This Is The Alarm Bell

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

I have to explain first that I have no idea where my sudden insights come from, or my sudden certainties. Most of the time — as with “covid-19 isn’t nearly as dangerous as we’re being sold” — I have to do a deep dive to figure out if they’re even justified.

I’m not infallible — by any means — partly because often what I “sense” coming is derailed by oh, law enforcement; a sanity pill to the responsible on either side, etc.

However I’m more accurate than mere chance warrants.

I’d say the process is something like: Read everything (I have consumed 2 to 4 hours of “current events” every day for the last…. oh. 50 years or so. Granted most of those was MSM, so the most I got was “that can’t be true.” It often wasn’t. Anyway.) Throw it into the mulcher in back brain. From the mulcher, sometimes, at random, a certainty emerges.

I’ve been wrong. One of them was my conviction something would set something major off, in June of last year. It might have been personal anxiety ramping things up. Though to be fair, I did get a feeling it might be “the root cause” that happened that month. But I’m not even seeing that, in retrospect.

However, right now, through two different fannish networks (MY fans, so people with real jobs, okay?) I’m getting the equivalent of “I am a thirty second bomb.” Add this to the supply issues, and the alarm is going off at the back of my head.

I could be entirely wrong. Those of you who are in the diner on Facebook know there are personal factors at play too. (There might be a solution underway for that. We’ll see. But I don’t do well with time-sensitive things I can’t FIX.)

I can’t explain, and wouldn’t break confidence if I could, however this is the alarm bell I’m hearing, and I’m passing it to you wholesale:

Get any supplies you need to make sure you have one to two months at hand. Whether it’s enough, I don’t know, but if you need more than that, we’re in severe, severe trouble. All of us.

Make sure you have a fall back position and all your family/friends/dependents know where to go if they’re not there and things get rough.

Stay off large crowds and highways (long drives, not in city) unless it is important for you to do so. (Vital or purposes of cheering on, or support.)

Look, I don’t have time to do a deep dive and confirm the things I’ve been told. I just don’t right now, or for the next couple of weeks. BUT–

The Canadian truckers are having an impact. Their government is trying to be stupid in all the traditional lefty ways: police! Army!

If they set off anything that communicates here, OUR idiots are just as stupid (I think it’s impossible to be dumber than little Justin) BUT more self-confident and even more panicky.

Maybe this will pass us by without blowing up. Maybe the 30 second bomb is defective.

Maybe it isn’t.

Prepare for the worst. This is your alarm bell. Prepare so you don’t regret. If you live in a blue hive, planning to work remote for the month of March, if you can afford it, might not be a bad idea.

Again, I have a stress headache the size of the world, and this might be all internal pressure I mistake for external, but it doesn’t “feel” that way. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t give you warning.

Do not hurt yourself. I’m still hoping this is not the sh*t storm that looks like it’s building. But get ready to survive for a month or two. To the best of your ability.

And be not afraid.

444 thoughts on “This Is The Alarm Bell”

    2. …you know that that’s basically a filk of “Do You Hear The People Sing?” from the musical of Les Misserables, right?

      And considering it was one of the anthems of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong in 2014 before the Mainland went fell Mao on the city, I’m not so sure we need replacement lyrics.

    2. I did, too, before Hurricane Michael destroyed my house and the aftermath showed just how little interest my city/county/state/federal reps had in helping people who could give them no political leverage.
      By the Grace of G-d, I found a property for sale miles outside town, with an intact roof on a sturdy (if run down) house. I have lived there three years, now, and every day sees me more and more thankful for how far from a population center I am.
      (She says as she plans her outfits for attending Pensacon in two weeks…)

        1. My posts, alternatively, are taking forever to show up, if they show up, because I don’t know unless someone actually responds to one. Or they show up immediately. Not adding any links, Shouldn’t be controversial or with tagged words in them. WP being WP? Or????? (Cue Twilight Zone music.) 🙂

        2. WPDE!

          It’s been acting weird for a couple of months. Used to wuz, I clicked on the little ‘W’ symbol below the reply box, it logged me in, I could post, and it kept me logged in for a day or so.

          Starting sometime in December, clicking the ‘W’ still logged me in, but it sent me to another login page where I had to log in AGAIN before it would accept the post.

          Since last month, clicking the ‘W’ doesn’t work at all. I have to enter my E-mail address in the first box, THEN log in AGAIN on the login page. EVERY DAMN TIME.

          It also delays some replies for an hour or more, puts up later replies before the delayed ones, and occasionally it completely ‘forgets’ to put one up. And it’s a long time before I can tell whether it’s been delayed or ‘lost’.
          ———————————
          Candidate Joe Biden, August 2020: “We have assembled the most extensive, comprehensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.”

          Biden, minutes later: “What do you mean, I wasn’t supposed to say that?”

  3. A bit of the prepper mindset is never a bad thing. Keep a month of food in reserve, no big deal, right? Most of us do, to some extent. Got food covered? Stash of extra feed for your favorite bangstick is not a bad idea, either. Got that covered? Have a go bag for the house, car, so on. Stuff to get you where you’re going when things might get dicey. Might be protests, but more likely (if not in blue enclaves) there’s fire, flood, and other natural disasters to think of. Disaster plan, it can be fun. Having a place to evac *to* is important. Maybe multiple backup sites. Grandma’s place might be not the best location anyway.

    Have friends with similar interests. Maybe go camping together every now and then, practice those packing, travel, and mini-survival skills. Eat those preserved food supplies and rotate stock regularly- you don’t want to be stocked up with nasty food if a natural disaster cuts transportation lines or something! Morale loss from nasty food would be bad. Maybe you need a spice rack, too?

    You can learn to cook things from scratch. Granted, most of y’all already know how, but there’s habit formed skill and there’s the mastery that comes from stretching that skill. Flour, baking soda, and sugar last a long time. Alcohol, too. You can get #10 cans full of stuff that will last ’till your infant graduates med school if you want, but practicing scratch cooking regularly can be quite enjoyable. And mighty tasty indeed.

    Learning new stuff and going places, that’s good stuff right there. There’s skills other than cooking, camping, preserving food, and so on. Dealing with fire, weapon care and maintenance, shooting accuracy in all weather conditions, wilderness survival skills, boating, map reading, orienteering, shelter construction, finding water, threat assessment, canning (try not to poison yourself, mkay?), how to spot conmen and liars (subset of psychology, interesting and worth looking in to), study of local and US history, mechanics and home maintenance skills, archery, hunting, herbology, basic electricity for those solar panels if you go that route, physical fitness and proper nutrition (good for everybody, in fact), singing or musical instruments for moral support and good old plain fun, storytelling same, and so on.

    I mean, you don’t have to tell everyone you’re planning for the collapse (mini- or longer term) of civilization- and it doesn’t have to be that, at all. Wildfires happen. So do floods, and smaller more local disasters. You can be out of work due to illness or injury and have to fall back on your stored supplies to prevent going into debt. You can call it zombie apocalypse training, if you have kids. And really, becoming a more capable, tenacious and durable version of yourself isn’t a bad thing at all. If other people call you a crazy prepper, you can laugh maniacally when it actually happens and say “see? SEE? I *told* you all this would happen!”

    …Okay, maybe don’t do that.

    But getting yourself square away is a nice thing, anyway. Why not give it a try?

    1. “most of us do”

      no, most people don’t. most apartments dont even have the space for an extra month’s food.

      1. Depends on how creative you get. Two rows of cans can fit under most kick-spaces in the kitchen, not to mention the empty space inside the box spring under your mattress and inside the living room couch. Replace the end tables with full buckets with a tablecloth over them. And so on. Look up, look down, look around

        1. My apt is fairly normal sized to small, and I’ve got about 4 months worth of dry and canned goods tucked into 64 qt stackable plastic totes. Those babies can go above 6 feet high, stacked. There are maybe…. 25 of them? I think the trick is to use vertical space.

      1. Had a few ideas, then the ol’ brain stopped working well enough to word.

        Basically, there is a lot of strange evidence.

        1. How many months thereof do you think you have? I’ve 24 at least at this point.

          “The issue isn’t whether you’re paranoid, Lenny. I mean look at this shit. The issue is whether you’re paranoid enough.” -Max Peltier, Strange Days

          1. I actually first got a clue that something was really wrong back in November of 2018.

  5. This is not reassuring. One of my big worries the second half of last year was having the balloon go up while we were on the road to a convention (especially the Tampa show, which is a long way from home). We have one out-of-town convention in March, and another in April. All I can do now is hope that whatever happens, it does it before convention season starts again, or while we’re at home between shows.

    1. I wouldn’t worry so much about Tampa, as getting back up north. Atlanta under normal circumstances is dicey, if things go really pear shaped I’d stay a couple hundred miles from it. But if it came to it, I’ve spare food and water, and would welcome additional lookouts for long distance… dissuasion of people acting stupidly, and I’m a days walk from Tampa, if driving became impossible.

    2. I don’t have to go any distance until July, and God willing, there should be enough notice to get out of Flyover Falls. I’d hate to have to walk home; the 35 mile trek from Flyover Falls to home is considerably more than I’ve done in several decades.

      The situation at home should be OK; we’re too far away from the likely trouble spots to be of interest, and I think the town is a fairly hard target. I can think of one scenario where it could get nasty, but I think it’s a fairly low probability. Unlike cities, there’s enough protein on the hoof to make poaching worth it. (Not much cattle, but lots of venison. I’d be dubious about fish.)

  6. The Ottawa police are threatening the donors now. Interesting strategy since the donors are isolated and can be picked off. Threaten the people back home to weaken the resolve of the front line people. I suspect they won’t do anything though. The thing is that the local cops have to live among the protestors, which is why only the RCMP, who are strangers, have acted at all. Yes, the NYPD to its everlasting shame has moved against the people, but this is much bigger.

    I suspect the officers, whether police or army, are looking at the sergeants and wondering and the sergeants sre looking at the men and wondering. Will they fire if I order them to and who will they fire at?

    The politicians are lost in illusion I’m afraid.

    The wife is hopeful that this will be like the fall of the Berlin Wall or that the politicians will find a face saving solution. I’m much more gloomy.

    Several commentators have pointed out that the truckers out protesting is much better than the truckers staying home.

    F-cking idiots to get us to this point.

    Solidarność

      1. I think these are not the best examples of the RCMP in history. Like Constable Fraser says, “Where I come from, we don’t trust a man who leaves the house without a knife, a compass and some beef jerky.”

        1. Or to quote Fraser’s dad in his diary — “They say that every man has a price at which he’ll do anything. I’d like to think it’s the other way around. Every man has a line — a line he won’t cross over, no matter what the cost.”

          1. In Afghanistan (2019, Q1) I heard a politician with their army lament that money ruled all and that every man had a price. I made mental note that not all men have a price, but anyone who believes that every man has a price most certainly has one himself.

            Not that the man was corrupt– as far as I still know, he was one of the good ones– but he was by his own accidental admission corruptible. One needed only to find the right coin and raise the bid.

            1. My thought is “that everybody has a price” but “those who want to buy them may not want to pay the necessary price”.

              Remember Vir and his response to Morden’s question about “what do you want”. Morden (and his associates) couldn’t/wouldn’t give Vir “what he wanted”. 😈

                1. True, but it wasn’t from Morden (and his associates).

                  It was Londo’s doing. 😀

              1. I have made note of this quote for future reference and possibly to make use of in my own books. A very wise observation.

                In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes,

                This is a moral that runs at large;
                Take it. — You’re welcome. — No extra charge.

        2. “I first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of my father, and for reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture I’ve remained, attached as liaison with the Canadian Consulate.” 😉

          1. “We’ll have the element of surprise!”
            “But they can see us coming!”
            “Well, if you saw a sailing ship manned by Mounties bearing down on you, wouldn’t you be surprised?”
            “Not if I could see us coming!”

            1. LOL – I admit to a soft spot for that show (not the least because a good portion of my extended family hail from ‘up north’) – “You let a wolf save your life, and they make you pay, and pay…”

    2. As I remember, Solidarność shifted forward, back, and forward again in more than a wave or two. We might see the same things here, though gov’t forces have vastly more tools at their disposal now. Would impact planning and communication.

      1. Just so. Oddly, the best thing the Canadian authorities could do is let it fizzle out since the protestors have to earn a living and can’t stay their indefinitely. The problem is that They’re stupid, arrogant narcissists and the peasants have dared defy them.

        The real question is what will happen once the violence starts.

          1. Perhaps. Still the governments biggest advantage is that they have nothing but time. they get paid to stand there. The truckers gotta eat.

            I suspect that the politicians want violence now because they’re being defied but the people who have to mete out the violence don’t want to mete it out, hence the police chief in Ottawa making vague threats. he already lost the plot when he said that there was no police solution. Did he have a solution it would be done.

            Western provinces look to have already rolled over, only the liberal run provinces are holding on. I’m wondering which liberal politician will knife Trudeau in the back. So far, the Canadian swamp has been unanimous against the people but ambition may well prevail.

            1. The government’s logistics will crack long before the Trucker’s ever start feeling a strain.

              The only cards the Government has here are surrender to massive escalation.

              2. Again, perhaps. I agree the truckers can shut it all down but I think you underestimate the Davos man’s psychopathy. They don’t care if the people starve so long as they don’t.

                To that point, Psaki just claimed that lockdowns were a Trump thing. I think they’ve counted noses and are looking for a way out. None of them want to be Ceasescu. The Canadian Davos clique is floating the domestic terrorism thing but it really doesn’t fly when the truckers show films of little kids doing the Conga in the snow. if the truckers can hold the line we might be seeing the end of this thing.

                I think the fact that both my wife and Sarah woke up today with the feeling that something was happening and it might be world historic interesting. I’ve found that women’s intuitions are often very accurate. At least, one ignores them at one’s peril

                1. So…. find Hairboy’s dacha where he’s reportedly holed up, and surround it with trucks. Nobody in or out.

                    2. it was rather easy to guess when he made a big deal of remodeling the place with big picture spreads in the media then showed up outside said place. Biden’s fake Whitehouse office is more concealing.

                2. Does it have to be happening up North. Ever since I read that Soros is shorting Chinese investments I have worried. Putin has likewise put his army in a position to take advantage of the US being suddenly distracted with a Taiwan invasion. Both have better spies than I do.

              3. My gut feeling is that something major will happen, but we will come out of it well in the end….

            2. What are the victory conditions? Truckers are wanting to go back to work without needing a vaccination.

              Government victory condition probably isn’t killing the truckers then having someone else drive the trucks. Tow companies aren’t wanting to kill their own business by participating, at government behest, in what could be understood as massive truck theft. Stealing semis is probably the sort of reputation hit that means going out of business.

              Basically, we can estimate but not know the existing over or under supply of transport. If this really is 15% of Canadian trucks, and the American trucks aren’t breaking the strike, the week by week cost in eventual government tax receipts may or may not be calculable, but could be significant. Either way the taxes go, wealth destruction would manifest by a change in currency value.

              There is an actual time pressure on the government, and it is possible that nobody really knows what it is.

              If the truckers have time on their side in this way, rational answer might be folding to the truckers.

              If they do not have time on their side, rational answer is to try to string things out without getting their backs up with threats. You don’t want the truckers excited about their group identity, you want them, as individuals, wondering if the vax is so bad, etc.

              Going directly to talking about violence? This is emotional, and not disciplined.

              1. It was alleged on Twitter the Ottawa Police have asked people to stop calling 911 to ask where the Prime Minister is.

              2. American owner/operators aren’t going to be breaking that strike. That I firmly believe. Now, J.B. Hunt might *like* to, but finding the bodies and the rigs to do the job? That might be a problem.

                Of course, J.B. Hunt drivers often have trouble keeping the wheels on the bottom side, so that’s not their *only* problem…

                1. Truckers traditionally have been very hostile to strikebreakers, so I don’t many would risk it….

              3. “the week by week cost in eventual government tax receipts may or may not be calculable, but could be significant. “

                Significant to the citizens and country, certainly, but not to The Elite – they’ll just print more (and hope it works).

      3. On the other hand, Solidarnosc was trying to change the “normal”. The truckers are trying to get back to “normal”. This shouldn’t take nearly as long

        1. Normal for the normal. For politicians, massive loss of face and power, perhaps even permanently.

          1. If pedophiles blackmailed by the PRC, it would explain some of their desperation.

            1. This is what I’m wondering. China’s current government is a bit of a wildcard in the game – what will they do if their (apparently) bought and paid for pet government backs down and repeals the mandates and most onerous restrictions. Heck, even Quebec is easing off on some proposals and threats.

              1. The Chinese have been known to hand ineffective lackeys an anchor when they’ve been in thin ice.

                1. Assuming Canadian leadership (let’s call them loons for short) has been bought and paid for by CCP, their blackmail threat becomes ineffective if the loons risk losing power following the CCP script. Lose power if they obey, lose power if they don’t. But, the wild card is that there really is no accounting for stupid.

              1. The comment above about who gets aimed at by the shooters is a key point. I was in college for the (nominal) end of the Vietnam war, and didn’t serve, but I recall fragging being a thing. (A friend was in the army in the ’50s, and there were effective ways to make an unpopular NCO extremely uncomfortable, without getting lethal.) If the shooters are supposed to be going after their neighbors and friends, I’d hate to be an junior officer or NCO in the field.

                1. Yep. It’s an old thing. Hell, Xenophon talks about it. Too many people lack … imagination.

                  I remember watching on TV when Yeltsin climbed up on that tank. I asked one of my co-workers what color the shoulder boards were of the troops protecting him, I’m color blind, she told me green and I said “well he’s won then.” If I had a mike and that was already a thing I would have dropped it. The interior troops that were used to suppress the population wore green. Infantry wore red. If the troops that put down dissidence had turned, it was over for the commies.

                  Same thing with Khadaffi, same thing with Mubarak, Same thing with Commodus and Caligula for that matter. Once the troops won’t fire, it’s over for the tyrant.

                  National Post is reporting that the Canadian Army is refusing to intervene. Police can’t do anything. It’s spread widely throughout the provinces and polling shows the truckers are more popular then the libranos. Provinces are rolling over, US and Europe too. First slowly, then all at once. Biden is now blaming Trump for lockdowns and restrictions so they’ve begun to float the balloon.

                  If they hold the line over the weekend and the secret police don’t manage to manufacture an incident, this thing might be won.

              1. Real power requires that it be applied with considerable finesse.
                Most of the folks who lust after power treat it like it’s a sledge hammer.

                1. Where’s the thrill unless you can see the victims suffer? That’s why they lie so often, for the thrill of getting away with such blatant lies.

    4. GoFundMe is talking about donating all the money to a charity of their choice.

      Demand a refund. Or a charge back on your card.

      2. Report Fraud on your card on GoFundMe because they did not honor the item the charge was for. No different than if my utility took my payment and paid another account and not mine. Or if I’d donated a payment to a specific another account and they decided that account was not worthy of the donation. It is called Fraud. I mean if GoFundMe gets a fraud charge against a lot of Credit Cards or bank accounts …

        One question is any donations big enough to call Civil Theft Charges on by any one person? Is any donator a lawyer? Class Action.

        1. Nick Rekieta was reading the GoFundMe terms & conditions on Friday Night Tights a few hours ago. Something in there about mandatory mediation or arbitration (think it was the latter) for disputes. This came up with Patreon not that long ago also. The user disputing has to pay a fee (think it was $250 in GoFundMe’s case) but the company has to pay $2000 or so. When there was a big brouhaha with Patreon, a lot of individual contributors went the arbitration route individually (to run up the company fees), not as a group or class, and so far Patreon has paid over $2 million in fees and it’s still ongoing.
          Yes, file for a refund immediately. For starters. Make GoFundMe spend an unexpectedly large amount on managing that. Then if you can afford it go after them via the arbitration route. Pain is a good instructor.

          1. GoFundMe said donors only have until February 19 to request a refund, which of course doesn’t take all the power and Internet outages into account, much less the truckers on the road. Aren’t they special.

            The Freedom Convoy has established a new campaign on GiveSendGo, and they have a Rumble video talking about it, so you get the correct link.

              1. Everybody should demand a refund anyway. It will tie them up and use up their time. I think they are legally required to respond to every request for refunds.
                ———————————
                “I could be arguing in my spare time.”

              1. I suspect that their lawyers finally got through to management and explained what the penalties for fraud are.

                1. I rather suspect that the Powers-That-Be at Go-Fund-Yourself acted without consulting their legal department … and that when the house lawyers realized what had happened, their screaming would have pierced eardrumps.
                  Go Fund has basically killed themselves with this. I mean, those of us who paid attention knew that they played political favorites, and had a habit of cutting off those whose cause was insufficiently prog-approved. But now, everyone knows…

                2. The lawyers intervened too late. The attorneys general of at least seven US states – MO, TX, GA, FL, OH, LA and WV – have already announced intent to investigate GoFundMe for fraud over the Freedom Convoy funds. In Florida’s case, I think Gov. Ron DeSantis was the first US politician to call for an investigation.

                  I rather thought there was something funny about GoFundMe claiming they’d changed their minds due to “donor feedback.” Although I’m sure they got a LOT of that, too. Not to mention Elon Musk publicly calling them out as “professional thieves.” And lots of normies now know them as a bunch of crooked partisan hacks.

                  So GoFundMe – it should really be called “GoF**kYou” – just blew up its reputation once and for all and will probably be spending a lot of time defending itself in court. Meanwhile, last I’d heard the GiveSendGo account for the Freedom Convoy had already raised over $2 million and counting as of last night.

                  1. So. GoFundMe either doesn’t have the mechanism to shutdown people Adding donations, or they haven’t. So now they have MORE money, including donation fees, to refund, at their cost? Oh the stupidity irony (what else to call it?)

      3. For some reason, they’ve decided to directly refund. Perhaps the state AGs threatening to open fraud investigations has something to do with that. Or the people advocating disputing the charges with their banks and saddling them with extra fees.

  7. Need to go to the grocery and get stuff once the roads thaw this weekend.

    Fortunately, beans don’t seem to spike my blood sugar. Should get the stuff to try that Senate Beans with cauliflower recipe.

    1. Don’t let across the street neighbor fool you: he’s playing with is Bobcat in a socially approved manner. Bobcats are freaking fun. Don’t let anyone tell you different.

        2. I’m thinking back to the toy cap guns with the paper strips with small amounts of gunpowder. Costs a bit more to feed the adult versions!

            2. At this rate, the added cost of silver bullets would be trivial. 😛
              ———————————
              When police shoot violent criminals to protect innocent people, they are jackbooted fascist stormtroopers.

              When police shoot innocent people to protect corrupt politicians, they are National Heroes.

              1. I was really, really tempted when Larry Correia put out the run of .45ACP silver rounds. Hopefully he does it again sometime so I can grab a box. Or .223, or 10MM.

          2. Do they even sell those any more? After all, if somebody bought about a million caps and scraped the gunpowder out of them, they could make a bomb!

            The Democrats are endlessly inventive about taking away the people’s rights because of what they’re afraid somebody might do.
            ———————————
            ‘Progressives’ believe everybody else is even stupider than they are. This explains a lot.

            1. Looks like Tractor Supply still sells them. Looks like what I remember, I doubt there’s any way to substitute out the gunpowder.

              1. Back in the 70’s my brother and I combined our resources to buy enough caps to make a bomb. We were excavating a hole to the Earth’s core and were tired of digging.

                It didn’t work.

                But in our defense, it might have if we would have had more time to experiment. But dad observed that the hole was no where near the Earth’s core but it was about the right size for a double grave for anyone who continued said excavation in the middle of his garden plot.

                Hey, the ground was softer there and easier to dig and neither of us liked tomatoes anyway.

  9. I have a feeling that whether/how messy it gets will largely depend on the reaction of State Governors. Trump’s acknowledgement and encouragement of States Rights have even the prog Governors now used to taking charge when the Feds dither. It will be hard to undo that resurgence of federalism.

    Even the bad Governors are still politicians so they have at least some idea (or will be told by their longtime donors) of what they can get away with and what they can’t. IMHO, this will limit what you are warning about – maybe even avoid it entirely. But I’ve been wrong before and your advice is still good in uncertain times.

    1. Indeed – San Antonio is blueish, as are the other four big cities in Texas, but the rest of the state is solidly red – and our governor and legislature are still fairly sane.
      I think we’ll be OK here, in the long run, but my pantry is fully stocked, we have plenty of candles, lanterns, batteries and power sources and all of them are charged … still have to get another propane bottle, though,
      And a lot of my neighbors are retired or prior service military…

      1. San Antonio may well be bluish (I didn’t go downtown if I could help it), but Bulverde, Canyon Lake, New Braunfels, and Boerne seemed pretty solidly red when I was down that way. Austin was *definitely* blue, though. You could tell the Austin/Houston residents in the places I went. They stuck out.

        1. I hardly ever go downtown – mostly to take out-of-town visitors to the Alamo and Riverwalk – but the suburbs, especially towards the north are pretty solidly red, too. You cannot pitch a brick in any direction in San Antonio without hitting a military retiree, or active-duty, and until recently, that tended to keep the place pretty sane. Altho the militant Latino types did manage to elect the repellent Castro brothers to high office. Still, I think they burned most of their support among the local movers and shakers and monetary contributors with that stunt of naming and trying to shame local Trump contributors…

          1. Yeah that sounds like it’d go over like a lead balloon. There was very much a “don’t start none, won’t be none” sort of attitude when I visited.

        2. But then, you’re talking about Moscow on the Colorado. It’s blue but the surrounding suburbs turn Red pretty quick.

      2. Last night I ordered two more kerosene lamps (Want cheap? W.T. Kirkman has ‘Mason Jar’ lamps for $14.95 and the current deal is get a second one for $11.) and a candelabra (five candles is 4 more more candlepower than one… and tea lights can be used, can last quite a while, and are sold by the case). Also ordered a non-trivial amount of n-acetyl-l-cystine. Oh, and some spare (Dietz 76 compatible) Feuerhand 276 Suprax (borosilicate!) globes.

    2. I’m hoping Despicable Kate Brown (D-mented, Oregon) gets the clue-by-four. She seems to be going towards more tyranny due to the OMG-icron. If things go sideways, the manner in which she leaves office might be “interesting”.

  10. A little perspective: We all have our horrors to fear. Every generation.
    That said, There’s no question that we are headed for a reckoning. Who gets reckoned with remains to be seen.

  11. The newly declared Servant of God, Akash Bashir, acting as a volunteer security guard for his church in Pakistan, and blocking a suicide bomber with his body: “I will die, but I will not let you in.”

    His mother, who found him dead with his arm blown off: “Akash is our saint.”

    His brother: Currently acting as a volunteer security guard for that same church in Pakistan.

  12. I stuck a link to the Babylon Bee’s post about the workers of the world uniting in my Facebook feed. Hopefully it’ll influence someone for the better.

    I’m in a blue hive. I can’t work from home. I think I’ll be okay if things go sort of south, but variables are variables because, well, they’re variable and not constant.

    Is it safe here? For the moment. Will it be safe here? No idea. But I think I’m supposed to be here for the time being.

    2. Ditto for the Blue-Hive here. I’m fortunate to be 10+ mi away from the City proper, and I’ve thought some about various “get out of Dodge” plans. Like you, I have a sense that I’m where I’m supposed to be for the moment

      1. Perhaps someone must be there to rebuild something worthwhile from whatever form the wreckage takes? or to guide the shell shocked who finally wake up?

    3. It’s the best you can do. But you’re not likely to be safe there unless you’re in the outskirts of the Blue Hive. You really, really need a means to blow out of town and the ability and understanding to be able to support yourself in a rural condition set.

      IF it goes bad, it’s going to go really bad- and the thin, thin veneer of Civilization is going to peel off…masks off everyone and how much of an asshole can you REALLY be…

  14. When the lockdowns were prolonged indefinitely in April 2020, I predicted riots by July. They happened a month early, but I was expecting them to be “let us have our jobs back” riots, so I got the trigger wrong and therefore the direction the riots went. But I don’t think they would have happened without the lockdowns.

    1. The lockdowns probably meant that there were more people with time on their hands, and thus able to engage in “mostly peaceful” protests.

    2. Me too. I got that completely wrong. I did predict riots, but not the ones we got.

      I also predicted that inflation would pass. I’still think it’ll roll over before the end of this year, but so far my prediction isn’t looking good; though the investments based on it have worked out well since bonds and gold haven’t shown any inflationary impacts at all, which is why I’m still holding to that prediction.

      My error in both cases was around timing and the behavior of politicians. I do tend to be early, but I have to adjust my thinking to reflect the current Davos man consensus or my predictions will remain too early.

      1. Inflation is not going away soon. Apart from the government spending we knew about, the fed has been “loaning” money to the banks every week for a couple years. More than the already acknowledged (30 trillion) national debt was pumped out there. That’s going to fuel inflation for quite a few years.
        As long as we avoid collapse, investments in companies that make always in demand stuff will do better than money in the bank will. I think gold will eventually rise due to the inflation (barring new sources – asteroid mining could change things a lot), but it’s been delayed by money going into cryptocurrency instead. We’ll have to wait and see about (non-government) crypto – could be boom, bust or just a convenient alternative…

        1. I argued this out earlier this year. It got rather heated so Id rather not go though the whole thing again. My fault, I shouldn’t have brought it up. I did because I made two predictions, one completely wrong and the other not looking good.

          Yes, there’s been Federal spending and that’s some of this. However, you have to subtract the lost output caused by the lockdowns. Essentially the Fed spending and the lost spending is a wash. badly allocated, yes, but a net wash. Had the Biden plan gone through things would have been different, but it didn’t so they aren’t.

          As for the Fed. What the Fed has done is try to replace the bank lending that’s been lost because the banks don’t want to lend on anything other than the best collateral and there’s a shortage of that since only on the run US Treasuries will do.

          For the rest, the Fed has issued Bank Reserves and bank reserves are not money, yes they show up in M2, but calling them money doesn’t make them so. the theory is that bank reserves are money because there is an infinite supply of willing, creditworthy borrowers. Since there isn’t, bank reserves are not money. The reason there isn’t an infinite supply is, I believe, demographic, What the Fed is doing is trying to keep nominal growth in deflationary environment. they’ve been doing this since 2008. It’s called pushing on a string.

          Two charts to look at on FRED, the FRB Data site. First is Cash Assets for Commercial Banks. What you’ll see is all the FRB’s bank reserves are sitting unused on the bank’s balance sheet. the second is the labor force for ages 25-54. What that shows is a very clear slowdown in prime productive people. Add to that that the US has the best demographics — UN Has the data but China is the poster child — and the whole GDP growth and productivity growth narrative begins to wither.

          lastly, implied inflation rates via TIPs, interest rates generally, and the price of gold are not showing, and have not showed, any expectation for long term inflation. What they show is a rebound in the price of oil, it was negative in 2020 remember? And supply issues generally. Again the data are there, you just have to look. These are the largest, most liquid markets on the planet. If they’re not looking for sustained inflation, it ain’t there.

          Nope. The increase in prices is a supply issue. You have an exogenous shift in the supply curve with a steady demand curve, hence higher prices. Once supply comes back on line the prices will drop. Cobweb theorem. I think it all comes down to oil and Biden constraining production for the greenies. We were a net exporter of oil under Trump.

          You need to get behind the headline numbers since those are manipulated to hell and gone. Today’s jon report is a great case in point. It was blow out headline growth with an actual reduction in jobs. Everything was seasonal adjustment. Further, as far as jobs is concerned, the lockdowns never happened, they’ve adjusted it all away.

          Again, I’m sorry as brought it up. MY ADD gets out of hand some times.

          1. I’ve been reading the Market Ticker’s blog lately, and he has been pointing out that the out of norm deaths have also been heavily in the productive workers age range. I’m also seeing indications that white collar corporations are not able to get employees. If you think the bonuses are surprising for fast food workers, the ones for mid-career engineers are positively eye-popping.

            I’m also noticing a lot of the areas I’d hang out online have had significant drop-offs in activity since the lock downs started.

            I suspect in addition to the raw population loss, we may also be seeing people simply shutting down due to lack of human contact.

            1. It’s a real mess and the really scary thing is the US is in the best shape. China fuggedaboutit.

              1. I’m just surprised that China hasn’t started to really fall apart yet. Beijing can’t hide it fallen apart. And when that goes, it’s going to be insane.

                (How insane? I’m already thinking of a particularly nasty near-future timeline where 2070 Japan has an increase in population. Why? Well, for about $100,000 in cash, the Tongs and the yakuza have surgeons that can make Han Chinese look Japanese and have a nice, clean Family Record-as long as they speak and stay Japanese. Even with a one in five fatality rate and a lot of the girls doing “massage work,” it’s better than mainland China. It’s that bad…)

                1. A lot of Chinese have been trying to buy land in Japan, even though most of the land in Japan is mountainous and back in the waybacks. And sure, some of that was Chinese companies acting as a front for Beijing, or money laundering — but all the vacation homes that nobody would rent, because they’re really in the waybacks?

                  Oh, I think a fair number of mainland Chinese really want a bolthole, and anime and manga has made Japan seem like a fairly desirable place to live.

                  And of course a lot of the same for individual (as opposed to corporate) real estate purchases in the US and Canada, or places like that.

                  1. My logic was based upon “mainland China is bad within a day’s travel by car from the coasts. It’s worse more than a day’s travel from the coast by heavily armored convoy.” What the criminals were offering was a chance to get out, stay out, and never come back to the country. For a people that ethically proud (mainland Chinese are some of the most racist people I’ve ever met), can you imagine how bad it is for them do literally forsake everything? On the scale of beating their kids bloody if they speak too much Mandarin?

                    …yea, China is having it bad in this timeline.

                  2. That’s…. hm.

                    It must be really bad for anyone Chinese to actually want to take refuge in Japan.

                    But maybe the younger generations genuinely don’t care about the centuries of bad blood.

            2. If you can’t get the goods from overseas, so you decide to reshore, then you suddenly need engineers and blue collar workers that you didn’t think you needed two years ago. The labor pool cannot magic up replacements in a month, a quarter, a year, or even a couple of years.

                1. ^^this. There were a lot of people, mostly women, on the margin who didn’t net that much with their jobs when you take out child care, elder care, commuting, and the unpaid work at home that still needed to be done by someone, who were forced not to work and the family came to realize that that second job really didn’t contribute much in terms of income and cost a lot in terms of wear and tear. They aren’t ever going back, at least not until the kids are out of the house.

                  1. “Mostly Women”. Know a few men who are the ones staying home, instead. A few more where grandparents are stepping in. At least two couples where, rather than grandparents downsizing, they’ve gone to a multi-generational household, with younger families moving in. Or both households selling and replacing with single house with inlaw apartment. This doesn’t count those who can, who have given up an non-home based office. One solution my niece has considered is “Shared Neighborhood Nanny”.

                    1. That’s what my son is doing. His wife works in the office of a medical clinic, and he stays home with her 2 boys. After the one mRNA shot clears itself from her system, they hope to have another child together. *crosses fingers for them*

    3. The riots were supposed to happen at the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee when Bernie wasn’t nominated. That’s what Antifa was prepared for — the bricks and everything. But the convention announced that it would be virtual and a target of opportunity arose in Minneapolis.

  15. Granted, I’m very much an outsider looking in from a looooooong way off, but I don’t think Li’l Fidel has the cajones to invoke the War Measures Act like his Old Man did. My understanding was that Trudeau Sr. had widespread public support when it came to invoking the WMA, because Trudeau Sr. invoked the WMA against a militant separatist group that had already undertaken multiple voilent terrorist actions. Li’l Fidel has no such public support, and the truckers haven’t even come close to the actions of the FLQ, no matter how desperately the media tries to convince people otherwise. And using troops to violently break up an unarmed protest is bad optics no matter how you try and spin it.

    That said… if something does kick off, it needs to hold off for at least a week until I can get back home and back to my freedom seed dispensers.

  18. I am seeing at least one report of the Canadian military telling Trudeau “yeah… not gonna do it.”

    1. The truckers belong to the same population the army draws its troopies from. Hard to go out and shoot Gordy you played Junior hockey with back in Moosejaw. That’s why tyrants need foreigners.

    2. The same will be true in the US, if it ever comes to that. Police and National Guard will not use force against their neighbors, especially when they are reminded that “just following orders” is not a defense and that their neighbors know where they and their families live. Some regular units might be loyal to the regime, but if it ever were to come to that, there would be mutinies and desertions en masse.

      1. And, that’s where the Entrenched Leftists made their Big Mistake. They used the state National Guards for extended tours overseas. They provided them with extensive military experience, left the Guard units with a hellaceously big supply of trucks, munitions, and other assorted goodies – ALL on the Fed dime. And, all of it useable by those same NG individuals.
        The Guard are embedded in their communities. The poor treatment of the wounded vets after their service rubbed the locals wrong – VERY wrong. They are extremely unlikely to side with the Feds and the “Urban Youth” over the people. Expect them to either stand down, make themselves scarce, or actively join up with any Resistance.

        1. Built contacts with the active duty guys– especially when they saw Guard getting screwed over.

          Not just locals were sending care packages, *active duty families* sent care packages to guard units….

      2. Well, we’ve seen all the attempts to defund local police departments, and now to provide them with federal funding. The Fibbies and other agencies are getting excessively involved in local law enforcement — harassing parents as ‘domestic terrorists’ for standing up for their rights against school boards and unions.

        Are we seeing a creeping nationalization of the police?
        ———————————
        The one thing we need more of from the government is LESS!!

        1. That was probably Step II of the ‘defund the police’ plan. Step one, remove police; step two, replace them.

          Trump being so very careful to keep *precisely* in line with justifications for going in and enforcing the law when they had rock-solid legal standing seems to have made that not work very well at all, especially when state police and suburb police departments didn’t fall all over themselves to, say, go support Portland or Seattle’s insanity.

          Garland ordered the FBI to investigate parents for terrorism ties– I haven’t heard of it going any further than the Secret Service having to investigate Eminem did. (IE, even the stupid claims have to be investigated.)

          The rape victim’s father, who was arrested at a school board meeting for objecting to the cover-up, was arrested by either *the school district police*, or the city police; last I heard, they were still screaming at eachother about which one it was that actually did so.

          The DOJ letter:
          https://www.justice.gov/ag/page/file/1438986/download

          And, of course, infamously, turns out that the letter calling parents domestic terrorist was *requested* by the DOJ, so they could respond to it…..

            1. That would be the request I misattributed to the DOJ.

              The education secretary requesting it makes it a little less stupid-and-evil, but not by much– makes it clear that it was a bigger and more organized attack, too.

              1. Well, apparently it was DoE and DOJ deciding to do this, then DoE contacting the front group to insert “plausible deniability” for DoJ.

          2. They’ve been accomplishing step one since the Obama Admin and earlier: Anti-police group brings “civil rights case” against a Left controlled city in front of a Left judge; “consent decree” is signed off on giving Fed oversight, and voila. See Chicago, NYC, etc.

            1. And folks not only noticed, but *made jokes about*, how much worse the police in those “kinder, gentler” policing cities were.
              And people moved to nearby towns that didn’t have insane leadership.

              And the neighboring towns got *practice* in telling the twits to go jump in the lake.

  20. I’m guessing that our house in our red state little forest town will be the refuge that our city slicker loved ones will try to head for if need be.

    I best get all the yarn off the guest beds and clean the downstairs bathroom. Just in case we get company. After first Friday Mass this afternoon, I’d better take a quick inventory of the reserve pantry. I could probably feed a couple dozen for a week or three. But maybe not a whole month.

    1. our red state little forest town will be the refuge that our city slicker loved ones will try to head for

      Now is the time to tell them, tactfully, that if they come, they’d better bring a week’s worth of chow per head with them.

      1. Week’s worth of food per head?

        Naw. Even though they are all have a hand-raised homeschooled background, they are a bunch of snot nosed liberals. I’ll tell them to bring their wheel barrows full of money and they can go out and forage for supplies in the socialist utopia they have so devoutly wished for.

        Maybe they’ll learn from experience where my warnings didn’t sink in. Experience keeps a dear school but some people can learn from no other.

        Or as Dr. Laura used to say, “Some people just need to pee on the electric fence for themselves”.

    1. These senators will never learn.

      Heads on pikes is too good for them.

      Scan that Bob from NSA. I know you’re reading this.

      1. Please understand that I was brought up to, quite literally, spit when this man’s name was mentioned. that said, no one has ever said it better:

        Cromwell (spit) to the Rump Parliament 20 April 1653

        “It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

        Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

        Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

        Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

        I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

        Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

        In the name of God, go!”

  23. Granted most of those was MSM, so the most I got was “that can’t be true.” It often wasn’t. Anyway.

    Heh, Gaslight Triggers Superpowers.

    (All I got was a tendency to be able to guess what, if it was there, they’d be hiding– so I can go look for it. Keep finding it, too.)

    1. Somebody tried “weaponized niceness,” on Larry Correia on Twitter. Asked “the ag people,” not to use the term, “city folk,” because it felt pejorative and increased the spirit of division.
      Larry answered about the way you’d expect. But I thought of you; it was a perfect example of trying to use people’s goodness against them.

      1. …. My *grandmother*, of nuclear grade politeness, would’ve responded… ah… strongly to that, I am too spooked to find out how Larry responded, other than in the negative!

        Thank you. It’s good to hear others are watching for these tricks. 😀

        1. Profane refusal. I added a response to her original tweet listing the pejorative we regularly see and noted “city folk,” was quite mild. And that she was being manipulative.

      2. Someone trying that on ILOH must not know him well, be seriously stupid, have serious balls, some of the above, or all of the above!

  24. Jeremiah. Isaiah. Hoseah. None of those guys knew where the word came from, but they got it, and their job was to spread it far and wide.
    Thank you, Sarah.

    1. OTOH, Jonah knew exactly where the word came from…and ran as hard as he could in the opposite direction.
      He got the job done, but…

      1. Three days in the belly of the whale seems like a best case scenario to get through this.

        We will see how long it takes for people to get a clue who’s in charge THIS time.

  25. In the signs and portents category, the Reader finds it interesting that this week that the New York Times started a Freedom of Information Act action with the State Department over emails relating to Hunter Biden and Ukraine and the Atlantic published an article savaging Biden’s handling of Afghanistan. The Reader figures if we now see an article in the MSM criticizing the handling of the border the cock will have crowed three times and the knives will be out for Biden.

    1. Vindman is suing Donald Trump, Jr, Rudy and two others, claiming they violated the Klu Klux Klan Law of 1871 (no, really) by trying to “intimidate,” him ino leaving his job. The article is in the Federalist, and as they point out, discovery could be very interesting. I wonder if that’s part of the reason for the renewed interest in Hunter.

      1. Methinks that act would apply directly to Vindman and his actions re Trump. Vindman should have been court-martialed. And the people who put a native Ukrainian speaker on the Ukrainian desk in violation of all known security procedures should be routed out and assigned to a one man weather station in the Arctic.

    2. Biden is now disposable. He’s not actually in control of anything, and the regime is looking for a token action to deflect criticism. I think they imagine that if he’s pushed out, he’ll carry the public’s anger and disappointment with him.

      Their problem is who they would bring in. Ms. Harris can’t carry the load, so they need a new V.P. to manage the administrative tasks and corral the mental squirrels.

      2. I have been predicting that President Harris will name as senior advisors Hillary and Obama. Hillary will run the government, Obama will run politics, and Harris will do the ceremonial duties. They will be called “co_presidents,” and no one will dissaude the media from using that term. Commies love troikas for transitions.

        1. I favor her naming someone none of us have ever heard of. Someone who will be presented as a “moderate technocrat,” a “caretaker,” without political ambition whose main qualification is his competence and loyalty to the Democratic party. You know, like a general secretary.

    1. Income is income, even if temporary. If you can at least stash away a little cash, and pay down a few bills to buy breathing space before something happens, you’re still ahead.

  27. Perhaps matters aren’t quite heating up as fast in Canada as it might seem from other things we hear. A story (obviously independent journalism, so YMMV) linked from Uncover DC’s “The News of Today is the History of Tomorrow” column says Trudeau now says Canada will NOT escalate to military force against the Ottawa trucker protest… says one story, in a context where the “fog of war” (even without the war) is almost a given, see below.

    However, it’s also near obvious that the moments (not likely to be only one of them) people like Trudeau (i.e. central planning, command and control, “rational management” and “Great Reset” junkies) realize they’re simply not as in-control as they believe — that an elected position does not come with Instant Despot Cred, but is actually supposed to be a real position of service — are going to be dangerous ones for everybody.

    Probably most so for them; but still, dangerous all around. And signs are that some in Ottawa (and Washington, and…) are about due for an epiphany.

    (Meanwhile, “the King has fled the capital!” was never a good sign in the old days… and I mean most of all for the King.)

    Story (long excerpt) begins:

    Justin Trudeau, hobbled Canadian prime minister who went into hiding in the face of a Freedom Convoy movement spreading across the country, ended speculation that the nation was considering military intervention.

    “One has to be very, very cautious before deploying the military in situations engaging Canadians,” Trudeau said.

    “This is not something we’re looking at right now. There is no question of sending in the army,” he told reporters.

    “More than 200 trucks and other vehicles have been blockading downtown roads in the nation’s capital since last Friday in what is an unprecedented protest by Canadian standards,” Reuters reported.

    “The city’s police chief, under fire for a passive response by officers, on Wednesday said using the military was an option,” the report added.

    The Freedom Convoy that has swept over much of Canada was reported earlier to be facing potential military intervention.

    “Canada’s military may need to be deployed to clear Ottawa of protesters from the self-described ‘Freedom Convoy’ of truckers and their supporters opposed to coronavirus vaccine mandates,” WaPo reported, citing the city’s chief of police.

    Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly said menacingly that “every single option” is being considered to end the “intolerable, unprecedented” protests against immoral vaccine mandates and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    The police chief admitted that such extreme action would “come with massive risks.” But he added, without providing credible evidence, that “the range of illegal, dangerous and unacceptable activities is beyond the ability to list.” On Friday, Sloly demanded that the truckers “remain peaceful.”

    From: beckernews dot com slash trudeau-military-43955/
    Via: uncoverdc dot com slash 2022/02/04/the-news-of-today-is-the-history-of-tomorrow-february-4-2022/

    1. Trudeau is as vile as his father, but thankfully far less competent and more cowardly

    2. the range of illegal, dangerous and unacceptable activities is beyond the ability to list.

      Exactly right. You can’t list what hasn’t happened.

  28. As up here where I live on top of the world, we have only two roads, that don’t deadend, out of town and only two roads out of the state, those go through Canada, many of us have learned to be reasonably self sufficient with enough on hand to get by months or more.

    I can see two years of reasonable comfort for me and mine, no matter what, & if we can’t build a longer future within such, I’d be surprised.

    As Sarah says, keep your stuff where you can find it in the dark, as Ol’ Remus, may he rest in peace, said, avoid crowds, and I add, learn to do, to make do, to improvise.

    Franky if you keep such in mind, I’m pretty sure you’ll be right, mate!

    1. If things get bad enough, long enough, I’ll have to learn to poach hunt*. OTOH, there’s a fair number of neighbors and friends, of which a few are likely willing to teach. At least, if I don’t try for mutton on the hoof. (Cattle in [redacted] Valley have largely been replaced by sheep and goats.) If the venison isn’t cleared out, that’s an option.

      (*) Not in sufficiently good enough condition to want to do it for recreational meat gathering.

      1. ” Not in sufficiently good enough condition to want to do it for recreational …”

        Hunting from a stand, rather than stomping and tracking, is usually more productive for the effort if you get an understanding of the game’s movement.

        I’d hunted with an Eskimo buddy that could track 5 caribou for 15-20 miles. I also learned from him that one can often find a point where the terrain funnels them right to you & you just sit back drinking a spot of tea waiting for them.

      2. My 84 year old Aunt, and 86 year Uncle, got deer tags this last fall, La Pine unit (I think). Aunt got hers out their backdoor; 40 acres on La Pine Creek.

        1. Maks me think about the Far Side cartoon where two guys are fishing with mushroom clouds in the background and one says to the other, “You know what this means, Norm? No size restrictions and screw the limit!” It was a nuclear weapons double entendre, of course, but sometimes Larson was prescient.

        2. I can take a hint. 🙂

          One neighbor couldn’t get deer tags for our area, and struck out for the elk he was hunting. There is a small (2 dozen or so) herd of mule deer that hangs out on the ranch south of us, though that’s awfully close to $TINY_TOWN. Haven’t noticed much deer sign this winter; not sure what’s going on with them.

          1. In all seriousness, check your local laws. In AR (unchanged AFAIK since 1983), there was an “open season” exception for animals that are “destroying crops on farms or gardens”, and my grandparent’s (half an acre) garden qualified.

            I’d estimate that my grandfather was supplying venison to half a dozen families if they needed it. Currently in TX, those donations would have to be documented, which is why I say again, check your local laws.

            1. My great-uncle who had 80 acres of the old homestead. Oregon has (had? We camera hunt, no season) the same laws. Now he grew up in an era of no season, no limit, no age limit. They needed meat, they went hunting, starting young. Took him a bit to get on board with the game laws, but he found an out. They kept large hay and gain field, and huge garden, with a very, very, tall deer/elk fence, close to the house. Someone needed meat? Leave the garden open, oops.

              My cousin has a farm that their son manages. Not sure which field they found the fawn in (left it alone for 24 hours, mom never returned, she was born where they found her) that they raised this last summer. She roams the property, coming in for a occasional bottle, or did last July.

              1. We, as in hubby, son, and I, never got into hunting as a family. Hubby and I hunted with our families as teens, and our extended families still hunt (his brother may not anymore, IDK). When we were first married we would have had to purchase out of state licenses to continue to hunt with either my family or his. Plus given how vacations worked for his job, he could never get the time off during deer or elk season, until very late in his career The western Oregon weekend hunting area was lost when dad had his stroke (Dad had hunting rights on the old homestead, until he died. Current owners revoked the right. Could have gone to court … But area is way, way, overgrown, and with dad’s stroke …) Then, and now, a tag isn’t guaranteed. We’d rather do something else with vacation time … I know, I know, get rhyme and verse from my family … Shocking, Sacrilege! We do love a good venison or elk steak, when we can get it.

            2. I’ll have to check. Oregon isn’t very hunter or farmer friendly (hell, the idiots think the food comes magically to the supermarket), so I wouldn’t count on an exception, but it would be worthwhile. OTOH, if it comes to the point where the local herd is being hunted, it’s desperate times.

              1. Food does come from the supermarket. It just doesn’t do so magically. One has to ask “And where does the supermarket get food from? And where do the distribution warehouses get food from? And where…?”

                Also, of course, “Why is it important not to inflict random harm on this ‘supply chain’ thing?”

                The global supply chain isn’t selfish individualism; it’s the biggest example of peaceful human cooperation ever. And the usual suspects hate it, because reasons feelz.

  29. Students in Oakdale are walking out to protest mask mandates. The European countries our socialists keep saying we should emulate are dropping their mandates. Johns Hopkins released a report saying that the lockdowns didn’t prevent many deaths. Oh, and Michael Avenatti (remember him?) has been accused of stealing $300K from Stormy Daniels (remember her?), joining the growing ranks of fallen leftist exemplars of virtue.

    Glenn Reynolds is fond of saying that anything that can’t go on forever won’t. We’re entering the “won’t” phase now.

      1. That might be what’s causing the tipping point. People have realized that a trucker strike against an unpopular position can force the government to sit up and take notice.

        There have been numerous big protests before. But the government could always call in the cops to disperse the protesters one way or another. You can’t exactly do that if your protesters are hundreds of people all driving big rigs. Even if you arrest all the drivers, you’ve still got trucks blocking the streets and highways. And even if the government decides to arrest everyone anyway, they’ve just crippled their country’s logistical network.

        1. People are realizing that they aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed how stupid things have gotten.

          1. He’s keeping quiet, as I think he should. He doesn’t need to say anything. And if he did specifically call for action, his political enemies would use it to try and arrest him and charge him with treason, or something similarly nonsensical.

        3. ” You can’t exactly do that if your protesters are hundreds of people all” supposed to be delivering the goods that Justin expects to eat at his favorite restaurant, or use to heat his home.

      2. I wonder if he’ll let drop what he knows about who his backers were. I find it very odd how Avenatti and Maxwell have kept schtum about the other people involved. Arkancide i suspect. Still, I can’t see him doing 20 years for ripping of a hooker without trying something.

        1. I don’t think Avanetti was involved in the various conspiracies to do in Trump. He’s a thieving lawyer who needed money (to repay client money he’d stolen), and saw an opportunity with Ms. Daniels. She eventually discovered he’d taken money that was owed to her, and filed a complaint with the police.

          Apparently he’s got at least a couple more similar criminal cases against him waiting for court time.

        2. I’ve seen speculation that he was funded by the Queen of Arkancide. OTOH, with Maxwell, it’s worth looking into her father’s background, particularly before he got into the news business. Some indication Epstein’s operation was an intelligence driven honeypot with creepy overtones. Really creepy.

  30. I feel like we got to Texas in the nick of time. I have much lower stress levels even as I do more prep. I have been telling all friends and family that we have a guest room. Hopefully it won’t be needed except to host folks on vacation. But they know it’s here.

  31. Well, for Christians, we’re getting close to Lent (already!). It’s supposed to be a time to fast from something, and/or to add a devotion or charitable thing, and to prepare for Easter. Granted, Himself doesn’t have to stick with the liturgical calendar (I mean, He’s the Editor, and editors get to change deadlines on us poor writers.)

    1. I’d like to give up the Biden Administration for Lent. Oh wait, that’s right, the thing we give up is supposed to be a sacrifice, not a blessing …

      1. I’m fine with sacrificing the Biden Regime. Fly ’em out to Hawaii and toss ’em in the volcano?

  32. Uhhhh…Point of Order? Basset and I were predicting the shit storm for 20yrs or so. If basset were still alive and sane…I suspect his only surprise would be that it took this fucking long.

  33. Think about being a Canadian cop… Patrolling the great plains in a dinky little sedan or SUV. If you harm or kill protesting truckers how are you going to feel every time you pass a big truck going the other way out in the middle of nowhere? Well, that’s one more that didn’t swerve into my lane head on. Time after time.

  34. Shock of the week. Hubby “You need to know how to transfer money out of the retirement accounts.” Um, wait … no I don’t, he isn’t going anywhere. Well his golfing trip mid March, into April. But that isn’t new.

    (Reality check. The hard part is done.)

    The problem is him mentioning the possibility.

    No Dear. You do not have one foot on a banana peel and the other on the edge of a grave. Anything related to the outside world we will handle together just like we have for 43 years and counting.

    1. It doesn’t matter how good a shape your husband is in. There is always the proverbial getting run over by a truck.

      Both spouses should know how to access all the accounts just in case. I have a very long detailed instruction letter that I update whenever things change.

      Once in awhile I tell my wife “Okay, log into $account without any assistance from me other than the instruction letter.” There’s usually something I have to clarify no matter how many times we’ve done this.

      1. Agree. But it never come up. Because we are both competent on the computer. And yes. I need to update the instructions on all the sites and passwords I use. Some can just go away from lack of use.

  35. Two items from my area. One, the older, very black man in the commissary, moving like a man in pain, with a phone/radio giving out a continual stream of covid guidance. Dystopian as all get-out.
    Second, the truck I saw on the way put of town. On one corner, “Let’s Go, Brandon!” and in the center, the words suggesting sexual activity with JB, formed into a stylized hand, middle finger extended.
    Hmm.

  36. And here I am in the middle of a move. 80 acres of trees, hills and a creek, and I’m half the US away!
    Grr.

  37. Just as an interesting tidbit for emergency food supplies. Passover is coming in a couple of months. So cases of matzo (unleavened bread) are going to start showing up at the stores where the Jews in your community shop. The sole ingredients of matzo.are flour from one of the five biblical grains (no additives) and water. The mixture is baked to complete dryness in less than 18 minutes at Temps in excess of 800F. Put in waxed cardboard boxes of about a pound, which are wrapped in waxed paper, packed 5 boxes to a case overwrapped in more paper. Here’s the thing. If “package integrity” is maintained, the FDA estimated shelf life exceeds the current duration of our civilization. Possibly the cheapest, least conspicuous, prepper source of carbs around. Available in whole grain versions.

  38. I imagine that the *title* of this post has Ms. Hoyt’s current assigned monitor (of whatever flavor of Fed) agitated. 😉

  39. I have the car prepped, if it becomes necessary I can be out of here in ten minutes. Load the gas cans, the seeds, and all the food I can fit in my little car, and gone. I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope to sell the house and move at my own pace.

    We’ll see. He has a plan.

    Last week I got that compressed, antsy, breathless, almost explosive feeling of something big coming. I can’t say anxious, the word doesn’t cover it. I have to move, I can’t sit still, I want to do something to fix the problem but with no idea what the problem is…

    It passed within a few hours but I still feel the pressure of a massive change coming.

    1. “(I amar prestar aen.)
      The world is changed.
      (Han matho ne nen.)
      I feel it in the water.
      (Han mathon ned cae.)
      I feel it in the earth.
      (A han noston ned gwilith.)
      I smell it in the air.”

      Galadriel’s prologue to the LotR Fellowship of the Rings movie.
      There are things that you feel in your body, that go deeper than words.

    2. Every time I read about the Dems insanity when it comes to Iran I wonder who they bought. I still think there’s a good chance it was Obama. He could very well be directing this latest bit from his mansion.

        1. Oh, I think he was originally a Soviet construct. But what happens to a construct when the constructors implode? You’ve seen TELEFON, right?

    1. Go Fund Me’s sending the money to a charity they chose rather than to the intended recipients or refunding it to the donors is outright theft and they should, but won’t, face criminal prosecution. I have no doubt that they acted at the request of the Canadian and US governments, as we see daily calls from both governments to silence dissent and punish the dissenters. Fascism in action.

      1. As I think I said earlier, what seems to have given GoFundMe the fig leaf was the Ottawa City Council floating the idea of simply seizing the money (civil asset forfeiture, anyone?) to “cover policing costs”.

      2. GiveSendGo is billing itself as the current alternative (they handled some of the more, er, cancelled people), and Gab is working on GabPay. IIRC, they pretty well had to buy a bank to get money transferred to them.

      5. The West Virginia Attorney General made an announcement that he was displeased with GoFundMe’s behavior, and invited any residents of the state encountering such fraud or theft by GoFundMe to file a complaint with his office. I’m not sure if he was the only one, but I think fears of such are what encouraged GoFundMe to go the refund route.

        1. Governor DeSantis announced a criminal investigation by Florida into GoFundMe and apparently it was this announcement which resulted in GoFundMe promising to refund money to the donors without asking.

            1. Good on Governor DeSantis and AG Paxton. I wish my AG or governor would be as outspoken.

                1. What are they going to do when the jails are full of these ‘extremists’? They can only arrest a limited number of people, and look like a bunch of ass-clowns while they’re doing it.
                  ———————————
                  ‘Progressives’ will do the wrong thing just because the people they hate do the right thing.

    1. I’m not watching the Olympics, but apparently China dug up an alleged Uyghur to light the Olympic torch. And apparently Savannah Guthrie said on the air that this showed as how China was innocent, and everybody talking about concentration camps was just a lying meaniepants.

      She’s a child of politicians and journalists, married to a child of politicians and journalists, IIRC. And her expensive education obviously did her no good.

  43. .
    My biggest concern is that none of the Co-ops have any seed, everything is just in time shipping crap.
    Few had fruit or nut trees this fall or now.

      1. https://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/pan_in_vermont.html

        “Serene, assenting, unabashed, he writes our orders down: –
        Blue Asphodel on all our paths – a few true bays for crown –
        Uncankered bud, immoral flower, and leaves that never fall –
        Apples of Gold, of Youth, of Health – and – thank you, Pan, that’s all….

        He’s off along the drifted pent to catch the Windsor train,
        And swindle every citizen from Keene to Lake Champlain.
        But where his goat’s-hoof cut the crust – beloved, look below –
        He’s left us (I’ll forgive him all) the may-flower ‘neath her snow!”

    3. The time to order your seeds was last month. Put in any order NOW. Overorder. Buy heritage seeds, and get the books on how to save seeds.
      While you are at it, stock up on canning jars and lids. Today.

  44. I don’t know if even the majority of truckers understand the leverage they have on Brandeau, Brandon and their fellow busybodies, in terms of passive Irish democracy.

    The government does not “own” truckers. It can’t arrest them all. – not even close – but they can find other places to do business than in the urban feedlots.

    All the truckers need to do, if things begin to get hot, is leave the urban areas. After all, between COVID and crime, most of them could be considered unsafe these days.

    And stay out of them, for at least “nine meals”.

    The government and its guns will then have other concerns to focus on. OTOH any attempt to force enough truckers to return will reinforce the truckers’ message, that the government is embracing tyranny in its self-righteousness. The Tarkin Effect becomes significant.

    Of course, this is why we need to seriously consider these words from our hostess here … particularly those of us who live in an urban feedlot and/or have one positioned to be a chokepoint in our supply chains,

  45. Here’s an interesting history video:

    Jews in the Thirteen Colonies.

    Lots of history that’s new to me, lots that illuminates the history I knew, and an interesting statistic.

    Almost 90% of Colonial Jews supported the Revolution, and about 50% of American Jewish men fought in the American army. And one guy, who was a captured Son of Liberty forced to work as a translator for the Hessians, managed to draw off about 3000 Hessian deserters.

    So yes, George Washington had every worldly and patriotic reason to support Jewish religious freedom in his famous letter, and the antisemitic alt-right guys were even more full of crup than I knew they were.

    1. Anyway, my point is that the video shows just why the Jews of the Colonies knew that they had no other place to go, and that the Colonies were about the only place where they could get citizenship and have rights. So they fought hard and gave all.

      1. Then there’s the “no religious test” clause of the Constitution. That was (and is) a radical provision. In a good way. People don’t seem to appreciate just how radical.

          1. Democrats have routinely applied a religious test by citing the observant Christian beliefs of numerous Trump nominees as grounds for disqualification from office, including Justice Barrett.

  47. Reynolds, too, and today, senses things are “coming to a head.”

    CIA, FBI, DOJ, USAID have poured themselves into a profile which matches that of both a domestic and a foreign enemy of the USA, the very enemy types every US military officer swears to protect the US Constitution — and by inference Americans and their national sovereignty — from.

    So now, by their own doing, CIA, FBI, DOJ, and USAID facilities, lines of communication, and personnel are legitimate targets of US military operations and legitimate designees as US-based domestic, terroristic traitors.

  48. If you are a charitable person who regularly donates to a food bank, pre-buy your donations for the next few years for all of the canned and long shelf-life dried items, and put them on a shelf in your house. When an item is a month or so from expiration, bring it down to the food bank and buy a replacement for your shelf.

    That way you have a few months worth of food in your house, and it doesn’t cost you a dime you weren’t going to spend anyway. The food bank will be delighted to receive your near expired items, and you will have provided an emergency supply for your own family.

      1. Our food pantries also will chuck expired food items, canned or packaged. Which is why I think the recommendation was to donate from your prep pantry a month or so before expiration, for the items that would have been bought and donated anyway.

      2. Also note that canned goods ‘expiration dates’ are really ‘best used by dates’ and some are so labeled.

        Presuming package integrity (see the matzoh post, above) canned goods are usually safe to eat years after the date on the can; some stuff looks OK and releases pressure or foul odors, and those, of course should be avoided.

        1. In Vietnam in 1969, we ate c-rations, which are essentially canned food, packed in 1944. I won’t say they were great, but we didn’t get sick, and got the calories.

          1. My dad bought me cases of c-rstions for college, from the salvage warehouse he managed. Don’t think they were that old, but who knows? I ate ’em.

          2. In an episode of M*A*S*H we see Hawkeye set a green can of beans on the stove to warm up. His tent mate B.J. picks it up and looks at it.

            B.J.: “August 1944? Hawk, these beans are leftovers from the last war.”

            Hawkeye: “They’re has-beans.”

            So they were still doing that almost 20 years later.

        2. A lot of them are actually “sell by” dates which are even shorter, since they are aimed as much at the retailer as the consumer. Up until now, encouraging replacement was the goal.

  49. I can actually laugh at all of this and enjoy how our opposition is feeling.

    Why? They’ve gotten their revolution of the proletariat! The people are rising up!

    The people are rising up against them, which makes their pain so much more sweeter on the tongue.

      1. You do have to laugh-and feel sorry for them-about this. They got exactly what they wanted and they got it good and hard.

        The hilarity of this would be the Canadian military suddenly having “technical issues” and the Government collapsing and having a nice set of elections that kicks out the idiots would be perfect.

    2. From the opposition’s point of view, it’s the kulaks rising up. The truck owner-operators certainly qualify as kulaks, and it’s an existential horror for the opposition to realize that a majority of the working population today are also kulaks or at least kulak-supporters, rather than proper proles.

  50. I don’t know what will happen here in Utah. But my family is here and so here I will make whatever stand is necessary.

  51. You’re not the only one whose Spidey senses are tingling. A few days ago, my husband’s iPhone offered to mute his text conversation with me after I used the words “trucker protest.”

    Ergo, my podcast episode this week is ON stocking up a few things when you don’t have a lot of lead time. (Vintage Americana, on your favorite podcast platform, if anyone is interested.)

      1. Seconding.

        It’s reasonably secure, without the same issue of locking yourself out of it that many secure things have.

        And for those of us who are on a lot of family image sharing groups, you can flip it over to a desktop so there’s a REAL KEYBOARD for typing.

        1. And if both you AND the recipient are on there, it automatically encrypts voice calls if you hit the dial icon within the app..

          1. Thanks, all. I think we will do that. I’m getting a new phone next week, so that’ll be one of the first apps downloaded.

              1. Signal works- *if* you and the one you call use it. It’s about as un-screwupable as solid security gets. So long as you follow the exceedingly simple directions.

                So much of security fails on the simple fact that it must involve and defend against humans.

              2. My only gripe(tte) with signal is that it is very tied to your phone number and the contacts in your phone.

                It is (almost?) impossible to add someone as a signal contact without a) knowing their phone number and b) adding the name/number to your contacts in the phone Since google (and apple) hoover up your contacts this concerns me because you can do a shit ton of group identification using maps/graphs of contacts

    2. But don’t worry, they’re working to shut down the contemplative orders so that people will go out and Do Things In The World.

      :annoyed expression:

      1. Perhaps they can contemplate going out an Doing Things in The World, such as deposing the minions of Satan occupying the Vatican.

        2. Heh, doesn’t work that way, though I’m quite sure there’s going to be a LOT of “not like that!” results from the usual hijackers.

          1. I don’t know, you exectue enough of the scum defiling the Vatican, it might improve things. There might be a bit of collateral damage, but God will know his own.

              2. At this point, I’m all for fomenting overthrow of most regimes and oligarchies and corrupt institutions throughout the world, by any means necessary.

                  1. ‘Cause obeying the corrupt institutions and regimes is working out so great. No, down with them all.

                    1. Including the laws against rape, slavery and murder? Property laws? Arson and bomb laws?

                      Some laws are necessary for civilization to exist. You may want to live without civilization, but I don’t.
                      ———————————
                      Those who do not remember the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the mistakes. Those who do remember are doomed to watch everybody else repeat them.

                    2. Hm. You disapprove of the guy in charge, so it’s time to throw out everything that predates the objected to thing.

                      That sounds familiar….

                    3. Nope, most of these regimes, Biden, Vatican, Xi, Putin, they’re corrupt through and through. Corrupt and/or Leftist held institutions must be taken or destroyed.

                    5. I’ll rather see the houses of Biden* and Francis and Xi, Trudeau and Elizabeth and Macron, Putin and Castro and Kim, Yale and Harvard and Princeton, the Hoover Building and the UN, burn down with their occupants inside. Death to the tyrants!

        1. Eh, we’ve had worse– it’s not like he was standing right there while the Boss in flesh was being tortured and executed, for perspective.

          I figure he’s actually rather well named, since ISTR he made a point of it being in line with the (false to the point of irony) quote of St. Francis about preaching constantly, if absolutely required use words.

          Henry the VIII, on the other hand, wasn’t exactly stealthy about the profit motive. The harms done are still harms, but those done from “knowing” things that are simply not true are easier to fight.

          1. Sergius III is a good candidate for worst, but then we only know what his enemies say about him.

            I wrote a paper back in HS about Alexander VI [Borgia) arguing that he might be a bad man but not necessarily a bad pope and that much of what we think we know was written by his enemies, particularly della Rovere who became Julius II, who I argued was much worse. Gotta B, should have got an A but I was arguing the wrong side.

            As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to trust the “records” less and less. Imagine writing about (e.g.,) Trump — or Hillary — if all you had were transcripts from MSNBC or CNN. I don’t think we should simply flip it all, I still think Nero was a bad man but I’m not so sure about, say, Caligula. I don’t think very highly of Cicero and think that Cataline was probably corrupt and venal but not more so than Cicero, he was just on the other side.

            1. The ability to get *more* information is definitely nice– those phantom writings under the writing on old parchment and stuff, plus simply the ability to *spread* the information. 😀

        1. :shrug:
          It’s good to have a reminder of what trouble Martha could have caused, if she hadn’t listened to Himself and instead was more focused on what was practical…and making sure everyone else did, too.

          While formal groups defend against most of the problems, nothing’s stopping folks from being contemplatives or swearing themselves outside of the existing organization.

          Or folks noticing the good they do, especially if they share the fruits of their searching. 😀

          2. Or forming an external organization to launch an effective assault on the Vatican. The Swiss Guard isn’t that strong. Death to the Antichrist Francis and all his minions!

              1. I see the Francis regime as no better than the Biden* regim which is no better than the Nazi regime, and think the way they were dealt with is best – blast them to bits, round up the survivors, try them before an extemporaneous court, and execute the worst of the bunch.

                1. Don’t much care what you think you see.

                  Paying attention to the solutions you demand.

                  Which are amazingly one-size-fits-all, and also amazingly familiar; got that wholesale from the fanboys of the the WTO riots in Seattle back in high school, wasn’t impressed by it then, the extended remakes the last two years haven’t improved it.

                  1. Harmful institutions must be neutralized as expeditiously as possible, lest they do more harm.

                    1. If we’re going off of harm done, shooting those who jump from “I disagree with those people” to “kill them all” would be much more strongly supported as a way to prevent harm.

                    2. Nah, destroying institutions attempting to oppress me, or who’ve announced their intention to oppress me, is a far better idea. Death to them all!

                    3. >> “Death to them all!”

                      Sir, my eyes are sensitive to bright light. Would you please stop glowing like that?

            3. He’s part of the left’s autism. They saw the effect John Paul II had and figured if they got Francis in, he’d rally us all to communism.
              He’s failing. Predictably. Miserably.

              1. And letting the Vatican’s existing problems get worse. It has deteriorated into a collection of communists, money launderers, pederasts, and those who cover for them.

                1. ……?

                  He’s been obvious.

                  Stuff is coming to light, and getting smacked down HARD when it does– because it only works in secret.

                  That’s the problem with using True Believers to support bad actions. They don’t think they’re doing anything wrong, and they’re very prone to actually acting on what they say, even if it’s stupid and/or when they say it, they mean something that’s about 45* off keel.

                  1. “Getting smacked down hard” is hardly a good description for slaps on the wrist for those who cover for child molesters, while throwing the book at a bishop who had consensual sex with an adult woman. A wretched hive of scum and villainy is what the Vatican is.

                    1. Thank you for making your stance so clear. I now regret alluding to William Roper, since his character at least applied the zeal to all sins, rather than those accused of not taking actions he found useful.

                      Makes it really clear that you’d flip around on any ally accused of not acting as you demand on even unsupported (or physically impossible) accusations.

                      Hard pass, I can get abused for failure to obey whims by the Progs, without having to be a foot-soldier first.

        1. As the French historian Victor Brombert famously described them, “Tres cultives, mais mediocrement sympathiques.” (“Very cultured, but not very nice.”)

  53. Pingback: Perfect Storm???? | Dio's Workshop

    2. Considering all their crooked connections to Ukraine, this could be cover for an actual attack on Russian forces (or civilians) by somebody wanting to kick off a war.

      What? “Nobody could possibly be that stupid!” you say? After what we’ve seen over the last 6 years? You’re not giving them nearly enough credit for stupidity.
      ———————————
      There but one greater sin than to be right when those in power are wrong — proving it.

      1. Given that Russia is involved, there’s a chance that they’ll take accusations of a false flag to use as cover for a false flag.

        Or that the accusation was made so that people would be watching too closely for there to be a false flag.

        Or that they’ll *fake* a false flag….

        Seriously, the radioactive tea assassination guys are rather hard to out-weird.

        1. Team HarrisBiden want a war with Russia in Ukraine as they intend to use such a war as a pretext to go after political opponents, starting with Trump and his direct associates, and expanding to anyone who expresses dissent. They will use to seize national control of the supply chain, the way Democrats called for in the early days of the CCP virus outbreak, and will use it to impose fuel/energy rationing in order to impose their Green Leap Forward by decree.

          Don’t believe me?–Team HarrisBiden has just declared that expressions of disagreement or doubt about the Team HarrisBiden narrative on Ukraine is “misinformation” and “disinformation” in service to Russia,

          2. This is like bulge bracket investment advice. We know that they tell us to buy when they want to sell so the optimal solution is to sell when they tell us to buy except that they know that we know so the best solution is to buy but we know that they know that we know. It’s like the great Vizzini and so the thing to do is simply pay no attention to what they say. It’s why the only financial news I get is from zero hedge, so long as it’s not about the Russians.

  55. I got my “automatic refund” e-mail from Go Fund Me this morning. My response:
    “You are a bunch of lying bastards. I will never use GFM for any reason again. May your entire business model collapse of its own malignant weight.
    I await my refund. GFY!!!”
    Will acheive nothing but felt good. I donated twice my original amount through Give,Send, Go.

    1. Obvious question: natural lunatic, useful lunatic, self driving car, or lunatic cops who didn’t do it deniably.

  57. The blockade at Coutts, AB, has me the most worried. Not because of anything the truckers or Mounties are doing, but the political hacks we have in office are likely to over-react and create a big problem as a way to distract us from any intervention in Ukraine (that will likely go tits up within 72 hrs if FICUS actually does something irrevocably stupid) that’s supposed to distract us from all the other FUBARs Creepy Uncle Joe is foisting upon us.

    1. Spouse’s worry is, Russia invades Ukraine. China attacks Taiwan. And North Korea comes south. All at once.
      I add the flourishes of, North Korea launching nuclear artillery at US bases, Iran testing their first official bomb on Riyadh and the Olympics becoming one big hostage situation.
      Likely? Doubt it. But my family specialized in, “What’s the worst that could happen,” for years and years.

  58. Well, with it looking close to SHTF in some variation and just general use lately, I needed fuels. Diesel for heaters, and gas for generator, snowthrower etc. And the truck is low. 27.8 gallons of gas, and 20 gallons of diesel later , $182.97 deleted from my account thanks to FJB.

  59. #TeamHeadsonPikes has them all Sharpened. And the Woodchipper is filled with Diesel, and the Blades are kind-of Dull. Bring it.

  60. Dedicated to all the fools who thought we’d vote our way out of socialism:

    https://twitchy.com/dougp-3137/2022/02/05/for-some-reason-the-dnc-obama-clinton-media-arent-doing-any-pearl-clutching-over-this-report-about-redistricting-affecting-the-midterms/

    “The Cook Political Report now forecasts that House Democrats are on track for a narrow net gain of seats from redistricting nationwide, amid a cycle that has proven far more favorable to Democrats than many expected.”

    1. Between gutless establishment Republicans and Democratic Party lawfare, the gerrymandering to favor Democrats has been widespread and ruthless.

    2. Gerrymandering only works if you can accurately estimate how the electorate is going to vote. E.g., if you are a Democrat doing gerrymandering, you create lots of 52% Democrat districts and a few 95% Republican ones so that the Republicans get screwed. But if those “52% Democrat districts” turn out to be “48% Democrat districts”, then your side gets massacred.

      1. You are assuming that Democrat votes aren’t mostly fraud to begin with, and can’t easily replace any short fall in actual votes.

        1. Apparently they don’t think that is enough, and they’re right if you go by the Virginia results last November.

      2. Steve, it’s really pretty simple: If they have a predefined 52% share, then they know how many ballots they have to mail in / harvest. “Why are you surprised a Democrat won in a majority Democrat district?” All they have to do, as we saw in 2020, is claim victory loudly enough.

        1. Only in areas where they control the voting. A number of legislatures are passing new laws to prevent that sort of shenanigan.

          And if that was all they had to do, how did they lose the Governor’s race in Virginia?

          1. In the VA election, the red areas of the state had turnout far above predictions and margins for the Republican ticket well above the norm. The conclusion of most of us who live here is that the Democrats didn’t prepare enough fraud in Northern VA to cover the double surprise of turnout and margin.

          2. I should add that there were actually a two issues that drove the turnout and margin in VA’s red areas. The first one, and the one that got national play, was Terry McAuliffe publicly pronouncing that parents should have no say in their children’s education. The other one, which was unspoken by both sides, was gun control. When the Democrats got control of the legislature in 2019, they passed a series of gun control bills that angered a lot of folks in the red areas. The also failed by a single vote in a Senate committee to pass confiscation of semi auto weapons (aka assault weapons ban). VA has a very active 2nd Amendment group (VCDL) that was instrumental in making it clear to reluctant voters in the state that another four years of Democratic control would get that ban passed. As my son says – “Never piss off the people in the woods”. The Democrats managed to piss them off with a two fer.

          3. Same way they “Lost” this 2021 election in New Jersey, where the Speaker claimed he would contest with “112000 uncounted votes”…. and then backed down. Why trigger an investigation in a spotlighted race far enough ahead to do some good in 2022 where the stakes were higher? Especially for someone seen as a “Clinton crony who wasn’t liberal enough”? And, of course, it’s hard to slam Republicans for “trying to overturn elections” when you’re doing it yourself. Sacrificial lamb is on the menu.

            Even our hostess wondered about that.

            The New Jersey senate speaker, Steve Sweeney, who lost to GOP political novice Ed Durr on Tuesday by 3,000 votes, is refusing to concede the race, citing “12,000 ballots” that were “recently found” as the reason.

            “The results from Tuesday’s election continue to come in. For instance, there were 12,000 ballots recently found in one county,” he said. “While I am currently trailing in the race, we want to make sure every vote is counted. Our voters deserve that, and we will wait for the final results,” Sweeney said in a statement.

            https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/11/06/defeated-new-jersey-senate-president-claims-12000-ballots-have-been-recently-found-n1530242

            2. Isn’t it…interesting, how Democrats can always find enough ‘uncounted ballots’ to overturn the election months later?

              But when Republicans contest election results they’re ‘Undermining Democracy!’ and ‘Fomenting Insurrection!’
              ———————————
              Elections are far too important to be left up to a bunch of uncontrolled voters. The Party MUST exercise oversight and management to prevent mere voters from electing the wrong candidates!

              1. We could use a lot more fomenting of insurrection. While some local and state governments and institutions still seem OK, too many at the national and international levels have have proven themselves corrupt and tyrannical. Their capture or destruction is imperative.

    1. If you go through the thread, you’ll find that even in Canada, what they’re attempting to do may be illegal.

      1. Someone needs to tell their politicians:

        https://thepostmillennial.com/ontario-liberals-threaten-confiscate-trucks?utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_term=748

        “Del Duca also called on the Provincial Attorney General to make clear that Crown prosecutors “will follow the guidance in their Prosecution Manual, and will seek forfeiture of any assets used in the commission of a serious (indictable or hybrid) offense.”
        “Leave now or you will lose your truck is the message our Premier should be sending,” said Del Duca. “Doug Ford needs to come out today and announce a strong provincial response to end this occupation swiftly.”

        There’s also a link under Prosecution Manual.

        1. Oh my gosh!

          Canadian Liberal Party talking heads are talking! And calling people names! And ‘calling on’ people to threaten people that the Canadian Liberal Party doesn’t like!

          Stop the presses!

        2. Funny thing, if you search for indictable offence– the bar set by the specific area of the Prosecution Manual– the glossary page is redirecting to the main page, but other legal pages say it’s for serious offenses.

          Which Public Mischief does not reach.

          1. You mean like the “insurrection” instead of “trespassing” charges that all your Good Guys have been allowing torture for? Over charging is a “feature” when it encourages guilty pleas, after all.

            1. As usual, when it’s pointed out that your hysterical declaration of DOOM, or demand for a KILL THEM NOW solution, is at best poorly supported, you try to find a new subject to assure us that things are horrible about, you either change the subject or the goal.

              1. I believe that “when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” Such throwing off usually requires some violence.

                2. Yes, our forefathers threw off the British crown with violence, but they only started shooting once the brits tried to cross a point of no return (disarming the citizenry). Prior to that they endured abuses for years hoping to find a non-violent solution. We are not yet in the position they were in when they opened fire.

                  1. Have you not noticed the attempts to disarm the citizenry via the “gun control” initiatives, Red Flag laws, and biased enforcement of ATF regulations?

        1. To recap, you are admitting that they did not, in actuality, arrest all those those bringing fuel in to the truckers, nor confiscate all fuel?

          Going from the videos of police not taking fuel from folks waking into the trucker protest, all kind of video out the ears, to reports from people camping.

          And I thought the flip from showing videos of the trucks with bouncy houses, horns and flags to an anonymous supposedly security video of two guys trying to burn down an apartment complex in the most inept manner possible was an epic switch.

          1. No, I’m admitting that there are multiple reports with different information. I’m not on scene, AND NEITHER ARE YOU.

            So yours are equally reliable, which is to say what you want to believe.

            1. Oooh, look at the rabbit run!

              I point out that YOUR OWN SOURCE goes against your doomerism, and suddenly nobody can’t know nothin, and also treating what you posted as worth reading makes one a liar.

          2. ” arrest all those those bringing fuel in to the truckers, nor confiscate all fuel?”

            Which I never said, and you are a liar for saying I did.

              1. And nothing says “arresting all of them and confiscating all the fuel”, do it? Again you lie.

                What I said, and it’s absolutely true, is that they have the tools to do it at whatever pace they choose.

                1. Keep running with those goalposts, dude.

                  Just like how you flipped from saying you never called for executing parents who didn’t follow a doctor’s advice, to attacking me when I linked to you doing exactly that, and defending it.

                  Calling me names for reading what you wrote right here isn’t going to make your hysteria any more justified.

                  1. No matter how many times you say it, those words aren’t there. And When thr words aren’t there, the goalposts didn’t move.

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