21A001 A Double Palindrome  by Jim Davies, 1/5/2021

Consider the following five famous faces:

Each on the left fronts a formidable intellect, but only a mother would call them pretty. But the three on the right are beautiful, are they not? Why?

In part because, I think, they are all symmetrical. Each is unique, but within each, every feature seems to be just where it belongs. We humans seem to have evolved to appreciate symmetry.

It extends to letters and numbers. We like Anna and Mom and noon and rotor and - wow - no lemon, no melon. We heed warnings to step on no pets. Even governments have to face its revenue-raising problem: to borrow or rob? As for numbers, I like to notice my car's odometer for palindromes; the most recent was 104401 and they happen every 1,1o0 miles but that will change after 109901. Last Saturday was palindromic, with 1221 (1/2/21.) The Earth did not tremble.

Palindromic dates can, though, coincide with very bad events. There's no suggestion here about demons or superstitions, but I recall a bad family occurrence that took place on one, and then there are the two below (yes, at last I have come to the point...)

9339

On 9/3/39 what might have remained a quarrel between two neighboring governments about which should control the city of Danzig turned, when the French and British ones declared war on the German one, into a worldwide conflict that killed as many as 80,000,000 people; the worst catastrophe in human history, of which I wrote more in Blundering into World War Two.

12021 and 1202021

Coming up is that double palindrome; it's symmetrical both as 1/20/21 and as 1/20/2021 (though not in the European style, 20/1/21.) What may it portend; will it be another disastrous date?

It seems likely that Joe Biden will be sworn in on that day; a bogus President who won a bogus election made possible by a bogus plague. Having served its purpose, that plague could now be called off, probably on the pretext that vaccines have brought it under control; but, will he do that?

It's possible. Biden is a seasoned politician, so he may decide to build popularity by letting everyone get back to work, restoring normal life; within a year, most may then have forgotten the outrages of 2020. That would be the sensible thing to do.

Alternatively he may double down on the advantage government has been handed, by the sheep-like acceptance of the restrictions imposed; making forced mask-wearing permanent, mandating vaccination and locking everyone down in what's been called the "Great Reset." That may be the ultimate purpose of the Bogus Plague; not so much to test compliance to these vicious rules, but to impose them for all the indefinite future, ruin more small businesses and transfer even more trade to giant corporations bearing generous re-election gifts. Why not, when the great majority so readily obeys? The enjoyment of power is, after all, the sole purpose of government.

That "reset" may include violations of freedom hardly yet envisaged outside dystopian novels like Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World. Travel control is already a fact; in some States one must explain the purpose of a journey to any cop who enquires, and airlines have begun to deny tickets to any lacking paperwork that proves the absence of C-19 infection. It's a very short step to requiring internal passports such as practised in Nazi Germany and portrayed in Amerika. Since Biden already has the momentum, why should he not magnify the ugly power of government in such ways? All that ever happens, when government gets some power, is that it uses it to get more.

The double one on Biden's Inauguration Day is followed by nine more, single palindromes in a row: 12121, 12221, 12321, 12421, 12521, 12621, 12721, 12821 and 12921. What this most unusual alignment of numbers augurs, I have no idea. Please, consult your horror-scope and let me know.

STOP PRESS: Just occasionally, good news breaks: and yesterday some came from London. No doubt as a result of the ZGBlog Free These Three, a judge has decided after an exhaustive trial not to extradite Julian Assange to the US. Surprising, and delightful! Might there have been a hint dropped there by President Trump? - I rather think so. We also covered the Assange saga here and here. So, it's one down and two to go.