Certainly we all have heard of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse prediction from The Book of Revelations contained in the Bible. First, The White Horseman, thought to be Jesus himself or possibly the anti-Christ, depending on interpretations. Second, the Red Horseman, thought to represent war. Third, the Black Horseman, thought to represent famine. And fourth, the pale Horseman, thought to represent death.

Notice the similarities that runs through the Book of Revelations' narrative of fear? It's the same leitmotif that runs through the course of The Bible, and most religions, if not all of them. Like the other four Horses, the Fifth Horse of the Apocalypse isn't a physical entity, in my humble opinion, it's a psychological construct.

Just as the underlying teachings of the Bible use the elemental emotion of fear as it's prime mover (pun intended), the same motivation is driving the current societal control mechanisms. For the same reasons.

Corruption is out of control in this country, and hand in hand with that corruption is our government, which is also out of control. It's no longer hidden, in fact, it's flaunted in our faces. The executive branch of our government has wrested too much power. The president, by diktat in the form of executive privilege and executive orders, simply waves his signing hand and so it is done. Is there a better example than the recent presidential pardoning of his son and the rumored preemptive pardoning of his partners in crime? Biden might as well pardon the whole government as corrupt as it currently is.

How do the government and the politicians get away with it? In times past the public would be in the streets with torches and pitchforks, seeking retribution for their grievances. The least that could be expected was a good tar and feathering followed by a good running out on a rail. Today, it's shrugged off as business as usual. The body politic has become accustomed to the corruption and unwilling to make any waves. But, why?

Fear.

The results of years of fear are evident. Lock downs, genocide, wars, lawfare, WWIII, cancellations, de-platforming, crime, IRS audit, threats of martial law, talk of civil war, talk of nuclear war, surveillance, troops in the street, climate change, policrisis, pandemics, poison food, murders on the street openly shown on the internet, and I'm sure I'm missing many more. Step out of line and you'll pay the price. It's been non stop for years and it's taking it's toll. We, the body politic have been socially engineered to acquiesce, to not make waves, out of fear of retribution and lives destroyed.

Fear is the Trojan Horse used to enter one's mind as an insidious manipulation of one's core emotion. Make an individual fearful enough and they will bend to the will of the manipulator. It works the same for a society as well. There's plenty of examples from the past to support this supposition. Today, we've been witnessing the largest and most potent psychological operation in all of history, on steroids, and in real time.

If fear is the Trojan Horse and the Fifth Horse of the Apocalypse, then who may be the rider? And to what end?

This week a terrorist army ran amok in Syria.

What/Who is That?

I don't recognize a lot of today's 'culture'. I think this is because I am old. My Mom keeps telling me that she doesn't know the world she lives in anymore. And she watches TV constantly! I haven't had a TV for about 24 years so I don't see commercials, I don't see shows that tell 'us' what's new and important, or who's new and important, and perhaps even why they are important. I haven't watched new movies in, ohh, about 20 years or so. I do spend a lot of time, obviously, online, and I do watch shows online. But... these aren't shows that would be on TV. I don't think. Do they have music reaction shows on TV? Driving through the Alps, and other places, videos? Compilations of weird, strange, and sometimes scary things from dash and other kinds of cameras? Or news shows like Breaking Points? I kinda doubt they do, but I don't know, I must confess.

Who? What? Hmmm... from here.

Who are the latest TV and movie stars? I haven't a clue. In fact, I think I'm about 2 generations of those behind in knowledge. And music stars? I do listen to a lot music that is new but it's generally by older artists, some from foreign countries, in many different genres. And what kind of music is popular now? Does it have a name, like Punk or New Wave or Folk or Psychedelic or whatever did? Maybe it has several names? Maybe it's just boring and not worth paying attention to? Certainly the TV and movie stars seem that way.

Woke up yesterday morning to 27° and no heater. Don't know when exactly it went out, but the inside of the house was still in the 50s, so fairly latent.
Thankfully, we have a airtight fireplace to fire up, and a couple of cords of maple firewood I've been saving just for this predicament.

Multiple media sources in South Korea and the US are reporting this:

South Korea President Yoon declares martial law