up anyone that annoys them. Never mind that Musk's companies will be government property and he and the Trumps will be in prison anyway. We will be really and truly fucked.

KJ: I believe you're right. What they did under Biden, next time around they'll make sure, of a lot of things.

FB: How do you see that going? Not that I'm sure I want to hear it.

WS: If it does happen it may be the end of the Republic. Don't ask me how it ends but I have some ideas about how the end begins. First thing is to make sure they never lose again, the presidency especially - if they have that they can do anything they please - but Congress if it doesn't fall at the same time will be gone within a couple of election cycles. They'll begin where they left off - J6 about ten times as big. Any pardons issued by the outgoing president will be ignored and they have enough judges to have as many kangaroo courts as they wish. Probably the roundup of dissidents will be background noise as they go after law enforcement and security - ICE, Border Patrol, Marshals and any FBI hired under Trump. Figure on a few thousand at least and probably as many political opponents - news people, bloggers, pundits... not only do they have no fear of consequences in the unlikely event they lose again but they're like a dangerous animal brought to bay and wounded - fear, rage, desperation...

FB: Why do I suspect that certain people won't go quietly?

WS: Because they won't. How many I can't say but among the law enforcement types most, almost all, are the types that are armed whether or not it's part of their job. They come around trying to arrest those people, any that decide to resist, pity the ones sent to arrest them. They might get a few at the beginning but once... J6 is recent memory... there will be trouble.

SB: Any likely scenarios?

WS: Don't get me lying. Or guessing...

WS: OK, we're in a whole new world this point. The regime figures on just going forward with what they planned and that being that. What they don't figure on is the ones who won't go, quietly or otherwise.

KJ: And?

FB: What happens?

WS: What would you do? You're a... FBI or ICE or whatever... they come to take you to the gulag... wait, let's say you've already seen them take some of your colleagues away and you know what's coming. You gonna go?

KJ: No fucking way.

WS: I suspect that's the way it will go. They catch a few by surprise and they go along, call a lawyer and figure on dealing with it somehow, only they're locked up without bail like the J6 folks. What does a guy do after seeing that?

FB: We don't go. Whatever else happens we don't go.

WS: Are you prepared? Do you have a plan?

FB: No, not that I haven't thought about it. What do you do?

WS: Be prepared. Most of us are prepared generally, for a disaster of some sort, but this is a disaster you can be 99% sure is going to happen.

SB: What are... if...

WS: What am I doing? I'm not even a primary target - just Joe Sixpack out here in flyover country - and I'm prepared to blow town on a minute of warning. Or less. I've got places to go, places no one knows about, and people to cover for me. Most of those people don't so they... have to improvise if they have the guts.

FB: So I'm a target, one of those on the list. What do I do?

WS: Better figure it out. Some won't... at first. But it won't take long. One day a goon squad arrives to arrest a guy, a former FBI or whatever, and he's decided... however or whyever... that he isn't going. Figuring that once they have the cuffs on you're going away and not coming back. So if he hasn't already split he's prepared to resist even if he dies. Maybe he resists and the goons, some anyway, die and maybe he does too. That plays out repeatedly... some guys die and some go to prison and some flee...

FB: How many flee and where to?

WS: Where would you go? I have a few places to keep me from being taken right off and probably for a while. Probably most don't but people adapt quickly. Here's the problem that government has - they're spread thin already. Even if they brought back the military personnel from overseas - and that seems less likely in this case - they have a million and change personnel-wise. A couple hundred thousand federal law enforcement at best. Thirty million resistance at a minimum. Probably what will happen is that when they make the mother of all miscalculations the Republic breaks up. Millions of partisans - enough in the south which looks like a map of the Confederacy - and a lot up in the northwest excluding Washington and Oregon which are too far gone - you have... did I mention that the military forces are only a million and change?

SB: The idea of suppressing a revolution... is that something they assume they can do or do they figure it won't happen?

WS: Both probably. They don't believe it will happen and think that nothing can offer resistance. If what I'm seeing comes to pass I'll be... surprised if there aren't a half dozen Tim McVeighs blowing up buildings before too long.

FB: Surprised or disappointed?

WS: (laugh) You know that. Surprised for sure so disappointment isn't likely.

SB: You think there'll be spontaneous incidents, like the OK City thing, but more of them?

WS: A lot more, but it depends on how fast they move. These people aren't very smart and act on what one can only regard as aminal impulses. So within weeks of a Democrat assuming the presidency - no matter what happens with Congress - they'll be moving to arrest people. How long will it be before the first bombs or assassinations? That may take a bit but not long. What would happen if one of us got hauled off the gulag, or someone close to us? In some cases nothing but statistically there would be a lot of bad reactions before long.

SB: OK, they come and get you.

WS: I, and all of us, are not quite regular but we're close to a lot of others. In my case if I wasn't released pretty quickly - especially if I were hauled off to a gulag from where no one returns - there would be consequences. At that point law enforcement is collectively guilty - is uniformed police were doing the work anyone in a uniform would be fair game. If not the non-uniformed feds would be targeted. A little more difficult than shooting at a police uniform but they would be identified and they would be getting shot. Simple as that.

KJ: That simple?

WS: If you're part of the regime you're guilty. This isn't a case where you can claim not to know what you were doing, or what the organization you were part of was doing. Anyone who hasn't bailed is responsible. I suspect that a bunch of men, law enforcement types and armed, will be prepared, especially after the first few arrests. Whether they go hide or resist, I would guess some of both.

SB: Let me see, former ICE agent Bill Smith is living in Blue Eye, Arkansas. The regime agents track him down and come with a warrant. He's seen what happened during the Biden era, people having their doors kicked in and being cuffed and dragged away for praying at an abortion clinic, what's he gonna go? Some of them anyway.

WS: Be prepared and shoot the bastards. At least a few will do that. I will if they come for me, only I have some other tricks to make it more fun.

KJ: They can't afford to have even a few of such incidents. Who's gonna to arrest someone who is probably heavily armed and likely to resist?

WS: Exactly. Suppose there had been... the 1990s weren't like today but the Clinton years were a taste of what was coming... suppose there had been a half dozen or some Oklahoma City events? Never mind that the government went in and made it bigger, suppose there were a dozen Tim McVeighs running around and buildings being bombed with heavy casualties?

FB: Even back then I don't see how the government could have handled it. Maybe, if you had a few like that, whitewash it and as long as there weren't any more it would be survivable.

WS: If there weren't any more is the thing. Suppose this went on for months, more and more resources burned on wild-goose chases? They already have most of those resources chasing dissidents and rounding up people from the previous administration. It wouldn't even require organization - millions of people, and we're talking twenty, maybe thirty million or more acting independently or in small groups, attacking the feds. Federal law enforcement, federal infrastructure, and potentially thousands of McVeighs and no way to find even a few of them.

SB: They already knew about McVeigh anyway so there's that. It's not like they could actually track down people behaving badly.

WS: Yeah, the OKC thing was a putup. McVeigh was driving around looking for his truck when the bomb went off. Who would have taken it if not the feds. So they didn't solve a crime there, just tied up the loose ends, like James Earl Ray and Oswald. The fact is they would be powerless and.... a competent administration like we have for the next couple of years would have problems... the losers who may take over... one almost wishes it would happen.

FB: I don't see how it doesn't happen if the Democrats take over again, as you said the executive branch is sufficient to do some serious damage. Permanent damage. I've got maybe three thousand subscribers on my Substack and that probably puts me on the radar. And I'm not gonna go quietly but how many of me are there?

WS: More than you might think. McVeigh wasn't unique - that he became an unwitting tool for a manufactured event that by the way had little of the intended effect - and there are many others. Even more these days. Now I can't go by talk - the memes where all the "conspirators" pull their guns at once and they're all FBI agents are actually pretty realistic. In the present day those operations are possible only a few at a time but don't think they won't try to whatever degree they are able. So know who you're dealing with.

FB: They come after me. What do I do?

WS: OK, I know you. Like me you have somewhere to go, protection. Waste them and run, as a matter of principle. And as a practical matter - they know about you and you're on the list. Blow tyhem away and bail. The message to the regime is important and if you don't do it someone else will.

KJ: How many times do you figure they'll try that?

SB: Probably quite a few, considering how clueless they are. Or losses will cut the available personnel pretty quick.

WS: That's right. The present... the previous to Trump regime was about the intelligence level of Communists, Stalin depleted brainpower plenty and East Germany and those places, the intelligent people were dead or hiding it... the Obama/Biden crews had about that level at best. Brute force is the only thing that works and if that fails they're screwed.

FB: The Trump administration has fired a lot of them. It'll take them time to rebuild so we might catch a break.

WS: Correct. Not that they'll have trouble finding recruits but the quality will be worse and it's bad enough already.

FB: The current crop is stupid but the new ones will be stupid and mean.

SB: Partisans will have fewer qualms about killing them. Not that they have any now.

FB: Going back to McVeighs popping up, anyone follow Chaos Lily on the Citadel board? I don't know if this is serious or not but it seems plausible.

WS: I keep track of them and some others. How much is serious - those groups vary and people that like to talk... you don't know how much to believe. Chaos Lily is into militia groups, Idaho and the area. They're a mixed bag...

FB: Yeah, probably more than a few of the guys acting out fantasies in fatigues, Chaos or someone she knows seems to have some credible connections...

WS: She? I've been wondering.

FB: It took a while but she's dropped some clues but then that could be misdirection. Whoever it is gets a lot of stuff right... anyway she wrote a couple of pieces about a group, about a dozen guys, that when the big one happens their mission is to kill a bunch of judges. They have a list... they told her... of where they live and all, and if it happens they take them out.

KJ: Imagine being one of those guys, or gals. Never a worry when you let killers go and illegal alien killers to boot, going home to your nice house and sleeping like a baby, and then one day....

FB: Yeah, they don't think it can happen. That anything can ever happen, they're in the big club. And even when things start falling apart they don't figure it'll happen to them. It'll be taken care by the authorities and they are the authorities.

WS: I've heard similar talk, some like McVeigh have a particular target in mind. Because of something they find especially egregious like Ruby Ridge or Waco. Seeing as how there may be a few hundred groups in Idaho alone - if or when it comes I wouldn't want to be one of them. The gates of their communities will only hold for so long.

SB: It seems that there isn't much organization, these groups collaborating. I can see how that would make them a bigger problem than some sort of organized resistance. The unpredictability and difficulty in monitoring them, actually it would be impossible to monitor them all. One of two or a few small groups they don't know about...

WS: They can't even do a decent job with one or two... the Whitmer debacle was like grade-school pranks and the targets were way down the IQ scale. I suspect that their perception of rebels or insurrectionists or whatever is from watching movies.

FB: If they had one or more FBI agents for each member of the group they'll be spread thin real quick. And they were manufacturing a 'conspricacy' out of whole cloth. When they're outnumbered thirty to one and can't even see the enemy until the shooting starts it's not gonna go well.

WS: The partisans or guerillas or insurgents or whatever have that advantage even if the other side has superior numbers. How many American and South Vietnamese troops were there against the Viet Cong. And North Vietnam was getting help from Russia and China. I would see the situation being more like Northern Ireland - about a hundred times bigger.

SB: The IRA? Those guys were pretty ruthless.

FB: There's thirty million Irish in the country. That would be plenty by itself.

WS: There probably would be a lot of partisans with Irish ancestry. The thing about the IRA is that they were a lot of groups who sometimes fought among themselves and... this is important... finked on each other. Something like that could.... probably would happen in such a case. Never mind, it didn't do the Brits much good for them to snitch on each other but it would happen. Anyway a few cells of IRA types would cause a lot of trouble. But whatever the source it could get intense. Almost certainly would before long.

KJ: How long?

WS: Give them a year before it begins. They'll start immediately - J6 type operations to indict and arrest people who are on lists, haul them off to the gulags. Trials would begin within two years. People going away for life and appeals automatically rejected. So if you're a former federal agent and you see your former colleagues being rounded up and disappearing, you gonna wait for them to come for you? Some will and some will try to hide and some will do something else.

KJ: Wait for them to come and surprise them?

WS: You don't figure some won't? It might be an older guy who's lived a good life already and doesn't figure on ending it in prison, decides to take a few of the enemy with him. Or a young guy who's gonna run but decides to take out a couple of the enemy on his way to wherever he plans to hide. Thousands of targets and some are bound to shoot back.

SB: How many incidents like that before they try something different? And what do they try?

WS: What else would they try? These people have the mentalities of junior high kids. Putting them in charge is like Lord of the Flies and while they would eat each other occasionally they would be - their masters are older and more experienced - they would be going after their enemies. But even the old ones have limited vision - they do what worked for Stalin and Mao - kill people and lots of them. The difference is that pesky Second Amendment.

KJ: The Russians and Chinese weren't armed. What was it the Japanese guy said about invading the U.S.A.? A rifle behind every blade of grass?

WS: Something like that, not sure whether it actually happened but it would be accurate. Trying to control the three million square miles, the bulk of the population being in a handful of small areas that will require pretty much all available resources to control, it impossible.

KJ: Out there in flyover country is where most of the rebels will be.

SB: And the ones in the cities will hightail it out there real soon.

WS: Exactly. They want to make trouble they take down the power lines, blow up some bridges, including railroad bridges. One or two little ones out in the middle of nowhere and no trains on that line for days or weeks. Especially with everything else broken. Meanwhile the preppers are set for years or months with no civilization, and non-prepared rebels will hook up with them.

FB: Or loot small towns, or some of the rural communities make deals to shelter and aid them - most of those people won't be happy with the government. Sounds like fun - when do we start?

WS: As I said, they'll start immediately, with arrests of former administration people as fast as they can get judges to issue warrants and that's a matter of hours. They'll already have lists made up, with a lot of feds - FBI and others - being targets if they stick around they'll be easy. They'll have to be replaced but they're not exactly looking for quality so no problem there. How soon do some of those people who aren't going to go quietly... or at all? Probably right away. As for when the general population explodes... we won't get to the point where they're arresting people for mean tweets of Xes or whatever - they may get a few but not many. Every one who wastes a goon in self-defense and goes on the run is another drain on resources - unless they decide to just not chase them....

(background voices, unidentifiable sounds, more indistinguishable voices, possibly a door opening/closing, )

JM: That's it. Whether they were interrupted or for some other reason decided to end the session prematurely our source didn't say. He says the recording was the only file on a USB stick.

AS: Does your source play games, stir the pot? Stuff like that?

JM: You think it's some kind of... something staged?

AS: It reads like a dystopian fiction piece but since we're in early dystopia... it could also be real. Bunch of guys sitting around having a few beers and grousing about the state of things. Whether it's a bunch of guys planning to do something... all they do is speculate on what might be about to happen and what some people might do. Nothing about them planning to do anything.

JM: They haven't gotten that far yet?

AS: Could be that. WS seems to be a leader sort, but he isn't encouraging anyone to do anything. Just talking about possibilities.

JM: If this is a surreptitious recording, I wonder who made it. Suppose they're already under surveillance - if so whoever is surveilling them got onto them pretty early.

AS: Or WS is an agent provocateur.

JM: He seems to be the dominant one, he's the one explaining, like to followers. Knowing how they came to gether would be interesting.

AS: Right.