The more that time progresses, the more it's starting to feel like the End Times. Each of these things in isolation are small, even trivial matters-- but they are coming so-frequently-as-to-be-daily, that when added together the cumulative effect paints a certain picture.


Gab Self-Immolation

I've been a big fan of Gab essentially since that site went live-- it's the only web site which feels like the internet pre-2016, where you can say what you want without a busy body HR lady or government propaganda minister standing over you, saying "tsk tsk tsk", and taking away your keyboard. Things seemed to be going great over there: I could tell more and more people were joining, as my feed was becoming increasingly full of interesting news links.

Then out of nowhere just a few days ago, Andrew Torba not only posted that in two days he was going to prohibit non-paid accounts from posting images, but he started calling people with free accounts "Communists" and "freeloaders". Now my feed on that site is nothing but Andrew Torba talking to himself-- everyone has jumped ship. Did someone threaten him? Is he just that neurotic and unstable? It's technological hara-kiri, and it was so sudden! Total, inconceivable madness.


Serie A Unraveling

This Lazio season is turning out to be even worse than the Ballardini year-- not only are the performances as bad, but there is an added dimension of unprecedented surreality about the proceedings.

I am not someone who blames referees for his team's issues-- I always turn inward: "What could we have done differently tactically or strategically? Were there fitness issues? Is the mentality correct?" But this season, there is a clear vendetta from several of the referees towards Lazio. I am not Italian, I don't understand the language, I don't know about the politics-- but the league's officials appear to be retaliating against the players, to get at Lotito.

Yesterday's refereeing in the Milan match was so extraordinary that I could scarcely believe what I was seeing. The episodes in particular involving the absolutely shameful Christian Pulisic, who is a total thug of a player as I discovered, were so bizarre I could scarcely believe my eyes.

The first instance was particularly shocking: Castellanos had just gotten fouled, and was visibly bleeding from his mouth. The referee was standing right there, and had put his whistle in his mouth. Meanwhile, all of the players had stopped: Pellegrini was shepherding the ball out of play, signaling with his hand to the nearby Pulisic that he was letting the ball go out so Castellanos could get treatment. Instead, Pulisic dinked the ball around Pellegrini-- totally baffled, Pellegrini pulled the former to the ground.

Rather than just smile and whistle the play back like a normal human being, the referee sent off Pellegrini with a second yellow!

The match turned into pure bedlam after that, with multiple fights breaking out, our team eventually going down to eight men, and so forth. For the record, going down to seven means the match gets suspended due to a lack of players: I have never seen a team go down to eight until yesterday, in twenty-five years of watching professional football. After the match, the referee was suspended for a month by his boss. This is similar to the Juventus match earlier this year, where the referee was so shambolic that he was sent down to Serie B. That was the match where the ball went all the way out of play, Juventus scored, and the decision stood.

Lotito described after the game that the players felt like violence was done against them over the course of the match-- and that's how I felt as a fan, watching it. I've never felt this way watching sports before. What's more, he gave an interview with lots of thinly-veiled allusions that Lazio could leave the FIGC altogether. Again, unprecedented.


Towards the Light

I could keep going, but one more example to support the thesis of his post: there is a widely-circulating clip of Joe Rogan of all people asking for Jesus to return. It's incredible to me that he would embrace Jesus as his Lord and Savior, I find that incredible in the best way. Initially I thought it was a "deep fake", but in fact the recording is authentic. It shows how even ordinarily-secular people are sensing that this period is unprecedented.