Plan G? From Outer Space

405 thoughts on “Plan G? From Outer Space”

1. Brendan O’Neill: “ 70 million Americans voted for him….vote for Trump so striking, and so important. … existence of vast numbers of people who are outside of the purview of the cultural elites. … developed some kind of immunity to the cultural supremacy of the ‘woke’ worldview … content to defy the diktats of the supposedly right-thinking elites and cast their ballots in a way that they think best tallies with their political, social and class interests. …”

   Hey it cheered me up quite a bit.

   Here’s the link to Brendan’s full essay: https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/11/06/the-real-resistance/

   1. developed some kind of immunity to the cultural supremacy of the ‘woke’ worldview

      I’m reminded of the Keepers in Mass Effect. It is remarkable how many parallels one can extract from that story.

      1. Of course to the Democrats, they view 70 million Trump voters as being deplorables who are essentially Nazis. It really is hard to see how there can be anything other than violent strife when one group of people demonizes a large part of their cohabitants in the USA as being essentially bigoted mass murderers.

         1. Consider that given Dr.Shiva’s analysis, it’s more like 100 million Trump voters, and the Democrats are seriously outnumbered.

            1. THIS.

         2. To be fair, I’m starting to assume THEY are basically Nazis. They certainly have the anti-semitism.

            1. They are also commies, as they believe in international socialism; given the hatred of Jews and general identity based caste system that accompanies their communist ideology, I coined the term communazi because it perfectly captures how utterly evil their ideology is.

               Please feel free to use the term.

            2. I’m seeing a *lot* of anti-Semitism on some of the “far right” places I visit as well. Pretty much the straight Mein Kampf “da Jooz secret puppet masters” line, with big helpings of “Israel” and “Rothschild” blather.

               “Well, isn’t that nice! See the crazies on both sides reach rapproachment and concensus…” WTF?

               I’m beginning to think it’s another tentacle of the anti-Conservative, anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-scientific gaslighting mass attack.

               1. They were always like that. I know who you’re talking about. The fact he’s a refugee in Russia means he sings their tune.
                  That’s all. And that’s why I don’t GO THERE.

               2. Funny (ish) thing I had heard somewhere – Mein Kampf was transcribed by one of the higher ups of Hitler ranting in prison.

                  1. Rudolf Hess “voluntarily joined” Hitler in prison after the putsch and acted as his secretary and factotum. He wrote “Mein Kampf” using Hitler’s notes and transcriptions of his speeches. Lots of speeches. Variants of speeches. Pieces of speeches, shouting at the walls, over and over and over…

                     Hess doing the writing was pretty standard; few political figures actually wrote the books they were noted for.

                     There are, at least in 1930s the James Murphy translation, some Easter eggs in the what is essentially a mind-numbing, repetitive rant. They’re artefacts of translation between German and English, or 1930s Britlish vs. 21st century American, or Hess had a sense of humor he displayed nowhere else, because there are a few spots in there that are LOL funny.

            3. Ironic, considering how many secular Jews are marching in lockstep with the worst of the left.

               Meanwhile, the Orthodox are increasingly alarmed and arming up.

               1. Cultural Catholics are right there with them– I think it may be a side-effect of having a culture that assumes a strong religious faith, but having left that faith.

                  1. I often call myself “culturally Catholic” due to my Irish family, but I was raised Protestant. Which is funny because I am the only Fenian in that side of the family anymore…

                     1. *laughs* Kind of like the folks who convert from the Jewish faith and into Catholicism– totally don’t count for the “cultural Jewish” thing re: politics.

         3. The current pejorative is, “white supremacist.” That way, anyone pale of skin can be instantly condemned and anyone dark of skin can be condemned for having been “corrupted,” by the desire to be white.

            1. People experiencing whiteness, please. Assuming people’s identity is a supposed to be a no-no

               1. “You’re a racist!”

                  Me: “Did you just assume my prejudices?”

         4. More projection than the multi-screen Imax. After running Kristalsommer with literal uniformed freicorps beating up people and burning businesses down, they’re trying to cheat us into the Bidenreich*

            Though I also wonder how many not them actual know who Hitler is. Literally Voldemort would probably be more comprehensible.

            *c.f. Rotten chestnuts.

            1. Just started reading that. He’s not very … positive.

         5. And the end result, if they keep pushing it, will be to ‘normalize’ Nazis and White Supremacists. Which the country needs like it needs smallpox.

            *spit*

            Let’s hope we can bring enough of the Urban poor brown people over to the sane side, and that’ll kill any resurgence of Klanism…but I keep running into hunts that a lot of people are fed to the teeth with Black Lives Matter, and aren’t noticing that the vast majority of the BLM Brownshirts are white college loons.

         6. ACTUALLY Nazis. So much Nazis that the historical ones were merely analogies to them.

            1. And they’ve been repeating this nonsense to the point that, like ‘Racism’, the word ‘Nazi’ has become a form of white noise, empty of meaning.

      2. Reaper Indoctrination would explain prog behavior. 😮

2. What Trump needs, and has planned (I am sure) is a cascade of events each one forcing the courts to step in a little more forcefully. His people are picking their battles. Every little win increases the pressure on the next court approached. Each time he goes with more evidence gathered in the wake of the previous wins.

   This will damage the courts, but the stronger the progression that forces their action, the less the damage will be. And the more prosecution and conviction of the bad actors, the less the damage to the courts will be.

   It looks like the donks are going to hold the House, though enough proper recounts might change that. That’s bad; it will be hard to force decent reform through. And the Constitution gives Congress the power to ensure that each State has a republican form of government. I don’t think it’s ever been tested in court, but that has to mean the power to ensure true elections.

   1. We are up to 10 flipped house seats so far, and the number keeps going up.

      Quite a few of the down-ticket candidates have figured out that they can and probably should challenge their losses.

      1. GOOD

      2. Source? This is not showing up in anything I’ve seen. Not challenging you; just would like to see where this information is.

         1. And when you find it, put it on the link page.

         2. UPDATE: There are now 10 GOP flips in the House!

            CA-48 Michelle Steel
            FL-26 Carlos Gimenez
            FL-27 Maria Elvira Salazar
            IA-01 Ashley Hinson
            MI-03 Peter Meijer
            MN-07 Michelle Fischbach
            NM-02 Yvette Herrell
            NY-11 Nicole Malliotakis
            OK-05 Stephanie Bice
            SC-01 Nancy Mace

            — Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 12, 2020

            1. My NY-22 is looking good… and apparently three close-enough-to-lose-by-absentee races in NY (including this one) have all demanded a representative present for absentee counting, which pleases me further

               1. (Clarifying note, I don’t know if the other two races are flips, but mine would be.)

                  1. Alas, that doesn’t mean a net change of ten. While there have been ten so far, there have been a smaller number of Rep-to-Dem flips, so the net is more like seven. Right this moment, I think there are about 15-20 races outstanding. It looks like the Dem majority in the house is likely to be somewhere between razor thin and very small – possibly close enough that a few special elections or party changes could shift things.

                     1. McCarthy is already trying to convince the few remaining moderate Dems to switch parties by noting that if they switch they would still be in the majority (due to it causing the House to flip) and would not be shackled to the radical leftists like AOC and would have real say in legislation.

                        1. Great. I wouldn’t even mind a few more RINO’s in the mix if it means non-Democrats winning procedural votes and being able to control the the committees.

                     2. Burgess Owen seems to be taking back Utah’s 4th district.

                        Per Breitbart:
                        Owens’ victory marks the twelfth seat in the House of Representatives to be flipped from Democrat to Republican on Election Day.

                        Other candidates and districts where Republicans were successful this year include CA-39: Young Kim; CA-48: Michelle Steel; FL-27: Maria Elvira Salazar; FL-26: Carlos Gimenez; IA-01 Ashley Hinson; MI-03: Peter Meijer; MN-07: Michelle Fischbach; NY-11: Nicole Malliotakis; NM-02: Yvette Herrell; OK-05: Stephanie Bice; and SC-01: Nancy Mace.
                        https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/13/republican-burgess-owens-defeats-democrat-rep-ben-mcadams-in-utah/
                        –

            2. NJ 7 is back in play as well; The NY Times rescinded its call of that district for the Democrat Malinowski, who was being challenged by Tom Kean, Jr.. Likely heading for a recount.

               1. I remember growing up there with Tom Kean as governor. I like Ohio, but in some ways I really miss New Jersey: the shore, cousins, the Delaware Water Gap area, Thomas Sweet Shops, good subs and pizza just about everywhere… OTOH, my parents relocated to Florida, and it is a lot easier drive down I-75 than I-95; I’ve got more friends here, and the politics are generally saner. Even DeWine’s latest COVID measures are nothing compared to Murphy’s craziness.

            3. CA25 count is still going, with the last news having Mike Garcia, the F/A-18 pilot who won the special for that vacated-due-to-throuple-outbreak seat just a few months back, again in the lead by a couple hundred votes, but the Dems are mobilizing to “cure” bad Dem ballots.

               1. Insty had this in the open thread tonight that sums up what the vote fraud really means:

                  

                  1. THIS

      3. We are up to 10 flipped house seats so far, and the number keeps going up.

         That many?

         *delight*

         1. Trump totally lost though because we all hate him so much.

            SHUT UP AND ACCEPT THE LOSS.

            1. As folks have pointed out– don’t massive losers always have long coat-tails?

               1. True thing, right? It’s just how it happens.
                  IDIOTS.

                  1. What gets me is the folks on Twitter who, on the whole, are reasonable people who are utterly in the, “look, Trump’s too abrasive. Voters just voted for the rest of the Republican ticket and didn’t vote for Trump, that’s all. Nothing suspicious about it,” camp. They’re so desperate to be rid of Trump (because they dislike his personality or sincerely think he’s bad for the country) they’re ignoring or rationalizing like crazy.

                     1. No. REALLY not true.

                     2. That appears to be David French’s line. “Everyone hates T like I do, so they voted straight ticket R, except for president.” And claiming “There’s no evidence of any fraud to change the outcome, so shut up already and stop seeing fraud.” Yuck. Delusional? Wilfully blind.

                        1. IDIOTIC. He got cat fished by a lot of the disinformation campaigns in 16 which pretended to be racist, homophobic, etc. Trump supporters and he thinks that’s what Trump is. with no evidence.
                           I regret I used to read him and admire him.

                           1. Regret not – he used to be readable and admirable. He is not the first (nor the last) conservative to succumb to TDS.
                              –

                     3. “… they’re ignoring or rationalizing like crazy.”

                        This is an unjustified slur on the mentally ill. That needs be rephrased as “they’re ignoring or rationalizing like liberals.”

                        Actual crazy people are generally more coherent in their rationalizations.
                        -.

            2. Nope.

               1. You need to not sow so much division! It is a time of healing and reconciliation. We can once again have unity as soon as you accept this. Until then we are going to help you meditate in quarantine, the COVID is spreading you know.

                  1. *snort*

                  2. AOC, is that you? ;p

                  3. yeah they’re locking us down.
                     BITCHES ARE SCARED.

            3. And when you see the memes explaining how Trump “really ” lost the ground with white men (Did they not see the rallies?) remind the of the demographic composition of the U.S. prior to 1970.

               What skin color did most of those dead men voting from beyond the grave have?

               1. Probably greenish.

                  1. 🤣

            4. >> “SHUT UP AND ACCEPT THE LOSS.”

               Yeah, follow Hillary’s fine example.

         2. Which is remarkable for a top of ticket candidate who purportedly last. One of the things that has always been consistent in elections is that it is the WINNER who has downticket coattails if any candidate has them, not the loser. Trump’s coattails are large enough that they are the kind that only happens when the top of the ticket WINS in a landslide.

      4. Consider how many House seats might flip in two years… at least, if enough suspicious citizens watch the polls.

         1. A silver lining from the current mess is that no matter what happens with the 2020 battle royale for the White House, the 2022 midterm electoral cycle and beyond will see a strenuous effort by newly energized Republican youth brigades to absolutely swarm over the election process in search of the tiniest irregularities. This abrupt heightening of an already vicious culture war may yet see the total destruction of an extensive fraud machine built by complacent Democratic operatives across the country during decades of willful Republican blindness to hidden shenanigans. No more will the leftist vermin be able to trick Republican poll watchers into departing for the night whilst giggling operatives shovel truckloads of fraudulent ballots into the counting centers.

            1. They weren’t tricking them — they were dragging Republican observers out of the counting rooms.

               1. Oh, BE Fair now! They only did that when their tricks — “Go on home, we’re done for the night. Counting will restart at eight am” — didn’t work.

                  If those deplorable Republicans had stuck to the script and behaved like Elmer Fudd in a Bugs Bunny cartoon there would have been no need for force.
                  –

               2. They also tricked them in other places: told them the counting was done for the night.

            2. The GOP controls a majority of state legislatures – Step One for every one of those legislatures is voting reform along lines we’ve previously discussed here. ALEC would be an appropriate venue for developing a “Uniform Model Voting Process” to implement.

               Step Two is activist groups filing suit in states not adopting that UMVP proclaiming that their voting rights are being damaged by the worst failure to protect uniform processes since the end of Jim Crow.
               –

               1. That’s an excellent idea! Establish a widely accepted legal standard amongst multiple states and then crank the pressure way up on the smirking Democrats who claim in loud voices to want to “protect voters’ rights.”

                  Does this incipient mass movement need to be sparked into reality by yet another organization and website, or will, say, “True the Vote” serve well as the origination point?

               2. Wait, what? Please explain this “ALEC” of which you speak. The acronym isn’t familiar. Should I know it?

                  1. ALEC is a bugaboo of the Left; it stands for the American Legislative Exchange Council, “a nonprofit organization of conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States. … ALEC also serves as a networking tool among certain state legislators, allowing them to research conservative policies implemented in other states.” per Wikipedia

                     What I had in mind is an equivalent of the UCC – Uniform Commercial Code – which Investopedia describes as:

                     a standardized set of laws and regulations for transacting business. Then UCC code was established because it was becoming increasingly difficult for companies to transact business across state lines given the various state laws.

                     The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is important since it helps companies in different states to transact with each other by providing a standard legal and contractual framework. The UCC laws have been fully adopted by most states in the U.S. Although there are some slight variations from state-to-state, the UCC code consists of nine separate articles. The UCC articles govern various types of transactions, including banking and loans.

                     in other words, it offers a model for best practices, establishing safe harbor provisions facillitating interstate commerce.
                     –

                     1. Ah! Makes perfect sense. Let’s not let this excellent idea slide into the memory hole, shall we? I trust you won’t mind if I write it up a bit and slap it onto The Donald for the autistic piranhas there to chew into bloody ribbons. I’ll also pass it along to True the Vote as a suggestion in case no one there has already thought of it. You never know. 🙂

                        1. Not only would I not mind, I eschew credit — the hard work is in developing an idea into an action plan, after all.
                           –

         2. Are you actually for real? if they get away with this fraud? NONE. Because the fake votes will give them the win every time.

   2. Your word to G*d’s ear. I hope and pray for the same – that the cascade of reversals finally becomes overwhelming.
      The screaming from the proggie left will be deafening, of course. And there will be riots in certain vulnerable cities. But I expected that in the event of a Trump win anyway.
      I’ve gone to hating the National Establishment Media with the fury of a thousand burning suns, though. What a parcel of rogues in a nation…

      1. Hating them is a mistake. As long as you hate them they live rent free in your head. Forgive them to get them evicted, then destroy them.

         1. I don’t HATE them. They aren’t worth that much energy. I despise them. They are a failed Elite, fighting to maintain their precious positions.

            *spit*

            But I’ve despised the Democrats and (when there was a difference) the radical Left since I first stared paying attention to politics, in the 1970’s.

            1. Ugarte: “You despise me, don’t you?”
               Rick: “If I gave you any thought, I suppose I would.”
               One of the best exchanges from a movie filled with wonderful lines.

            2. Ellsworth Toohey: “What do you think of me, Mr. Roarke?”
               Howard Roarke: “I don’t think of you.”

            3. And they’re pretty damn STUPID.

               1. There’s a word I like to use in connection to the Fascist Left; Ostentatiously. They are ostentatiously idiotic, on so many levels. They think their stupidity is hip, cool, suave. They put it on the way a teenybopper puts on makeup; with a trowel.

                  1. I plan on shamelessly stealing this term “ostentatiously idiotic.” “With a trowel, like teenyboppers” — SNICKER.

                     Honestly, I’ve had great difficulty analyzing this sort of incredible, purposeful stupidity. I’ve known for decades now from my own careful thoughts that the root problem is aggressive solipsism, but that fundamental concept doesn’t go far enough in explaining the sheer idiocy of the leftists in actively, oftentimes hysterically denying simple physical reality. Recently, Mrs. Hoyt suggested in effect that these people are afflicted by a specific form of solipsism that has them fundamentally denying objective reality while simultaneously accepting the “reality,” such as it may be, of a very specific and emotionally indispensable, extended group of people who seem at least superficially compatible with the sneering self-indulgence of nominal leftist “thought.” All other people fall outside of acceptable parameters and are therefore scary “uncanny valley” monsters that must be DESTROYED before they gobble up friends and children with their slobbering monster jaws!

                     To a far leftist, that some of these “monsters” may be blood relatives seems utterly immaterial. Nor is there any point to asking sharp questions about how such alleged monsters can genetically produce morally upstanding, politically correct leftists. Words create reality — physics, biology, and chemistry all are almost trivial systems of thought with little relevance to the supreme reality of an enfolded, self-referential mind.

                     In this view, the wider group of fellow leftists is not truly composed of “other” people — they are both in a extremely limited sense “other” people and at the same time merely an extension of the inner world of a self-absorbed, intensely solipsistic leftist. This is why even remotely “going off the reservation” seems to evoke such a furious reaction from so many leftists — to them, it’s as if their own minds have started rotting away, betraying them with rank heresies and insanity. They go mad with convulsive hatred and rejection, seeking by any means necessary and available to slice away the cancerous growths that are “deplorables” and “bitter clingers.”

                     Think it over, and see if this theory doesn’t make dreadful, frightening sense. -_-

                  2. Ostentatious? They’re freaking flamboyant, like Nathan Lane in The Birdcage flamboyant. F. Murray Abraham in The Ritz flamboyant.
                     –

            4. This is still America. They keep trying to be “elite”, but all I’m seeing is “uppity.”

               We dealt with that in 1776. We can do it again.

               1. Robert Fulghum wrote about his Black neighbor who used to gently mock him by saying; “Fulghum, I’m an Upwardly Mobile Negro, and you’re a Downwardly Mobile Honky.

                  That’s these fools; downwardly mobile Honkys. I wouldn’t mind, if they weren’t insisting on dragging us with them.

            5. Hating these people would be like hating crab lice. No. you just want to be rid of them, thoroughly and completely.
               –

3. Oh, and consider contributions for the Georgia runoff elections, and maybe to John James, who might be in shooting distance on recounts.

4. Speaking of Dominion, Sarah…..

   https://twitchy.com/samj-3930/2020/11/13/ya-dont-say-youll-never-guess-why-dems-warren-klobuchar-and-wyden-issued-a-formal-complaint-against-dominion-in-2019-ok-you-might/

5. I think they’ve fallen through to Plan O by now — for Oh Shit.

   We should hope that Trump and Barr are Up To Something. And that it leads to much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Left.

   1. They are still on Plan S: Shut Up They Said.

      1. TI’m pretty sure that one is just part of the Operating System.

6. Meanwhile they were running plan D in the form of polls that would depress Republican turn out

   No that is Plan U, for “Universal”. They always run that one.

7. I never wanted to live in interesting times.

   “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
   “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
   So wrote a man who served in one of the most terrible wars in history, and was present for one of the most terrible battles of that war.

   1. Tolkien and Lewis give me comfort.

      1. Same here. And the verse 1 Kings 19:18
         “Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

         Make that seven million…

         1. indeed.

         2. 70 million?

            1. 100. I swear. once you account for fraud.

8. My leftwing brother said that because Hunter Biden lives in California, there is no way the laptop is legitimate. I love my brother but I just don’t know how to get through to him.

   1. Admittedly talking to my leftwing relatives has me ready to pull my hair out.

      1. I wonder if he knows the computer repair place is only a few miles from Daddy’s house.
         I’ve seen suggestions that Hunter’s “forgetting,” his laptops is a bit of passive-aggressive behavior due to being used ruthlessly by his family.

         1. He never picked up the computer because he couldn’t/wouldn’t pay for it because all the money he was making was being spent on drugs and prostitutes.

         2. Having dealt with computer security and users for many years, my own guess would be no concept of how the Apple “cloud” thing works, and when all his stuff came up on his new laptop, he assumed it was removed from his old one. Hey, from various reports he even had a password set up; that’s hardcore security for most people. [sigh]

            I just had a thought. As Hunter was globetrotting, I wonder how many times his laptop(s) and phone(s) got imaged by CBP or their foreign equivalents when they went through border control? For that matter, Epstein and his factotum Maxwell? For more than a decade (that we know of) CBP has been taking “devices” into a back room and copying the whole thing to examine at their leisure. There have been some lawsuits, which of course didn’t go anywhere. That’s a buttload of data for *someone* to pick through… and, apparently, sit on. Like the FBI tried to do with the physical laptop once they were persuaded to accept it.

   2. ….do I even WANT to know how he manages that logic?

      1. Oh, it boiled down to why have his laptop repaired in Pennsylvania when he lives in California.

         1. Maybe because he ALSO has residence in PA, and DC?

         2. That would actually be a decent argument, if he wasn’t nearly constantly bouncing through DC to Europe and the Middle East.

   3. “I just don’t know how to get through to him.”

      Short answer, you can’t. But you can live your life according to your own lights, and eventually Reality will instruct him for you.

      Many people in my family told me I was WRONG WRONG WRONG for twenty frigging years about all kinds of shit from guns to child rearing to home schooling, even what kind of car I drive. “Gotta have a CHEAP, SMALL car, Phantom! Those trucks are too expensive! Too much fuel! You’re out of your mind!” I used to explain my reasoning, but after 20 years of explaining the same goddamn thing I just shut up. Smiled, nodded and said the weather was very nice.

      Well it’s funny, but a few years ago they stopped telling me I was wrong. Some of them even bought trucks. Now they tell me how great the truck is. I try not to roll my eyes.

      Sometimes it takes a long time for a stupid idea to become such a huge problem a person can’t ignore it anymore. If you don’t have that problem, because you rejected the stupid idea, they’re going to come around to your way of doing things.

      1. Back before the iPod and iPhone, I had an Apple PowerMac when OS X was up and coming. Also had a Window computer, a Linux system and a few other old workstations. (I’m a curious well-rounded computer geek. I also collect programming languages and databases…)

         Got tons of shit from smug co-workers about having an Apple product back in the early OS X days. It was very high school mean-girl types of petty. “We are going to disrespect your facts and experience with other systems, because you are a stoopid Apple user…” type of petty. (The fact that I had developed on and administered several other distinct operating systems for over a decade and half was lost on them.)

         Now the “mean girls” have the whole Apple product line for everyone in the family and drink the annual upgrade Kool-Aide.

         Now, except for a token Windows laptop for reasons, my home systems are Linux with a few test BSD machines on occasion. The skills from using Unix CLI in OS X enhanced my Unix/Linux skills leading to a better workplace environment with more competent technical people.

         And yes the “mean girls” all voted Blue including the one token Blue gun owner…

         1. “Now the “mean girls” have the whole Apple product line for everyone in the family and drink the annual upgrade Kool-Aide.”

            I used to have people tell me off about covering the camera on my laptop. “How paranoid are you? Nobody can hack that thing, you’re NUTS!”

            Funny how I never hear that anymore. Zuckerberg has hockey tape over the camera on his Macbook.

            Also, I used to tell people their Mac and their iPhones etc. were phoning home. Usually because they were mocking my Blackberry. Again, I was CRAZY and paranoid.

            The new MacOS-11 BiG Sur took a dump today, release day, because the Apple phone-home server got crushed.

            https://ask.slashdot.org/story/20/11/13/2231219/ask-slashdot-did-you-upgrade-to-macos-big-sur

            Previously there was a software fix called “Little Snitch” to make the Mac stop phoning home every single time you opened a new ap or service. New “feature” with MacOS-11, that fix no longer works. Now you need a network device like Smoothwall to take the packets out of the out-going stream. There’s no other way to stop it.

            Your Linux household is looking pretty good today.

            1. The new Raspberry Pi 4 is available with 8GB RAM for $75.00.

               1. I have a bunch of Pi’s around for running Screenly on TV screens, for video and slide shows. Such a nice little machine, and so amazingly cheap. Been meaning to try the Pi4, this might be the push I needed.

                  My relationship with Linux as a desktop is long and fairly annoying. I’ve been trying it every few years since the late 1990’s, but the bar to entry has always been too high so far. Ubuntu was -nearly- good enough when it came out,

                  I used an SGI Octane as a main PC for a while in the early 2000s, that worked surprisingly well for me. Many little fiddly things didn’t work of course, but on the whole it was a really nice machine. I still have two of them in the barn, one to use and one for parts. Now of course a Raspberry Pi is like three times as fast as the Octane, and Nekochan stopped updating his SGI site ten+ years ago I think. (It’s right off the net now, I just checked.) There are still hobbyists, but it isn’t really a practical thing anymore. My biggest SCSI hard drive is 10GB, that gives some idea of how old the thing is. Those drives were HUGE when I bought them.

            2. >> “Your Linux household is looking pretty good today.”

               I know the SJWs got their hooks into Linux and drove Linus out for a while. What’s the current state of affairs on that? If they still have influence then Linux might not remain worth using.

               1. That’s the thing about Linux: Conservatives can branch their own distro off of open source. Not a trivial exercise, mind, but possible.

                  1. True, but “can” is not the same as “has” or “will.” What’s the current state of affairs?

                     1. The current state on Linux is that anyone and everyone has created a fork called a distribution. See: https://distrowatch.com/ There’s distros for ham radio, hackers, children, Christians, gamers, etc.

                        There is also the BSDs which are their own thing. FreeBSD for performance, NetBSD for the retro folks, OpenBSD for the security concerned and all sorts of flavors in between.

                        We have choices other than Apple, Microsoft and Google. Even if you need one of those corporate machines for work or specific household needs, you can do all other communication and work with a variation of Linux or a BSD.

                        Note: BSDs require RTFM or you will fail. Most good Linux distros install painlessly. I don’t recommend dual booting, get a cheap separate computer or run in a VM if needed. Plenty of resources to learn on the interTubes.

                  2. The Chinese and North Korean government have their own official distributions running on government machines, presumably with eyeballed code and built in clean rooms. There are some articles on the NK version, which is more of a fork than a distro.

                     Frankly, any sane government or large business would do the same; and develop their own CPUs too, which several are doing now that we know about network-accessible back doors in hardware.

               2. https://www.itwire.com/open-source/torvalds-says-no-need-to-name-successor-as-that-will-happen-on-its-own.html

                  Interview from last month, Linus Torvalds appears to have not really given much of a shit about the SJWs. He makes some conciliatory noises in the middle of the article, but nothing seems to have changed. He’s still running the show. Good thing too.

            3. > Zuckerberg has hockey tape over the camera on his Macbook.

               I’d want something with a metal foil layer, like “muffler tape.” The CCDs on some laptops and phones have astonishing sensitivity, and many can look pretty far outside the normal visual spectrum. Just because *you* can’t see through it, doesn’t mean the camera is completely blind.

               1. There’s a little “gimme” I’ve seen with company logos printed on it, it’s a sliding camera shield that sticks on over the camera. Lets you cover it without gumming it up with tape.

                  I get around all that by using a PC with no cameras or microphones on it. Laptops only go out to the Starbucks. Laptop hasn’t gotten much exercise this year. ~:D

                  1. One of the mini Band Aids ( clean, eg, without antiseptic or lotion ) also leaves no residue on the lens, and to my thinking would be *very* difficult to penetrate with any wavelength of ‘light’.

                     1. You can easily make certain by putting opaque tape over the back of the band-aid.

   4. If it were not Hunter’s laptop one might think that Hunter would have said so. Or his father’s campaign might have denied it. Or that the emails found on it would not correspond to emails on his correspondent’s computers.

      Heck, one might even think his lawyer would not have contacted the repair shop trying to recover the laptop. Okay, we all know how eager lawyers are to produce billable hours so maybe the lawyer was just ruing up a bill. The FBI taking possession of the laptop was probably part of a deep state effort to set Huter up.

      And maybe the Iranians are not enriching uranium.
      –

      1. I think Hunter (or his handlers) is ( are) ruing the bill, indeed . . .

   5. Ball-peen hammer.

9. I saw a good tweet:

   “Regardless of whether you think Trump “actually won,” fighting voter fraud is A) a righteous cause, and B) a rare opportunity for the right to wage asymmetric warfare. The left has way more to lose if elections are cleaned up.”

10. Whatever the outcome they’re going to burn, loot and murder, either way.

    Well, it just wouldn’t be BLM without Burn, Loot, and Murder.

11. One of my best friends is lawyer. I know because I’ve seen her get frustrated at people in the middle of court cases (not her cases) for talking in public about anything even peripherally related to the issue that the first thing lawyers tell you is to shut up about the case or anything related in public.

    Can verify. My own lawyer, during my divorce, was unhappy with the existence of the fundraiser to help pay legal fees…but it was necessary to be able to keep paying the lawyer and so sometimes there are no good choices, only trying to navigate least bad.

12. C4C

13. Heartwarming to see all of the tremendous support out there, especially the organic Rallies that are springing up all over the Country, including a big one on Saturday in D.C. I may even try to stop by and say hello. This Election was Rigged, from Dominion all the way up & down!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2020

    1. Besides, we can rally without him. We’ve proven that. (And the Trump trains are magnificent.)

       “…including a big one on Saturday in D.C.” This would be one of those new stopthesteal dot us events, otherwise known (so I hear) as the Million MAGA March. The idea that the entire Trump ‘movement’ (heard that very early from one of the Trump family) will just vanish in a puff of fraud and lefty-media disapproval, somehow , is ever more obviously mere… wishful thinking. By Bad People with Evil Plans (to quote one of the 2A Sanctuary people from Va. a few endless months back).

       1. I saw a picture of a caravan of trucks (real, commercial “18 wheeler” trucks, not pickup trucks) who are apparently part of the rally convey. They know that the Democrats’ plans will destroy their livelihoods.

          1. They are probably the kind of Deplorables who believe the Democrats will attempt to extend AB5 nationwide without inserting a carve-out for them. They just need to increase their vigorish donations to the DNC and its recommended candidates.
             –

       2. There is a group on MeWe Stop the Steal, that lists the rallies.
          I CAN’T do tomorrow’s, because a) I’m teaching. b) my car threw a flat out of the blue. If it weren’t in the garage, I’d think enemy action. (Well, we DO fly the gadsden.)
          But….. Next ones? We’ll be there.
          If you guys are in Denver, look for the madwoman in the SUV…. 😉 (Like there’s only one of us.)

    2. 10 years ago, the Tea Party protests were actually peaceful and left their venues clean and neat when they departed.

       1. (fumbled the Enter key.)
          One of my fears is that the Left will be doing their very bestest to make sure that doesn’t happen this time around.

          1. I read a lot of talk about Antifa and BLM being ‘trained Marxists’, but I strongly suspect that, given the size and temper of the Trump rallies, if there’s an attempt to provoke violence, it won’t end well for the Left.

14. “… It is also the subject of my latest (sorry, subscription) PJM article. …”

    They pay you more for those, right?

    ‘sokay the.
    –

    1. Yeah. they do. And not just for hits.

15. Found this video interesting. Not sure if anyone else linked to it here. Posted it on Twitter and I got one of the “this is DISPUTED” tags. Going to start calling them the Twitter Gaslighteratti or similar. I know I’m butchering a few languages, but it’ll have to do.

    1. …or I could put it on that “PERMA OPEN POST FOR INTERESTING LINKS” page maybe since it was right there at the top of the page, in ALL CAPS and I yet missed it anyway. *facepalm*

       1. Already posted, but was about to do it again on this thread, cuz that’s a damned important video. For the TL;DW types: he lays out how there’s evidently an algorithm at work in the counting software which does this: if a disputed district has more than about 25% GOP votes, it flips votes to Biden in proportion to how many GOP votes are cast — so the more GOP voters, the more votes get flipped!

          This did NOT happen in non-swing areas NOR where votes were hand-counted.

          Scatter chart in this article shows the total effect:
          https://theredelephants.com/data-analysts-claim-glitches-like-antrim-county-may-have-occurred-all-over-the-country/

          I conclude that the 20% or so of ballots that are obviously fraudulent are perhaps only about a third of the altered votes, and that absent this fuckery, a whole bunch of “hard blue” areas would flip solid red. And Trump’s share of the honest vote might be over 100M.

          And if we don’t go back to paper ballots and hand counts everywhere, this fuckery will continue unabated, because there’s no good way to stop electronic vote fraud, and you can’t contest every election. (When electronic voting first came along, the geek community was up in arms about how inherently insecure it is. Where are they now? Mostly screaming that Biden won and we should shut up.)

          Also, never forget that the French Terror was perpetrated by the winners.

          Well, at least one of the winners.

          For a while.

          1. So were all the purges by the commies after the Bolshevik revolution; leftists always massacre political opponents, actual and perceived, including those who supported the revolution but are deemed too dangerous to remain around because they exhibit too much independence of thought.

          2. Rush Limbaugh’s guest host today was the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles who took a call from Rudy Giuliani during which they discussed the Dominion software. Giuliani contended it was actually a software package – called Smartmatic – acquired from Venezuelan developers who had written the package for Hugo Chavez.
             https://parler.com/post/622fa2bae44e4cf49e9c495cc021cb95
             A quick search produces multiple refutations from absolutely reliable and authoritative MSM sources who have proven, with mathematical precision, that Giuliani is once again a victim of Russian disinformation.
             –

             1. Which means, of course, that it’s actually true.

             2. The Mainstream Media wouldn’t know anything about mathematical precision if it was deep-throating them.

16. You don’t try to pass the buck when there are no problems.

    dominion voting systems is now blaming election workers and clerks for issues encountered in michigan and georgia

    i'm sorry but that's not how that works

    technology is supposed to serve the user, not the other way around https://t.co/pXfp8UJs4C

    — Thao Nguyen (@nguyenthevote) November 12, 2020

    1. Isn’t this an admission that the vote totals in those states are not accurate and that Trump and Republicans have a legitimate basis to challenge the results?

       1. NO! SHUT UP AND ACCEPT THAT THE DRUMPH LOST TRUMPTARDS!

          This message brought to you by the peace and understanding party.

    2. One user error is a user error. A hundred user errors is a bad user interface.

       1. THIS.

          1. And one hundred users saying that’s not what they entered is legally sufficient grounds for a thorough independent retesting of the software behind that interface.

             1. Not to mention suspending the political operative (politician OR bureaucrat) who sold the idea of the thing to the Legislature over a barrel of boiling oleomargarine and questioning him closely about who gave HIM the idea.

       2. And a thousand ‘user errors’, all in the same direction is DESIGN.

17. “ Now they say he wants to start a network to rival Fox, not to win the presidency, and this is all publicity?”

    That’s likely to backfire on them. Given the recent idiocy over at FoxNews, he could probably start up a new network and immediately make a profit.

    1. As if they wouldn’t have him arrested and sent to prison after a show trial.

       No, Trump better keep fighting this.

       1. this. Or shot in a basement….

          1. Epsteined.

             1. If they do any of these, it will turn the current strife into an open hot civil war.

                1. That it will. I’m far too prudent to say anything on the Interwebs that could be interpreted as an actionable threat as defined by Supreme Court rulings and relevant rulings from inferior courts, but let’s just say I’d interpret the political murder of Mr. Donald J. Trump as a direct, imminent threat against my own life and safety. It’s difficult to see beyond a very limited set of options in such an extreme scenario.

                   1. what about the talk guys? Levine, etc?

             2. Which is what I suspect will happen to Ghislaine Maxwell if Biden moves to the White House.

          2. In the back of his head. While cleaning his gun. Reloading twice.

             1. With bullets from some different gun.

                1. …and labeled suicide, of course.

          3. Or his plane will be “accidentally” shot down or have a “mechanical defect”

             1. Or veer off into Russian airspace and get shot down…

       2. Not a certainty, of course; but for anyone who thinks this is not now a realistic possibility under a (potential) Biden Administration, I have three words to the contrary:

          General Michael Flynn.

          See, especially, how the judge in this case has been continuing the prosecution even after the Justice Department filed to dismiss charges based on no sufficent evidence of guilt + sufficient evidence of innocence. (Judge, IIRC, Emmett Sullivan appointed a ‘friend of the court’ based on a feature of civil law to act as his own hired-gun shadow prosecutor. Though the main result of this has been an ongoing stream of released / declassified ‘exculpatory’ evidence of innocence from the DOJ etc., as is their duty when a prosecution is ongoing, even though it’s not their prosecution any more, presumably all this would change really fast under a Biden-Harris DOJ. Because vindictive.)

          1. He was also one of the judges who issued an edict regarding post office delivery of mail in ballots and insisting they be accepted even if late.

          2. THIS.

          3. I suspect a pardon for Flynn is on Trump’s to-do list if he can’t prevail.

             1. Him and many others, including Julian Assange, simply because pardoning him would really make the Dems and establishment completely flip out.

             2. A pardon is nice, but it carries the implicit assumption of guilt.

                That might be the best Flynn can get, but that’s not justice, either.

                1. Besides, what makes anyone think the commies would honor one?

                   Despite what some people insinuate, I have a great respect for rules…. but I’m not stupid enough to blindly obey those that don’t apply to everyone.

          4. That Judge Sullivan has not been ordered to recuse himself from that case is a serious puzzlement.

             Perhaps the DOJ ought identify Biden Transition Team members currently in violation of the Logan Act for prosecution.
             –

             1. And Judge Posner is still a moron.

       3. One of the headlines in my MSN news feed when I booted up my computer this morning, described how Trump would face prosecution after he left office. I didn’t bother to read the linked article; I figured that the fact the domestic-enemy media is already telegraphing the show trials to come was the only thing I needed to take away from the piece.

    2. Actually, I could see him starting a new network. January 21, 2025, perhaps. Sounds better than the BS Obama/Netflix money laundering show deal.

       1. I hear AT&T is trying to sell CNN.

          Trump puts together a group of conservative investors and buys CNN, hires the people Fox wants to get rid of…

          1. I LIKE that.

    3. The thing is, I seriously doubt that in the day and age, NEWS makes a profit. Series do. And making series is chancy. A lot of Fox’s success in spreading comes down to MARRIED WITH CHILDREN, which the network suits hated once they saw it (not that I liked it either. Not my kinda thing), and never really knew how to market.

18. Maxim 10: Sometimes the only way out is through… through the hull.

19. Pompeo said, with the grin of a man who Knows Things, that there would be a smooth transition to a second Trump term.

    Ever since he said that, I’ve been praying not only for that to be true and for justice to be served, but also that we all, most especially President Trump, his staff (the ones who are actually working WITH him, of course), his family, and everyone on the Supreme Court, are protected from false flags, open attacks, violence, bloodshed, scandals, and whatever the left may throw out to distract and demoralize us. I’m not naïve, and I’m trying not to be hopeful prematurely, but I feel something in the air based on the rumblings I’m hearing from the White House (firings and hirings and whatnot). I’m praying. A lot.

    1. The people are are in a position to know things are not acting worried at all. The people trying to sell the lie are looking panicked.

       Gets the noggin joggin.

       1. The words coming from the anons (as reposted on Gab) indicate that perhaps the court events are far from the only things going on. Kind of like a swan, though this surface water ain’t calm.

          1. Lin Wood and Rudy Guliani have been pretty active on Twitter, to the point that I was worried they were dropping too many details. It clicked with me yesterday that they may be using Trump’s patented Laser Pointer Tweets tactic to run interference while the big stuff gets ready to drop.

    2. The one that got me was Mitch McConnell. When he came out of a briefing and with Barr and backed Trump along with denouncing the media, I started paying attention.

       1. McConnell has been fairly decent at figuring out which way the wind is blowing and tacking that direction. Which means that like him or agree with him or not, paying attention to how he is leaning and what he is backing is useful.

20. Crawled out of the pit of anger and despair yesterday afternoon to spend a few hours planting Freedom Seeds in paper with campaign signs as target stands. I highly recommend it as therapy. Fist bumps all around and a general rejoicing in feeling like an American again. Best followed by a steak dinner and liquid fueled discussions of the world’s problems but the aromatherapy on the range was a boon in and of itself.

    1. As we ran up to the election, and I was seeing this coming (yes, I was) the CALMEST week I had was after a visit to the range.

21. Along with food for a month, ammo etc., I’d suggest one should keep a hole to bolt to in mind and, enough gasoline stored to get there. For example if the fit hits the shan me & mine can survive, reasonably comfortably, here in the interior of Alaska… for a while. However long term I’d rather be down off the coast with ocean bounty available.

    Quick back of an envelope calcs; Fairbanks to Valdez; <400 miles, Jeep; 21 m/g, Dodge truck; 17 m/g -a bit over 40 gallons. Hum, excluding what's in the rig's gas tanks, I've only around 30 gallons of gas on hand. Guess I'll do a bit of shopping today.

22. Beyond lawsuits and court challenges, there are also legislative remedies. The state legislatures have plenary authority over selection of electors, granted by the US constitution and federal law. In the event of any dispute regarding selection of electors, the state legislatures are specifically empowered by federal law to select electors. If you are a Pennsylvanian, Michigander, Arizonan, Wisconsinite, or Georgian, do your part by letting your state legislators know how you feel. Contact you state representative and state senator, contact your state senate president, contact your house speaker, march on your state capital even. Let them know you’re not willing to settle for a stolen election, and that you want them to act to select electors pledged to vote for President Trump for President of the United States of America.

    1. I think the state most likely to do this is Michigan, given their conflict with Governor Fascist when she disregarded the legislature and the State Supreme Court over her illegal emergency decrees.

    2. The Speakers (or equivalents) will appoint committees, which will find whatever they think the Speakers favor. The rest of the legislatures are locked out. When or if things move out of committee, the legislatures can only deal with them as the Speakers permit.

       “Welcome to the real world.”

       1. All the more reason to make sure they have blatantly clear idea of their constituents’ views. Put pressure on them and keep pressure on them for as long as it takes.

23. Lay in supplies for a month.

    ————-

    My gut tells me that’s optimistic. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a good start, and a month is better than nothing. But I would be surprised if the Left doesn’t start trying to break the country if Trump pulls it off. And if he doesn’t pull it off, then the Dems are already talking about nationwide shutdown orders after Biden relocates to Pennsylvania Avenue.

    Either way, law away as many supplies as you safely can without drawing the attention of authorities who might come and “liberate” them from “hoarders”. I wouldn’t be surprised if the logistical network gets wrecked even worse than it did last Spring.

    1. Quite agree. I’m not surprised that the MSM has not reported famines throughout the world caused by the almost year long lockdown of much of the means of food production and transport, as it does not fit the narrative.

       I will be surprised if 20-40 years from now history books don’t note an “unexplained” spike in starvation deaths way back in 2020 and 2021.

    2. [REDACTED] gallons of spare gas, similar amount of Diesel (only used for the tractor, but…). I’ll refill the vehicles when the gauge gets below 3/4s of a tank now (Winter rules in general, and SHTF override outside of winter).

       $SPOUSE looked at the pantry and directed me to get more of certain supplies. We’re already seeing some ingredients fall out of stock, so improvisation might come into play.

       So far, rice and beans are back in stock. It was getting pretty thin last spring and summer.

       America’s two least favorite game shows:

       “What’s out of stock this week?”
       “Where did they move to goalposts this time?”

       1. Er, “where did they move the goalposts to this time?”

          Yesterday was a wild day and pretty frantic, but the vet assures us that Number 2 dog isn’t ready to cross the Rainbow bridge any time soon. I have to give her painkillers, but she’s fairly tolerant of pills. Still have all my fingers… We’re figuring out just what she’s willing to eat right now.

       2. Depending on local prices, etc, Amazon has some stuff.

          I can get sushi rice for almost the same price as in town, and I don’t have to mask for it or drive.

          1. We use a mail drop in town, though the ‘zon makes up for what the local businesses don’t have. That 80 mile round trip to pick up stuff can be a challenge in severe weather, though. Have to mask, too, dammit.

             Studded snows are now on Subie 1. I’ll hold off studded snows for Subie 2 as long as practical, and will put the siped snows on the Ridgeline as time permits. It was close to impossible to get studded tires for it, and the recommended chains (cables, I think) aren’t easily found around here. (See Amazon…) OTOH, the essential role for the Honda is to get garbage up to the transfer station. It’s a half-mile round trip (and we’re hardly ever downwind 🙂 ) so the chances of major problems are medium low.

             The retina doc was willing to wait until April to check my eyes again, so that eliminates one mid-winter non-reschedule-able trip over the Cascades. Since I have an uncanny ability to be on a medical trip when major snowstorms hit, $SPOUSE is a lot happier about that. April snows are not much of a problem. Usually. 🙂

       3. Fill when the gas tank gets to half full is winter rules for me.

          However I always am dressed to, or have clothing in the rig, that would allow me to walk home, even at -50°F., if necessary.

          1. Have an insulated sleeping bag in the the trunk of the car in case the car gets stuck on the road in winter.
             The car itself is a true hybrid rather than a plug-in one as it charges the high voltage battery off of the gas engine; has a fantastic range on a single tank of gas (around 600 miles or so),

             1. If you don’t have a set of tire chains and a tow rope — acquire ’em. (Chains, not cables. Cables won’t get you out of a snowbank. And a jack to lift the *body* if your car lacks the wheel-well clearance to get your hands in there.) Last time I shopped for a new set of chains, the big ones were cheapest at O’Reilly (by about $80).

                1. Wrong time of year, but if you think ahead check the thrift stores in the spring. I’ve gotten really nice sets of chains there (the triple digit $ kind) for just a couple bucks. Not only for your vehicle, but if you ever pull a trailer buying or cutting down a set to fit it can come in really handy. Even without trailer brakes chains can be a lifesaver on a trailer. On bad ice the chains on a trailer keep it following behind you rather than jackkniving and trying to pass you when going downhill.

                   1. It’s always a bad moment when you see your own trailer passing you…

                   2. Good idea on the trailer. And yes, I’ve become adept at thriftstore-spotting that canvas bag with the chains in it… doesn’t matter if they’re the right size or even broken; so long as the width is sufficient, you can fix, add, or subtract length and cross-pieces easily enough.

                      Also, made the mistake of trying to fix effing WordPress login and now can’t unfix it, so using another addy where it can’t follow. So yes, spamtrap, this is still me. WDE.

          2. “Always drive on the top half of the tank.” Drives dear husband NUTS.

             1. Ha, I have spare tanks installed in my pickups. So it is “always drive on the main tank.” With the obvious exception of using the gas (or diesel) in the spare tank every month or two so it doesn’t get old.
                That would probably drive him even more nuts. 🙂

                1. So, the pickup version of Mad Max’s interceptor in Mad Max 2?

                   1. Just a 20 gallon slip tank (in the Toyotas, the Dodge diesel has a nonplumbed in “real” slip tank of much larger capacity that can be put in or out of the bed as need for fuel or bed space dictates) that is about 6″ wide and the width of the bed installed behind the cab and gravity feed (with a simple inline ball valve) into the regular tank to use the factory in-tank fuel pump and gauge.

                2. Ah, memories. My ’84 Ranger had the long bed and the 13 gallon second tank. I’d use that one first, then switch to the front 17 gallon tank. I did a fair number of long road trips in that truck, and break times were usually determined by my body’s needs rather than refills. (600 mile theoretical range.) Did one long road trip in the older Subaru, and 300 miles was a convenient spot for filling. That usually left 6 gallons in the tank. (Back in 2014, when gas was readily available, but Obama-expensive.)

                   The medical trips are shorter, but there’s usually a fillup somewhere near the 150-175 mile point. I fill the Subie in town beforehand, so it’s a minimum of 140ish miles just to get there. Add chasing around, and I’ll usually fill just before the return trip.

             2. Remind him that it’ll make the fuel pump last longer.

                1. Oooh, will do.

    3. A good starting point is ‘two of X’– an open one and a closed one. (e.g. two bags of flour, two bags of rice, two bottles of vegetable oil, etc. For canned goods, go by flats/cases instead so 2 cases of chicken noodle soup, 2 flats of tomato sauce and so on). It’s fairly easy over the course of a few shopping trips to build up a supply like that without putting undue strain on one’s budget.

       I found that, with rare exception (latex gloves is the one I can think of– I use them when chopping spicy things. One time of accidentally rubbing an eye a couple hours and several hand-washings after making a nice batch of fresh salsa learned me), I never ran out of anything during the height of the crazy panic-buying, although I often had a half-dozen items that I had gotten down to one of X that stayed on my grocery list for a few weeks until I could get a 2nd one. There are some things I use more of that I keep more of on hand– for instance, I keep two packages of TP for each bathroom instead of just two total– but two of X is a good starting point and it will get you through a rough patch.

       A number of years back I survived on a <$50/month grocery budget for 6 months while I was unemployed and looking for work thanks to having that buffer. Mostly spent on fresh eggs, bread, milk, and cheese with supplementing a resupply of some stuff when I could find it on sale.

    4. KEEP YOUR RANK FILLED.
       But yes.

       1. And dressed.

          1. LOL. Tank. But yes, indeed.

    5. Oh, and you HAVE to wear masks when driving. By yourself. According to the science of Biddenistan.

       1. I saw a guy on a motorcycle with one today. Sigh. Not a biker bandana, a cheap white mask.

          1. SIGH

          2. Eh, I’ve spit out enough bugs myself, that one I’d give the benefit of the doubt to.

       2. But the colander obscures my vision

24. From a strategic perspective, where are we at?

    Are we:
    1) overtly resisting in an attempt to save the country?

    2) complying quietly only with that required for survival (keeping jobs/food) and trying to avoid getting on the lists for punishment?

    1. At this point I don’t think anyone is complying quietly. Or at least I’m not quiet. As for the lists, molon labe.
       It’s more Does this work itself out or not?

       1. I think many comply quietly and then bitch at home.

          Person 1: “Wearing this mask is stupid and it’s clear they just want to control us.”

          Also Person 1: *puts mask on to go into grocery store because they can’t stand peer pressure.*

          A lot of my friends are like this. Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide how much I like my paycheck since a recent and new condition of my employment is to take a COVID test.

          1. Remember that the test at work is likely at insistence of the lawyers and the insurers because it reduces exposure to lawsuits.

          2. OR OSHA and the Health Authority Nazis are leaning on businesses to force customers to comply. The vet told me that next week they’ll go to a modified curbside service; wait with the doggo in the car until they are ready, then both of us go in. Word is that the test lab Oregon uses has way too high of a cycle count, so a fierce glare will count as a positive case. (And retesting an active case will increment the “case count” by one for every positive retest.) Arggh.

             Let’s just say in the rural areas, sheeplike behavior is limited to the actual four-footed sheep. I saw nothing! /Sgt. Shultz

             1. Put on mask to go in, wherever, sneeze, into elbow/forearm, multiple times, get glared at as people move away further than 6 feet. Me mumbling, as loud as I can, glaring back. “Stupid Mask”. Occasionally someone will say something snarky about being out & about sick – response is then – “The stupid mask makes me sneeze. Get over it.” (Don’t know why. Don’t have allergies. It just does.)

                I also get support from people, or at least sympathy. But there are those grouches.

                1. Somehow, I don’t get many grouches, on any subject. But I’m 6’2″, shave my head, have peaky eyebrows, and a flamboyant beard. In short, I look like trouble. I can recall a couple of times somebody with a different background culture, and thus different ‘tells’ tried to intimidate me, but they backed off pretty quickly when I didn’t fold.

                   *shrug*

                   It’s not that I’m a badass (ok, in my teens and twenties I had some delusions that way. I’m over that), I’m just Odd and tend to be oblivious until after the fact. So far that works, too.

                   1. I’m 5’4″, overweight. Very white hair (went gray early). I intimidate NO ONE. Worse. If I want to say something, I have to raise my natural voice a lot. Even then 95% of the time, if I really need someone to “Hear” me (like people behind counters) I have to remove the mask. It muffles my voice. Conversations/Requests go like this: “Mumble, Mumble.”, sigh, Louder “Mumble, Mumble.” sigh x 2, lift/lower mask “Sorry. You won’t be able to hear me …” repeat request.

                      1. 6’1″, carhartts and dirt, beard, and perma-glare when not actually talking with people. Also mistaken for prior service, probably because of the politeness.

                         1. You have an inch on my height (weight is redacted beyond Too Damn Much), and the overalls are Keys, because cheaper. I can look pretty intimidating unless I try not to be such. Never in the service, never went to a Viet Nam war protest. OTOH, lots of vets around here.

                2. Despicable Kate Brown decided that Noisome’s lockdown ideas were worth stealing, so we got a new tranch yesterday. Mind you, Oregon is in the *bottom* 5 states for severity, but the chance to screw over the Deplorables is just too much for Kate to pass by. It’s another “2 weeks to flatten the curve.” Pull the other one, it plays “Over the River and Through the Woods”.

                   Lowlights: No more eating in a restaurant. So much for the personal pizza on occasion.
                   Social gatherings, 6 people, two households. She’s “legislated” this to a misdemeanor, with citation or jail. OTOH, the Donks have the seats, so they’d rubber stamp it if sued.
                   Church: 25 indoors, 50 outdoors, regardless of venue sizes.
                   Wear a mask at all time except when eating or drinking (Narrator voice: not only no, but Hell NO!)
                   “Voluntary” 14 day quarantine if entering (or reentering) the state. Mandatory when she says so.
                   No indoor visiting in long-term care facilities. Welp, there goes the despair quotient.

                   Rumor has it she’s auditioning for a slot in the theoretical Biden Admin. Secretary of Pointless Harassment, I guess.

                   Shields are discouraged, but not currently forbidden. I haven’t tried measuring O2 saturation when moving around with a mask on, but the sensations are not encouraging when I tried a dust mask. OTOH, the surgical masks sort of work.

          3. We put on a visor when ABSOLUTELY needed because we’re in CO and I look terrible in orange, but the anger is growing.

             1. I’ve learned to tilt the visor up high enough on my forehead so I get ram air when I’m walking. If necessary, I’ll tilt it higher. The only downside is the optical characteristics of the plastic stinks. Probably time to retire this shield and get another out of stock. Bought 10.

                Bonus, I can smile at the workers and they can tell I’m smiling. Helps greatly for customer service… (Note that Resting Bastard Grouch Face is a family thing. The smiles work because seriously unexpected.)

          4. I put on the mask in crowded spaces because I understand epidemiology and dose-related infection levels (and I deal with this sort of thing in my professional life). Won’t stop it, but if it halves the dose you get half as sick while still developing the same immunity, and that applies to most viruses, but especially those that reproduce slowly (like CV). And contrary to what some contend, there is good data on mask efficacy. (Note: woven gaiters are actually worse than nothing.) Also, underlying condition and 90 year old mother.

             We should have just encouraged (not required) masks, but otherwise gone on about our business with NO lockdown once the hospitals caught up (at most a few weeks, absent malicious idiots like Cuomo). Beyond that it’s counterproductive. As it is, people who should know better are screaming You Can’t Make Me while those who don’t know better are hiding behind mummy wraps, and if they wanted an untaxable underground economy, this is how you get it.

             1. Sure. but the masks that reduce the viral load in the tests have a minimum of SEVENTEEN layers of fabric. “Complicated pathway” is what makes it work. i couldn’t even BREATHE in those.
                So, no, those little on layer masks? they don’t reduce anything. Pure placebo.

    2. Subversively compliant. Forgetting the mask dangling ’round the neck and of course being reminded, and very nicely “Oh, of course, I wouldn’t want you to get jammed up by the State!”

       And many places are letting me in with these, which do stop sneezes and coughs from ejecting sputum across the room, and they are humane, I can breathe, and they’re not filthy disease-rags:

       And agreeing-and-amplifying : “Oh dear. Are you high risk? You know these don’t work like Real Masks. Please keep your distance. Yes, further.”

       1. Agreeing and amplifying is an excellent tactic.

25. Based on the way that Democrats act, I think the G in Plan G stands for Goa’uld. They certainly have the sense of entitlement and delusions of divinity as any system lord, and they expect everyone to jump instantly and obey when they shout “Jaffa. Kree.”

    1. For anyone who was disappointed when SG1 was pulled from Amazon Prime in August: I see that it has returned to the lineup of Prime Video

       1. Maybe they didn’t want anyone to get any ideas before the election.

       2. Also on Hulu

       3. I quit watching Stargate when they felt it was necessary to start making comments about American politics. Returned the DVD set to its owner.

          No, I don’t need to watch commie Canuckistani entertainment.

    2. And their minions remind me of Nopalgarth…

       1. Ah… That takes me back…

       2. But when they got rid of the Nopals, they found there were worse things out there…

          1. There are… those encouraging the communazis.

    3. “They certainly have the sense of entitlement and delusions”
       Dear Lord yes it’s half-hysterical and half-frightening how deep their delusions are. And all infuriating because they expect us to live with those delusions too.

       1. Well, all you have to do is bluff them. Here’s not a way to do that.

       2. THIS.

       3. Easily fixed with judicious application of a .45-caliber hollowpoint round.

          1. While I do love my 1911, 10mm tends to higher round count 🙂

             1. If you’re using store-bought 10mm, look up the ballistics for the brand before purchasing. A lot of name-brand 10mm is loaded down to .40 S&W pressure, for no reason I ever quite understood.

                I moved to .460 Rowland and 8-round mags. Downsize is it needs the fugly “compensator” to keep from breaking things.

26. The title of this post reminded me of a quote from its namesake which often pops into my head: “You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! STUPID!”

    1. Pretty sure Eros and Tanna had a more coherent world domination plan than our right here would be overlords.

       1. Step 1: Resurrect three dead people.
          Step 2: ???
          Step 3: Conquest of the Earth!

          1. Yep, that’s the one!

       2. A couple of months ago I was idly reading TV Tropes when I came across the Trope of Stupid Evil. As I amused myself by reading the provided examples like Game of Thrones I couldn’t help listing all the dumb self destructive stuff the left has done, esp. in the last four years. And it really helped me see how much they screw themselves over. I’m still furious over the fraud of course but I’m still wondering/hopeful if this the moment we look back on with an inredulous laugh the same way we
          *GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS*

          look at Cersei Lannister’s grutituous and pointless murder of Messandei, wow great job! You’ve just pissed off your more powerful rival Queen and ensured she would show you absolutely no mercy! What the hell were you thinking?

          Even if the left gets away with this Scot free I think they’ve still seriously shot themselves in the foot. Another example on that page was two Captain Planet villains cackling about how they were going to destroy the Earth. One stops and says “Wait don’t we live on the Earth?” “Who cares bwahahahah!”

          Honestly I see left wing elites somewhere cackling about how their plan is ingenious and they will soon destroy America, except not one of them is smart enough to stop and ask, “wait, don’t we live in America?”

          1. And what was the last thing Missandei said? It was “dracarys”, i.e. burn the place to the ground.

             1. I just hope the rest of us don’t burn too.

                1. Yeah, the Democrats have certainly placed a lot of wildfire around so they can blow up the place if they think they are going to lose.

          2. Dems are in a bad fix for a party controlling the House & White House. I doubt Trump/McConnell will leave anything like as many vacant judgeships as the Obama/Biden administration bequeathed its successor. The pending redistricting is looking to drop the House into GOP hands even without gerrymandering (Sean Trende anticipates a 6 seats change:
             What Redrawn Districts Could Mean for House Control in 2023) nor the common correction that occurs in the first midterm election; factor in a GOP enfuriated by a stolen presidency and Democrat socialists and we are conceivably looking at landslide territory.
             According to W. James Antle III at the Washington Examiner, “Republicans gained 54 seats in 1994, Bill Clinton’s first midterm election, and 63 seats in the House in 2010, Barack Obama’s first.” [washingtonexaminer . com/news/2020-results-set-republicans-up-for-success-in-2022-and-beyond]

             Then consider the efforts of every Republican whose mirror reflects a potential president, out to prove viability out on the 2022 campaign trail.

             This will be a sore period if Trump cannot reclaim the White House, but the pain being felt by the nation may make them more appreciative of what they had.

             Democrat talk about “two new states” is unlikely to produce anything but trouble for them. DC is not Constitutionally qualified to become a state however much they try to finesse the matter; it would surely end up in the Supreme Court and be significantly delayed. Puerto Rico may well decline the honor. Either effort is likely to further annoy a large swath of the nation.

             Time is rarely on Progressives’ side as it tends to expose the fallacies in their philosophy.
             –

             1. > DC is not Constitutionally qualified to become a state

                If I was governor of one of the states that donated the land that became the District of Columbia, I’d demand my land back. And then send in the bulldozers to clear the urban blight from it…

                1. Virginia already got their contribution to DC back, decades ago. All that’s left came from Maryland.

             2. Fraud, otoh, can keep them in power forever.

             3. You forget, if Democrats stack the Supreme Court, everything they do is legal.

27. The fun-range was, to my mild surprise, not busy this afternoon. Now, granted, pay day is Monday, ammo is tight, and the place was overrun June-October, so it might just be a lull. Or people might be making plans and husbanding what they’ve got, just in case. (I needed to range check some new-to-me ammo. Me likee.)

28. This one article shines so brightly it overshadows all the lies and Potemkin presidents.

    So beautiful, it made me happy to read. Get ready. Watch your six. Stay connected to the rest of us.

    The victory party is going to be so fun it might cross the line into sin. 🙂

29. I myself was guilty of giving up. Popped out a defeat point last Saturday when the prog parade had their May Day for the USASSR…

    See, I remembered the “What are ya gonna do?” shrug from McCain in ’08.

    And the “Well, we don’t want to be RUDE!” shrug from Romney in ’12.

    I for a moment forgot that we now had “Why don’t you take a long walk off a short list?” Donald Frikkin’ TRUMP as POTUS.

    I’ve not supported him, although I’ve ended up defending him like, a whole bunch in the last four years.

    And now that I recovered, I’m reminded that every time it’s been “the end of the road for Orange Man Bad”, it turns out that The Donster is driving a bulldozer. So he drops down a gear, lowers the blade and MAKES SOME MORE ROAD!

    I find myself hopeful, even now.

    1. *short pier.

       Frappin autocorrect.

       1. No, no, no. Short LIST was correct. Haven’t you see the lists the Dems are making, and checking ’em twice? Trump is on their short list for sure, but he’s walkin’ all over it.

          1. It’s long past time to start compiling a national, peer-moderated list of Marxists and their traitorous enablers in the Democratic Party. It’ll come in handy. For … lawsuits, you know? Not anything else that might occur to the paranoid minds of leftist vermin.

             Also, load up on ammunition. For shooting sports, hunting, lawful defense, and other legal purposes. Completely unrelated.

             1. With all the BurnLootMurder and Anti-Liberty folks getting armour, make sure there’s some hi-velocity stuff in there.

                I do love me M855.

                1. with the right projectile, a shotgun can penetrate AR500 plate and zips right through kevlar

                2. If you hit the enemy three or four times with a .308 the impacts will beat them to death even if the bullets don’t penetrate. One .50 BMG will do the same thing.

                   1. Quite honestly, I don’t want to use guns. Not really.

                      Don’t get me wrong, I love my freedom dispensers. But after watching the fights in DC tonight via Andy Ngo, I would much prefer taking a lesson from Rome and the North: 3-5 line deep, several hundred people strong shieldwall with bats, truncheons, etc. Discipline. Unity of purpose and effect.

                      Everything I have seen so far is random, brownian brawling. Cathartic, to be sure to be sure, but not an effective teaching instrument. That’s AntiFa’s game. Show them discipline and push them back, show them the powerless nature of their tactics, and beat them down and tie them up with zip ties under our feet and leave them for the cops.

                      But I would still rather use shields and axes. Let them feel fear and the warm piss in their shoes. I think the bite of steel would make them run. The knowledge that an implacable edge is about to bite and split your head or your arm or your chest would install a visceral fear.

                      Of course, I mentioned this to my wife, and she was very sensible and said that atht would cause escalation – which it undoubtedly would. But I still want…

                      *shrugs*

                      Still, if it comes to fight, it needs to be precise, disciplined, and effective. Not random and showy.

                      1. Quarterstaffs, as used by the Knights Hospitaler in one of the Belisarius books. Busting heads and jabbing bellies with long staffs can be very effective.

          2. Yeah, I also read that as a crack at the lists…

             Had a COVID test myself today. Hospital admission. The baby is now external! Doing well. 🙂

             1. BABY. Give him a cuddle for me?

                1. Babyyyy. I did, thank you. 🙂

             2. If I am reading the correctly, may I offer congratulations?

                1. You are, and thank you. 🙂

             3. ❤

                Congratulations!

                1. Thank you!

             4. Congratulations! 😎

                1. Many thanks!

             5. YAY!

                1. Yay!

                   Thank you for your multiple kind comments throughout, too.

                   1. ❤

             6. BABY!

                (oh, yes; congratulations and all that!)

                1. Sweet baby! Thank you. 🙂

             7. Congrats on the new addition!

                1. Thank you! At some point I will remember to start calling him by his name instead of his in utero nickname….

                   1. Older son was “Bundle” which was his in-utero name till one and a half.

                      1. 😀

                         This one has been Wiggle.

             8. Hurray! Best wishes for the entire family!

                1. We thank you. 🙂

             9. Congratulations!

             10. Huzzah on the enternalization of the miniature human!

             11. O frabjous day!

             12. Congratulations on passing the test! COVID-Free is the way to be!

                 Oh, and nice work on quick exwombization of developing project.
                 –

             13. BABY! Congratulations. 😀

          3. “Making a list, checking it twice
             he knows if you’ve been naughty or nice”

             The Santa Claus thing was never the same when I realized how much it sounded like he worked for the NKVD or STASI…

             1. Some fifty years ago (give or take a couple) San Francisco improve group The Committee had a bit in which a guy in trench-coat recited, with Eastern European accent exactly that song’s lyric in a highly threatening manner.

                O! You better watch out!
                You better not cry
                Better not pout
                I’m telling you why
                Santa Claus is coming
                Santa Claus is coming
                Santa Claus is coming to town.
                –

       2. So, does that mean that your original comment wasn’t pier reviewed?

          1. *THWAPFFFFFFFF* Carp away!

       3. List made sense since they’re making them, right?

    2. As Lincoln reportedly said about Grant, “I like him, he fights.”

       1. Or when he was told about Grant’s drinking problem, he suggested sending his other generals a case of whatever Grant was drinking. 🙂

       2. I believe it was, “I need him. He fights.”

          1. You are correct.

          2. >> “I need him. He fights.”

             If memory serves, the exact quote was “I cannot spare this man. He fights.”

    3. I also ended up feeling defeated for three days after the election. We’re human. Sometimes we fold.
       But D*MN I’m starting to outright admire our magnificent bastard of a president.
       I’ve been accused of cult of personality. Never felt it. It’s starting to echo.
       Only we’ll never worship him like they worshiped the O

       1. We all realize President Trump has feet of clay, so to speak, but he loves America and is fighting for us. The fact the Dem leadership spent the last five years making it clear they want his blood and his family’s blood probably provides extra incentive.

          1. THIS

          2. Presidents don’t need to be saints. They SHOULD be Americans.

30. C4c

31. This new post caught me in the middle of a crying spell (only partially related to the fraud and coming unpleasantness, I’ve battled with depression my whole life) and absolutely any pep talk is appreciated but Sarah’s detailed and we’ll reasoned ones are especially wonderful. Thankyou from the bottom of my heart.

    1. I’ve also battled depression my whole life. Hang on. We’ll get through.

       1. We are, don’t know your email. I know we have plantain and some discouraged lemon balm.
          For She Sells Seashells.

32. Along the lines of “laying in supplies”, I bought myself a just-in-case hand-turned flour mill. There’s a surprising amount of grain growing wild if you know how to see it – crabgrass, believe it or not, has good edible seeds. Admittedly, you have to be pretty damn intent on calories to harvest a usable amount, but it can be done. Narrowleaf plantain is EVERYWHERE and heads up nicely when the weather gets warm, dock is wildly productive but labor-intensive, and if you’re lucky enough to find lambs’ quarters, pretty much the entire plant is edible and otherwise useful. Not the worst idea to bone up on wild edibles in the area, and if you happen to share MY area (southeastern US) hit me up on gmail and I can run you through what I know.

33. “my governor, Paste Eating Polis can turn around after we defeated a measure to let homeless park in public spaces, and sign an executive order to do it.”

    I think you should have impeached your governor and thrown the ne’er-do-well in prison. In an earlier era, say 1870, someone would have just shot him, or a posse would have dragged him out and hung him.

    1. “In an earlier era, say 1870, someone would have just shot him, or a posse would have dragged him out and hung him.”

       There is such a thing as being too civilized

       1. That kind of stuff earned tar and feathers in the era prior to the Revolution and I have no doubt that the signers of the Declaration and Constitution participated in and/or encouraged such action.

       2. I don’t know… shot or dragged out and hung sounds rather civilized to me.

          Why does “civilization” always have to be defined as “in favor of anything that is anti-civilization”?

34. As the Democrats demand that people “cancel Thanksgiving”, Nancy Pelosi has no problem with Congresscritters having a large dinner:

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/11/13/pelosi-defends-holding-large-dinner-for-incoming-members-as-dems-move-to-cancel-thanksgiving/

    Proves once again that they believe they are feudal lords who rule over a nation of serfs

    1. And Gavin Noisome said “Hold my Chardonnay” with a birthday party for one of his advisors. Great show, [bleep]head!

       1. It’s as if they imagine they’ve an endless supply, not realizing the fountain is recycling the same pool of water over and over and that what is drained from that pool is lost forever.

          The political class’s coronavirus credibility crisis endangers public health
          With rising case counts and hospitalizations, the coronavirus crisis is getting out of hand in many parts of the United States. Getting the spread of COVID-19 under control, if it is possible, will require individual sacrifice and voluntary action by millions of people. But the possibility of such cooperation has been severely undercut by the ill-timed credibility crisis consuming our hypocritical elected class. …
          –

35. c4c

36. Thanks for cheering me up a bit! Rationally, I know that the legal team can’t reveal their plans, but I keep swinging from hope (“they overreached and are going down”) to despair (“the courts will refuse to acknowledge even obvious fraud”). Also it’s sad to realize our country is even farther down the slope than I thought…

    1. They can’t talk about things, but they are talking about not talking about things – see Col. Schlichter’s columns from Monday, filed from where he was doing lawyerly stuff in Vegas for the Nevada DJT team: https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2020/11/09/in-the-fight-n2579675

       Col. Kurt is not just a novelist – he’s a pretty high powered trial attorney with wins under his belt on major stuff. Kind of a big gun.

       1. Col. Kurt’s work bio page is at https://sandsattorneys.com/attorneys/kurt-andrew-schlichter/

    2. Me too, particularly with one of the teams being chased into quitting.

       1. Yeah, I’m finding myself bored, and starved of new trustworthy reassuring information.

          Comes to mind that this is actually a positive sign; Americans may get very quiet when enraged, when conditions are favorable to mob violence, and when things might still be resolved in a way preferable to a mob.

37. On the lighter side, today one of my younger coworkers forgot to bring lunch or his credit card. So I said, “Hey, here’s my bag of frozen burritos. Have some.”

    It turns out that for a college kid, “some” equals four….

    That said, I’d rather have the kids eat and not crash. And based on calories expended during his shift, and the habit of college kids of not remembering to eat breakfast or lunch, he probably needed four.

38. Can someone point to this pile of cases that Trump has supposedly lost?

    From a source that at least makes a vague attempt to not blatantly lie?

    Because as far as I can tell the only place these cases exist is from the mouths of traitors and liars.

    1. The Trump campaign lost most of the pre-election cases where Dem governors and secretaries of state were changing election procedures in conflict with state laws. Since then it has been a mixed set of results, mostly involving cases small in scope. It’s hard to find them via simple web searches, so much chaff amidst the wheat.

       1. pre-election

          Ok, so a bunch of irrelevancies.

          1. Although a news report today say a few more substantial cases were dismissed in several states yesterday, and Rudy Guiliani placed in overall charge of what’s left, though I don’t necessarily trust the source.

    2. The only one I heard was for a single woman in… I think Nevada.

39. “Proves once again that they believe they are feudal lords who rule over a nation of serfs”

    That’s why I loved Sarah’s essay “Is that a Ship on Your Head?” It captured and explained the woke aristocrats ridiculous attitudes so perfectly. I wondered how many French aristocrats lay befuddled under the guillotine wondering how this disaster could have happened to such an obviously superior and deserving to rule elite as them and then wonder if the would-be proglords will do the same thing.

40. Via Insty open thread-sums up how “emergency powers’ tend to become permanent.

    

    1. HOW THE HELL WOULD IT “REVIVE” the economy? It would kill it dead.

       1. He’s just repeating what his handlers are telling him.

       2. China’s economy.

       3. It continues to amaze me how these idiots can say flat out lies like “it will revive the economy” without an ounce of shame. I figure they must live in some kind of fantasy world. The one where leftists are noble fighters for truth and justice, instead of the opposite.

       4. The idea is that it would be hard home imprisonment and the government would basically pay everyone’s salary. But the real reason it would work would be the media toning down the fear porn.

       5. They’re trying to create a vampire economy – sexy and sparkly and full of cool superpowers. Never mind that it can’t produce life and growth, but can only act as a parasite.

41. 

    1. My WIP is set in 2024 Japan, just after a PRC asset won the US Presidential election. Background is political chaos with a PRC intel officer stirring the pot as part of setting up an invasion in the period of opportunity provided by the administration of said asset.

       I started putting the design together in December of 2018, and put it in Japan partly because I could not clearly think about political chaos in the US.

       Now, with this cycle, no reader will think that the Americans in universe are taking the matter seriously.

       2024. Because even though you are exactly correct, I remain a contrarian jerk.

    2. I gotta admit, it has crossed my mind that
       -if Trump loses
       -and survives the next four years, etc.
       -and wants to really mess with people,
       -he might load up the same platform and blow into the 2024 Democrat primary.

       1. [sits back with a big grin]

          If nothing else, the chaos would be epic, in every sense of the word…

       2. NOOOOOO!!!

          Unless the Republicans came up with a better candidate than anybody they’ve run since Reagan, I’d have to vote for a Democrat!

          1. That’s okay – just don’t vote straight ticket.
             –

             1. You can’t say ‘straight ticket’ — that’s Homophobia!! 😛

       3. Hey, that reminds me — was there a Republican Presidential primary this year? Or did they just grumble ‘Orange Man’ and go home?

          1. Yes, there was a Republican primary, and Trump broke a bunch of records in getting votes when running uncontested.

             1. THIS

             2. Which is how we know that most republicans hate him and wouldn’t vote for him despite the coattails.

                1. And nothing says “unpopular” like unofficial support rallies.

          2. Yes. The other candidate was a joke but people turned out in hordes to vote as a rubber stamp.

    3. ❤

42. Off topic but great example of how the exact same phrase can mean two very different things:

    

43. This may be the best one of these yet:

    

    1. Galileo says hold my beer:

       

       1. *raises finger*
          That was disputed because he didn’t have any evidence, and insisted on teaching it as fact rather than theory. If he’d stuck to saying it was a theory, he would’ve been fine– he was even hired to write a book outlining the theories as theories. Hired by the pope. Who was forced to smack him down, because apparently flamewars are eternal.

          Whole context here:
          http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-great-ptolemaic-smackdown.html

44. “Remember Heinlein. Be prepared. And keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.”

    I’ve been doing that since I was 17. I was hoping by now I’d be able to stop, but no such luck eh?

45. Another one!

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/breaking-orange-county-flips-another-seat-red-republican-young-kim-defeats-democrat-incumbent-gil-cisneros/

    1. Good. She already won once and had it stolen, so this time let’s make it stick.

46. The Left has to believe that they’re the future, for a multitude of reasons.

    The young that have just graduated from college need to believe because if they don’t, all the things they’ve been learning the last 16-18 years has been meaningless. And, they know all too well that they can’t learn how to code or do anything more useful than “do you want fries with that?”. And, their elders have made sure that those jobs are going the way of the dodo bird. (1)

    The middle have to believe it for the same reason why somebody who’s worked for a company for 10-15 years is more than willing to throw anyone off the boat if they can stay employed. They’ve built so much of their identity on what they’ve done they don’t know what they’ll do without it. And, they know that they were lucky to have gotten what they had-any replacement job is going to be worse.

    The old have to keep going because otherwise…they failed, didn’t they? Fifty years of fighting to stay in the same place like the Red Queen, and they have to be like a priest that has spent so many years trying to repair that old church on the hill…to discover that his faith isn’t even worth sand. The church will fall even before he does. He has destroyed everything that matters-the future of the children in town, the jobs of the parents, everything-to only see the work of decades fall apart in days. And, they can either watch as capricious fate destroys their cause-or they can burn it down themselves.

    I would feel sorry for them. I do feel sorry for them.

    If they weren’t going to destroy everything else in the process with us.

    (1-I would almost suggest that the prettier female ones would find a living on their back-or OnlyFans. But, most of them don’t have the skill and inclination to self-promote enough to make it worthwhile. Or the beauty.)

    1. They’re from the future, yet they keep getting blindsided by current events . . .

       1. Well, it’s not like they study history much…

       2. Yes, but which leg of the Trousers Of Time are they from? And, are they from a set of Trousers that we shouldn’t burn on sight, if only for our own sanity?

    2. Two things:

       “The young that have just graduated from college need to believe because if they don’t, all the things they’ve been learning the last 16-18 years has been meaningless” or worse than meaningless.

       Fixed that for you.

       As for “most of them don’t have the skill and inclination to self-promote enough to make it worthwhile. Or the beauty.”

       My understanding* is that most Johns aren’t there for the sex (although they do want that) so much as a sympathetic ear, somebody who will pretend, even if for pay and a brief time, that the John is another human being and able to connect.

       Can’t see many of those gals, no matter how good-lookin’, carrying that off.

       *purely from reading of studies; I can’t claim to having ever knowingly met anyone in the profession.
       –

       1. I’ve known enough people that were incidental to the sex industries that more of their male patrons wanted to pretend, if only for a little while, that there was someone female that wanted them for them. The sex was nice, too…but, they wanted someone to seduce them, because they cared about them.

          And, I could sympathize with that perspective so very much.

          1. Loneliness kills.

             1. Loneliness and not feeling like you have a place to be kills. Look at the mortality rate of people that retire and don’t…do anything afterwards.

                1. And we’ve got an entire nation cut off from most of their means to matter, right now.

                   As I realized the other day– I know what “social anxiety” is. I’ve dealt with it my whole life. Basically, I’m shy.

                   Now the entire country is dealing with that. And it’s killing people.

                   1. As I realized the other day– I know what “social anxiety” is. I’ve dealt with it my whole life. Basically, I’m shy.

                      –
                      Hubby plays golf.

                      Me. “I have to get out of the house” – go for a walk with dog, or go shopping – usually grocery to Costco, Fred Meyers, & Petsmart. “Okay. I’m good.” Plus regular drop in on mom (she’s 86).

                      Otherwise. Here. Note. I “talk” HERE more than I talk anywhere in a group of people, ever. Including extended family gatherings. Hubby and son are not exactly talkative either.

                      I listen a lot. Does that count?

                      1. At a guess, you talk when you have something worth saying, and are in a situation where it’s worth saying it?

                         1. Yes.

                            If the “moment” hasn’t passed by the time I get a chance to say something Which often enough, it has. Unless I interrupt. At which point the conversation pivots to – I interrupted … Why bother? Group conversations.

                            One to one is better, or there is no conversation anyway.

                      2. All three of those places, I use to go.

                         Haven’t, for most of a year…even if I could mask, I can’t bring the kids in, which is most of the point.

                         1. No conventions, I did hit one before the boom descended. Otherwise…no, I don’t want to do online “conventions” because going somewhere and watching things is the point. In person. And finding stuff that I don’t have to explain. To anyone.

                            I’ve been going through my DVD and BluRay collection. Haven’t gotten a lot of NEW stuff…but I do have old stuff that I’m enjoying.

                            Getting ready to go back to school. Because I’m tired of entry-level jobs that go nowhere. Get a certificate in marketing, good bit of writing and creativity and everything and get a new job.

                            I’d be out exercising more…but it’s gotten too damned cold in the mornings right now. I might have to do it regardless soon…

                            1. Getting ready to go back to school. Because I’m tired of entry-level jobs that go nowhere. Get a certificate in marketing, good bit of writing and creativity and everything and get a new job.

                               –
                               Niece, new -ish out of school. Lost her first job due to Covid-19. Moved home. Got a part-time temp job that went full time, but wasn’t long term guaranteed. She started a new full time job for a company that does marketing / publishing for tech firms in Portland. Will be working from home. She is a writer.

                            2. Not a good time to start a new job, I know. But, still.

                            3. You do what you have to do. You often don’t get to choose the timing.

                               I know it isn’t easy to go back to school, at least the 4 year *Bachelor, or higher, route. Been there, done that.

                               My Aunt was 50 when she received her bachelors & teaching masters, then taught school for 12 years before retiring. She started out as a classroom aid, after her youngest daughter passed away (spina bifida complications). Then her mother died. She used the inheritance money to go to school for her teaching degree. After retiring from the (CA) school system, she now researches & writes pioneer Oregon history.

                   2. I’ve been trying to find things that matter to me and making new ones. It’s hard and it isn’t fun, especially since trying is going to get you in trouble with the Karens.

47. Today Hannity reported on a new idiocy in Nevada: there are far more stringent restrictions on churches than casinos. “You can gamble, but you can’t pray.”

    I had to say, “Don’t tell the Democrats, but I bet those gamblers are praying!”

    A man who moved to Tennessee last year was surprised when notified that he voted in Arizona.

    The Arizona Secretary Of State announced that “There were no election irregularities in Arizona.”

    The hits, they just keep a-comin’

    1. That’s just a continuation of policy at least six months old. And not just in Nevada. The media is now indifferent to the unconstitutional suppression of church services, so you don’t see much about it now.

    2. “The Arizona Secretary Of State announced that ‘There were no election irregularities in Arizona.’”

       Obviously, election fraud is not an irregularity in Arizona. As I understand from Philadelphia-raised Beloved Spouse, it is regular in that town, too.

       This is a classic argument; we declare it is a bug, they claim it is a feature.
       –

       1. The one who called Trump supporters neo-Nazis?

          1. Welllll … the Arizona SecState did say that about Trump supporters, but if we’re honest the number of Democrat office holders who’ve said such things amounts to pretty near all of them, so the question might need to be more specific.
             –

48. “… they’re always convinced for reasons known only to their psychiatrists that the very old are Republican. Since the very old listen most to the MSM it’s likely to be the very old are Democrats.”

    Reasons known only to their psychiatrists and observant wallabies.

    When most of those septuagenarians leading the Left were young Boomers busy not trusting anybody over thirty, the old were conservative. The Old back then had survived a Depression and (many of them*) two World Wars and an economic bubble. They were conservative because they’d lived through [feces hitting fans] those bright young idiots couldn’t comprehend.

    Those young avant-garde boomers grew older without growing up and still think of themselves as hip, cool, with it and the bee’s knees. Grasping that they are not only old but that their cohort dominates the old and foolish segment of society exceeds their mental capacity. They’re “special” and thus assume the “Old” are as they were when Boomers were children.

    *I remember, as a young wallabrat, my grandfather attempting to impart some serious life lessons in telling of his experience as a recruit being sent to France. A person born in 1900 was sixty-seven by the “Summer of Love” and life had knocked most of the silliness out of them long before.
    –

    1. As opposed to an old wallabrat?

49. Oh. This sounds familiar …

    Time to Recognize Data Uncertainty in COVID Debates
    By Wesley J. Smith
    As we rush to embrace an “obey the experts” technocracy in the fight against COVID, media and commentators often assume that the epidemiological data justifying proposed draconian policies — such as lockdowns — are clear. But that’s not true. And that should give our policymakers pause before attempting to impose policies that are likely, in some cases, to be popularly resisted.

    This cogent point was made recently by the editor of a professional epidemiology journal. From, “Data Versus Truth in the Midst of a Pandemic,” by Jim Rohrer:

    Uncounted scientific articles have been published about the pandemic. Missing from all this information and analysis is frank recognition of the uncertainty in the assumptions upon which data analysis and forecasts are based.

    State mitigation strategies are based partly on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and partly on local politics. The effectiveness of different mitigation strategies is not strongly supported by population-based evidence, yet television news programs constantly bring out ‘experts’ who insist that if we only did this or that, pandemic deaths would have been avoided.

    Rohrer points a finger at media outlets use of talking heads to opine about the pandemic who may be unqualified or too impacted by conditions on the ground to see the bigger picture:

    Perhaps the most serious source of bias in the media is reliance on practicing clinicians as experts even if they lack any special expertise in population epidemiology. These experts typically are working in hospitals and they are over-burdened with acute COVID-19 cases. They see the most biased sample possible and this influences their opinions.

    Rohrer ends with a call for recognizing uncertainties.

    As researchers, we should be concerned with the false and misleading interpretations of the available data that fill the airwaves. Instead of freely admitting uncertainties about the effectiveness of government policies, we hear arguments that the national failure to follow certain policies has caused many deaths.

    We do not know to what extent that assertion is true; we cannot say how much the harms of lockdowns counter the benefits. Let me suggest that responsible researchers will challenge the assertions based on weak data by saying we do not yet know how much effect different policies would have had in the US.

    This paper may seem arcane, but it is crucial to our judging the wisdom of increasing calls for government-imposed and private-sector-enforced mandates, ranging from masks to the use of contact-tracing apps.

    This much seems true: “The experts” need a little more humility in their policy prognostications. Perhaps more important, the media and social platforms need to be less censorious of heterodox opinions and policy advocacy about COVID. Otherwise, crucial democratic deliberation about the advisability of proposed policies will be shortchanged and trust eroded.
    –

50. “But the press is reporting on it as “Trump emerges from hiding at the White House to–””

    About that:

    BYRON YORK EXCLUSIVE: Trump talks post-election fight
    NEWSLETTER EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP TALKS POST-ELECTION FIGHT. The president called on Thursday morning to update the election challenges his campaign is making in several key states. The bottom line from our conversation: No matter what news organizations have projected, Trump says he’s confident he will win the states needed to get to 270 electoral votes. He quickly ran through the situation in six states.

    “We’re going to win Wisconsin,” he began. “Arizona — it’ll be down to 8,000 votes, and if we can do an audit of the millions of votes, we’ll find 8,000 votes easy. If we can do an audit, we’ll be in good shape there.”

    “Georgia, we’re going to win,” he continued, “because now, we’re down to about 10,000, 11,000 votes, and we have hand-counting” — a reference to the coming recount. “Hand-counting is the best. To do a spin of the machine doesn’t mean anything. You pick up 10 votes. But when you hand-count — I think we’re going to win Georgia.” He’ll also win North Carolina, Trump joked, “unless they happen to find a lot of votes. I said, ‘When are they going to put in the new votes in North Carolina? When are they going to find a batch from Charlotte?'”

    Then there are two more — Michigan and Pennsylvania. “The two big states,” Trump said, before allowing, “They’re all sort of big.” In those two, Trump is pinning his strategy on protesting the exclusion of his campaign’s observers during critical periods of vote-counting. “They wouldn’t let our poll watchers and observers watch or observe,” Trump said. “That’s a big thing. They should throw those votes out that went through during those periods of time when [Trump observers] weren’t there. We went to court, and the judge ordered [the observers] back, but that was after two days, and millions of votes could have gone through. Millions. And we’re down 50,000.”

    It was definitely an optimistic scenario and one at odds with the current state of the race. …

    [SNIP]

    Whatever the case, Trump is forging ahead. When I asked him how quickly he might turn things around, he said, “I don’t know. It’s probably two weeks, three weeks.” He knows the situation. He has heard many people tell him it’s over and time to concede. But at the very least, it is important for his most devoted supporters to see him fighting to stay in office. And he closed with a good-natured warning for everyone who has told him there is no hope: “Never bet against me.”
    –

    1. Dear God, I pray President Trump is right.

       1. Amen.

    2. Hopes and prayers! Though I really need to stop churning through the blogs and news sites so obsessively…

51. –

52. c4c

53. I am the storm.

54. Back to the “stock up,” thread…woke up this morning thinking, “Don’t forget to stock up on your supplements.” Vitamin D might get very short, and C and E are nice to have for the winter. Plus your usual multivitamin and any other supplements you might normally take. A few extra bottles could come in handy.

55. Pingback: 16 November 2020 – Dark Brightness

Comments are closed.