We’ve All Gone Mad

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

Maybe it’s just me, okay? I mean it’s possible.

This morning I am writing this late, because I had to go to the thrift store. The thrift store because I’m the world’s cheapest human being and — sigh — I gained weight through 2020-to 2020 Won. Not because I — particularly — stopped moving around or working out, but because when I stress and the autoimmune goes nuts, I gain weight. I have no explanation for this, it’s just a thing.

Anyway, we JUST got to the point I need short sleeves. Unfortunately what this means is that most of my blouses and shirts are either exposing my mid-riff or …. stained, and have holes because I was doing a bunch of house stuff last year.

Anyway, our favorite thrift store (ARC) is never…. great at hanging things in the right places or…. Other things. We used to have so much fun laughing at weird-placed things…

But now? Seriously? They had more employees out than I’ve ever seen, but ….

Okay, let’s put it this way: If the isle is marked Short Sleeve, Knit Tops, size XL…. I expect it be mostly correct. I don’t expect that 50% will hit one of those attributes, but none of the others, and the rest will hit none of those.

Again, they’ve always had some issues, and some of them might or might not have been customer re-hanging. But this was next level.

And while yes, I do understand that visually making sense of the difference between L and Xl is difficult, and I often browse both isles, these shirts had tags saying S or M. I found more XLs in the M isle than any of the others. And as for knit… well, it shouldn’t be an arcane concept….

Anyway, again, it’s always been sort of like that, but today it took me an hour, much to younger son’s exasperation, because I had to walk every isle including children.

And yes, I know, people are having trouble getting employees to come in and work but they actually had more employees, or perhaps volunteers than before.

So, what gives?

I don’t know. Search me.

This is not the only place I found this. Some of the mistakes in grocery stores, I assumed were “making the gaps less obvious” but seriously? Since when isn’t Spaghetti sauce under Italian, but two isles away under Mexican? Or why is the paper goods isle stacked with…. bleach. Or–

Meanwhile my friends who work retail are being pulled about by crazy bosses who make their time at work living hell.

Frankly, though of course, my boss is me (and she’s a bitch) all bosses seem to have lost their minds.

Why the heck?

Well…. we’ve all gone a little crazy.

This is something never talked about in stuff like 1984, where humans behave like good robots, and just do whatevs, but ….

There is a price to pay for irrational fear mongering and non-stop propaganda, compounded by contradictory orders, compounded by demanding we do things that make no sense, compounded by demanding we swear allegiance to “totally not stolen” election, compounded by unequal application of laws and demanding — literal — genuflection to their crazy priorities.

The price is that even for those humans who nod and go along, and don’t want to make waves is that your back brain knows something isn’t quite right. And you can get angry. And then they keep wanking you around and the anger keeps growing.

And then….

And then you don’t perform to spec. You become obsessed with stupid things, like “But what color should my shoes be?” or —

Anyway, humans don’t behave well under extreme stress. I’ve seen more people I’ve known for years suddenly and bizarrely go from zero to ree over nothing than I’ve ever seen in my life before. Or people who declare a ridiculous position and then stick to it buckle and tongues. Like the guy on a friend’s wall who kept repeating “But the news are supposed to be the truth” over and over and over again. In this time. In this place. And calling names to everyone who refused to knuckle under.

So.

We’ve all gone a little mad.

And it’s only going to get worse. To the stuff the government locusts destroyed, just so they could steal the election, add in the fact that even people trying their best are working while their back brain screams “RUN. You’re getting contradictory signals. You’re in danger. RUN.” And so things will get…. weird.

What do you do about it? I don’t know. Other than remember we’ve all gone a little mad.

Like the other things in this crazy time line, we’ll have to endure. Until the other side.

346 thoughts on “We’ve All Gone Mad”

  1. I’m not insane.

    It’s the rest of the world that’s insane. 😉

    2. Exactly. The rest of the world went mad, and I declined to follow.

      1. A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’

        ― St. Antony the Great

        1. “The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom.”

          — The Call of Cthulhu

    3. I’m perfectly fine. What about the duck? What duck? Why do people keep asking about some duck everywhere I go?

    4. https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=RBfU6V4f&id=7C7DBF7D414B836BEA6890AE70224DA134E4A576&thid=OIP.RBfU6V4fTTivkV0jyOeHywAAAA&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR4417d4e95e1f4d38af915d23c8e787cb%3Frik%3DdqXkNKFNInCukA&riu=http%3A%2F%2Fimages1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20130312013034%2Frandom-ness%2Fimages%2Ff%2Ff0%2FWhy_not_both.jpg&ehk=XLamXW1sf%2Brj1ycOZqPXelomJ8yyPkYhDTmH2quHwDA%3D&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&exph=400&expw=400&q=why+not+both+meme&simid=608005848368306552&ck=99213123412181B0F04A6E24392C7F24&selectedindex=0&form=EX0023&adlt=off&shtp=GetUrl&shid=b1a5f25f-6a2a-4fe7-8e2f-811d0002e0da&shtk=SW1hZ2UgLSBXaHkgbm90IGJvdGguanBnIC0gUmFuZG9tLW5lc3MgV2lraQ%3D%3D&shdk=Rm91bmQgb24gQmluZyBmcm9tIHJhbmRvbS1uZXNzLndpa2lhLmNvbQ%3D%3D&shhk=IT7sUtoxAOB78i%2BelXEBohM7lFmKkshN7TrUr1husN4%3D&shth=OSH.sbFnSXgE%252B4uxsHibjU2gNg

        1. The link worked just fine, it just looks wonky here. And good point.

            1. 🙂

              Apropos of nothing, could you please pray for a creative opportunity for me to purchase a nice Ford F150, maybe 2014 or so? Cash flow and savings aren’t what they will be due to unemployment, and yet I need something to go up into the mountains. My 2004 Honda Civic is the indestructible auto, until it isn’t.

              1. I’m looking for probably a Toyota Tacoma*, and from what I understand cars and trucks last much longer than they did when we were young**, so a 2006 truck with 200k miles is like how we would think one with 100k miles would have been back in the day. And trucks seem to get much cheaper at about 10 years old.

                * (If I’m going to buy property, I’m going to need a truck and ditch my minivan. It was good for what I needed at the time, but not what I need now.)

                ** (Unless you’re like me. I tend to ride cars hard and put them away wet.)

                1. That’s great to know. I haven’t been in the market since 2004.

                  There’s a ton of opportunities for great buys with those parameters, I looked a little bit yesterday. But the mileage on one was… gasp… 172,000! Now that seems doable.

              2. Look into a kia minivan– they have surprising oomph, but not the cool factor of a pickup.

                Also, the RoKers are good folks.

                1. Thanks, I shall! I’ve got no experience with either, so this is good info.

              3. Consider a used Suzuki Vitara/Grand Vitara/XL-7 with 4WD. That family of SUVs is unibody-with-ladder-frame, so they’re more rugged than most compact SUVs. Suzuki built these vehicles with real 4WD (not AWD), with transfer cases and everything*. I used to go camping** with someone who passed away about two years ago, and we named my 2001 XL-7 “The Goat,” because it climbs like a mountain goat.

                The Chevrolet Tracker is the same vehicle as the Vitara/Grand Vitara, with a few minor differences (e.g., the rearb turn signal lights aren’t amber).

                *They don’t have manually-locked front hubs, as my Suzuki Samurai did, but you can’t always have everything you’d like.

                **I still go camping, but I go solo these days.

                1. This is so useful, thanks!

                  I’ve got a month or two before the snow melts on a few of the roads I want to drive, so I’m focusing on that timeframe and not bending reality to just get something irresponsibly.

                  This is so good, thanks again.

  2. WE? We? I’ve not gone mad, I’ve been this way as log as anyone can recall.
    ~

  3. It’s very obvious here that people are going nuts. As for me I went nuts a long time ago… Also when my autoimmune starts to rev up, I gain weight too.

      1. lol How come you get to be the brunette? I think I was cursed with those Norwegian looks– and the youthful look as well. (two of my sisters are brunettes btw) I also got to be tall. 🙂 My two sisters barely get over five feet.

        1. Also I look younger than my younger sisters– My third sister is fully gray and five years younger. As you can see I have very little of that in my hair 🙂

          1. Thank you for that– 🙂 My sister have the olive skin and don’t burn. I do NOT tan.. I just blister. I’ve never thought of myself as good-looking… Also guys never asked me out when I was younger. I had a self-confidence problem for years. Now I don’t worry about it. And I was too smart–

              1. Mom’s mom (and mom) had (has) the pale, flawless “peach skin” Irish skin. Alabaster. In grandma’s case with pitch black hair and blue eyes.

            3. I had a co-worker way back whose father was Black, had significant American Indian ancestry and some very white people in the mix – her family photos looked like a Disney “Small World” promo.
              ~

              1. Yea– it could be a small world in my family pictures. 🙂 My sister married a Ute tribal member and one of her girls married a Nigerian. We’ve got the Mediterranean looks and one of my brothers married a Russian with mongol heritage. Another married a woman who is of Spanish heritage. 🙂 I’m the Norwegian of the bunch with two of my brothers who are also blonde.

              2. We wondered where the olive skin came from and apparently my father’s Y strand came from the MidEast. (went North… quite a bit of traveling when you start tracing our DNA– it likes to move around) 😀

              3. *looks at kids*

                I’ve been asked if I have a daycare, and not just because there are a lot of kids.

                NONE of the kids have the same color hair, although they mostly have blue eyes, and their skin is from “Dark Italian” to “why yes, Scotland does come in Albino.”

                    1. My youngest is redheaded, but he does have the ability to tan. He got sunburned at the pool once when he was a toddler—fell asleep with me holding him up in the shallow end, so I didn’t reapply sunscreen until we got out, and then it turned very faintly pink. And then it blistered. Which freaked me out, because I’ve burned lobster red and never blistered, and my husband said Oh yeah, sometimes that happens.

                      Kid gets a rash guard now. Sorry buddy, you may tan a bit, but apparently sun from two angles is too much for sunscreen alone to handle.

          2. Actually you could probably fit in the photo with my family 🙂 My grandmother (dad’s mom) was short and dark. Except we all have blue eyes

            1. I only have one grandparent with dark eyes. I just got those. Throughout the cousins it’s 50/50.
              And apparently younger son’s eyes only LOOK black. Apparently if you have a defect with your cones (rods?) your blue eyes look black, but you have a worse problem than blue eyed people with light-sensitivity.
              Which means my kids are 50/50 as well.

      2. > “Hey, how come you got to be the blond?”

        There can be only one.

      1. a reasonable explanation. I’ve been off prednisone for a few years now–but it does cause mental problems for me when I am on it.

  4. Yeah, the big robot: “Danger, Will Robinson!” So … buy gold. Make sure you have ammo for your weapons. Make sure the hard disks are accessible. And go around the apartment and, Marie Koodo-like, check off the things you can abandon when it’s time to skedaddle.

    2. If you buy gold, make sure it is in your possession not in a vault hundreds of miles away.

      1. Re gold – no argument it’s a compact store of non-fiat, and thus non-deflatable, wealth, but also consider diversifying into portable tangibles like booze – not as compact, but easier to trade low profile.

        1. The problem I have with gold is that it’s so widely traded, in so many ways, that it behaves too much like currency. A fiat currency at that.

        2. Instead of gold I recommend lead (fitted into a proper brass mounting and in a range of calibers, of course.)
          ~

      3. Make sure it’s in small enough coins, otherwise you end up paying $800 for a sack of flour.

          1. My wedding ring is electrum, with a bright blue spinel. Distinctive. Not worth a lot monetarily, but worth everything to me.

          2. The recommendation from people in places where this was already an issue was buy costume jewelry with actual gold or silver content at estate sales and such. Easily divisible, not out of the ordinary to own, and savvy shopkeepers will take it since it’s easily movable for them.

          1. Weren’t some old coins struck with seams, to make breaking them up into ‘change’ easier?

  5. Bleach in the paper goods aisle is because paper goods are generally part of cleaning and bleach is THE BIG THING so lets put it where ever we can find a hole in cleaning! Since cleaning is “my” dept at work I’m watching this first hand.

    I have no explanation for the spaghetti sauce, but I have to note that late last year my local grocery suddenly moved ALL of the olive oil from the baking aisle to the pasta aisle. Took me two weeks to find it.

    1. Out here, pasta sauce is in with “ethnic foods” which includes Asian and faux-Asian (La Choy) and kosher. But not Mexican, because Mexican food is . . . Mexican food not ethnic food.

      The one that got me was in the Midwest, where molasses wasn’t in with other sweeteners or syrups, but with popcorn and snacks, “Because you only use it for popcorn balls.”

      1. Mexican in its own section actually makes sense, because there’s so dang MUCH of it in many areas.

        My local grocery fixed that by having an aisle that goes (left/right) Pasta/picnic => pasta Sauces/dressings=> Ethnic/ weird vinegar stuff=>Mexican/pickles=>Mexican/BBQ stuff(sauces and smoker chips).

        A weird mix, but it works because so much of the stuff is “Wait, would that Chipotle Teriyaki be ethnic, BBQ, picnic or Mexican food?”

      2. The restaurant supply store (changed hands once, changed names twice–we’re still using the original name for sanity’s sake) has a Hispanic/Asian aisle, though things like Sriracha gets an end-cap display (in addition to the usual shelf space), and Jarritos sodas get lumped in with others. OTOH, toritllas go in the aisle with chips (corn and potato) and the wall-o-spices. (Smart Food Service recently got bought by US Foods, so mileage is varying quickly. The good news is that the management and the cadre of worker bees are still around, though there’s some new worker bees since February.)

      3. Gee, I wonder whether La Choy still markets their 2-can chow mien?

        I am frankly surprised the idea didn’t spread to other meal items.

        Almost as surprised as I am to learn they’re still pushing the same product line and still in business. (I guess ConAgra has yet to fully amortize their acquisition costs.)
        ~

        1. Yes, they do. It’s one of our, “We’re too tired to cook,” meals.

      4. How long did I hunt for tahini (sesame seed paste and a requirement for making hummous) in an unfamiliar grocery store. Not a single employee even knew what I was talking about. We looked in ethnic, we looked in peanut butter, we looked in baking. I can’t even remember where we eventually found it but it was quite clear that the person who stocked the shelf didn’t know what it was. IIRC they eventually moved it to somewhere more sensible but it was a few years ago and I am not sure if my memories are accurate.

          1. At 5’4″ I hate the “upper shelf” placements. I might be able to reach the item I want if it is near the edge. Otherwise, not a chance. Item is rarely near the edge. Sigh. Local Fred Meyer’s when they redid inside stores locally put in taller shelves … been years now. I still grumble, and grouse.

    2. Most of the stuff I’ve seen oddly misplaced, were useful things that could conceivably become subject to a shortage.
      I’ve witnessed a person or two stashing things in odd places that were still on the shelves, but…

      That whole “toilet paper being unavailable” thing last year seriously freaked people out. (Not to mention intermittent shortages of all sorts of random things since then.)

  7. Possibly this is another case study in ‘Bob was ready for that’.

    It doesn’t feel like it.

    I feel quite unsettled.

    I’m definitely feeling a little bit crazier than usual, but cannot sort out the one thing from all of the other things going on in my life.

    1. Which pretty much describes my current state nearly to a “T”

      Unsettled, perhaps even a touch anxious, but about what or why?
      Not a clue.

      And it’s putting my temper on a short fuse, I find myself getting aggravated / annoyed at the SO over stupid things (thankfully, said temper has also responded well to the leash being pulled and a stern “knock it OFF,” so no blow ups thus far.)

  8. Just throwing this out there; some weeks back on youtube, I came across these two, I assume young but I could well be wrong, Canadian brothers that clearly and concisely squeeze well over a semester’s worth of philosophy into a 10 or 13 minute videos.

    This one is quite germane; Is A Mass Psychosis The Greatest Threat To Humanity? https://youtu.be/ojPcF-oLABE https://youtu.be/ojPcF-oLABE

    Nice thing about these guys’ work; not only do they clearly state present problems, they also posit philosophical methods of dealing with such

    1. My BS flag hit on a couple of the witch hunt claims– especially the Francis Hill one about barely any women left.

      It sounds a lot like the Spanish Inquisition claims that turned out to be 70-150 years later claims from literal enemy war propaganda.

      Which doesn’t make the arguments wrong, but does add some salt to how well they vetted their sources.

      1. Given that I’ve been working on fantasy world building– when I heard the statement that “some villages had barely any women left,” my first thought was “how many were there in the first place?”

        My high school was flippin’ HUGE compared to some villages, and we were tiny….. “Only 20 women were left!” “….how many were there in the first place?” “Uh….24.” That’d be huge, but does not fit the impression given.

  9. My boss is rather calm and sane, but that might just be compared to everyone around us. After all, teenagers are ALWAYS a little off kilter, then make it May of the second-strangest school year to date, and anyone not going obviously crazy looks like a model of sanity.

  10. Everyone is ramped up 1000%. So any crazy is maximally magnified. All depressives are magnified. Unfortunately sane is not magnified. Pfui.

    1. I don’t know. some inner fundamental portion of me must be sane as a brick. A really sane brick. I haven’t done anything totally bizarre like write obscenities on my bod and go running naked through the neighborhood.

      2. I’m more inclined to put in my gi, grab a huge samurai sword, and charge random Karen’s. That might be fun.

        1. Do remember to clean and oil your blade. Karen blood is rather corrosive.

  11. Huh.
    The paralysis of stress – can’t think, can’t function normally, can’t remember shit – it’s been called the Alzheimer’s of stress. Happens under extreme conditions, including grief, work overload, prolonged lack of sleep.
    Yeah, I’ve been in those conditions before.
    What you can do:
    – Get some physical exercise – walking, swimming, whatever. Work long enough to tire yourself out.
    – Eat properly – less junk food, more protein.
    – Hydrate.

  12. Personally, I think that assuming that the range of “sane” to “insane” is a one-dimensional line is incorrect.

    I think it’s more of a dandelion. “Sane” being the central point, with innumerable axes branching out in every direction towards “insanity” based on subject.

    So, you can have a perfectly sane relation to some information, while reacting completely irrationally to other areas.

    Note: I most definitely do not place myself solidly in the “Sane” location for all topics. I just hope I can recognize that my dandelion’s not completely puffed out.

  13. Me too. And I used to be the perpetually skinny guy. Stress > cortisol > weight gain.

    Anything that ramps your stress, unless you can counter with significant exercise, adds pounds. It’s a pretty obvious survival adaptation in a species that lived as a non-apex scavenger/gatherer/predator in small hominid bands for several million years: On a long enough time scale pretty much anything out of the ordinary implied a potential need to survive subsequently reduced caloric intake, and unless said hominid was actively engaged in escape and evasion and thus vast piles of exercise, those fat cells bulk up.

  14. Was in a grocery store looking for PB, which used to be next to the jelly and near the bread and cereal aisle. It had been moved to the condiments aisle next to the ethnic condiments, which used to be on an separate ethnic aisle. Said a few choice words and the store pickup shopper agreed with me.

    As for the world going mad, I’m glad I work from home, because the employer has bought into all aspects of the “Soviet-style wokeness” and is totally onboard with actively helping the Leftists roll-out of “digital vax passports” that are hard to replicate. The only saving grace is they are saving so much money having us work from home, they are fine with letting it happen forever or at least 99% of the time.

    Legally they can’t compel us to get the faux vax, but I don’t doubt they are lobbying for it to become law. Or will volunteer to use their numerous resources to help the coup pinpoint the non-compliant across the country. This is after an executive died of an “heart attack” a few days after getting his second shot. Totally not related, of course.

    All the smart people are apparently doing the three monkeys cosplay when it comes to looking at the facts and calculating any secondary or primary effects of the events that have been unrolling the last two to eighty years. And the younger employees don’t even question the narrative, no matter how outlandish. I guess none of them took any real history or biology classes.

    Go along to get along and eventually we will fulfill the Georgia Guildstones decrees.

  15. Indicator. That feeling that something is gonna blow soon? You’ve been picking up on this for some time now. Just that now the neutron counter is clicking/chirping a LOT, or the steam gauge’s needle has left the green region and is climbing through the yellow. The margin is disappearing… *fast*.

    2. Not sure if it’s panic among TPTB, but the weekly Chinavirus graphics that the state puts out haven’t been updated since May the 4th. This corresponds to Despicable Kate Brown having to walk back the designation of 15-ish counties as “Extreme” because (horrors!) 300 people were hospitalized (statewide, mind you) for Fauchi-Flu.

      I think the Dems in the misadministration were getting the idea that pitchforks and torches were leading to rope and lampposts. But, in the past, the graphs were updated right quick (due Friday), but not this week. Curious.

      1. I was talking to my cousin earlier and we both commented on how we hadn’t seen any public updates of state data (WA and PA). The data is there, but nobody from state or city government appears to be talking about it any more. I think it’s partly because they are unclear as to which way they’re supposed to get us to panic about it all. And the Idiot Wolf has decided that occupancy limits in PA can be removed on May 31. Why May 31? That’s the date the dart hit.

        1. Gov. Vidkun (Walz) is likewise dropping occupanyc limits and outdoor mask diktats on 31 May/01 June. Only a year+ after Common Sense…. And claiming that at 70% vax (one jab counts) things will fully re-open… maybe? I suspect it’s not so much dropping case numbers, but that things are getting more tense. Why, I even acquired a second axe.

          1. Yeah, but it’s the *end* of the weekend – not making people happy. With Wolf, I think the dartboard explanation works for everything that idiot does.

        3. Even when they were touting daily “numbers” on the local news, out here the public health “experts” and the parroting local media party lackeys were only giving out the most oogahboogah scary numbers, right up until there were none anymore. One example was nightly touting the “available ICU beds” where the number available was the number that the hospitals decided to staff above those they actually needed.

          Since the largest hospital in the county is the county-funded Valley Medical Center, an inquisitive reporter might ask why the total ICU bed number in winter 2020/21 (occupied plus available) was so significantly below the total occupied plus available ICU beds back in the spring of 2020 when the first “flatten the curve” myth was being pushed, and if any such didn’t-staff-unneeded-ICU-beds decisions were in any way based on politically motivated direction from the county public health “experts” then being so alarmist.

          But that’s a lot more reporter work than just parroting the public health department press releases.

  16. My standard reply of late to anyone who asks me if I have had COVID-19: yes, it’s around my waistline.

    I am totally irritated by this weight gain and I hate the number I now see on my bathroom scale. I was the perpetually skinny gal counterpart to Flying Mike. I had an aunt whose nickname for me until I hit my late teens was Snake Hips. It used to be that I could always drop any excess poundage through jogging, walking and bike riding. I did not count on developing arthritic knees and hips which pretty much prevent me from doing it as vigorously as I once did, or on some days, at all. For now, walking slowly has to suffice, but I’m the impatient type, and it doesn’t seem as though I am getting anywhere with it.

    1. I am with you.

      I made a resolution/oath/promise/DEDICATED MYSELF with full on “do this or else, you pussy!” full force to not imbibe for all of 2020. Did so mid-December, IIRC. Got the mental framework good and all. 2020 was The Year I’d lose aaaaalllll the weight!

      That…was tougher than expected….

      But the worst part was watching my weight go up, and up, and up, eating all the weight I’d worked so hard to lose.

      Eating sensibly, exercising enough to be mildly obnoxious (wore out two machines and we bought a new one just because at the rate I was going, the warranty period would cover the extra cost if we could even FIND another exercise machine), abstaining from alcohol, and STILL my weight went up.

      :furious:

      1. Yep, that’s exactly it: furious. I tried to find some nice, dressy clothes to wear on a recent job interview. I came home disgusted and annoyed, not only by the fact that the stores really didn’t have much to pick from, but I hated the way things looked on me because of the weight gain. I did find a couple things that disguised it well enough for the interview, but I wasn’t happy with them.

        I have been wanting to get an old Schwinn Airdyne exercise bike for when it’s too hot and humid to go outside (and also too cold and icy in the winter), but my hubby is balking at it. The older models from the 80s and 90s are fairly reasonably priced and they’re very well built. I know it will be good for my knees, as I used one at PT and it would be good for my hubby, too, but I have to somehow get past his objections first. Then I can figure out how I’m going to get it to my basement.

        1. Try craigslist.org, or similar sites? Offer up or whatever stupid app is around?

          Bikes aren’t Cool so you have a better chance- and at least here in Iowa, they’re getting yard sale signs out again.

          Good luck….and most of them can be taken apart. 😀

          1. Thanks! Oh, yes, I have alerts for both Craigslist and FB Marketplace. The big obstacle is my hubby and the second big obstacle is getting it to our house. We’d probably have to rent a truck, as neither of us own a pickup, and the two relatives who do might be a little … how shall we say … reluctant to help. My one brother in law just got a shiny new pickup and I can just hear the objections now. It’d be less of a hassle to just go to U-Haul. 🙂

            1. I’m trying not to be too nosey, but…we fit a thing you would not expect to fit in a van into a Kia hatchback, so…..

              Plus, the power of a fully charged wireless screwdriver with a full ratchet set is to be respected?

              *e hug* Good luck.

              1. Haha! Thanks for the encouragement. I bet I could do it. We have the tools and I’m sure I can fold down the rear seat to my VW, but I didn’t know about Lowes or Home Depot. I’m going to have to check that out!

                *e hug* to you too!

                1. Check a local bike shop – they may have a carrier that mount to the roof or back of your car and be willing to rent it at a reasonable rate.
                  ~

          2. My bike that I bought last year is still in pieces on my back porch, but at least I’ve gotten an expert (the Cycling merit badge counselor, and a bicycle fanatic) to look at it. His suggestions will drive up the price on the rebuild, but they’re good suggestions. Like sealed hubs, so that I don’t have to disassemble them to clean the bearings.

            (My ultimate goal is a bike that *looks* like a skinny 80s drop-handle 12-speed, but which rides clean. My last bike got stolen right off my porch, despite being locked up, so anything that reduces the chance of theft is a good thing.)

        2. You can’t have mine! I’m never giving it up; it’s the only thing that kept me in any shape this past winter. Good luck finding one. If you do, make sure you accessorize it with a good pair of noise cancelling headphones. The things are noisy in an enclosed space even when well lubricated.

          1. You can get good bluetooth noise canceling headphones for fairly cheap, too– and then you can distract yourself with EPIC music!

            *turns on Sabaton, Dan Vasc, and a selection of 80s*

          2. A friend of mine who lives in the next town over said much the same thing when I asked him if he was interested in selling his Airdyne. “From my cold, dead hands,” he said. I idly thought if I could then ask him if he would leave it to me in his will. LOL!

      2. I’d love to lose weight; it’s just not happening and I spend most of my time just trying not to shut down entirely. It’s very frustrating.

    2. Add me to the club while you’re at it. At the end of 2019 I was at a number I liked, although I would’ve liked to go a little lower. I could fit back into some clothes I hadn’t been able to fit into for years. Over the course of 2020 it crept steadily upward in spite of all my efforts to eat healthy, and suddenly a bunch of clothes no longer fit. I blamed it on not having the labor of selling at conventions (all that merchandise that has to be loaded and unloaded, hauled in and out of venues, etc), but even this year, when I’ve been doing some serious hard work on the garden (nothing like opening two new beds and expanding the old one with nothing but a shovel, a rake and a hoe to provide you with exercise), my weight is still trying to creep upward.

      1. K, freaky addition to my whining about doing Everything Right and gaining weight—

        My clothes still fit. Sometimes better.

        I haven’t dug out the “pregnancy” or “I beat this, I can shove it into the preggers box” clothes.

        And stuff like my forearms are relatively thin…. yes, I’ve looked at health issues. Nothing we can find.

        It’s just like my mid-area is bigger, heavier, but squishier.

        The only thing that has gotten obvious-fat is MAYBE my upper thighs and arms.

        I am NOT going up in muscle mass, as best I can tell, either.
        (May be some screwball stuff, the results don’t track “hey I hydrated” or “I fasted” or similar stuff.)

        1. I have no idea how old you are but in my case once I hit the late 40s, it was my upper arms, upper thighs and middle that I started putting on fat. Ugh. All that perimenopause whack doodle stuff.

          1. Late 30s.
            I am a literal Millennial. (part of why I’m so annoyed at it being used for folks who “were born roughly at the turn of the millennium”)

            1. So you are multiply responsible for all world’s ills. Nonleftist millennial. Join the club

        3. Big heavy squishy mid-section weight gain is classic cortisol-delivered stress weight gain. The very hardest to get rid of. Because stressing your body (in the proper manner) is how you lose weight. Chronic over stressing makes you gain.

          Ask me how I know. And why it is incredibly and utterly irksome to military females that this is so.

      2. I hear you. When I was working FT, before my whole division got canned by COVID, I was a pretty steady walker at lunch and also because I took public transportation. And I worked with lighter to medium weights every other day. I have been trying to adjust my diet also, and that is working very slowly, but even though I technically have more time to exercise, I’ve lost whatever discipline I had for doing it regularly. Yet another fallout for me from all this COVID BS is that when I had a defined schedule, I had a much easier time scheduling exercise, music practice, etc., around work. Maybe it’s me, but I have a harder time trying to establish any kind of a schedule when I feel so unmoored still.

      3. I really despise my mid-section weight gain. Because clothes shopping is one of the least pleasant things in my world (though Land’s End actually stocks a Tall cut I like, so I have *shirts*!)

        I don’t want to lose weight. I want to lose waist.

          1. I also say that because the garden work I’ve been doing has visibly increased my upper-arm mass (mattock work and moving dirt.) I wouldn’t mind keeping THAT weight gain, especially since all of my shirts either have loose sleeves or are knit fabric. 🙂

            1. Exercise and sufficient protein can relocate weight. But you have to keep on exercising to keep the muscle on.

        2. Yes! I’m not keen on clothes shopping either, but that’s mainly because I’m the casual, sporty sort. I didn’t even get dressed up when I was working; it was business casual all the way and the boundaries were fairly fluid. I wore a couple pairs of jet black jeans or khakis that looked like dress pants, except they weren’t. Sweaters or nice looking blouses rounded out the ensemble. But rarely, I have to wear a suit, and I especially need one for any interviews, but I just dread having to try any of them on. What I expect I am going to have to do is to order online, because the stores don’t have what I’m interested in, followed by an endless cycle of trying on, sending back and ordering again.

          1. My issue is that I’m oddly-proportioned, in a way that’s not casually evident, so for literal decades clothes shopping was an exercise in settling for the things that looked least bad on me, if I could find them at all.

            Especially when I was young and broke. Now I have enough funds to be able to go to certain online stores and order shirts (when I can get the 40% total order discount, of course) and be reasonably assured that they won’t make me look as though I don’t know what size I am. Pants… well. Pants have never fit. My legs think I’m six feet tall, my hips think that I’m 5’2″, and Baby Got Back.

            I know we all joke about being triggered by ridiculous things, but it got to the point where clothes shopping was almost enough to give me a panic attack. So much work with no reward, and the clothes I needed to replace literally falling apart.

            1. “I know we all joke about being triggered by ridiculous things, but it got to the point where clothes shopping was almost enough to give me a panic attack. So much work with no reward, and the clothes I needed to replace literally falling apart.”

              Me, too.

              I’m supposed to go drapery shopping. I really need them for my windows. And I’m filled with dread at donning the muzzle and facing my insane neighbors. I’m hanging up pieces of old sheets and scarves instead.

              1. Try looking online. Seriously. We got a perfectly-fitted set of cell blinds through an online site that told us how to measure properly, and surely there’s something similar for draperies.

                2. Excellent advice, I’ll take it.

                  I think until we stand as individuals and say “FU to the muzzle” we’ll be in muzzle hell forever. So, I’ve determined to not wear it, and not go where I’ll be vilified.

  17. Too many circumstances where one side is convinced they are sane and the other side is not. Hopefully the one with the soundest foundations wins out.
    No vaccine for me, so some friends and relatives continue to bark at me. Woof woof. Get the shot. Now they are hearing they may need a third shot and should still take the same precautions as if they were not vaccinated.

    Meanwhile, they say there was SOME fraud in the stealection, but it was small because the government wouldn’t lie THAT much. That reflects the MSM message and also shows where their covid info comes from. I stood my ground last time and got the admission out of them that they are following the, “God…serenity/wisdom….Know what I can’t change” line of thinking. They know things are upside down but refuse to acknowledge it because it upsets them too much. It is their way of preserving their sanity. Bury your head in the sand to stay happy. It’s up to someone else to deal with it, but not them.

    All the psyops are wearing people down. Most want all this crap to be over. But we can’t weaken, as the next hoops they want us to jump through are already being planned.

    Yeah, some product placements at Publix and Home Depot make no sense, but what do I know?

    Don’t look at me that way! You think I’m insane? Maybe I’m just mad.

    1. Part of the root problem is that too many folks go off of “I believe I am sane,” and they can neither define sane nor support the stuff that says they are.

      There are legit situations where one side can think they’re sane, and the other insane, and it not be supported– say, Carthage. Their unsupported assumption was that Ba’al (or whatever he was actually called) needed to be paid off to keep them strong, AND that children while valuable were not on par with adult Real People, so were an acceptable price to pay; the Christian unsupported assumption is that Ba’al, if he exists and wants to be fed children, is evil and must be fought, AND that children are fully as valuable on par with adult Real People, AND that furthermore any adult Real People worth a spit would die protecting said children.

      Both sides think the other is insane, and it isn’t really something you can reason out of.

      (Needless to say, as someone who would likely be classified as a not Real People, and devoted to a half dozen of the same, I disagree strongly with one side. 😀 )

      1. (Needless to say, as someone who would likely be classified as a not Real People, and devoted to a half dozen of the same, I disagree strongly with one side. 😀 )

        Motivated Reasoning! You’re argument is invalid!

    2. Time/study people worked with the grocery industry in the 1950s. Their recommendations were to spread the most-commonly-used and most-often-bought-together items as far apart as possible, to discourage “targeted shoppers” by making them walk every aisle to get what they went in for.

      Bread, peanut butter, and jelly have *always* been scattered across the store, in my area. I thought it was everywhere, but apparently some stores have been arranging their shelves for the convenience of their customers instead of for maximum sales…

      1. Local store (regional chain) did move the “Asian” stuff away from the “Italian” and “Mexican” stuff… but that was when the 3 or 4 items from Goya suddenly became a shelf section or two of Goya products, right after the brouhaha about Goya. Related? Not sure. La Preferida also benefitted with increased shelf-presence.

      2. Long ago, in a far away land, you could find the milk near the front of a store as a convenience to customers. Then the marketing research/impulse buying team moved it to the back so you would leave with a basket full instead of just the milk. I think that really started in the 70’s (ahem, old people told me so).
        You have to remember that the Asian items might be placed anywhere in the store, because word got out that Asians are hard working, smart, and capable of finding their stuff no matter where it is in the store. Just look at their school grades!

          1. I had wondered, “How lazy do you have to be…” and then (some years ago) I saw something that made that seem not as insane. Motorized lollipops. That…. well, you got a motor, a switrch of sorts, a small battery/cell… and I suppose they threw in the lolly for free…. I do wonder if someone used a few in World’s Cheapest quasi-bot or such…

            1. A lot of “lazy” inventions are actually for disabilities, but they market them to able-bodied people because the disabled community by itself isn’t large enough to support the niche products. The most famous example is the Snuggie. “Why would anyone need a blanket with sleeves?” and the wheelchair-bound community goes Oooh…

              1. Not in any way disabled, but that stuff PISSES ME OFF.

                Look, “lazy” is “not doing a needed thing.”

                It’s not “doing stuff now so you don’t have to do stuff later.”

                It’s not “Work shifting to make things easier.”

                You (person screeching lazy, not you you) DO NOT OWN my time and effort. I want to spend ten minutes now to spare twenty later? BUT THE BOOGER OUT! Is MY time!

                1. Nooooo! One’s entire moral worth is determined by how stupidly they are able to expend effort!

                  *waves wooden shoe menacingly*

                2. THIS.
                  I get cold very easily. I’m also HIGHLY mobile. As in get up to do this or that. So, get comfortable, get up, spend five minutes getting comfortable again. Have cat hork on something inadvisable. Get up…..
                  My blankie with sleeves is around me all the time in winter.

              2. very useful for not catching in wheels and not creating folds that can create sores.

    3. Government won’t lie that much…
      Coventry iirc being targeted and the British ‘letting it be bombed to protect enigma is just the tip of iceberg

  18. Huh. As sanity is too often defined as ‘thinks like me’ I have been declared mad for several generations. You have too. (yes, stress is messing with our heads. Here too)

    1. The problems of the times are everywhere but can also be found in any given home. Here at my house my wife rips on me viciously anytime I try to bring up any aspect of current events like a stolen election or the lack of climate warming or the problem of all the silly gender issues. She is not just angry she is savagely angry and wishes only to cut off any conversation or communication. She is trying to hold onto a sane imagined reality and does not want to face any other. Either that or she thinks I’m deranged and divorce may be possible (a thought I did not have till getting savaged an hour ago).

      1. *e-hug*

        I’m sorry.

        I don’t have any useful advice– the best I can do, is ask that you try to mentally frame it as she’s in dire pain, and lashing out without thought.

        It’s not fair, it’s not just, it’s not right…. but… if you frame it that way, maybe you can find a way to reach her and comfort her?
        (Examples. For me, that would be something like after I yell at my poor Elf for something incredibly stupid, and then burst into tears and hide, he comes and sits by me and rubs my back or just lays an arm over my shoulders. For him, he shuts down and sits down, and I just go and sit Near him– you know, like a cat doing the “I am here, but it’s not like I’m WITH you or something” thing. In reach but not demanding. For my mom, it’s that I sit in the same room. Dad hasn’t ever reached that point with me, thank God.)

        I know I’ve lit into my husband because I just hurt :so much: about something or other, and he’s frozen me out for the same reason.
        (In our case, it didn’t last long– think “minutes” to “maybe half an hour,” thank God.)

        You’re the one who is seeing enough of what’s going on to be trying to help her out.

        Which means, as much as it SUCKS, you probably have to be the able-to-function adult– so I’m trying to find some tactics that will work.

        No different than dealing with any other disaster– the folks who can function have to try to help the folks who are broken, whatever form the shock may be. It doesn’t matter if someone is bleeding, their leg is bending in a way it Should Not Bend, or they’re “just” sitting their all white-faced and fluttering.

        You can function, or you can’t– and you do what you can.

        …and yes, framing it that way DOES help me keep going when Something Goes Wrong.

        1. As someone who is currently mostly nonfunctional; I am very grateful for the functional people in my life.

        2. >> “Examples. For me, that would be something like after I yell at my poor Elf for something incredibly stupid, and then burst into tears and hide”

          You don’t have to answer this, but: is this a reaction to current events or has this always been a thing in your marriage?

          1. Marriage, heck, it’s my one really stupid girly habit since forever. Lose temper over something stupid, snap at person, beat self up for being a jerk at someone who didn’t deserve it, burst out crying.

            Thankfully, it only happens MAYBE once a year.

      3. My spouse agrees with me on the politics, but we don’t talk about it 24/7.

        (Working on some of the election audits and being in touch with more knowledgeable people that track some real dark ordure makes me be careful on what I share with her. Most people can’t handle the Truth, it’s a frickin’ dark abyss of human evil.

        As a guy, I want to solve problems, but this one is a 3,000 on the scale of 1 to 10. Spent some of my time crying and praying, decided to do what I can, the best I can and outsource the worry on the Big Guy Upstairs.)

        Since we are “trapped together” working at home, we decided that we do need private time, so she heads out to help her mother on the weekends. This has saved the marriage.

        I do feel like the increase in divorces among our friends is due to lack of “apartness” that the daily office grind offered Pre-Lockdown. Doubly stressful for families with children. Mass mental health issues caused by the overreaction to the WuFlu. Designed mass hysteria…

        1. Elf and I mostly agree– he’s comfortable enough to actually YELL (he never yells when there may be real conflict) about political stuff– and we mostly don’t talk about it, either.

          We also worked that stuff out before even dating, one of the reasons-to-date for me was “I can get hot under the collar at him on political stuff I care about and he won’t get pissed.”

          Part of that is Ranch vs Town kid, and we both CARE about politics, so we’re reasonably informed and won’t go “oh, well, it doesn’t matter, just give it a loss.”

          “Worse,” we both are actually interested in WHY the other thinks a thing…. and with wildly different backgrounds, it helped a lot.

          1. My hubby is miles ahead of me in the political analysis department. He has been following local, state and national politics since he was 12. Since we’ve been married, I gradually absorbed a lot of his knowledge and although I am not as big a political nerd as he is, we can both hold a good conversation about current issues.I am more of a blog reader, he more of a news watcher.

            Last year, when he had to be home because of the lockdowns, it was somewhat trying. He was camped out in the dining room with all his office equipment. I was in the sun porch with my computer. My joke then was that it was a good thing we were not planning on having any dinner parties (not that we could anyway, given the fear porn about the virus), unless we wanted to perch the plates on top of the printer and arrange the food around his computer and peripherals. When May came, and our illustrious governor deemed it OK for him to return to his office, he couldn’t get out of the house fast enough. It just didn’t work – he couldn’t concentrate because he was home and so was I, and at certain times of the day I had to act as though he was “in the office,” although he was just a room away. It was very weird and we are both glad that is over.

            1. We actually do pretty well on the work from home thing, partly because the kids all ignore him even if he’s at home and I’m Obviously Busy….. (longstanding mom thing, going AT LEAST into the 50s going off of media I’ve seen)

              Part of it may be that his office defaulted into our bedroom, from a long cascade of “moving stuff for company.” (Our bedroom was at one point the guest bedroom because it’s as far as you can get from anything, then folks who can’t do stairs were there and I never moved the desk….)

              We’re now at one to three days a week, barring Must Be In Office stuff (every other week) being from home, in part because it means he can get to his physical therapy appointments and the minor requirement of “write the request down” scares off about half of the “can you help me with….” stuff.

              1. Haha, that’s great! Sounds like you have a good arrangement that works for all of you. Hubby has talked for years about having a home office, but it’s apparent that for us to do that, we’d have to consider moving to a larger house and there are certain major impediments to us moving now anyway, me not having a job being one of them.

              2. We have a home office (two academics, you have a home office) that we share and it works pretty well most of the time. But it was awkward at first because I was teaching on line. We set up a sort of barrier in the office (we sit back to back) so that the other couldn’t be seen on video. But now that I’m not teaching, I spend more time in the living room because of his meetings etc. We’ve worked it out for the most part, but after 20+ years of a shared home office, I think we’ve both realized that if this continues, we need a place with three bedrooms so that we can have truly separate offices.

          2. Had a good rebound from earlier run in: we went out to eat at a just reopened favorite Serbian place with our closest friends. First time since early last year. To be repeated soon.
            For now sleep will be best, then try to talk out the issue. A major problem is my wife long ago was a Dem Congressional staffer for Les Aspin. It seems the indoctrination is more powerful than any mountain of facts, especially as she does not want to hear any facts. Oh well, sleep first. Thanks for all encouragement.

            1. “… my wife long ago was a Dem Congressional staffer for Les Aspin. It seems the indoctrination is more powerful than any mountain of facts”

              Being a Democrat is a recoverable condition, as proven by Ronald Reagan, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Donald Trump, Condoleezza Rice, Phil Gramm, Mike Pence, Rudy Giuliani, Herman Cain, Jesse Helms and JFK.
              ~

      4. Oh, man. That’s rough. I got nothing to add to what others have said, except to send virtual hugs and all good thoughts.

      5. I feel you. The conversations around here have been abruptly stopped when anything get political. Very hard on me as I thrive on the study and analysis of history and current events. I feel that spousal unit really does not wish to face what I am seeing as inevitable. it is very difficult for me as well because we worked very hard to have zero debt and some nice things.

        We have both gone through CERT training and in past home contributed time and energy to community. Now pulling it all in to the center. Watching the breakdown of society and the bonds that hold us. The civility even at an airport or a grocery store is eroding. I walk around with that nagging feeling between my shoulder blades all the time.

        wife is always great in an emergency but this feels different, like life as we know it has ended we are going forward only through inertia.

        Stay the course, prepare as you can, encourage always. We win they lose… just going to take some time.

  20. Yes, I’m mad. Mad, do you hear? MADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD (SLAP) Thanks, I needed that. It’s just not JUST. OK, I’m returning to my secret underground safe place. I’ll be better…someday…I hope…

    1. Have you priced Mad Scientist Volcano Lairs lately? The prices are CRAZY!

      I guess the missed opportunity there is being the Real Estate Agent on that listing – 3% of $12 BILLION is quite the haul. I wonder if there’s a special RE Agent test to get certified to represent volcano lair properties.

  21. “Maybe it’s just me, okay? I mean it’s possible.”

    No, it’s not just you. I’ve been seeing a lot of crazy behavior of the type you describe. Such as people who apparently think the -thick- lexan shield in a steel frame on the table will stop the Covid-19 virus better than the thin sheet of clear plastic hung from the ceiling. People with enough education that they ought to know better.

    I myself have been seriously weighing whether I should spend a similar amount of money for an awning, which will be very useful for 3 seasons, or a naginata. Which would be very handy for fighting off zombies, but otherwise would be a dust collector. The deciding factor was that it’s a pretty poor zombie apocalypse if a senior citizen with a bad knee can fight his way out with a naginata. Went for the awning.

    “What do you do about it?”

    I’ve been crazy like this since forever. I do a “Basic Reality Check” when I really, really think a sword on a pole is something I need right the hell now. Are there really zombies? Even if there were, will that sword get you out of trouble? Since there aren’t, will a sword get you -into- trouble? What else is that money good for that would be better? Is it soooo cool it doesn’t matter if it is practical? (Don’t forget this one or you’ll make yourself miserable.)

    It’s math, basically. I have to do math to figure out what normal people know without thinking about it. 😡 But, it does work, mostly. I have yet to do anything catastrophically stupid, at any rate.

    1. Cool– I wanted a walking stick sword– still want one. I can’t justify the cost in money or in legal fees. 😀 Still cool ideas.

      1. Perfectly fine in Arkansas, and other states that have gone to rational (ie, no) blade restrictions.

        Carry your sword cane, your pilum, your bat’leth, or your claith mhor here. No problem.

            1. I have seen some pretty nice light sabres done in high strength poly-carbonate. They don’t collapse, but you can cut a watermelon in half with one.

            2. It is the coolest weapon ever. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

              (Okay, though the force lance from Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda was also nifty. Fired smart bullets, plasma blast, electrical shocks and could be expanded into a buck and three quarters staff, but don’t tell anyone.) 😉

              1. DuQuesne’s Skylark, the late series planetoids from Lensmen, most Bolos…

                Possibly every real world nuclear explosive, because they are real.

                Personal taste ATM, some of the Missile Defense Agency’s interceptors would be pretty cool if they work.

                1. I was thinking more along the lines of personal weaponry….. oooo, the plasgun from Schlock Mercenary would be neat, though I’d probably need an anti-grav generator to hold one of the models Schlock likes.

        2. I carry a pocketknife in my purse. What surprised me is that what used to be perfectly legal is now– considered dangerous here. *grumble

    3. We hung plexiglas from the ceiling for tax season. I told the clients it was the Magical Plexiglas Shield of Protection. Most of them chuckled.

    4. “People with enough education that they ought to know better.”

      I suspect you may have entirely misunderstood the purpose of Modern Education.
      ~

      1. Over in the Politics Conference of Baen’s Bar an individual has suggested dividing/merging the Current 50 States into 50 New States, each of the New States being roughly equal in population.

        Apparently this individual thinks that this Amendment would be ratified by enough of the Current State Legislatures to becoming part of the Constitution.

        I’m wondering at this person’s Education. 😦

      2. Businessmen. Grown men, not ivory tower pinheads. They’re not idiots, right?

        Does a spit-shield do much for you against an airborne virus in a boardroom? No way. Therefore, smart money goes with the least expensive option. Sheet of plexi hung from the ceiling, like everybody else does, its all you need to conform to the (utterly insane) regulations.

        Not these guys. They used the bank-teller-window grade lexan. Probably because they thought it would make the customers feel better or similar non-logical reason. Craziness.

        As to the modern education, I agree with your estimation on its purpose.

          1. It’s Canada. Carrying a dull butter-knife is super illegal. If Bill C-10 becomes law, saying the word “firearm” online will be illegal.

            -All- the customers are pissed off.

            1. How do you tell the difference between an angry Canadian and a happy Canadian?

              An angry Canadian will cheerfully leave you naked in the wilderness to die of exposure.

              The world is a very dangerous place. Disrespect the dangers, and they will end you. The would be totalitarians do not respect the effort needed to keep people alive, and so they play silly games with persons they would be better off leaving alone.

  22. What I heard in the tone of the voices of two Silicon Valley housewives yesterday was not quite fear, but deep-and-confused concern.

    They were talking at a Starbucks about what happened in Oregon: “the governor is very liberal, but she just put in an extreme lockdown.” Emphasis on extreme.

    These are women who are sheltered from most everything, yet they were speaking in a way that conveyed they felt something very disturbing is happening (by their own side, which made it confusing).

    1. If one were to believe that getting rid of the Bad Orange Man was worth any and all actions pre-election, yet those actions were not rolled back afterward, and in some cases 6 months later were being doubled down, one might be increasingly concerned that the world is not working quite the way one believed.

      1. I’m hoping this will rip off a few blinders. *sigh I am not feeling magnanimous and will probably say “suffer the consequences cause you b-tches voted for this.”

      2. Yeah, I agree. I think a lot, a lot of people somehow convinced themselves that if Trump were out of office then everything would be just fine. Now that they’re seeing the same actions continued they are confused, concerned and wondering what’s going on. And, like Cyn, I’m hopeful that blinders are coming off.

        1. Editorial in the Wall Street Journal (which is taking the official media position that of COURSE there wasn’t enough fraud to throw the election) stated most people who voted for Biden thought they would get peace and quiet: they voted for a rest, not a revolution. And now, they’re realizing they aren’t getting what they voted for…
          So even the WSJ is noticing.

          1. Around here I think it was a combination of Trump hate (you’d get less reaction from Dracula and with a Cross then saying Trump to a Cambridge or Newton Liberal), white guilt and a desire not to see various cities burn (more). Although Liberal Massachusetts is atypical overall I think it represents the left side of things. Sort of odd being here in occupied territory.

        2. Our neighbors (some anyway). 100% Orange-man-bad. Otherwise mostly conservative. Oh we have the wacky liberals too. All anyone wanted was for the rancor to die down. Pointing out that the news cycle fed off it all does nothing. That the tweets were “look over there” while I quietly get stuff accomplished over here, and other that a way, was an “Oh no. He had to be mean.” There is no talking to them.

          The one big thing everyone can agree on right now, is everyone is sooooooo tired of this. It is Brown and Biden’s Fault. All. Of. It. Because they did believe “If Trump was out of office then everything would be okay.” Trump is out of office and it isn’t magically okay. I don’t even bother with “I told you so” because that won’t help. Doesn’t help to think it either, but that I do. At least thinking it I’m not triggering someone insane. I did try. I did say Biden will make things worse (because clueless just does).

    2. Yeah, the talk in S. Central Oregon (Flyoverland–far, but not far enough, from Salem and Portland) is a bunch of people getting fed up. The legislature has gone full moonbattery with various laws (Moar Gun Control, but nevermind the Antifa with AK-47s) and, er, selective applications of standards.

      I don’t think the Sheriff’s officers will do much to enforce the new laws, and Flyover County’s city police departments probably won’t either. Not sure if the State Police have enough nerve to try stuff here…

    3. “the governor is very liberal, but she just put in an extreme lockdown.”

      But? BUT?

      Did you ask these women if they’ve been in cryogenic sleep for the past year?

      2. Glad I’m not the only one to have noticed. Perhaps in Silicon Valley “but” actually means “so of course”.
        ~

  23. It shouldn’t last too long, with somewhere around half the population thinking the election was stolen, or masks and lockdowns are useless and even more harmful than the China virus, there’s bound to be some reality bleed-through, even while trying to silently self-preserve against the conformist mob. Just a matter of how violent the breakthrough will be.

    1. Note those polls show that half of those who still respond to pollsters agree with The China Joe Election Theivery postulate.

      I’d bet the split on that question among those who refuse to talk to pollsters is not less than those that still do.

      1. By “those who still respond to pollsters” you mean, other than with firearms, right?
        ~

        1. People with firearms generally respect the game laws, and pollsters are still a protected species.

        2. Or mortar fire.

          “Target Pollsters in the open.”

          “Shot. Out.”

  24. And then you don’t perform to spec. You become obsessed with stupid things, like “But what color should my shoes be?” or —

    :blink:

    ….just heard about a work email (in good spirit) that was basically “big inspection coming up, everybody dress normal, Keven wear blue Nikes.” Because Keven has six pairs of (whatever) that are identical other than color…..

  25. I think I read it here, or one of the commentor’s blogs, but… a lot of people are not exactly sane, they’re just good at faking it.

    Which takes effort.

    Higher demand=> fewer resources=> more folks JUST SNAP.

    1. Agreed. My sanity, such as it is, is only supported by copious amounts of solitude and avoiding too much of others’ stupidity.

      The past few years have made both… difficult to obtain.

      1. Not sure if it counts as SANE, but I can fake normal….with enough wiggle room.

        …when I’m terrified I’m going to blackout and attempt to Permanently Remove any Possible Threat near me because I cannot breath correctly?

        Totally. Not. Sane.

        1. Just remember, taking away the wiggle room is exactly what totalitarians always try to do. They stampede people into not thinking, because then they’re “easier to control”.

          …The fact that some of us have berserker tendencies just never occurs to them. Because we control ourselves. If they could, they wouldn’t want power over others so much in the first place.

            2. This song pisses me off because when in the downtowns that this song is about even as a man you have to be at hot yellow. A woman should probably just not go the unless escorted.

              1. For me– in the late 90s– that was the one pretty song about being AROUND people, rather than raw hormonal activity. (Oldies station.)

                I can totally see why the guy suicided to it, after most of a year of abuse.

            2. I’ve seen newbie engineers close to tears over the Ideal Gas Laws. Somehow, they’d not been taught that “Ideal” was used in the sense of “theoretically perfect”, and real gases might depart from that a *lot*…

              1. The “mistake” was in teaching that these are “laws” rather than what they really are: approximations. Somehow that message (about approximations) got passed along, in the long-ago times. Facepalm.

          4. Or don’t anticipate people being crazy enough to attempt personal rewiring to make the usual strategies fail.

            Note, trying and succeeding are different things.

            But human minds are weird, and some remarkably unusual behaviors can be developed.

  26. This is the “No. That’s not right.” reaction – when confronted with “Wear TWO masks after you get vaccinated” and “We can’t possibly charge and prosecute violent rioters and looters because JUSTICE!” and “Those black guys stomping elderly Asian folks is white soopremesay!” – so basically logic is a pretty flower that smells bad – the error flag gets set.

    1. “Those black guys stomping elderly Asian folks is white soopremesay!”

      Wait, no, this makes perfect sense:

      Asians count as white. Getting stomped into the pavement makes you a victim. Victim is the highest position anyone can occupy.

      Q.E.D.

      1. That… was logical. Logic is racist. Therefore, you are a white supremacist.

  27. I know that I’m running on the ragged end of burn-out due to classes, job-hunting, house-keeping, and just wondering what I’ll do next. No real chance to vacation, but I will spend a day or two out of the house soon. God knows I need it.

    No conventions coming up. Writing has been difficult and hopefully will be able to get something done soon.

    Our leadership seems to damned well want to re-do 1970’s all over again-and while I was only alive for half of the ’70s, it wasn’t fun the first time.

    But…if there is any emotion I have about our people in charge, it’s spite pure and simple. Not going to give up, just painful right now.

    1. My husband– Mr. “I hate riding in the car,” Mr. “my relaxation is zoning out for six hours in a video game,”– is setting up a camping trip for us, with the camper.

      Because he has to get out of the house or he’s going to scream…..

          1. I am going to assume the moment that we can move around more freely, you will be seeing a lot of people getting away…somewhere, anywhere, as long as it isn’t there.

            1. Iowa is mostly open, and has been…but he’s talking to family that are ratchetting down…. and I’m going insane on year two of No, You Can’t Go Meet The FAmily….

                1. I’d look to Oregon, first.

                  I got off the phone with my mom after 45 minutes that started with reading a comment here about their state suddenly not reporting numbers…after shutting down….

                  A relative has been acting oddly, per mom, and then a few hours later I hear that. So I had to call and point out WHY.

                  ….they hung on when they’ve been in trouble since BEFORE covid, but this….this punishment for the county not genuflecting will probably mean losing the business.

                  And, though mom didn’t say, possibly the family home that has been in the family since shortly after my grandfather rolled into town as a worthless biker-worker on a WWI surplus motorcycle.

                  1. The Newsome recall is putting any re-ratcheting off the table in CA. Even if the local public health “experts” were not seeing that the general backlash is growing, the state-level party commissars won’t let anything happen that would add pebbles to the recall avalanche.

                    1. “The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.”

                    2. I think the Newsome recall caught them by surprise. We (California) have people organizing recalls, but this one worked…and the backlash might catch more people in it if they don’t hang Newsome out to dry.

                    3. The Dems in CA think “one-party dominates government” equals “one-party state” equals “complete conformance to the daily whims of the California Democratic Party Central Committee” and they are repeatedly surprised when there is any organized opposition to party diktat.

                      Remember CA is the state that outlawed racial discrimination in all state decisions including state school admission, thus eliminating racial preferences, and just last election defeated a plan to reintroduce race-based preferential contracting and admissions again, in spite of the party really really wanting to change that law.

                    4. A local restaurant had lines going out the door this morning. (Yes, door.) The “outside” tent was also full. And this is in advance of the lifting of all restrictions on June 15th. Yeah, California is losing the ratcheting war to the populace.

                    5. Had to wait for a table at a restaurant. Also, the church parking lot filled up (though not, I suspect, the one in back).

          3. I still want a divorce from Dan’s movies, though, but you know….. I did before covidiocy.
            Okay, no room to throw stones because I read fanfic back to back. But some of the things he watches! EEEEK.
            I put headphones on and hang out on discord.

      2. Well taking the camper will get you away from your house. But it won’t get you away from people. Trust me. We tried that this September 2020. Boondocking might work. But if destination is a campground … good luck. OTOH you might get a kick out of the new campers trying to setup. Whether they are tenting or using an RV. New camper bingo is a hoot. There were a LOT of new campers in 2020.

        1. After the last year?

          We WANT people.

          Preferably people with kids that our kids can be overly familiar with. 😀

          1. Trust me. Not a problem. Pick a national park. Pick a popular one. You will find a LOT of people. 🙂 I don’t remember a LOT of kids when we were in Yellowstone, Sept 2020. But there were some. We don’t have kids with us as attractant (no grandchildren, sigh). Do have the dog so … Then Sept 2020, before Labor Day, except for west coast and few other locations, most kids are technically back in classes, even if in 2020 they were online.

            We had my sister and BIL tagging along for a few days at first. Sis hadn’t been back to Yellowstone since she was 9 or 10. BIL had never been. It was really great playing tourist guide. Definitely turned BIL off to RV. The couch setup definitely was tight (we’d have given them our bed but couch setup is too short for hubby, and not for either of them).

            After they left we did interact with some of our neighbors at the campground. But nothing beyond morning coffee chats. Interactions on trails, happened, but more irritating. (READ dang it. Service Dogs are ALLOWED on no pet National Park Trails. She’s marked as a SD, and marked for what she does.)

            Hubby hasn’t missed a day of interaction with anyone. He has played golf continuously at the golf coarse he is a member at (sounds pretentious, it isn’t, not the country club, it is math …). Then hangs around to nurse a beer at the 19th hole. Even when the 19th hole was out behind the maintenance shed because of edicts. Me? I started Agility Dog training up again, just to get out of the stupid house (no intention of competing, just doing something for me and the dog). I make sure to stop in and check on mom (in her own home), but other than shopping, I see no one. Sadly I talk to the 3 others at Agility class than I ever did working at my last job, and that is just agility (so even if I was so inclined going back to work would be futile. Besides thanks to CCP-Faccui-Flu, all the programmers are now working from home, permanently!)

            1. What I want is to drag Elf with us to Iowa State’s museum, there’s a great camping park by there, and the college’s museum is great.

              …..but they’re still masking crazy.

              1. Maybe you guys can swing by after we relocate, and I can cook or something. (This is day dreaming, as the chances of us having a house with a functioning kitchen by then are probably zero, but hey.)

                1. I’d just like to drop by and go “Hi, we exist!”

                  The kids would be happy to scramble around– your cat blankey for the Baron is on the couch, ATM, around the Contessa– and just go “hi, internet person who is real!”

            2. Check the National Parks registration restrictions. Many of them still have them (including Glacier NP’s Road Of the Sun, or whatever it’s called.) Yes, I know parking at Yosemite sucks, but much as I would like to scale back the numbers, I’d also like to have a chance in Hell of getting in there again someday.

              1. Yes.

                Going to the Sun road, not all of Glacier, but the main attraction, is Timed Entry Ticket between 6 AM and 5 PM, this is beyond the national park pass for the specific park or multiple park annual or lifetime passes. Time Entry is because of construction on Going to The Sun Road. Those with Reservations to Park locations that require using Going to The Sun road, automatically get access to the road for the days of their reservation.

                Yosemite has Timed Entry too. Again, if you have lodgings (camping, either back country or front country campgrounds, or climbing) reservations inside the park, you are automatically provided with one. What I can’t tell is if the Time Entry just applies to the Valley, or includes Tioga Road (state hwy 120) thru the Tuolumone Meadows between Mason and Merced counties, which skirts the west edge of the valley.

                Rocky Mtn Park. Has “two types of reservations available. One permit will be for the Bear Lake Road Corridor, which will include the entire corridor and access to the rest of the park. This reservation period will be from 5 am to 6 pm. Reservations are not required on the Bear Lake Road Corridor before 5 am or after 6 pm. The second permit will be for the rest of Rocky Mountain National Park, excluding the Bear Lake Road corridor. This reservation period will be from 9 am to 3 pm.”

                I’d post the links but then the comment goes into WP jail. DuckDuckGo search NP-Name Timed Entry for the dates it applies and details on how to get. Expect them to go within minutes, if not faster.

                We’d planned on going back to Rocky this next fall. IDK if we can now. We won’t be camping which means no auto entry, nor backpacking. Don’t know if want to fight getting reservations to enter the park.

                I too get the issue. We were last in Rocky NP in ’97, one long line of vehicles on the road. Parking at the top, sketchy. Last in Yosemite in 2018, in April, in the rain (lost last two days because valley closed down to flooding); Yet crowded OMG. Buses packed like sardines … Don’t even know if buses are even running now. Last in Glacier in 2019, really just drove Going to Sun road because it was a detour to our actual destination. Road traffic wasn’t “bad”, but parking was impossible on the road, especially at the top. From everything I’ve read (if Sept 2020 Yellowstone is anything to go by, it would be hard for them to exaggerate) because of Covid travel restrictions, the parks were particularly overran, even with timed entries at Rocky and Yosemite.

                I’d also like to have a chance in Hell of getting in there again someday.

                –
                Agree.

                1. Tioga Pass is open to through drivers, but they have to get a timed ticket and get through the park within the reasonable time limit.

  30. This is the water.
    And this is the well.
    Drink full
    And descend.
    The horse is the white of the eyes
    And dark within.

    1. WTF was that?
      (Besides disturbing, I mean. That bug/toad abomination and what happened with it was an especially inspired wrongness.)

      1. Twin Peaks Season 3, the flashback to the 50s episode where they reveal the origin of the evil force that’s been plaguing the town and perhaps the world.

        Ever since I saw it, that scene is my go-to imagery for insanity and evil.

        The Woodsmen who took control of the radio station and rendered the town unconscious are more or less damned souls of people who died in a fire in 1902.

        The girl is Sarah Palmer, Laura Palmer’s mother, and her possession by the demonic entity is something of a reveal later.

      2. “The Horse is the white of the eyes, and Dark within”

        A pale horse or white horse is seen throughout the series whenever something evil is about to happen. But a really interesting interpretation struck me: that the evil also happens when people choose to LOOK AWAY and allow it.

        The horse is the white of the eyes…and when do you see the whites of someone’s eyes? When the LOOK AWAY.

        This guy explains it better than me. Starts at 3:05:50

        1. It’s gotten to the point where I’m muttering to myself: “White of the eyes” whenever I see people ignoring the rampant, disgusting hypocrisy and evil of the left.

          Nary a peep about riots and murder.

          “White of the eyes.”

          Crowds dragging people out of their cars and beating them.

          “White of the eyes.”

          Acts of murderous terrorism not called such, while saying that fiasco in January was worse than 911, gotta take away the guns. gotta defund the police (by which they mean federalize the police and have paramilitary thugs on the loose, but it’ll be fine because TV Box won’t report on it and all the goddam normies will suck it up like-)

          “White of the eyes…white of the eyes…white of the eyes…dark within…”

        2. And all the ones who just wanted everything to go ‘back to normal’ and were willing to believe everything would be fine once Biden was elected and that bad ol Trump was gone, and were willing to look the other way when people tried to tell them about Hunter’s laptop and everything else.

          White of the eyes

          At this point, I think I hate the normies who look away and say nothing even worse than the thugs on the streets.

          White of the eyes

          White of the eyes

          White of the eyes.

            1. $BOSS; You’re not gonn shoot the place up, are you/
              $ME; Of course not! That’s be stupid and sujicidal. If I want to do real damage, I’d just open a gas tap and walk away. There’s always a spark.
              $BOSS: *NOW* you’re scaring me.
              *smile*

          2. Hmmm… Puts a whole new spin on “fire when you see the whites of their eyes”.

  32. I am an anomaly…a traveling homebody. I like to travel, but then I really like to come home and be at home for at least a couple months before my next trip. But I haven’t been anywhere since early March 2020 and I’m getting close to incoherent screaming. We’re planning on driving up to upstate NY to visit a friend over Memorial Day. I can’t wait. It will be nice to see him, but really I’m just looking to get out of the house for a couple of days.

    I’m seeing more and more unmasked people out and about and I take that as a good sign. But I have family members who are posting their vaccine photos on FB for the social credit. I just have to shake my head. People are getting stretched to the breaking point. It’s coming.

    1. I really wonder how much the pressure gradient is for people in various climates. For instance, where I live is very moderate in the winters, weather-wise, and you can always go for a walk. (Even if it’s in the rain. Very few weather events here require you to be in shelter.) So in general, the mood around here is pretty chill. We’ve gone on walks. We’ve gone on hikes. We’ve even left the county a few times in the last year.

      But if you’re trapped in your neighborhood? That’s crazy-making.

      1. About 90% of our family (both sides) live in N. CA or WA. So, we’re seeing lots of hiking photos from the CA relatives and yes, it’s driving me nuts. Weather here makes a difference, for sure. We’re lucky that we’re just above the river and have a large chunk of the giant park right at the end of our street, but I really want to walk somewhere where I can’t hear traffic. Last weekend we drove out to a state park about 1/2 hour away and there’s still traffic.

  34. Stress makes angry, stress makes stupid. Our accident numbers are pissing off the bosses.

  35. I’m not quite ready to declare myself Teddy Roosevelt and dig locks for the Panama Canal but I’m getting closer.

  36. Man, this is the absolute shit timeline. Somebody looped in a 1970’s riff (1), added utterly strange woke politics, and a complete lack of catgirls. I didn’t like the ’70s when I was still shitting in diapers, let alone now. I don’t want to be shitting in diapers in a 1970’s rerun.

    (1)-At least the porn production quality is higher. Subject matter on the other hand…

  38. Pingback: Mad is a mental state | Dio's Workshop

  39. “Meanwhile my friends who work retail are being pulled about by crazy bosses who make their time at work living hell.”

    Yep.

    I’m blessed to have taken a leave of absence as soon as the slave muzzles became mandatory–can’t wear one, won’t wear one. (I’m one of the online shopper people.)

    Kroger/Fred Meyer increased the cart bin number from 6 to 9. Each bin weighs on average 15-20 lbs–think 2 gallons of milk and some groceries in every bin and that’s about right. You can work the math out for yourselves. I weight 104 and am 4’11” tall. The physical strength required to push not just 6 but 9 bins around a store full of customers is profound. And Kroger/Fred Meyer did it without consulting anyone–they can’t hire enough people to do the work.

    The union keeps pushing zoom calls with Kroger to…. do I’m not sure what. All that needs to happen is for all of us to go on an LOA because of the slave muzzle. No staff? No service for the customer. The reason the union won’t do it is because we don’t pay union dues while we’re on the LOA. No dues? No service for the union member.

    It’s a living hell for those who try to do the work. WA is going to keep us muzzled and dependent upon unemployment until at least September. Fine with me. Walking around a bunch of zombified muzzle nazis makes me grumpy and violent.

    I spend time in the mountains several times a week. Or down at the beach casting into the waters and listening to the shusshhhh of the waves. I’ve got to stay integrated or it’s not going to go well for anyone.

    1. When those carts are being loaded up in the aisles of Publix where I shop, you can barely squeak by them. Just curious – do you have to get them out to the cars also, or is that someone else?
      Glad you can get outdoor time. Nature can have a healing effect.

      1. I’m so blessed it’s almost more than I can stand. Unemployment essentially pays me to go out and play, and create my next money making endeavor.

        “Click List” is divided into activities, for efficiency: Shoppers, sorters, and curbside delivery.

        Shoppers do only that. We run through the store, making everyone mad because no one can get around us, then drop the cart off in the staging area, bins full. Sorters move the bins into the larger holding areas for ambient temp, refrigerator, and freezer. All the bins/bags are tagged showing the order # and pickup time and are sorted accordingly.

        Curbside people take the goods out to the car and load it up. They are also the mobile cashier, responsible for every bit of substitution/your-payment-doesn’t-work/every other problem known to man resolution. They are the only people in the system to have regular contact with the customer.

        It works the same way at Wal Mart as Fred Meyer. Those are my only two experiences.

        1. Well I’m glad it’s organized into manageable parts so you don’t have to physically take care of the whole thing. Not too bad, but the outdoor play is more fun!

    1. Japan is having a surge of cases.

      Just like India.

      ….looked at husband, and informed him that if Taiwan had an outbreak, that’d be ‘enemy action’.

      1. If the third incident is enemy action, so were the first two.

        I generally START by suspecting enemy action. Less likely to run into unpleasant surprises that way.

      3. Japan is having a surge of cases.

        How can that be? I was assured by all the Very Smartest People™ that Japan would never get hit bad because of their culture of wearing masks! What could possibly have gone wrong?

  41. Any more news about the computer attack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline and cut off half of the Yeast Coast’s oil supply? All I’ve heard is that it ‘came from overseas’.

    My list of suspects, in order:

    North Korea
    Iran
    China
    Russia

    I hope it didn’t come from Russia. The Democrats could make a lot of noise over that.

    Maybe some fuel shortages might wake up some of those Leftroid idiots?
    ———————————
    Ma Lemming: “If all your friends jumped off a cliff into the sea would you…oh…um…nevermind.”

    1. Nope, it’ll just convince them more to push for “renewables” instead of those awful fossil fuels.

    2. I would not discount the CIA or leftist hackers either. I expect that HarrisBiden and their propaganda arms will publicize gas lines by claiming that they prove that eliminating fossil fuels must be accelerated.

    3. The narrative is already out that it was “DarkSide” – a “new” Russian cyber-ransom player. (Note, I say the narrative. Anything coming from the Harris FBI, including the direction of tomorrow’s sunrise, must be viewed with extreme suspicion.)

      1. The ‘Harris FBI’ is just leftovers from the 0bama FBI. Same for the CIA. Both are in desperate need of an institutional enema.

      2. I’ve got $500 that says it was some “wokie” in the company’s IT department including contractors.

  42. BTW – this news update:

    Canadian Pastor Swarmed and Arrested by ‘SWAT’ Team for ‘Inciting’ People to Attend Church
    The last time we saw Canadian Pastor Artur Pawlowski he was seen on video chasing cops out of his church and calling them Nazis. They were there to inspect his church for too many parishioners on Good Friday.

    Vee haf rools fo covet, Pastor Pawlowski.

    On Saturday, the cops came back for Pawlowski, but they’d learned their lesson and didn’t come to his church. He might chase them out again and hurl truth bombs about the police state again.

    Ezra Levant of Rebel News reported that the police hunted down Pawlowski on a highway, pulled him over, and dragged him off.

    A heavily-armed SWAT team just took down a Christian pastor heading home from church. Police say he’s charged with “inciting” people to go to church. This is the second pastor jailed this year. We’re crowdfunding his lawyers at* http: // SaveArtur . com

    Rebel News reports that Canadian Broadcasting apparently was tipped off about the bust and a photographer, with a very shaky hand, got video of the pastor being arrested.

    The CBC photographer gloried in the bust of the pastor, hogtied and carried off by the heavily armed police. Except it wasn’t the pastor in this photo. It pictured his brother.

    The reporter wrote on his Twitter account that “being a jerk has its consequences. He doesn’t seem to be laughing now.”

    [SNIP]

    The police press release explained that they understand the “people’s desire to participate in faith-based gatherings as well as the right to protest… however, we all must comply with public health orders to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being.”

    Translation: Church doesn’t contribute to your well-being. We know better than you.

    Canadian attorney David Freiheit, who is a popular YouTuber called “Viva Frei,” summed up the tone in his country right now.

    He wrote the tweet to Canadian leaders: “This is the new Canada. Pastors being arrested in the streets. Totalitarian regimes would be jealous. I would say ‘shame on you.’ But you can’t feel shame if you have no pride.”

    Seems about right.
    [END]

    *Gaps inserted into crowdfunding link to avoid WP purgatory.
    ~

      1. Don’t be too proud of the US Ian. California has been fining the heck out of a bunch of churches, NYC was giving orthodox jews a heck of a time. I suspect there’s at least some behavior of this sort spread across the US First amendment be d*mned. It’s just that in Canada there are even more folks in the None column (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/13/a-closer-look-at-americas-rapidly-growing-religious-nones/) At least in some parts of this country trying that would get you tossed on you backside for the next election if not get a tarring and feathering party moving. I could DEFINITELY see that happening here in MA to an evangelical church with little to no kickback.

      2. In 1812, Canada consisted heavily of Catholics who knew that many states still had anti-Catholic laws, and the families of refugees from the American Revolution, including not a few of the refugees. (We had more refugees than the French Revolution and most went to Canada.)

    2. And I believe Rebel News itself (connected to Fight the Fines, which has been helping Pawlowski for the past year or so in addition to its inconvenient reporting) was dropped by PayPal the same day, without explanation…

  43. Just found out one of the local police chiefs apparently let the armed mob block traffic not too far from where I work.

    Given a certain concern that if I call them up to complain that I may find myself in their cross hairs, I’m wondering if the thing to do for my sanity is, instead to learn how to fly the T-45C Goshawk. IndiaFotEcho just released a version of it for MSFS2020 and another mod team just released a free mod of it for DCS.

    And, the US Chief of Naval Air Training has all of their training PAT Pubs up for download with no restrictions at all.

    200 mb of training manuals out to keep me busy for a while…

  45. Hmm. The grocery store may be a more localized phenomenon? Here in Tucson, the places where I shop aren’t any more irrational than before the fraudemic. OTOH, maybe they are, in a different way – the dry goods aisles haven’t been moved around in months. (Which is a hazard to little old ladies and small children, as it encourages me go full speed. I hate grocery shopping…)

    Thrift store, and other minimum wage places. That, I think, is from the incentive to not work that the unemployment bonus is giving their regular people. I really can’t blame them; in the long-ago days when I was at that wage level and raising two children, I would have been doing the same (using the time to hustle cash and/or barter jobs on the side).

  46. You wonder how you get the Prophet in a country where most of the population is armed? Well, stop wondering, you are getting a real life lesson.

    1. NO. I wonder how you get the Prophet in a Country where people are individuals.
      And yeah, no. These people? Seriously? No.
      It’s going to be messy, but we win, they lose.

  47. After the incident linked below, I sent the following to the Plano City Council e-mail for comments to be brought up at their session. Given that the said incident blocked the intersection I will have to drive through to take my wife to her doctor’s appointment this Friday, I reasonably expect both of us to be dead or in jail by next weekend.

    It’s been an adventure. God Bless America.

    Subject: Dereliction of Duty Parker Road and Texas North Tollway

    After seeing this video, I have three questions. Any answer other than YES will be taken as a NO.
    https://amz.run/4XpW

    1. Does the entire Texas law code, specifically Sec 42.03 and 42.04, still apply in Plano?

    Sec. 42.03. OBSTRUCTING HIGHWAY OR OTHER PASSAGEWAY. (a) A person commits an offense if, without legal privilege or authority, he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly:

    (1) obstructs a highway, street, sidewalk, railway, waterway, elevator, aisle, hallway, entrance, or exit to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access, or any other place used for the passage of persons, vehicles, or conveyances, regardless of the means of creating the obstruction and whether the obstruction arises from his acts alone or from his acts and the acts of others; or

    (2) disobeys a reasonable request or order to move issued by a person the actor knows to be or is informed is a peace officer, a fireman, or a person with authority to control the use of the premises:

    (A) to prevent obstruction of a highway or any of those areas mentioned in Subdivision (1); or

    (B) to maintain public safety by dispersing those gathered in dangerous proximity to a fire, riot, or other hazard.

    (b) For purposes of this section, “obstruct” means to render impassable or to render passage unreasonably inconvenient or hazardous.

    (c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.

    Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.

    Sec. 42.04. DEFENSE WHEN CONDUCT CONSISTS OF SPEECH OR OTHER EXPRESSION. (a) If conduct that would otherwise violate Section 42.01(a)(5) (Unreasonable Noise), 42.03 (Obstructing Passageway), or 42.055 (Funeral Service Disruptions) consists of speech or other communication, of gathering with others to hear or observe such speech or communication, or of gathering with others to picket or otherwise express in a nonviolent manner a position on social, economic, political, or religious questions, the actor must be ordered to move, disperse, or otherwise remedy the violation prior to his arrest if he has not yet intentionally harmed the interests of others which those sections seek to protect.

    (b) The order required by this section may be given by a peace officer, a fireman, a person with authority to control the use of the premises, or any person directly affected by the violation.

    (c) It is a defense to prosecution under Section 42.01(a)(5), 42.03, or 42.055:

    PENAL CODE CHAPTER 42. DISORDERLY CONDUCT AND RELATED OFFENSES

    (1) that in circumstances in which this section requires an order no order was given;

    (2) that an order, if given, was manifestly unreasonable in scope; or

    (3) that an order, if given, was promptly obeyed.

    2. Are you going to arrest the people who blocked the intersection at Parker and the Tollway on Sunday? Especially in light of the brandishing of a weapon against the person acting according to authority granted them under Sec 42.04(b).

    3. Does the 14th Amendment guarantee of “equal protection under the law” still apply to ALL residents of Plano?

    Sincerely,

    Stephen Nelson

    1. Good for you. Please let us know if you get any reply. That situation was pathetic and dangerous.

      1. Which is why I expect us to be dead or in jail.

        Sarah, that e-mail was very much in the spirit of “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

        1. Via PJ Media:

          I don’t think the state AG is satisfied with the Plano Police Department performance.

          I expect there will be a Ranger in attendance at the next such bit of performance art.
          ~

          1. One hopes. Just realize that only Gov Abbott can actually send the Rangers, and he hasn’t said anything. Governor and AG are separately elected offices in TX; it’s not like a Cabinet appointment.

          2. What the AG can do is file a lawsuit / criminal charges, which Paxton has done before.

            Like I said, one hopes. I’m just not counting on it.

        2. You’re going to videotape your drive from home to the clinic, yes? This is all I can think to say to your comment, which feels true and horrifying.

          Plano, for heaven’s sake. PLANO. Last time I visited there it was full of uber-rich Texans. 1980s.

              1. Well, apparently getting up at 0715 is a little too much like honest work for SturmAntifa. Or maybe the 2 cop cars under the overpass or the 3-4 that cruised by the doctor’s office complex while we were waiting had something to do with it.

                I suspect all the free opposition campaign ad material had the City Council a little nervous, even though they never responded to my e-mail. Now to see if that’s a public record and if they kept it.

                1. The early hour and the cops won the day. Glad to see you on the other side.

    3. I have been wondering how long before flame projectors (not throwers… no gelled sticky-burning-stoff) will be affixed to vehicles to aid in clear roadways of thugs and assholes. It seems to be a matter of time, now.

      1. My feeling is that if you can get away with possessing those, you can get away with using other means of clearing roads. Other means including some that are more effective.

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