Reducing An Occupied Country

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

Those of us who’ve read a lot of history, particularly those who grew up abroad and know there is a technique to reducing a conquered country.

In Portugal, we learned about what the Spaniards did, during the sixty years they occupied Portugal back in the sixteen hundreds.

To be fair, I know what the Spaniards were trying to do now. Not that it feels me with warm fuzzies, because there are echoes. But from their point of view, like from the point of view of the globalists, it made perfect sense, was smart and should not be opposed by the illiterate — shall we call them deplorables — of Portugal. Mostly the North of Portugal.

You see, after kicking out the Moors, Castille looked around and thought that what it really needed was a unified land mass: to wit all of the Peninsula. And Portugal was, to be fair, at the time, a rich morsel, full of colonies overseas.

So, through a series of rather bizarre alliances, plus buying the nobility of Portugal and fostering a sense that being Spaniards would be better for them, they eventually took over the land.

Fine and dandy. Well not. Because Portuguese, particularly the North, are a population affected with oppositional defiant disorder. I suspect it it endemic in the culture because of all the invasions or, as my kids put it, Portugal being the reservoir tip int he condom of Europe. (Hey, they’re my kids. They’re occasionally rude.) I mean, you’re invaded a lot, you either become complacent and let the shit roll over you, or you become hells own bastards. And by the way, I sternly resist any impliction this might be genetic, particularly because shut up.

So resistance started on day one and the “reduction” program didn’t work very well. And sixty years later they got rid of the Spaniards by defenestrating the governor. (It is a thing of joy and beauty to hear an entire class of ten years old girls answer the question of “What happened to the Spanish governor in Lisbon?” with an enthusiastic shout of “He was defenestrated.”)

The Portuguese don’t hold a grudge either — truly — which is why 400 years later we were still instructed by our elderly and very proper fourth grade teacher to desecrate the pictures of the Spanish kings in our school books, with swear words and devil horns, and “make them really ugly.”

The funny thing — stop me when this sounds familiar — that Spain would probably have won the battle, long term, almost certainly, if they’d come in and governed with Portuguese best interests at heart, and let the cultures and families merge.

Portugal didn’t even have a very strong sense of national identity at the time, and noble families had property in both families.

But they came in set on “reducing” the Portuguese. It involves a program of destroying the statues of the conquered people, and the stories of their heroes. It involves giving away prized possessions that brought in wealth (in Portugal’s case various colonies given away in the dowry of Spanish princesses) for the glory of the invaders. It involves forbidding the mother-tongue and replacing it with the invaders’s speech (A-men and A-women!) and it involves in general making the invaded country feel its humiliation, in the hopes of making it want to die.

It will surprise you to know this is not the technique of any successful empire ever. It was stolen by the Spaniards from the Moors, and is partly why the Moors will eventually herd camels in a desert where the oil is the most fit thing to drink.

The left, which learned all their conquering techniques from Russians and Nazis is using the same thing. They are trying to destroy our history, sully our heroes, make us speak a lingo that even they can’t do, and impoverish us to the point — they think — that we can’t raise our heads.

Oh, and all this in the service of ”more land.” In this case they want to take over the entire world, because for the left (and possibly crazy Spaniards) the government is best which is most distant and governs with complete disregard for local culture and conditions, by pretending every human is a widget who will follow written rules to the letter.

The fact that the Spaniards keep — still — having trouble conquering themselves, and that the USSR and the Nazis crashed in every way possible, and the USSR would have done it faster, had we not supported them for most of their existence means nothing to the left.

Both sides have weaponized autists, see. Ours are just more amusing and creative. On the left though, because it’s a cargo cult, they’ll follow the procedures, d*mn it, and they will have their wished-for result because shut up h8ter.

None of this will work the way they expect. They can’t even interpret what they’re seeing.

My prediction is a crash of internationalism, a revival of a love of nationality and each nation’s character and heroes, and a glorious upraised middle finger to those who’d be global masters, Winnie the Xi and the UN included, and possibly with petards.

The funny thing is that they could have taken us, in another generation or two. If they’d only pretended to have our best interests at heart, swallowed their phobic reaction to the flag and trappings of patriotism, allowed the working class to keep working, and took it slow.

Their schools, and particularly colleges, were indoctrinating our young in their death credo. In another generation or two there would be nothing to fight from.

But they hate us that much they had to treat us ike conquered land they wanted to reduce. And because they’re using those sectors they already control, like education and the arts, and even finance, they’re also being stupid and causing all of those to crash really hard, thereby destroying their influence.

Stay strong, friends. It’s going to be a few thoroughly unpleasant years, as the dying wild boar the left has become does maximum damage to everything, in the belief this strengthens their position.

But we’re not a conquered country. They captured the hierarchy of power. And that, you know, can always be got rid of — defenestrated! (Though not necessarily literally. Hey, I heard that “Aw!”) — but in the end we win they lose.

Be not afraid.

470 thoughts on “Reducing An Occupied Country”

  1. Quick off-topic update before I read:

    Today opened with the expected short ladder attack, driving GME down to ~215. This has been done several times, and the goal is to scare people into thinking the bubble is over and they had better get out while the getting is good.

    Doesn’t work so well when the general wisdom is “Buy the Dip”. If fact it makes the fund’s situation worse.

    1. Watching it warms the cockles of my heart.
      .
      That said, I’m pretty sure that messing with the Silver market is akin to starting a land war in Asia.
      I had the T-shirt!
      And lost it, right off of my back. (Second-worst investment I ever tried. An “emerging markets” fund that almost immediately had assets seized and nationalized takes top prize. So much for doing well by doing good.)

      1. Citadel owns a ton of silver, and the SLV short squeeze is being breathlessly sold by the same media that is telling everyone that GME is stupid and they should get out while they can.

        Strange how those coincidences work.

        1. Citadel gave Tres. Sec. Janet Yellen over $800,000 in speakers fees over two years, wanna bet Citadel doesn’t get a government bailout if needed, -or even if not needed but wanted?

            1. Yep. The bailout will be yet another in the continuing series of “unmasking the corruption”.

            2. >> “Bailout is the only way they can defuck themselves. I fully expect it to happen.”

              That, or forcibly transferring the shares to the hedges. Part of me almost hopes they do, because I could see the left going into open, violent revolt against their own leadership over that.

        2. Sorry guys, Silver finished down for the day. What happened with GameStop is unique and may never be duplicated. There was a post the other day about competence. The guys who moved first on GameStop had some competence. The people following on, probably none. GameStop was well spotted, Taking a run at silver because there’s a lot sold short without understanding just how liquid the silver market is and how deep the pockets are of the people holding the position. Running up the volatility actually adds to their profit. Folly and incompetence.

          Further, what did Citadel do to anyone? Seriously, their success doesn’t reduce yours. It’s not a fixed pie. if nothing else, their CEO is a big Republican donor and the vast majority of the noise you hear will come from that.

          In any case, Citadel doesn’t do the LBO thing where you buy a healthy company, load it up with debt, strip the assets, and leave the workers unemployed with no pension. You want to punish somebody, punish the looters. They tend to be really big dem donors too.

          1. ……..you didn’t understand my post.

            Citadel & Friends are trying to get people to buy SLV which will both distract them from GME, and give Citadel & friends desperately needed liquidity to deal with their GME short positions.

            1. Perhaps I did, I often get it wrong.

              Citadel doesn’t have a liquidity problem. Melvin Capital does. The guy who runs Melvin Capital is a protege of Stevie Cohen. Citadel is Melvin Capital’s prime broker so they’re busy liquidating Melvin Capital right now. Citadel might go to the discount window and some politicians might run around calling it a bailout but that’s precisely what the discount window is for.

              I don’t know how much, if at all, Citadel is short silver or long SLV or whatever and suspect the press or the blogs don’t either. SLV is a liquid ETF with an asset value over $14B. Silver as a whole is at least an order of magnitude bigger than that. I don’t care how clever they are, a bunch of guys on Reddit aren’t moving that around. It was up 7 is percent today and is down a smidge after market. that’s not going to fix anyone’s problem.

              Be careful what the press says. I read that the first 9 guys to go after GameStop are now Billionaires. Unless they bought 2 million shares each, which would represent a third of total outstanding shares and have cost around $42MM each, which tends to rule out the little guy narrative, that’s out by orders of magnitude.

              I agree this is compelling and a really good story but It isn’t the revolution and the circumstances that allowed it to happen are unique. I can’t remember anything that comes close to it. Could it go farther,yes it always can, but I doubt it. this is a damp squib,

              1. It’s far from a damp squib. Melvin is effectively in receivership, Citadel is a dead company walking, and an unknown number of concerns in on the scam are also getting wrecked. They’ve lost over 5 billion dollars, tons of prestige, and have demonstrated the extent to which the deck is stacked.

                1. I doubt very much that Citadel is a dead man walking. I think Melvin might be toast but it’s really not that much money in the overall scheme of things. Melvin is at the mercy of its prime broker, Citadel. Citadel put $2b into Melvin. That’s almost certainly heavily collateralized and Citadel probably has the rights to all Melvin’s stuff. GME was back down 33% today to $225. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Citadel were to walk away with huge profit at the end of this mess.

                  I suppose that the RobinHood thing might have legs but that runs very quickly into the fact that every single large Wall Street house does the same thing and in many cases do it more and more egregiously than Citadel does. I think you’ll find the far left is way more disappointed in the Biden kleptocracy than we since their expectations are higher. Things will be said but nothing will be done.

                  I agree that this has demonstrated the extent the deck is stacked. What doesn’t? it’s always been unfair, so is life. What we must do is never forgive and never forget and make it known as much as often and as broadly as we are able.

                  My prediction for what it’s worth. RobinHood will fold and open under a new name doing the same thing. Melvin will liquidate but the partners will keep their own money and escape prosecution for the naked short sale, which is illegal. Citadel will make a massive profit. The Reddit guys will get arrested, charged, and convicted of securities manipulation. Sad thing is, they wrote it down, there’s a paper trail and what they did is technically illegal. Goes on all the time but is very hard to prove so they don’t bother trying. We’ll be left like the syndicalist peasant in Holy Grail chanting come see the violence inherent in the system.

                  Sorry, that’s how I see it. Hope I’m wrong, doubt I am.

                    1. GME was down $134.79 today to $90.21. if you bought it yesterday, you’re down 60%. If you bought it It’s high you’re down 81%. Your Log return from the high, which is a better indicator of losses, is -168%

                      I’m sorry, I really am, but this isn’t a game. A lot of people are getting hurt, badly. The Reddit guys spotted a great opportunity, but it’s over now.

                    2. Those stock *games* are forbidden in our portfolio. I may not participate daily in the decisions. But I have full veto power. These games are forbidden, as are short calls. No. Nope. and No, again. We may not make a killing, but we’re doing okay too.

                    3. Yes. This.

                      I’m finding a new lack of patience for those who advise… caution as it used to be defined.

                    4. I was talking about the idea that the SEC is going to come down on everybody. There are too many for that.

                      As for the market situation…. I have yet to see anyone explain how the funds managed to beat a mathematical impossibility. Or why having supposedly done so they are still running the propaganda machine full blast.

                    5. Not giving financial advice, but I’m with Ian. From what I’ve been hearing they’ve been suppressing the price of GME by running constant short-ladder attacks and forbidding people to buy (but not to sell) at critical periods. This isn’t the behavior of people who think they’re in the clear. This is the behavior of people who think their balls are in a vice and are desperate to con their way out of it before they get squeezed.

                      Based on my experience today and yesterday I’m expecting a rush of panic selling tomorrow at well under $50 a share. I plan to get my retard on and buy a few more. If anyone else wants to buy even one symbolic share, tomorrow might be the best chance you’ll get. I can discuss my experiences getting set up if anyone wants to get set up tonight.

                    6. I noticed something today: RH increased their buy limits on GME. At almost that exact time the price started shooting back up.

                      Gets the noggin joggin….

                    9. Sigh.

                      The redditors wrote it down. there’s a paper trail. What they did is stock manipulation, That’s illegal. They embarrassed a bunch of government lawyers.

                      Prediction is hard, especially about the future but I suspect they’re toast. The only thing that might save them is that a fair number of them seem to have been lefties and even SEC might flinch at only prosecuting the non-lefties.

                      It’s not a game, this is real people with real money and a real jail. If you want to stick it to the man, and who doesn’t, do it properly. What was it that Patton said about making the other SOB die for his country?

                    10. What they did is stock manipulation

                      I assume you mean in the sense that the capitol incident was a violent riot? As in; not at all, but pissed off the wrong people.

                      Still waiting for someone to explain how they lose outside of massive jackbootery….

                    11. >> “I noticed something today: RH increased their buy limits on GME. At almost that exact time the price started shooting back up.”

                      I’ve noticed something too. Check out the historical data for GameStop trading: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GME/history?p=GME

                      Take a look at the last three trading days (Jan 29 – Feb 2) and compare the prices at close to previous days. Notice how the last three days had closing prices that were nice, round numbers and the previous days… didn’t? I’m not saying it’s impossible for that to happen naturally, but at first glance it sure LOOKS like the work of an algorithm…

                    13. >> “The redditors wrote it down. there’s a paper trail. What they did is stock manipulation, That’s illegal.”

                      So’s what the hedge funds are doing. And yes, I know enforcement is selective, but I think there’s something you’re missing.

                      The rank-and-file on the LEFT loves what WSB is doing and is cheering them on. If Uncle Sam crack down on them the Democrat’s own base will likely turn on their own government hard, and unlike us they’re quick to resort to intimidation and violence. If our “betters” try to push this they’ll likely have to run a purge against their own side, and might even end up with a blue-on-blue civil war.

                      I don’t think they have as much room to push this as you think.

            1. I am sorry. I wish it was different but I have very few illusions about it. The restoration of democracy requires we avoid wishful thinking.

              2. There are a couple uncertainties here.

                1. How many people, as a practical matter, can we imprison or kill? Yes, yes, I tend to argue for ‘all of them’, but the current total number of US prisoners is c 2 or 4 million. There are a couple of maximum limits for permanent prison population, the largest of which may be food production. The Feds are working with a much lower cap for arbitrary imprisonment, because we may be on the edge of a civil war.

                2. How many are the feds proposing to imprison over this? If “I’m a crayon eating retarded gorilla with diamond hands, riding this rocket to the moon” is evidence of market manipulation, that’s probably a lot of folks. There’s a trade off with this many people involved. Too few, you don’t intimidate the rest into silence, and they are bad PR. Too many arrested, and they will have a lot of leftist connections who think it is bullshit, undermining the body of support.

                WSB has a fair number of accounts, even if many of them are bots or uninvolved. How many people do the feds have to put on this? Remember, the FBI only has 30k or 40k employees. Yeah, maybe the federal lawyers want revenge, Biden won’t reign them in, and judges will rubberstamp it. If they don’t seal the records, quality of evidence may work as propaganda for us. If they do seal the records, that is definitely propaganda for us.

                We are two weeks into actively addressing the Biden affair, and we have this incident. Which will incrementally work in our favor, but not tip the whole thing. Other incidents will occur, and eventually the accumulation will tip things in our favor. Might actually happen before they get anyone into prison. At that point, we can’t restore the murdered to life, but can address wrongful imprisonments.

          3. And Mittens for an example of the debt load up, pump and dump hedge fund thief.
            JPM Chase holds a HUGE amount of physical silver, COMEX not so much.
            The Silver market overloaded over the weekend, prior to being able to hedge on Sunday night.
            On Saturday, one ounce Eagles were over $80 for sale, $28 to buy back.
            Monday, $31 for sale, still $28 to buy back.
            About silver, remember the mistake the Hunt Bros made, in forgetting that their counter parties also set the rules for the COMEX exchange.
            The fix is in. The GameSpot shorts got too greedy and got caught by the market. Rules changing to prevent such an occurrence again.
            Like the changes in election law to ensure that no one like Trump is ever again elected. And shut up peasant! Respect your betters. SPIT.
            John Sage

            1. Someone pointed out that the initial Gamespot frenzy itself had the smell of being someone’s pump-and-dump operation, just exploiting a new angle.

            2. “Respect your betters.”

              I do – or rather, I would, if ever I meet some. As of yet, to quote the Cowboy, “That son of a bitch ain’t been born yet.”
              ~

                1. I’m an American. There is no country better, and there is no creature better than an American citizen.

          4. I’m confused. You say the CEO is a big Republican donor as if it matters.

            Haven’t you been paying attention to how the Republican base feels about Republican leadership? Knowing that the CEO is a Republican is likely to inflame the base rather than calm them down!

        3. If you want another twist to what is going on consider this; Steve Cohen whose own hedge fund has a lot of investment ties with Citadel and has been forced to spend billions to support it, recently purchased the New York Mets after winning a bidding war. One of the key big players in the Gamestop stock run up and now the silver run up has ties to a group led by Alex Rodriguez that was trying to purchase the Mets and lost the bidding war, in their minds unfairly.

          So part of this is apparently motivated by revenge over the sale and purchase of a major league baseball team.

          1. Stevie Cohen got to keep his money and only his customers had to pay after he got caught insider trading. Rules for me and rules for thee. As a lifetime Yankee fan who hates the Mets, I hope their magic rubs off on him and he ends up on the corner begging for change. Stevie owns it because the Wilpon’s lost lots of money with Madoff and I do enjoy watching the guilty get their deserts.

    2. Does anyone else’s mind just glaze over when people start talking about the stock market? I never even considered jumping in on the Game Stop thing because I have no idea even where to begin.

      1. My wife’s does but that might be because I do bang on about it. It’s one of the ways my aspergers manifests.

          1. >> “Like me with programming….”

            I think I’ve said this before, but the world is probably better off WITHOUT you of all people knowing how to program:

      2. Does anyone else’s mind just glaze over when people start talking about the stock market?

        –
        Yep. Me.

        We are in the stock market. Hubby does it all. I know he researches. He tells me why he chooses certain stocks. I know we get dividends from most of our stocks. I know we have some funds. I know he sells covered calls over and above what we paid for stock. If a stock doesn’t get called away then he sells a covered call on it again. If it does get called away on the call, well find another stock, or if that stock has dropped down, or … he’ll buy it again. Beyond that. We keep in contact with different stock brokers and educated should we need to turn everything over to one. Which is what will happen should hubby not be able to do this anymore.

        It is really hard to pay attention when hubby fills me in on what is going on.

    3. >> “Doesn’t work so well when the general wisdom is “Buy the Dip”. If fact it makes the fund’s situation worse.”

      I bought my first shares today. I was lucky and bought in at the dip, which let me afford a couple of extra.

      After some reading, my understanding is that the price will have to go back up sometime tomorrow when the hedges have to buy some to cover shorts and face an extreme seller’s market. It occurs to me that they might keep trying ladder attacks afterwards, which would create an artificial cycle of extreme low prices followed by huge spikes when they’re forced to buy.

      So here’s what I’m thinking: what if I sold a few shares when the price spikes but held the money to buy again after they start with the ladder attacks? I might be able to get more shares without having to invest any more money. I’m totally new to this, so what do the more experienced traders among you think?

      Also, would the WSB crowd accuse me of having paper hands if I’m only selling in order to end up with more shares in the end?

      2. As I understand it, the WSB crowd advocates holding what you have because when you sell and buy back the institutions holding the short position claw back a bit of the stock they eventually will have to buy.

        This at least explains the retail apps restricting buys but allowing people to sell all they want.

        I hope they obliterate the short position holders because it would be fun to watch the news act like they were never trying to stop it from happening. Still, if I have extra money burning a hole in my pocket I always buy ammo or firearms.

      3. One of the things you have to watch out for is taxes and fees. If you buy a stock and it increases in value, you don’t have to pay anything on it, and if it goes down you don’t have to worry about any loss, until you actually sell it. And the broker charges a fee every time stock is bought or sold.

        If you’re buying and selling stock without these in mind, you might eat up any profits you otherwise would have gotten, and the worst case scenario is that you don’t even think to report this to the IRS, and the IRS gets very testy when you forget little details like that.

        (The tax angle doesn’t just apply to stocks. In a session about contracts at the Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium, Larry Correia pointed out that there are authors out there who got big contracts and royalties, but didn’t think to report it to the IRS; these authors don’t make any money from their writing because their royalties now go straight to the IRS.)

        1. Full disclosure: I don’t have anything in the stock market. I considered investing at one point, using the “Motley Fool” guides to stock investing as a guide — and they are “buy and hold forever” types of investors — so while I have a general idea of some of the “gochas” to be aware of, I don’t have any specific experience.

        2. One of the things you have to watch out for is taxes and fees. If you buy a stock and it increases in value, you don’t have to pay anything on it, and if it goes down you don’t have to worry about any loss, until you actually sell it. And the broker charges a fee every time stock is bought or sold.

          –
          There are also any extra income you might get off of stocks that tax will be due on. Dividends. Call sells. Ext. So far we haven’t had to deal with either of those as up until last year all our income has been in tax deferred accounts. We don’t pay taxes on anything until it is distributed.

          Dividends are easy. Your brokerage will provide a 1099-Div for the year the taxes are due.

          Call payments aren’t as easy. They aren’t considered income until settlement, which is when the call is triggered or it laps. So you can sell a call say in 2019, receive the income for selling the call, but settlement doesn’t occur until 2020. The tax on the call income isn’t due until 2020 whether the stock sells or not.

          We are helping our son navigate this for his taxes for 2020. We’ll have to deal with it for ours in 2021. (I think we got the correct version of TurboTax to make this easy. We’ll see.)

    1. I can’t find a clip of it, but in the Crusade spinoff of Babylon 5 a character named Galen denies holding grudges. When someone later points out that he’s acting like he’s holding one, he asserts again that he doesn’t: “I have no surviving enemies. At all.”

  3. Thanks, Sarah. I feel stronger after reading.

    I’m going to watch Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke” today, just to watch the wounded/dying boar thrashing and destroying things.

    That movie’s imagery seems to fit today.

      2. Yeah, Japanese word tied to supernatural meaning, I’m pretty sure nothing to do with the classical mono- prefix.

    2. Or possibly Laputa, to watch the robot’s rampage in the fortress. That was an amazing sequence, and Joe Hisaishi’s backing music was perfect.

        1. Ooooh, you’re in for a treat! I consider Laputa and Nausicaa two of Miyazaki’s greatest movies.

          Of course, I have most of the rest, too. 😀
          ———————————
          “All good pirates listen to their mom!”

          2. Nausicaa and Mononoke were too preachy for me. (In my defense, being overloaded with environmental stuff and history while watching those two films is not an ideal condition. The opening of Mononoke is amazing animation.)

            1. Totally understand, and approve.

              I have to be in just the right mindset for Mononoke or I’ll actually hate it, and I won’t appreciate the forest scenes or any of the beauty.

            2. It makes sense in the context of post war Japan. After being screwed over by their own imperialism and the icing of a couple of American nukes, it makes sense they get both environment and peacenicky. The thing slowly bringing them out of their anti-militarism is the fact they’ve got China *right over there*, and can’t be sure what the hell the American people will put in office, or the American fraudsters will put in office, every four years.

            3. Mononoke is the least preachy of the two, and what it does preach is not environmentalism but seeing the world with eyes unclouded by hate. The industrialist mining chief was the good guy every bit as much as mononoke hima and the wolves. And as much at fault.

              Brilliant story.

              But Spirited Away and Totoro are favorite.

              1. Totoro is my favorite, with forest spirits, the Cat Bus, and the joy of children.

                1. I love Totoro too. Can sing that theme song… One of the few children’s movies that I could watch over and over and not hate. This whole thread is making me want to get out my Miyazaki videos and watch them again.

                  1. “Hey let’s go! Hey let’s go! We’re happy as can be…. let’s go walking you and me…”

                    It’s a message from on high.

                2. I watch Totoro more than the others because I’m usually trying to cheer myself up. I like to sing the opening song. And the scene waiting for the bus makes me laugh every time, like a little girl.

              2. Yes, it was very gentle and even handed. Wisely handled. And beautiful above all things.

      1. Depending upon my mood, my favorite is either Spirited Away of My Neighbor Totoro.

        Spirited Away can take me places I have a hard time climbing out of, so I have to be wary about when I watch.

  5. Hm. What’s the equivalent to “defenestrated” but with a helicopter door instead of a window?

    Besides 21st century justice, that is.

      1. Allende shot himself before Pinochet’s troops could capture him. Would that our “leaders” would show such fortitude right now.

        1. Oh, yeah … this.
          And they’re looking on one hand to strengthening the barracades around DC – and Muriel Bow-Wow, the mayor, is now bleating about how it will ruin the tourist trade.
          Ah, well. You wanted the Capitol City/Panem. Enjoy the hell that you have created.

          1. I keep telling everybody, they’ve turned Washington into East Berlin. Walls, fences and gates. Columns of soldiers. Military vehicles. All they need is officers demanding bribes at the checkpoints to make the East Berlin Experience complete!

            1. Even worse, they are turning the entire country into the Iron Curtain experience, complete with Stasi, show trials and unpersoning.

                1. Counterpoint to the comparison: Char, though insane, at least had charisma (even if it seems like every new Super Robot Wars entry is hell-bent on rehabilitating him into being at least hero-adjacent), and the Brittanians were at least borderline competent administrators pre-Lelouch overturning things. We can only wish we had tyrants as good as those anime.

                  1. Zabi Zeon and Charles’ Britannia had very strong democratic institutions. Their internal power politics and administrative transitions are normal and expected for the United States.

                    1. Any reports of unrest among the Spacenoids or in District Eleven are fake news propagated by foreign powers seeking to disrupt our society. Patriotic citizens will report those trafficking in such disinformation to the appropriate authorities.

            5. They’ll demand ‘contributions’ to the Party at those checkpoints. $100 to get into East Berlin Washington; $500 to get out.

              And you’ll be glad to pay the $500!

        2. Actually what I wanted was Pinocheted, but someone else got that in the sequence. Right country one leader too soon… Though if some of the current Democraqt leadership would follow that evample (or at least retire) it might be good. Of course then we get AOC and her menshevik buddies. Can’t have everything I guess.

          1. If the United States really must endure a dictatorship, I’m hoping we get a Pinochet rather than a Castro — someone who primarily took power for self-defense purposes (knowing that if the Socialists took power he’d be the first to be put up against the wall) and after a bit of helicopter-enabled housecleaning, had no idea what to do next, and was thus open to Milton Freedman’s suggestion of “just let everyone be free” — and who, after 17 years of tyranny and corruption, peacefully stepped down after losing a fair election.

            That’s the difference between mere authoritarians — people who don’t care what you believe, so long as you don’t make yourself too much of a nuisance — and totalitarians, who can’t rest until you believe the exact same way they insist you do.

            2. Perhaps they can be “persuaded” to participate in important* scientific research?

              Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial

              Abstract

              Objective To determine if using a parachute prevents death or major traumatic injury when jumping from an aircraft.

              Design Randomized controlled trial.

              Setting Private or commercial aircraft between September 2017 and August 2018.

              Participants 92 aircraft passengers aged 18 and over were screened for participation. 23 agreed to be enrolled and were randomized.

              Intervention Jumping from an aircraft (airplane or helicopter) with a parachute versus an empty backpack (unblinded).

              Main outcome measures Composite of death or major traumatic injury (defined by an Injury Severity Score over 15) upon impact with the ground measured immediately after landing.

              Results Parachute use did not significantly reduce death or major injury (0% for parachute v 0% for control; P>0.9). This finding was consistent across multiple subgroups. Compared with individuals screened but not enrolled, participants included in the study were on aircraft at significantly lower altitude (mean of 0.6 m for participants v mean of 9146 m for non-participants; P<0.001) and lower velocity (mean of 0 km/h v mean of 800 km/h; P<0.001).

              Conclusions Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps. When beliefs regarding the effectiveness of an intervention exist in the community, randomized trials might selectively enroll individuals with a lower perceived likelihood of benefit, thus diminishing the applicability of the results to clinical practice.

              *HT: Power Line’s Steven Hayward, LOOSE ENDS (123)
              ~

    5. Dropping enemies from helicopters is dreadfully wasteful and inefficient, even if you throw them out of a CH-46 in job lots. Besides, where do you drop them? Who gets to clean up the revolting mess afterward?

      And, as the Genius Gremlin says after shooting the Doofus Gremlin: “Now I ask you, was that civilized? No, clearly not. Fun, yes, but hardly civilized!”

        1. What have you got against sharks, making them clean up something so gross? 😛

          I wouldn’t be surprised to see maggots turn away from a dead Democrat.

      2. CH-46’s over the ocean. Gets rid of the problem. Feeds the fish. Gets the pilots airtime.

        Win on all counts.

        1. Nah, the range isn’t long enough to avoid at least SOME trash washing up on beaches…
          ~265 miles max range, so lets call it 200 miles with a load, but that doesn’t give them a lot of loiter time to push the trash out the back. So lets make it 150, which means you’re only going out about 70-75 miles or so.

          Better to use a C-17. ~6000 mile range plus you won’t need to make as many trips, the cargo capacity is WAY higher.

          1. Now *that’s* using your noggin, and thinking kindly of your beachfront neighbors as well.
            Done!

          3. o/` My commie went *SPLAT* on the ocean…
            My commie went *SPLAT* on the sea…
            Don’t bring…
            Don’t bring…
            Don’t bring my commie back, you see?             o/`

              1. I think it might scan better this way…

                o/` My commie went *SPLAT* on the ocean…
                My commie went *SPLAT* on the sea…
                Bring back…
                Bring back…
                Bring back my Lih-iberty! o/`

      4. Perhaps they could atone for their lack of patriotism by serving as test loads for artillery launched infantry forces?
        .~

      5. Either you leave them for the scavengers, or you bulldoze over them and in a year you have lovely fertile farmland.

        Compost you enemies!

      7. If it really comes to that, I’d much rather it be done wastefully and inefficient. We have too many examples of what it’s like when this kind of thing is done efficiently.

        The entire point of the Constitution was to be wasteful and inefficient! Woe to us if our dictators can’t at least follow that tradition!

    6. “defenestrated” comes from “fenestra”, which is Latin for window. One of the translations for “door” is “porta”. So I think “deported” kind of works :). Though there are other words for door too. “dejanuaed” is kind of awkward. Not sure “deostiumed” is any better.

      2. While I would be perfectly happy for Congress critters to be disemboweled I think there is a technical quandary with the proposal as we all know Republican politicians haven’t any guts and those are the ones of which we most want to be shed.
        ~

  6. “… particularly those who grew up abroad”

    This seems discriminatory toward those who grew up a dude or a wallaby.
    ~

  7. Funny thing– I had read that word before , but didn’t know what it meant. Thanks for making me look it up– I can think of a few things to defenestrate.

  9. BTW the betrayal has been so widespread and so egregious that I cannot forgive and will hold a grudge for the end of days. It takes a lot to make me go– I won’t work with you for any reason. I don’t trust you for any reason. I want to see you dragged through the mud. It is what you deserve. So that is my feeling with the REPs right now. And it is more egregious because they have shown their amorality. May they live interesting times and know what it feels when they receive the inevitable knife to the back.

    3. I want them to *fear* the knife in the back.
      But for their actual end, I want them to have to watch it coming as an inexorable, merciless tide.

  10. How to win friends and influence people: We won! We won! We gonna dance on yo face!
    Influence people, yes. Win friends, not so much.

        1. Wing: “Have you ever heard the expression, “Living well is the best revenge?”

          Miles. “Where I come from, someone’s head in a bag is the best revenge.”

          1. *dumps a boxful of likes on this comment. Yep, a goodish fraction of “Folks” are done being/playing nice.

          4. A tisket, a tasket, a head in a basket.
            It can not answer questions you may ask it.

            — loosely adapted from TEfL

            1. Cordelia had … experience with such gifts, as I recall. Although perhaps “Emperor” Vordarian would have argued otherwise.
              ~

              1. “What? You’re a Betan! You can’t do—”

                That was the only argument Vordarian made.

                ‘Winterfair Gifts’ was a shorter story about Miles and Ekaterin’s wedding, and something Sergeant Taura found late at night.

      2. The bunch of executive orders Biden couldn’t wait to sign are pretty much are pretty much what I thought Biden really meant by his fine speech about reconciliation and unity, I can’t say I’m either very reconciled, or persuaded he is more than a figurehead.

        1. Can we find some mole to sneak a few extras into an upcoming stack.
          No, not any particular EO. I just want the fast-signing and flashpaper to meet.

          2. Yup sneak in an EO that cancels any EO ever issued by Obama or Biden. Now that would be fun…

        2. I think “figurehead” is giving him too much credit. Sockpuppet is better. And it’s pretty clear that it’s Obama and his gang. So many of those insane “executive orders” are all about “restoring” Obama’s legacy, not even any sort of political calculation.

          1. Not Obama’s “legacy”. You give Obama too much credit for independent action.

            Rather, it’s about restoring the financial interests of Obama’s puppetmasters.

            1. True. But I think that *Obama* thinks about it as his “legacy”. Or else he just needs new payments from his puppetmasters. He does need to compete with all the fabulously rich on Martha’s Vineyard, and that’s not cheap. I wonder how much the Iranians paid him?

              1. My guess? A little boy per week to sodomize.

                The Kenyan Marxist is a disgusting, disgusting creature.

                1. Though I believe that his actual first illegality was his Indonesian adoption, and subsequent citizenship there. That would explain how he got into Pakistan at a time when a US passport was not validvfor v travel there, and if, as I think, he attended college on a Fullbright Scholarship, (reserved for foreign nationals) why his college records are still sealed.
                  John

                  1. I believe we will eventually have proof of what I already know.

                    The boy was and is a fraud, a communist fraud.

        3. The China Joe Muppet Show, with those in control hidden offscreen below, with special guest star Dot not Black.

          1. I suppose if Kneepads gets her way, she could get Fauxahantos for White not Feather as VP and FICUS-in-waiting (assuming she*’d use the Borgian solution).

            (*) Which -in-waiting uses such a solution, or if “and” applies, will be left for the interested student.

            1. I have been advised, by a reliable* source, of the proper pronunciation of Vice-President Harris’s first name:

              WARNING: WHAT IS SEEN CANNOT BE UNSEEN, WHAT IS HEARD CANNOT BE UNHEARD!

              FANS OF THE BROADWAY MUSICAL “WICKED” SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL!!!!

              *Glinda is a witch and so she should know her own, right?
              ~

        4. My experience of Dems is that the Unity which they praise is generally that of the rider and the horse or the cart driver and the ox.
          ~

              1. That is a lie, kamerad, propagated by the Capitalist running dogs! Boxer was encouraged to transfer to a retirement community, to rest from his labors in support of our glorious soviet cause. Any person claiming otherwise is a subversive wrecker who should be promptly reported to your assigned commissar.
                ~

        5. Something Mike Huckabee said yesterday made me think of a possible motive. The Democrats are using Biden the FICUS to ensure that 0bama will not be remembered as the worst President of all time.

          “Look! That old white guy was even worse!”

    2. There is no reason to make an effort to win hearts & minds when you believe those you’ve subjected to be heartless & mindless. You know – deplorable.
      ~

      2. There’s an old political adage:

        “When you’ve got them by the short and curlies, their hearts and minds soon follow”.

        Ring any bells?

    3. Influence people, yes just not they way they hoped for. They are making people want to forget about Civilization and raise the Black Flag and start slitting throats. A self identifying set of throats. You don’t have to guess, they have told you who they areand what they stand for.

      1. I’ve seen Civilization and what they’re trying to brig in ain’t it. In spite of their expectations I remain capable of distinguishing Shinola from what they’re selling.
        ~

    1. Well, apparently their ancestors came from the North of Portugal, and given the trade…. I’m not sure it’s a separate culture at all 😉
      You should hear my older son singing Irish ballads.

      1. We robbed and plundered but we kept the faith. The Irish came from Galicia and Northern Portugal, or so the DNA says. Sean nos singing and Fado have more in common than just the themes.

        I sent the post on naked short selling you asked for to the first middle last at the warm place.

            1. Haven’t read yet. I was doing righteous battle with Amazon, attempting to put reverted books up. I failed. Kind of. They’re going to take a couple of days to figure out why cover isn’t showing in Draw One In The Dark.
              I want a medal. I didn’t swear, or kill anyone….

                  1. Ah, yes. I like to end those conversations by saying “Thank you” in Hindi. Just to mess with Billy’s mind a little.

                    2. >> “Unfortunately I don’t speak Hindi.”

                      So? I don’t speak Spanish or Japanese, but even I can remember what “gracias” and “domo arigato” mean. And if you say it right before you hang up just to mess with him it’s not like he can call you out on it. 😉

                    3. I used to know 10 words of Japanese. I once got in a conversation with a lonely Japanese gentleman on an night train from the city by saying “Good evening, how are you?
                      He talked for an hour, showed me pictures of his family.
                      When I had to leave I said “Goodbye, nice to meet you.”
                      I’m 99% sure he still talks about this Portuguese young lady (He was my dad’s age) who spoke perfect Japanese…

                    5. I’ve taken to cussing in Hindi to get me off scammers’ call lists. “Chole jao gaaychode” has been quite effective. (“[Fornicate] off, cow [fornicator]”)

                  2. Texting is your friend. It eliminates problems of rhythm and inflection. I use this frequently with “offshore” persons enabled in English.

                    “I’m sorry but I can’t get a decent signal here. Can we move to text or chat?”

              2. No worries, it’s very dull. Fight the good fight with the beezer.

                I’m for bed, we have 18 inches of snow and a lot to shovel in the morning,

                1. >> “Fight the good fight with the beezer.”

                  Umm…?

                  If you’re working for Lincoln Sternn, whatever you’re fighting for is probably not all THAT good.

          2. >> “Got it.”

            Oh, so HIS guest posts go through in one try? I see how it is.

            Frickin’ Hotmail. What did I ever do to you?

      2. Look at Napoleonic era maps of Portugal. One I saw had tribal occupationsl areas listed, and Northwest Portugal was listed as Celtoi.
        I have read a bit on the art and archeology of Celtic Iberia. Interesting stuff, artistically and culturally similar to the Scots / Irish of that time.
        See also ” How the Irish Saved Civilization” somewhat one sided, but has information not common elsewhere.
        John

  12. I think the most insightful comment is fromTim Kowal, “Our political establishment is a government without a country. Trump’s supporters are a country without a government.”

    I try to hold my keyboard at the corporate rantings I see (and my company is very mild in that regard). When the CEO is officially appalled at the meanderings of a mob in Congress but can’t bring himself to any outrage over the barricading of the entire District and its occupation by thousands of armed soldiers, it tries me. Eventually I’ll have to use the line, “The fire of moral certainty burns high and hot, but it leaves a fireplace full of nothing but ash in the cold night of the soul. Always be humble and kind.”

    1. I wonder what would result from an Ethics or HR complaint about certain employees (management do be employees) using company emails for political messaging not relevant to company business?

      Probably an inquiry best explored by one who already has one foot out the door …
      ~

      1. Res, the company tries to steer email and our internal social media application away from politics. There are certainly no trolls, but the, “Let’s all talk about race” thing that has official sanction can get a little much. If I thought it would be enlightening, I would listen in, but I can’t take any more stress.

        Years ago, I had pegged my retirement to this year for planning purposes but didn’t really think I would pull the switch. 2019 was a personal disaster for my wife’s health, and 2020, well ’nuff said. It really put a bad taste in my mouth when a new employee proudly announced (via social media) that her pronouns were she/her/hers. I don’t blame her for swimming with the current, but seeing all the things I laughed at as silly college antics in the 70’s being made into social gospel is very saddening.

        1. We just had an employee start who put his pronouns into his chat handle. Sigh. “John (he/him)”. I hope he changes it.

          1. So, just out of curiosity, I clicked the Goog and entered “should you put your pronouns in your handle.”

            The first five pages of results ranged from “yes” to “hell yes!”, linked from various magazines, corporate policies, and colleges, and assorted randos.

            So, likely the newbies have been taught to do it.

            2. Oh geeze. It’s worse than I thought. The whole thing is “I will control how you talk about me when I’m not there” because you don’t normally even use third person pronouns in someone’s presence. So it’s inherently totalitarian.

              1. You could turn it around on them. “Are you trying to dictate how my native language is spoken? That’s the kind of thing colonial oppressors do. I’ll thank you to keep your imperialism to yourself.”

                1. “Pronouns are an effort to diminish my humanity* and deprive me of full recognition as a person. I refuse to cooperate in such oppressive diminution and thus insist you address me ONLY by my full name.”

                  *Wallabyity just seems peculiar.
                  ~

              2. I’ve actually seen one such (they/them) out right state that she wants to be able to control how other people think of her. It’s rather chilling.

                1. I like the answer in The Fountainhead.

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

              3. Because we can’t understand how much it hurts to have people refuse to use the pronouns one has chosen for oneself. Especially people who claim to be your “friends,” but can’t be bothered…..
                Yes, I did have to endure this informal struggle session. It also involved BLM (“the defining civil rights issue of our time!”) and the moderation of a “gay Muslim iman,” from San Francisco. All on Zoom, and all in relation to a social group.
                Left a really bad taste….

            5. I find it hilarious to see a guy with a beard and prominent Adam’s apple decided he had to add “he/him” to his social media profile.

              Thanks. Might have mistaken you for a woman otherwise.

          2. I just knock 10 IQ points off my estimate and ignore it because that’s not how pronouns work.

            1. Anyone who gives me their pronounces immediately becomes “thingy”. It’s not even evil. I don’t remember crap like that and I’m afraid of offending a snowflake and having a scene.
              So, I start referring to them as “thingy.” you know “John said we should give the papers to thingy. Thingy, you know, believes that–”

              1. It’s worth remembering that it’s the skin-suit of a once-respected institution. Once upon a time it was peaceable common courtesy to try to get “him,” “her,” “Mr.” “Mrs.” “Miss” etc. correct. Any mistakes were taken as errors made in good faith rather than deliberate insults.

                Now it’s been killed and weaponized, and made use of as a malicious pretext to attack those who are Not Of The Leftist Body.

              3. Thingy? Well, I have no issues with the standard pronouns. I am unsure what the expanded set really is and how…er.. standardized… the expansion[s] might be.

                Beyond that, Orvan, Ox, Minotaur, Bull, all work just fine as far as I am concerned. No great issue with ‘monster’ or ‘beast’ or even ‘creature’ – though context might matter some. (e.g. many men would not care to be called ‘beast’ unless the word before was ‘sexy’ — I am under no illusion that I manage to be truthfully in the category that could honestly be called such, fwiw.)

        2. I haven’t had a chance to do this yet, but if demanded, I now identify as a Martian. I’m souring on this whole humanity thing. You’re all obstructing my view of Venus.

          I was in one of our interminable daily status meetings when we were all asked to make up a title for our position. I chose “Supreme Allied Commander”. 😛

          2. I am the Ice Princess of the Oort Cloud. You are pointing your telescope wrong.

            And it’s “Her Supreme Wisdom.”

        3. Replying to myself as this is a semi-related side note. I actually worked with a man a couple of years ago. I do not know what the transition was that person went through, but now I work with the same person as a woman. My current interaction with this person (who goes by the same sexually ambiguous name) has been exclusively over the phone in meetings thanks to the evil bug. I constantly catch myself thinking of “him” when a situation arises without her on the line. I have no idea whether any of the people I currently work with know this person’s history and what they would think if I mistakenly referred to her as him.

          And, of course, in today’s climate, I could never ask anything about this. I would love to know what led this person to be where she is today, but, of course, I don’t get to ask, so that I might understand from the perspective of someone I know rather than from someone shouting about it from their soapbox. Obviously understanding and empathy are not the goals of our current aristocracy. Shut up! seems to be the goal.

          1. If there is no record (email) I’ve found that prefacing any query with “I fully understand the most valid answer is probably ‘It’s none of your damn business’.” often gets not a “You got that right, it isn’t” but an info-dump.

        4. I’ve updated mine to Mrs.

          Decades of microagressing me and violating my culture by calling me by my first name as if I were a child or a household pet.

          We’ll see what happens.

          2. It’s odd. Old boss at $WORKPLACE called (almost) everyone by first name (and figured they’d do the same to/for/with him…) but somehow, I was always “Mr. Taurus.” I once asked him about this and he seemed a bit bewildered himself.

            1. [blink]

              Wait, that’s you’re REAL name? I always figured that was just an online handle.

              …Or is it a handle and they know about your online identity?

  13. Hell, Europe appears to be in a pretty good state of rebellion, not that the elites (ours or theirs) would let us know it (besides being unable to cover up the rise of the new “odious, far-right” political parties that are rapidly gaining power and support.)

    And if the so-called cheese-eating surrender monkeys are approaching open revolt… I think our wannabe tyrants are in for a great big flipping surprise….

    1. Check out the Gates of Vienna blog for non-leftist European news, info, anslysis, and opinion.
      John

  14. “… the government is best which is most distant and governs with complete disregard for local culture and conditions, by pretending every human is a widget who will follow written rules to the letter.”

    In fairness to those who would govern, administration of a vast nation is far easier when you ignore petty details. After all, everything will eventually average out. Do you not understand statistics and the importance of large sample sizes?
    ~

    1. What’s the use of being a High Overlord if you have to live among the deplorable wogs and risk going native?

  15. Well, here’s a damning report… from the sec’y of the “U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Energy Institute”:

    https://www.globalenergyinstitute.org/new-chamber-analysis-quantifies-economic-risks-proposed-fracking-ban

    ===
    The analysis found that a ban on fracking would eliminate 19 million jobs between 2021-2025, while reducing U.S. Gross Domestic Product by $7.1 trillion over the same period. Energy prices would skyrocket, with natural gas prices rising by 324 percent, causing household energy bills to quadruple and the cost of living to increase by $5,661 for the average American. By 2025, the price of gasoline would double and government revenues would plummet by almost $1.9 trillion.

    In addition to the economic boon, the rise of fracking has helped improve the environment. The report notes that carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by more than 2.8 billion metric tons since 2005—roughly the equivalent of annual emissions from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom combined.
    ===

    That’s on top of the ~17,000 jobs and ~1.7 BILLION dollars in wages already down the Democrapper from the immediate, already-happened effects of the Green New Dictator’s Orders.

    “Well, I got to get the votes. I got to get the votes. That’s why, you know, the one thing that I — I have this strange notion, we are a democracy. Some of my Republican friends and some of my Democratic friends even occasionally say, ‘Well, if you can’t get the votes, by executive order you’re going to do something.’ Things you can’t do by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”
    — Gropin’ Joe Biden

    Lamp posts, people, lamp posts…

        2. I vaguely recall some comments in years past making it clear that the Dems would very much like to emulate the very high gasoline taxes that Europe imposes. And the reason for doing so is more for social engineering than for government revenue (though they don’t mind the revenue).

          1. It’s killing the rural areas of Europe. You can’t have jobs/live there when you can’t afford to drive. It’s concentrating everyone in megalopoises. Id on’t think it will work for us.

              1. They don’t care. The chatter among various places (including here) is that the globalists envision the vast majority of the world’s population moving into massive urban areas, centered around mass transit hubs that the locals use to get from point A to point B. Rural communities have no place in that sort of system.

                Even the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area – one of the largest and most sprawling urban areas in the world – doesn’t really fit with their vision as it’s too spread out for the number of people living in it. The vision is something like many New York Cities, scattered around the globe.

                1. >> “Rural communities have no place in that sort of system.”

                  Of course, there’s the minor issue of who’s going to grow their food when no one’s allowed to live out where the farmland is…

            2. It will probably work just fine when they require 15% ethanol blends that 80%+ of the engines currently in use won’t handle because of its effect on internal seals, gaskets, etc.

          2. the smarter ones know it will not increase revenue. Those who have to drive will go smaller or those go electric, and then suddenly they don’t get as much in taxes, even though they’ve jumped the amount of taxes. Especially the go electric. They suddenly want to tax you by the mile, because taxes to maintain the roads drops off a cliff

            1. They suddenly want to tax you by the mile, because taxes to maintain the roads drops off a cliff

              –
              Oregon already is. You get a choice. Either auto may a huge amount every time you re-register, or agree to have a plugin to track your mileage. Applies to any vehicle that has MPG over a certain rating, regardless of type. No indication that local jurisdictions gets a piece of the pie. Where as local jurisdictions are free to add to the gas tax for local road. There are calculators to determine which is “best” for your usage. If vehicle is gas or hybrid, then keep receipts of fuel purchases and turn them in. The tax paid there will offset the total amount owed, regardless of type chosen; although never getting credit on mileage payment more than would have been owed. Plus there is an extra cost to actually purchase the vehicle. Ask how much, and dealer response will be “it’s complicated”.

              1. does the plug-in have a GPS version for those who drive outside the state?
                I recall that being a point of contention when they were about to force that through.

                1. plug-in have a GPS version for those who drive outside the state?

                  –
                  Do not know. None of our vehicles are (currently) under this umbrella. While chatting with dealship staff who should have the answers (while we did, and waited for paperwork, etc.) their responses have been “It’s complicated.” They have answered that way for at least two years and counting. I suspect until they get feedback from personal accounts, it’ll stay “it’s complicated”.

              2. Argh. I’d heard they were working on that, but not that it had gone into effect.

                Sounds like it mostly inflates the gas tax to way more than you were paying at the pump.

            2. Saw today that New Mexico will lose about 40% of its tax revenue, because they depend on industries the Potted Plant just nuked. Ute Indian tribe is suing because they sunk half a billion dollars into pipeline-related stuff. And so on. Gonna be fun times in the ol’ courthouse…

              Tax by the mile has the charming side effect that to really work, your vehicle needs fulltime GPS: Big Brother in your back seat.

                1. Why do you think Progressive is flogging it? The name of the company wasn’t a coincidence.

              2. New Mexico will lose about 40%

                –
                Gee maybe New Mexico should talk to Oregon Counties on how the reduction of Federal Harvest Property Tax compensation has affected County Budgets … Oh. Wait. Based on the screaming … they might have a clue.

                To be clear. Misery does not love company. But will state. “First they came for the Timber Harvest. Next they came for the Pipeline and Fracking. What and who will be next? Ranchers?”

            3. From something I read recently, it sounds like Michigan is contemplating going to a “tax by the mile” for drivers…

              So sorry, my odometer is busted and my car is old enough it doesn’t have an OBD port to plug into. I *THINK* I might’ve drove 20-30 miles last year, that’s about it…

              2. From something I read recently, it sounds like Michigan is contemplating going to a “tax by the mile” for drivers…

                –
                The rumor is that where Oregon wants to go. Start with those who aren’t contributing to road taxes but use the roads. Makes sense right? They’ve tried it with bike licensing too, didn’t get anywhere with that because kids ride bikes. But kids don’t own or drive vehicles. So back to EV’s and Hybrids who do not pay anything or aren’t paying “their share”. Eventually force everyone else on the per mileage option. Then the argument goes, “visitors” get free road usage.

                For those in Toll areas … Oregon doesn’t have Sales Tax and Oregon doesn’t have Toll Roads.

              3. My OBD truck will become carboreted if they try. Michigan would have to pass a ton of laws to make that work. It does not have any laws on changes or modifications. Aside from that, for me, 90% of my driving and riding my motorcycle is not in the state. Wisconsin is yards away from me, and in a bit over an hour from now, I will cross over to go to work. Also, I might just re-register things in Texas (cottage industry for the state could be registrations. Registrations in Texas are a tax issue and you go to the courthouse, or do it online, and the only time they ever asked for an I.D. was paying with a check, and my I.D. was a Louisiana one)

                1. You know, I have to wonder if a case could be made that requiring people to do this, might not be a Constitutional (Fed, not state) issue. The 4th Amendment might apply, although government in general has been happy to stomp on the 4th willy-nilly (at least until sometimes the SCOTUS smacks them down.)

                  Trying to think of HOW the State Gov could weasel a way to require and enforce such a law…

                  1. ah, well driving is considered a privilege, not a right, so they get to put all sorts of conditions on it. The law gets schitzo on how to define the actual vehicle, but you can legally own one and not be driving it, so complications.

          3. That was Obama’s energy secretary who said that “what we really need is for gasoline to be $8.00/gallon” in discussing their desire to reduce fossil fuel use and encourage mass transit use.

            Driving the cost of energy up is part of their program.

              1. They don’t know what life is like within big cities either. Their wealth and power insulates them from how life is actually lived.

                1. Are these the types that if given a month’s supply of canned goods and a manual can opener would starve? Maybe we need to actually run that experiment. A lot.

              2. There shoukd be none of you peasants outside of the big cities.
                Those parklands are where WE will put our dachas. Get Out
                John

              3. They have no idea what life is like in LOS ANGELES. The average DAILY commute is about 100 miles, and some people commute a lot farther than that. (Antelope Valley to downtown is 140 miles r/t. And half the AV makes that commute.)

                Ain’t just rurals it’s gonna hurt. When my neighbor was doing that long commute for the only job she could get, and gas was $4/gallon, she put HALF her takehome into her gas tank.

                1. The average DAILY commute is about 100 miles, and some people commute a lot farther than that. (Antelope Valley to downtown is 140 miles r/t. And half the AV makes that commute.)

                  –
                  This. And the time of the commute.

                  There are people who have moved from CA areas where they live in Drain/Yoncolla, one commutes to Eugene or Salem, the other commutes to Roseburg or Canyonville. Less time, often less mileage than 140 miles. Way less property cost. Shopping is rather lousy. That is easy to deal with … shop before returning home.

          4. Not just the Dems. When Bob Dole was running for President in 1988, gas was running about a dollar a gallon. He wanted to add a minimum of fifty cents on top of that, because cars were evil and bad for the environment. Ross Perot was also pushing the idea.

            Oddly, voters in general seemed unable to appreciate the obvious correctness of their positions on the matter…

        3. I think they’d be so very disappointed if gasoline only doubled

          –
          I think we sold the truck/trailer at the right time for top prices. Another year and limited inventory is going to be the least of the industries problem. They won’t be able to give them away. But fuel prices have to more than double to accomplish that. We’ve seen $4/gal and paid it gladly. Heck we’ve see $6/gal equivalent ($3/liter), though we scooted back across the border shortest route possible when we were headed home.

          Neighbor just put in natural gas … well everything. Heat, stove, hot water heater. Are they going to be pissed when the city/county/state/feds outlaw that! We put in natural gas furnace about 13 years ago. Hopefully by the time the idiots get natural gas cutoff it is beyond EOL.

          Don’t think it won’t happen. Locally at least getting wood for wood burning is pulling hen’s teeth and expensive. We are down to our last bit, but then we started with about 16 chord of free wood (cost was labor).

            1. You should hear my ultra liberal little sister whine about having to fill their propane tank. Hodginson area of Vancouver WA. Rural enclave (not gated), 5 acres. Washington so their home, water heater, washer/dryer, etc., are power (WA public utilities have (had?) very inexpensive rates. Her cook stove, oven, outdoor grill, the in ground pool and hot tub, are propane.

              Trailer, two larger portable propane tanks (VS smaller ones used for grills) didn’t need filling much, over the 13 seasons we owned and used the trailer. OTOH we rarely used the furnace (forget the propane, best way ever to drain a battery banks, no matter how new). Rarely cooked in the trailer (buyers thought stove was brand new, nope, camping is outside grilling). Water heater was extensively used. We do go through half a dozen or so of the smaller backyard used for grill tanks.

            2. Propane was cheap until the Clinton administration, when they started taxing propane by the BTU. Propane conversions for motor fuel were once a way to save money; after that, not so much. Since the infrastructure overhead for propane costs more than for gasoline, the price per gallon for propane is higher than gasoline in most parts of the US.

              When foreigners marvel at how expensive propane is here, tell them it’s the same reason they pay so much for gasoline back home. Taxes.

              1. The reason gas at the pump jumps so often was Clinton also changed how the stations did business. Buddy of mine had an Exxon in Louisiana. Would stick his tanks, make an order, get tanker and given the load price (say 6000 gallons at $1/gl before his cut and the .9 cent thing), then sold gas based off that price ($1.06.9/gl), come next load, wrote out a check for $6000 and was handed a bill for the new load (say it jumped 5 cents, so $1.05) and his next load he’d have a check for $6300 waiting.
                Sold station to move to new location in Nashville. Because of Clinton and selling his previous station, his contract was changed to pay for gas on arrival. So if it was $1/gallon and jumped to $1.20, you best had jumped your price immediately or you were not affording the next load. Also, they then made it so you could only change the price once in 24 hours. A busy station can take a massive hit if the price jumps right after they’ve change the pumps. As my buddy prefered being a full service station, and do repairs etc, the gas started being more hassle and Exxon wanted to change to just C-Stores, so he sold out.
                aside: it used to be stations made minimum 6 cents a gallon (and most stayed there or didn’t sell much), Distro made 5 cents, refiner made about the same. Add pipeline cost and other transport and at most 25-40 cents a gallon was profit costs. All the rest was Tax and price of crude.

            3. Propane wall heater costs about $1.30 an hour at SoCal prices (around $4/gallon). Central heat would have been closer to $5/hour.

              This is especially lovely when the desert gets a month of nights that hit zero.

              Not Propane was a leading criterion for my next place.

              1. I discounted one place due to propane needs, and everything was old, so how long would it live? This place is natural gas, but newer, though the house is old as, and both gas and electric are one bill. Yearly, cost runs about what it did in Texas, but reversed, Higher in Winter as opposed to higher in summer, and less variance

              2. We have a propane boiler and I spent a lot of money 4 months ago to put in a heat pump because it’s much cheaper heat. Still have to use propane for the stove, water heater, and basement, and that’s bad enough.

          2. https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Bay-Area-natural-gas-bans-spread-in-2020-15854587.php

            Though another story I saw specifically on the ban on gas in new construction by The City and County of San Francisco noted that given the immense number of existing SF building vacancies and huge swaths of businesses expired or leaving, there’s not really much expectation of much new construction anyway, and any idiots trying to start a restaurant in the echoing wasteland that is the City By The Bay would have their pick of vacant buildings already equipped with gas.

            1. The issue is that HarrisBiden the Politburo clearly intend to impose such bans nationally.

          3. At least one large city – Berzerkely *cough* here in California – has banned the construction of new buildings that use natural gas.

    2. Nah. He needs an assisted living community that specializes in dementia patients.

      His handlers and enablers, otoh, should publicly perform the Danny Deever Dance.

      1. He did enough before he became a senile puppet to deserve becoming a decoration. Remember that this is the man who tried to lynch Clarence Thomas.

        1. Since we saw Thomas crap on his oath a few weeks ago, I’m not finding any sympathy.

          I thought he was a straight shooter, but he turned out to be a Swamp creature like the rest.

          1. What did Thomas do?

            If you’re talking about the Texas case, then remember that Thomas and Alito were the two that voted to hear it.

            2. The Supremes have upheld the doctine of collective guilt. Until they finally declare themselves above the law, it applies to them too.

          2. Thomas is on record saying that they are obligated to take up the issue.

            Evidently, he was only one of two to hold that position.

            We can argue that he should have done more, but he’s WAAAAAAAY down the list

    3. As a blogger I’ve followed for years said waaaay back “Rope. Tree. Journalist. Some assembly required”. Which can very easily be adapted for almost any situation by changing Journalist to Politician or Bureaucrat.

      1. Sherman pointed out the downside to that strategy: We’ll start getting reports from Hell before breakfast.

            1. To evaluate by cotemporary journalists, yes. Complaints are unlikely, given the way they respond to abuse. Most likely are reports praising Hell’s management, brown-nosing the tormentors and doing their utmost to entice their audience to join them there.
              ~

    4. I caught this over the weekend, I think* from an interview on the Wall Street Journal Editorial Report on Fox News:

      In 2012 the US spent (net) over $400 Billion to import oil.
      In 2018 the US spent (net) over $0 Billion to import oil.

      *The Journal no longer posts transcripts of the program so I can neither confirm the information, quote it precisely nor credit its source but, hey, feel free to look it up.
      ~

  17. It will surprise you to know this is not the technique of any successful empire ever. It was stolen by the Spaniards from the Moors, and is partly why the Moors will eventually herd camels in a desert where the oil is the most fit thing to drink.

    It is due to extraction technology lag that the moorish lands have had any relevance whatsoever to the wider world. The US was the largest exporter of petroleum before WWII started, it was again so when the Chinese Virus was used to stop the world economy, and in the end will be once more. There’s simply just too much money to be made for the professional kleptocratic class to allow any self-appointed oligarchy of watermelons to maintain any fracking ban for very long.

    1. Yeah, but if we stop producing (as much) that lets Vlad and the Saudis (New Band Name!) jack up the price and fund rebuilding the Soviet Empire and pushing Wahhabism on our dime.

      1. Law of Unintended Consequences: if they jack up the price, that’s just that much more money sitting there on the fracking lease table for the kleptocrats to drool over.

        AOC and TehSquad can scream all they want, but the hard earned lesson of “Never stand between John Forbes Kerry and a dollar” will be learned yet again.

        1. The goal for the left is to ban all fracking in the US at the federal level, so that states have no say in the matter.

          If that happens, it won’t matter how high OPEC decides to bump up the price.

          1. I get that, but there is an inherent tension between the watermelon left who want to issue edicts in line with their cultish enviro-marxist religious beliefs and the trad-D kleptocrats who need something lucrative from which to extract their graft, payola and insider trading profits.

            So aristos greed vs. fanatics creed.

            1. The kleptocrats will just find something else. Why do you think Al Gore is such a big fan of carbon credits? The first thing he did was invest in a company that trades them.

              1. And tried to force the exchange of such credits onto a platform he and his cronies owned.
                A la lanterne!
                John

          2. One of the first regulations to be issued under the “cost and burden don’t need to be considered” standard will be EPA regulations that effectively ban fracking, coal plants, petroleum refining and nuclear power plants. Just watch.

              1. Of course the EPA allows it. Already wind farms can slaughter endangered birds for all they care.

  18. FM is correct. But short term, I’m not traveling this year because I don’t do muzzles. A la lanterne MoFos!

  19. I mean, you’re invaded a lot, you either become complacent and let the shit roll over you, or you become hells own bastards.

    *considers the Poles, and the Irish, and keeps her mouth shut*

      3. The Koreans are your pretty standard stubborn mountain folk psychology, eastern edition. They are rare in the east in that their identity like American’s is cultural rather than locative. They are Koreans. It doesn’t matter who rules them. They spent thousands of years as the favored invasion route between China and Japan. (They still brag about the 20 years that China paid THEM tribute) and remained themselves, and at least in the south, unbroken.

        Honestly, I figure if they can do it so can we, though I would rather this not be that protracted.

        1. Even today, part of what is now North Korea used to be a part of China.

          However, they’d really prefer that you didn’t ask questions about exactly how the Japanese took control of the peninsula early in the Twentieth Century.

          2. While I was in Korea (Osan AFB) There was a trip I signed up for that the Korean Government sponsored. It went to Seoul and historical sites. One was a museum of Korean Culture. They had some interesting things there but it was really sad. There was just not that much there, large building to be impressive but just not that much inside. They told us that the Japanese had tried to destroy the culture by destroying everything of their culture. Buildings, art, historical artifacts, everything. This was what they missed.
            Determined, keeping their culture no matter what, there is also an ethnic part, that is what they don’t like ANY Marriage of Korean and Non-Korean.

  21. They have NO idea what they’re up against. I do think that some of my liberal friends do though. But, they’re too scared to say anything out loud for fear of retaliation. Also, most of them are truly of the “just leave me alone and let me get on with my life.” My random FB anecdotal surveys seem to bear this out.

    1. They have NO idea what they’re up against.

      Just look at WSB. That is some retards wanting to make either a buck, or loss memes, and maybe burn a hedge fund on the way.

      In the meantime TPTB are acting like someone sent them crosshair pictures of their kids.

      1. Sorry; I made a terrible implication in that post that I should retract:

        The idea that TPTB would care about their kids beyond propaganda purposes (or possibly…. other…. purposes) is not proven.

  22. Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.

    Transfenestration means exactly the same thing, only you don’t bother to open the window first.

    1. Transphobia: the irrational fear of applying democracy to politicians in the form of transfenestration.

      1. Transfenestration probably won’t work when the building is supplied with bullet proof glass. The body either bounces off, or if thrown hard enough, goes splat and sticks without going through. Causes the housekeeping staff to have conniption fits trying to get the body fluid stains out of the drapes and carpeting.

        1. Mount a heavy steel window frame in the middle of concrete flooring, and clean up would be a lot easier. I wonder if a reasonable discount on glass would be available if smoothness and clarity were not really necessary.

          I’ve also found a long baroque case to support the argument that ‘stigmatization of transphobic culture is racism against blacks’. See, Phobos was the son of Ares, who was equated with an idol worshipped in pagan Ethiopia. Sub Saharan Africa is on the other side of Ethiopia from Greece and Rome.

  23. Well, you offer hope, but a difference with the current Marxist Communists is they are quite prepared to eliminate us all. They want to kill us all in their dream of world domination rather than just subjugate us.

      1. The difference in this case is that their lunacy on the environment and climate calls for a massive reduction of the earth’s population to create a “sustainable environment”. Thus mass murder isn’t simply a natural consequence of their system but a specific goal.

      1. Doesn’t go far enough.

        1. Lincoln started a civil war during his first six months of office.
        2. Lincoln authorized the death of political opponent Jefferson Finis Davis.
        3. Lincoln had to be killed to remove him from office.

        Glory, glory, Hallelujah!

        If modern Republicans were really the party of Lincoln, they would have supported Trump, instead of stabbing him in the back.

        If modern Republicans were really the party of Lincoln, they would join Lincoln in observing that Trump had the right idea, but was simply too much of a c$%k when it came to carrying it out.

        If modern Republicans were really the party of Lincoln, they would be singing about hanging Kam Harris from a sour apple tree, instead of whinging about imaginary violations of democratic principle.

        I only joined the GOP because it purported to be fighting the Democrats, and seemed to be the best option for that. I am an Anti-Democrat and a true Lincolnist-Shermanist.

        Modern Democrats, journalists, and institutions of slavery deserve no better than Lincoln gave to the ones who were his contemporaries.

        Hurrah, hurrah, we will bring the Jubilee.

    3. Yoinked from my husband, who may have yoinked it himself: “The Lincoln Project is now hereby known as the National Man Boy Lincoln Association.”

    2. I’ve been saving links to memes as I’ve trawled WSB (both .win and the reddit). I have a ridiculous number of the damned things built up and need to post the good ones here at some point.

      Damn it, Fox, quit being a bad influence on me.

        1. I don’t know… Would Fox appreciate you muscling in on her territory? 😛

          More seriously, though: I don’t mind making one, but since meme collection posts are kind of her thing (at least in my mind) it feels like I should give her first call on it. If she doesn’t want it for her blog then I’m cool with giving it to you.

          Either way it certainly beats trying to post them all one-by-one in the comments.

            1. Works for me.

              But first, a question for Sarah. Sarah, if I remember correctly you said you have to handle images on your end, right? Do you want me to just put the links at the appropriate places and let you swap them out? Keep in mind that some of these were from posts on WSB that eventually expire, and I’m not sure if the images/gifs will go with the posts. You might want to download and host them yourself if you don’t normally do that anyway.

          2. Max Klinger was a transgender pioneer! 😛

            There was no pronoun confusion, either — Klinger was called ‘corporal’.

            1. Not transgender, just a cross-dresser. There was one episode where a visiting Swedish doctor mentioned to Klinger that in Sweden he could get transgender surgery if he really wanted. Klinger’s response (from memory, so no guarantee of accuracy) “That’s too crazy even for me.”

  26. Part of the left can’t see where they’re wrong – those are the ones who don’t know any better because they just believe what they’re told by their monopolized media.
    The ones who might be able to see it believe in he strength of the Big Lie, and if they just continue to feed it to us over and over it will become reality. I think they’re seeing cracks in their façade already.
    I hope we don’t have to put up with years of this.

    1. What cannot go on will not.

      My son asked the question. What if everyone just ignored the EOs? As in just keep putting the pipeline in and see what they do. I visualize kneepads standing with arms crossed stamping her pretty little feet. And a few thousand riggers and pipe fitters with their middle digits hoitsted. I can dream can’t I?

      What shape does going Galt take? I don’t think is just boycotting. I think is also daring them to do something. Why are there still troops in MY capitol? I do not want or wish for violence. They seem to not understand what they have started, What happens if we all just say no?

      1. Guys, let’s talk about game theory…

        All seriousness, there’s a payoff if it all goes off, but coordination is seriously interdicted at the moment.

        So there is solitary planning, there is watching carefully for opportunities, and there is what is worth doing if the support materializes.

        1. And there is mockery.

          Universal mockery, expressed as the subtext for every interaction.

          “Of course, they are all clearly dolts. Should probably not pay them any attention. Pretty embarrassing if you ask me.”

          ==
          And yes, Government Monitor – you are a dolt. Look around and ask yourself what you are enabling. Do you imagine they will preserve your retirement fund while they wreck the rest? If not, exactly what is it you are mortgaging your soul for in violation of those words in your oath?

        2. Coordination will happen spontaneously (like spontaneous combustion). In the social world, it’s called a preference cascade. Funny thing (and TPTB know it and are scared out of their minds) the internet is an incredible facilitator of preference cascades.

          You never know what step will trigger the avalanche. Maybe some idiot will kill a prince in Serbia. Maybe an internet joke will push Nancy or Xi over the edge.

          It’s coming.

          Be ready.

          Don’t do anything stupid. (But, I say, push their buttons mercilessly, hard, and fast.)

          My much delayed departure is tonight. Love you all! May God bless you. (Except, to the spies and snitches: GFY. For the record, I am not advocating doing anything illegal.)

          May God bless the U.S.A.

          (Bob, IIRC, you posted some splendid music at the time of my prior expected departure. Thank you!)

      2. In the case of the pipeline, if the construction crews continue to build after the permits are pulled, surly individuals with automatic weapons pay the offenders a visit and give them a paid vacation at the Greybar Inn.

        1. But WHAT individuals with automatic weapons???
          What if the State arrests those individuals?
          What if the crews just say NO and the other crew members stand around and say you can’t arrest them?

          1. Anybody remember the Bundy Ranch standoff? The Feds realized they might not have enough and left.

      3. It’s not just the EOs. What happens when states start ignoring the laws. Blue states have been doing it for years with immigration and federal drug laws. Texas was the first to step up to the plate with their election lawsuit and a shocking number of states hopped on board. Now Texas is planning to sue over the EOs. Live by the injunction, die by it. If the feds choose to ignore injunctions, or if the lower courts fail to provide them (50/50 chance), then look for entire states to give the middle finger to the feds.

        It’s way past time.

      4. I had exactly the same thought: what if all the impacted industries and projects just flat IGNORED these unlawful EOs? And when the federales come with the huge fines for unpermitted oil wells, stop them at the state border. If they persist, Bundy them. If they still persist, remember that there is no practical difference between a deer hunter and a sniper.

        Consent of the governed: Withdrawn.

        1. American thinker this morning. Selwin Duke suggesting nullification which is what is outlined here. Ignore them first, get injunctions, ignore again and we start seeing folks getting behind the project of completely ignoring Panam. Spontanious organization and then we see states building their own border walls with Mexico etc. We fight back by withdrawing consent and complete nullification of the commands. How can you consent to be governed by people who hate you and were willing to steal an election?

          Not rhetorical. I will not be governed by them. They do not have my consent. They have taken three of four boxes away and are working on the fourth.

  27. And in a completely unrelated literary moment, here is a completely random extended quote apropos nothing whatsoever:

    “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? After all, you knew ahead of time that those bluecaps were out at night for no good purpose. And you could be sure ahead of time that you’d be cracking the skull of a cutthroat.”
    ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

    1. I don’t know if you’re a gamer, but there’s a guy named Tom Francis who makes games in which defenestration is a reoccurring theme. His company is called Suspicious Developments. I’ll link the trailer videos in responses to this comment for anyone interested.

      1. Tom’s first game was Gunpoint. It’s about breaking into buildings with the aid of a device that lets you rewire electrical devices, letting you do things like change a light switch so that when a guard flips it a door opens and knocks him out instead of turning on the light.

        Trailer:

      2. The second is Heat Signature. It’s about infiltrating spaceships, making terrible mistakes and creatively using a variety of gadgets to get yourself out of whatever latest mess you’ve gotten yourself into.

        Trailer:

      3. Third one is Tactical Breach Wizards, which is still in development but looks VERY interesting. It’s a tactical game set in a world somewhat like our own, but where magic is a real thing. So you get navy seers instead of navy seals, traffic warlocks instead of traffic wardens, etc. I’m very much looking forward to playing this one when it comes out.

        There’s no official trailer yet since the game isn’t out, but this video gives a good sense of the game:

      4. Finally, I’ll give an honorable mention to an old-school CRPG made by someone other than Tom: “Frayed Knights: The Skull of S’makh-Daon.” Defenestration isn’t a major theme, but there IS a spell in it called “Power Word: Defenestrate.” No, this is not a game that takes itself too seriously.

        The developer is Rampant Games. Full disclosure: I was the main playtester on this one. Trailer:

        This was meant to be the first part of a trilogy, but the developer (Jay Barnson) seems to have lost interest in game development in favor of writing books and will probably never finish the other two. But I can assure you that there’s more than enough content in the first game to justify the price tag.

        Anyway, aside from the still-in-development Tactical Breach Wizards all of these games are on Steam. None of them seem to have made it to GOG, unfortunately. Happy gaming.

  32. I know you hate it when some of us (probably mostly me) say this, but this sort of optimism is why I come here. Not being facetious either! I’m far more sanguine about our near and distant future than you are (yes, really). That’s why I’m moving to 60 acres in Mississippi soon, with about 160 or so more to be tacked on in the next several years. They can have my land when they get my…implements of protection. And they’ll have paid for it at far greater cost.

    “The funny thing is that they could have taken us, in another generation or two. If they’d only pretended to have our best interests at heart, swallowed their phobic reaction to the flag and trappings of patriotism, allowed the working class to keep working, and took it slow.”

    This is so true. They’re like the Chicoms in the Korean War – no idea what to do once they managed to create a breach. They flood in, go too far, then get beaten back. Only now, enough of the country I think (and it doesn’t have to be more than a few million at most) is awake. They were impatient, and that might end up being a good thing for us in the end.

  33. So this morning I get new posts, one about a walking tour of Porto and the glorious scenery of Portugal in general in the MORE bar. I had been getting the same two both here at work and at home, but they were leftoid slanted and I ignored them.

    1. LOL
      Porto is a tourist wonderland. There’s just enough of the underlying city to be interesting to a tourist, but it is nothing like the dirty, gritty and amazing city where I attended college.
      I wanted to take my sons some places I remembered and they’re gone.
      Heck, even authentic food is gone. Now it’s all “For Englishmen to see.”

      2. Well, that’s what happens when you turn your country into a theme park, chasing that tourist dollar/pound/euro. Venice did it centuries ago. Spain (and apparently Portugal) did it in the last forty years.

  34. I learned a new word today. And I have a greater respect for your insight. Thank you. And I really do mean that. THANK YOU!

  35. I was not aware of the nitty-gritty details of the Portuguese occupation by Spain. I was aware of the general contours–Spain took over Portugal, an offshore Empire was declared by the Portuguese in Brazil, and eventually the Spanish were kicked out–but none of these salacious details! So thanks for enlightening me… 🙂

  36. Can’t we please start with the defenestrations, and then work our way through the more charming and amusing among the other possible reactions over the course of time??

    Asking for 80M friends.

  37. Just thought everyone should know that the Capital shooting was found to be JUSTIFIED.
    Also the Officer wearing a helmet that was hit in the head and died a long time after is lying in State today in the Capital.
    The Press are continuing the Big Lie that 5 people were KILLED in the Capital Insurrection/Riot.
    No info on the shooter except that he was an LT in the Capital Police.
    I am not cynical or anything but my bet is he is Black and a search of his internet would find something that might trigger some people, Not Democrats of course.
    BTW he knew there were police in the crowd and should have known more were coming but one woman put him in fear of his life and they bought it.
    Just think, at a different time same situation but a White Officer and a Black Woman from BLM. Poor guy would be in jail so fast he would be a blur.

    3. Do we even know if this man WAS a police officer? When everything coming out of Congress and the Capitol are LIES, we cannot believe any of their psyops. Who was this executioner? We already know why the media has said nothing— propaganda rats.

  38. Extracted from https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/02/loose-ends-123.php

    Who shot Ashli Babbitt?

    Usually after a law enforcement involved fatal shooting, we know the name of the officer within a day or two. But the officer who fired the fatal shot at Ashli Babbitt on January 6 has still not been publicly identified, even though news is out that the officer will likely not face any charges in the matter. Seems rather fast to have reached this conclusion before a full investigation of the confusing scene of January 6 is complete.

    This little detail jumps out: “The officer, who has not been named, had been placed on leave after the Jan. 6 riot while an investigation took place.” I don’t think we’ve even been told exactly which branch of law enforcement this officer serves. I noticed when watching the video that the officer appears to be wearing cuff links, which is likely not usual apparel even for plain clothes Capitol Police. There have been some rumors that the officer is a member of the personal protection detail for congressional leadership. Finally, usually intrepid reporters figure out the identity of people involved in something like this. Where are the investigative reporters, the leakers, and the demand that “the public has a right to know”?

    – Steven Hayward

    Emphasis in original
    ~

    1. From the referenced news item:

      Capitol officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt not likely to face charges
      The Capitol police officer who shot a woman attempting to breach the speaker’s lobby during the Capitol Hill riot is reportedly not likely to face charges after a preliminary decision by investigators in the case.

      The officer, who has not been named, had been placed on leave after the Jan. 6 riot while an investigation took place into whether rioter Ashli Babbitt’s civil rights were violated, according to The Wall Street Journal.

      Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran and Qanon supporter, was climbing through a window that had been shattered by protesters when she was killed.

      The Justice Department civil rights investigation into the shooting was a routine procedure following the use of deadly force by a police officer in Washington D.C.

      The investigators have made an initial determination not to file charges. Justice Department officials need to make a final determination, the Journal said.

      During the breach of the Capitol, hundreds of rioters forced their way into the building and congressional offices.

      Babbitt and others reached the door to the speaker’s lobby and bashed the windows with sticks and helmets attempting to reach the members of Congress inside.

      Dozens of rioters were ready to storm into the lobby and wreak havoc.

      “That’s where he drew the line in the sand,” a fellow Capitol Police officer told the paper about the shooting.

      More than 100 rioters have been arrested in connection to the breach.
      ~

      1. Note Facts Not In Evidence:

        That the gunman was a “Capitol police officer” is asserted but unsupported by any offered evidence.

        The referenced WSJ article is (probably) behind a paywall, so here is the text:

        Officer Who Shot Capitol Rioter Ashli Babbitt Shouldn’t Be Charged, Investigators Advise
        Babbitt died after being shot by Capitol Police officer on Jan. 6
        By Aruna Viswanatha, Sadie Gurman and Tawnell D. Hobbs
        Updated Feb. 1, 2021 9:46 pm ET
        WASHINGTON—Investigators have made a preliminary determination that the police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the U.S. Capitol riot shouldn’t be charged with any crimes in connection with her death, according to people familiar with the review.

        Ms. Babbitt, who served for more than a dozen years in the Air Force and Air National Guard and became a passionate supporter of former President Donald Trump, died from being shot by a Capitol Police officer after rioters smashed through a door to the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6. She had entered the building as part of a crowd aiming to disrupt the certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

        The officer who shot her had been placed on leave soon after the riot while Ms. Babbitt’s death was being investigated, including on the question of whether it was a violation of her civil rights.

        The Justice Department said in announcing the investigation that it was following routine procedure for whenever a police officer uses deadly force by having the Washington Metropolitan Police Department examine the shooting. The police investigators have made an initial determination that charges against the officer aren’t warranted, the people said, adding that Justice Department officials haven’t yet made a final determination on the matter. The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington is leading the broader investigation into the riot and prosecuting the more than 150 cases that have resulted to date.

        A Justice Department spokeswoman had no immediate comment. Any final charging decision would likely have to be approved by senior Justice Department leadership, who haven’t yet been briefed on the matter.

        In evaluating such cases, federal prosecutors must establish not only that an officer used excessive force but also that the officer willfully violated someone’s constitutional rights. That high bar makes bringing federal charges against an officer difficult, and legal experts had predicted that any such case in connection with Ms. Babbitt’s death was unlikely.

        A spokeswoman for the Capitol Police declined to comment on what she called “an ongoing investigation.” A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “It would be premature to provide a comment at this time.”

        The death of Ms. Babbitt, a 35-year-old San Diego resident, came as a crowd of rioters gathered at the doorway to the Speaker’s Lobby in the Capitol building, banging on the glass and urging officers on the scene to step aside, according to multiple videos of the incident.

        The crowd smashed the glass with a helmet and stick, according to video footage. Seconds later, Ms. Babbitt, who was unarmed, attempted to jump through the shattered glass and was shot by a Capitol Police officer from inside the doorway, according to the footage.

        Multiple videos of the shooting posted on social media showed Ms. Babbitt, who appears to be wearing a Trump flag as a cape, falling from a smashed-out window after being shot by an officer on the other side of a set of double doors.

        The officer, a lieutenant, was essentially serving as a potential last line of defense between the rioters and members of Congress, thus providing some justification for his actions and falling well short of the standard necessary to charge a police officer with a civil-rights violation for a shooting, the people said.

        “That’s where he drew the line in the sand,” a fellow Capitol Police officer said, adding that the lieutenant, whose police powers have been suspended, is expected to return to his previous status, though he is afraid of being retaliated against by Trump supporters.

        “Without question he should be cleared,” a lawyer for the officer, Mark Schamel of the law firm Lowenstein Sandler, said. “There’s no way to look at the evidence and think he’s anything but a hero,” he said.

        Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.), who witnessed the shooting, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month that he saw a Capitol Police lieutenant in a defensive position in front of the House lobby’s doors.

        The GOP congressman said he was alarmed because there were still lawmakers and press trapped in the third-floor balcony inside the chamber, overlooking the floor.

        “I believe they were wanting to hurt us,” he said of the mob that was banging on the door. “My thought was, ‘How are we going to handle this one?’”

        Then, Mr. Mullin said, a gunshot rang out.

        “Of course then everybody got really excited again,” he said, “but I’ll tell you, from my perspective, the lieutenant that did that, I truly feel that he saved some people’s lives that day.”

        The officer approached him afterward, distraught, Mr. Mullin said. He said he hugged the officer and told him, “Listen, you did what you had to do.”

        In the videos, multiple police officers appear to provide first aid to Ms. Babbitt, who was taken to a hospital and later died of her injuries.

        The recommendation not to charge the officer who shot Ms. Babbitt is likely to stoke controversy. Some far-right activists have used her death as a rallying cry and referred to her as a martyr for their cause, with her image appearing on protest flags and a Telegram account linked to the far-right group the Proud Boys calling her a “casualty of system aggression.”

        The Justice Department has declined to charge officers in a number of other high-profile cases that developed under different circumstances. It decided not to file federal civil-rights charges against the former Ferguson, Mo., police officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager in 2014, saying prosecutors couldn’t disprove the officer’s claims he fired because he feared for his safety. That led to widespread protests and spurred a national conversation about police use of force.

        In social-media profiles in her name, Ms. Babbitt is described as a veteran and libertarian who loved her husband, her large black-and-white dog “and above all, my country.” Ms. Babbitt’s military service included several deployments to Iraq during the war.

        On the day before the riot, Ms. Babbitt tweeted: “Nothing will stop us…they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours…dark to light!”

        A man who identified himself as Ms. Babbitt’s brother, reached by phone, said he couldn’t immediately comment.

        —Lindsay Wise contributed to this article.

        1. ““There’s no way to look at the evidence and think he’s anything but a hero,” he said.”

          A commendation will be received, awarded by the pedophile itself. Hoe in attendance.

        1. That was ‘Civil Disobedience’!

          You’re right, that is OUR house. Congresscritters are just the HELP.

        2. The story told by some POS boy representative is gag-worthy disgusting. Lots of faux-bravery and hugging.

    3. Makes you wonder why doesn’t it? Who gave him the order to shoot? Who was he working for? Was he really a part of the Capitol police? Was he an assassin?

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