Perhaps another title for this article could be “Authoritarian Confusion”, or even “Orwellian Calvinball” for that matter. However, since we all know who George Orwell is (1984, Animal Farm, etc.), and since the comic strip Calvin And Hobbs has a huge fan base, the basic premise here will make sense.
Calvin And Hobbs is the creation of Bill Waterson. It was first syndicated the mid-1980s and lasted roughly 10 years. Several books were also published, and what started as a simple newspaper comic strip went on to reach an international fan base.
Calvinball is a game invented by 6 year old Calvin that essentially has no real rules…except one: no game can ever be played the same way twice. The “rules”, such as they are, were created on the fly. While playing the game you could maybe wear a mask, even an entire costume, and any conceivable item could be incorporated. And since it’s Calvin’s game, he could and did change the rules when things weren’t going his way. Plus, no one can ever question a change.
This is where the authoritarianism of Orwell’s work coincides with Calvinball. One of the best examples of authoritarian rule changing on the fly is the following.
Remember New York A G Letitia James? She campaigned for this position on a “get Trump” platform. In 2022 she filed a civil suite against then private citizen and former President Donald Trump, accusing him and his organization of inflating its net worth on financial statements in order to secure better rates on business loans. In order to get a conviction, plus a subsequent $400 million fine, her office basically created a legal concept out of thin air. In the end, since all monies lent to Trump’s business were repaid (with interest), no fraud was committed. The excessive fine was thrown out since it violated the 8th Amendment. Some aspects of this case are under appeal, but overall, it’s clear that New York A G Letitia James tried to use the legal system to make up charges as she went along.
To a lesser extent, the similar lawfare Trump experienced from Fani Willis, Fulton County Georgia D A, regarding possible “election interference” was tossed out due to impropriety and conflict of interest on the part of Ms. Willis. She was making it up as she went along, and has been removed from the case, which is in a sort of legal limbo now.
Remember the “Maryland Man” Kilmar Abrago-Garcia? Yet another good example of Calvinball legal shenanigans on the fly.
This guy entered the U.S. illegally in 2012 from El Salvador. He’s an “alleged” MS-13 member, and has had drug and human trafficking brought against him. His own wife has an order of protection.
He was scheduled for deportation in 2019, but that was stopped by a Demshevik judge. In March of 2025, he was finally deported to El Salvador. In April of 2025, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) paid him a visit and they even went out for drinks together. Hey Senator, how many of your other “constituents” are also your drinking buddies?
Abrago-Garcia was eventually sent back here to Tennessee, jailed but immediately released. He returned to Maryland and was promptly re-arrested. Aside from his foreign travel, he was shuttled to detention centers in Louisiana and then Texas. There has been talk of deporting him to any African country that will take him, but that’s undecided now.
The way this “Maryland Man” criminal alien has been dealt with could be used as a text book example of Calvinball. The narrative is changing all the time and no one can question it. How much time and resources have been wasted on one piece of human filth shouldn’t be here in the first place?
There’s a plethora of examples of real life Orwellian Calvinball, but we don’t have the time and space to list everything. Remembering the “make it up as you go along” concept though, notice how all the following falls into place as Calvinball:
DEI
COVID (or The Great Wuhan Kungflu Overreaction)
Fact checkers
…and even the Senates procedural rules of the filibuster and the “nuclear option”. While both of these procedures are part of the U.S. Senate’s traditional way of doing things, they have often been turned into marathon sessions of “make it up as you go along”.
An even better example is how the Demsheviks got rid of Biden. “Yes, he’s in the race!” “This is the best Biden ever!” “No, he’s going to step down!” And just like that, as they say, Harris was installed as the candidate, without calling a convention or even winning a single primary. Thought we forgot about that, didn’t ya?
Gong back to the origin of Calvinball, in one short series of strips, Calvin talked his teenage baby sitter Rosalyn into playing the game with he and Hobbs. (Hobbs is Calvin’s stuffed tiger, but is real in Calvin’s world.)
Roz figures out what ‘s going on pretty quickly and starts making up her own rules. Hobbs looks at Calvin and says, “I think she’s on to us…”
We’ve been dealing with Orwellian Cavinball for close to a decade and we’ve definitely caught on to it. We know they’re always going to change the rules when they can. We also know they’re going to keep trying to change the narrative along with the rules.
But, we do have the power to stop them. We need to start using that power to actually obey the only rules that matter: the rule of law, and God’s divine law.
In closing…
“In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust, let me never be put to confusion.” Ps. 71:1
“God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” 1st Cor. 14:33
