Doom! Doom! Doom!

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

Doom! Gloom! The end is coming soon! Oh, woe is me! Lay down your weapons! Let’s surrender!

So, yesterday night, as I do when I remember which is about once a week, I let my fingers do the walking through pending and spammed and trashed comments.

It’s actually rather bizarre the number of you that WordPress has decided are spammers on….nothing much. Though sometimes I get it. I have some trigger words, that are the name of notorious trolls, or associated with them, which I can’t reveal since it would make them ineffective. And sometimes one of you uses them innocently. There is also, of course, the possibility that some idiot who is on the “approve every time” list will decide he’s BANNED and that this is a case for bringing a lawsuit against me or threaten me with physical harm. (Think about it “But your honor, she banned me from commenting on her blog! Surely I can get damages!” Laughed out of court doesn’t begin to cover it. “She caused harm to the reputation of my made-up internet handle” is maybe worse.)

So when I have time, and the brain is fried for useful work, I’ll let my fingers do the walking of spammed/pending/trashed. (Weirdly, though most pending show up in my side bar for approval, some require me to do a deep dive into the entrails of the blog to find it. WPDE, I guess.)

And something curious struck me.

Starting about with John Ringo’s guest post, there is a flock of doom-birds screaming “give up, give up. You can’t win. The battle is already lost.”

I didn’t approve them.

Look, I know that some of the regulars — and heaven help me, one or two times a year, me, myself — will fall into doomer mode at times.

Standing on the ramparts is tiring work, and not only are the slings and arrows painful, what hurts the most is the HOWLING incoherence of the opposition. For a certain type of odd, who seems to congregate here, to be honest, we prefer to be called bad names than to be screamed random slogans at. Because we don’t so much mind being hated, but we’d like it to MAKE SENSE.

Sometimes we all fall into doom.

But you have to realize, if you’ve read military history that when the enemy’s main tactic is yelling at you to shut up and give up, they’re losing.

They’re losing big.

To an extent the leftist/collectivist project always was losing. You can’t fight reality. She’s a stone cold b*tch.

But they controlled the mass media, and therefore their shouts made many people give up. Most people, really, including a lot of the “opposition” who became the loyal opposition in the hope of being killed last.

Well, Thank G-d Almighty that time is past.

Yes, the horizon is dark. Yes, the other side is fighting with everything they have, and sometimes they will hurt us. They will hurt everyone. In fact, they have reached the crazy level of spreading plague to the enemies, and their own people, indiscriminately because they’re that desperate.

They won’t win, but they can make us lose. Or at least hurt badly. We’re going to take damage, that’s unavoidable. We’ll have to rebuild and that’s annoying.

But this is not the end. It probably isn’t even the end of the beginning.

This is no time to get wobbly. And it certainly is no time time to list to their whispers and shouts.

Grin, show the middle finger and answer with “Okay, Doomer.”

And fight on.

305 thoughts on “Doom! Doom! Doom!”

    2. To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
      And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
      For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods?

      Doom clarifies matters.
      There is no longer a question of “what must be done?”
      But only “will I rise to the occasion, or fall unmourned?”

      I hope all find the strength to meet Doom with “Here I stand. I can do no other.”

      1. “In yon straight pass a thousand My well be stopped by three.
        Now who will stand at either hand and keep the bridge with me?”

        And sometimes it takes less to win than the Doom makes it seem.

  2. Since the 1970’s I’ve been aware of cries that “We’re All Doomed” and there has been plenty of such cries in the past.

    I’ve gotten tired of such cries.

    Note, this is not a comment on what Sarah has said. It’s a comment on her “Subject Heading”. 😉

        1. Word Press Must Die!

          I get these posts via email and Word Press doesn’t “show me” that there’s a video! 😉

  3. Victor Von Doom’s leadership of Latveria is super conservative, and he is a defender of Christendom.

    Republicans should have a foreign policy of supporting him.

    Sincerely,
    A Doombot was was left crippled but aware after a fight with the Fantastic Four, with only an internet connection to pass the time with over the next thirty years before batteries fail.

        1. At the very least, I know Von Doom does magical rituals, and that this is not really all that compatible with being a true champion of Christianity.

          For all that it was so hilariously fitting, Von Doom may be a weak analogy for Putin.

          1. Doom’s weakness was his arrogance but he’d make sure that his armies & weapon systems were really for action.

            Putin is arrogant but wasn’t aware of the problems with his weapon systems and armies.

            Doom would be rightly insulted by your comparison between Him and Putin. [Crazy Grin]

            1. It seems to be fairly well attested that Putin is relentlessly evil.

              Von Doom, a fictional character, had to make sense, and Marvel could not afford to have a regular villain that makes combat veteran parents think “I look at this, and I need a shower. I’m not old enough for it. My kids are /not/ reading this stuff.”

            2. Doom was much better at winning the loyalty of his subjects. For good reason.

    2. Just two? Granted, I can’t remember more, but that’s because I don’t frequent here as much as I used to, and I’ve been having more memory problems to boot. (I really need to get more sleep!)

  5. To misquote Ivanova, ‘ No doom today. Doom tomorrow. There’s always a Doom tomorrow. What? Look, somebody’s got to have some damn perspective around here! Doom. Sooner or later. DOOM!

    The Reader think it fits.

      1. It’s not my day to check on DC. (It’s never my day to check on DC, TBH…)

      2. I live 18 miles NW of Washington, DC (I do it so you don’t have to). As of the time of this post, it’s still there.

        2. Pity…

          I recall a legend (Niven, IIRC) about LA: Once every century the gods roll back the smog and look to see if LA is still there. If it is they roll the smog back in.

        3. Amtrak’s Acelas are double-ended/headed so they can be crossed over and sent back north. no sweat. The regular electric trains it’s just a matter of switching. The Nite-Owl’s sleepers can be turned at Baltimore. In short, we can do without DC. NS can route freight via Hagerstown as they’re already doing. CSX would have to start a car-float operation Cape Charles to Norfolk so they’re shafted but CSX deserves it anyways! Guess we’ll just have to do without Tropicana orange juice for awhile.

      5. Lots of whining and other stupid stuff is happening (and I didn’t say stuff) is going on so as far as I can tell it is still there.

    2. The Exploits of Ebenezum?
      Hendrik and his accused club Headbasher would like a word.
      And that word is “Doom”.

    2. Or, if you’re really feeling doomed, take a page from Conan’s book. Tied to a cross and left to die, he played dead until a vulture got close enough that he could bite its neck to kill it and drink it’s blood to give him another day.

      1. And the moral of this Conan story:

        If you’re going to crucify someone, maintain a continuous watch over the victim until you’ve confirmed that the victim is truly dead. There’s generally no need to maintain a continuous watch afterward.

        (At very least, I haven’t heard of any official Roman records of the soldiers who maintained a post-mortem watch in one particular case reporting any instance of grave robbing to their superiors.)

        1. There’s some debate concerning those guards since they made a report to the Jewish High Priest.

          Would Roman Soldiers (answerable to Pilate) report to Jewish authorities?

          1. My reading is that Pilate expected a report, but the chain was temple guards to High Priest/Sanhedrin.

  8. I would wager a goodly sum of money, that 100% of the people who are doomers aren’t doing one damn thing about the situation we all find ourselves in. As opposed to people who see how bad it is, why it is as such, and doing what they can control to position themselves to survive and thrive. AND meanwhile living their lives, Mother Time don’t care whats going on or how it affects you, she keeps on marching along, and our precious moments go tick-tocking away. Doom may well come, and it may well not, but spend your time wisely, like real estate they aint making any more of it ( outside the pages of your many author friends )

    1. Well, if you’re doomed why would you act to try and end the inevitable…that’s the definition of a doom, a fate you cannot avoid regardless of your actions. Just ask Laius and Jocasta.

      So a doomer acting to prevent the doom is lying to either you or himself.

  9. And for today’s tangent, I think I just figured out how to resolve a mystery story with an actual deus ex machina, legitimately.

    The setting has a minor deity of misfortune. Her job is to go collect it up from people, so not an evil or malicious god, just with a job no-one wants to hang out with.

    The main characters are in an active story, so they’ve got a bunch to collect, so she comes by to pick it up, and because they don’t run screaming, they get to talking, during which she mentions she’s been really busy lately. There’s a couple of new guys who’ve been generating a lot of misfortune lately.

    One of the main characters puts two and two together, and realizes these new guys are the ones who caused their problem in the first place.

    So am actual god gives them the missing clue, by accident.

  10. I’ve never even THOUGHT about giving up. Too type AAA I guess. When I see things getting SEEMINGLY worse, I prep harder. I won’t roll over, ever. If it comes to me, I will die on my feet. I am right with myself, my God and my circles. I was in givernment service and left in disgust. I don’t believe anything I read or hear from that side or the feds. I, however, am a man without a country right now.

    1. Your government service gave you an insight that really helps. I served enough to know that government service is affirmative action, reparations, and stupidity, surrounded by paper. Reams and reams of paper. No work gets done, nothing is accomplished–they live for paper.
      Which is good when things get crazy because the idiots don’t know how to actually do anything useful.
      Their violent failings can be watched with grim humor, as we keep our eyes focused on the target.

      The Republic needs us. No quitting allowed.

      1. The Republic needs us. No quitting allowed.

        …I was about to quibble that surely it doesn’t need me–but stopped. No, miss, you’ve got me dead to rights. No shrugging it off.

        (Now what was that someone said about t shirt designs…)

        1. The Republic is WAY better off with you than without you. Always a choice, though. 🙂

    2. I was in givernment service

      –
      See, now, for most of us, givernment is not the problem, it’s the takernment…
      ———————————
      Why must our public discourse be subordinated to the loudest whiners?

    3. Hey, I don’t suppose you’re the same Dirk that hung around making mischief on The Truth About Guns back in 2012-14 or so? If so, you’re a legend. 🙂

  11. Doom, doom, doom … faugh, I got enough doom on my plate at present. The AC unit is acting up, I may have to get the condenser replaced (just as I had finally paid off the last two lots of work on the HVAC system!) and the blasted back fence still hasn’t been built, due to a series of handymen no-showing or deciding that the job was too small and they wouldn’t bother. And until it gets built and that mound of materials for it is moved from the driveway, I can’t get my car out of the garage!
    I have important stuff to do – like write the rest of the ACW novel which is half done! Doom, indeed!
    (BTW – thanks for the link on Insty, Sarah – sales of To Truckee’s Trail have zoomed.)

      1. We have a portable AC unit, with a vent that hooks up to a window opening, so it’s not as if we are entirely without resource, until the Jon Wayne technicians appear. And my credit is good enough that I can finance any necessary work.

        1. We’re in the fifth wheel in 90-degree weather with only a 30-amp hookup. So we can only run one AC. Hopefully the weather forecast is right about it cooling back down to normal next week,

          1. When you’re in the Phoenix area in May a high of 90, as it is now, is refreshingly cool. Unfortunately it’s expected to go back up to normal in a few days… 😦

            1. Yup. Was out on the deck about 8 p.m. It could not have been more perfect. Even the traffic going by was less noisy than usual. But 103 on Saturday . . . .

        2. The mid-summer weather in LunaCity must be terrible. Love your books. I cain’t give in to the dooms, my daughtr axpects more from me.

          1. Alas – after spending all of Wednesday installing the new unit, they simply could not get it to cool, properly. They stayed until 9:30 at night, trying to get the outside unit to obey the thermostat. They are coming again this afternoon, to try and resolve the issue. I have a summer cold/flu and felt dreadful, so I had already gone to bed.
            This morning, we discovered that in mounting the condenser/fan to the outside wall, they managed to hole the hose which supplies or drains the dishwasher. Fortunately, they do plumbing, as well.
            Oh, and did I mention that the 30-year old deep freeze is starting to go wonky on us? It never rains, but it bloody pours!

          2. Yep – humid, hot and airless, occasionally interspersed with tremendous thunderstorms.
            Glad you are enjoying Luna City – it’s a fun place to write about. I’m working on book 11 even now.

    2. Seems to be a going thing. A $2k part is keeping my whole HVAC from working. The fan runs. There’s nothing wrong with the outside unit. Just that one switch. Truck’s got a flat. Yard’s a mess. Still looking for steady work.

      But on the bright side of things, there’s one and a half chapters written today for the schedule, so that’s nice.

    3. More than three full weeks after the furnace meltdown, we are still waiting for the new furnace and coils to arrive at the HVAC company who will then call us to schedule installation. Nobody there can/will tell us when that might be – tomorrow? next week?? next month???? All we know is that they were supposedly ordered over two weeks ago. American company.

      Ducts should be cleaned this week, fingers crossed. Other cleaning is ongoing by restoration company, but only a very few hours a day. We are doing some of it ourselves as well, mostly washing dishes and pots and cans and bottles and clothes, etc.

      Meanwhile we have gone from sleeping in three layers of clothes and four layers of covers to stay warm at night, to sweltering since yesterday in 90º heat and 80-90% RH. My, how spoiled we have become, so used to having heat and cool literally at our fingertips. Right now the house is 88º inside, livable, but it feels like a swamp, thankfully sans mosquitoes.

      On a brighter note, my two little cherry tomato plants are thriving, with buds already coloring up on both of them. I’m waiting to see if the bush beans I planted around them will sprout and grow as well. LIFE is going on. I don’t have time for doom. 😉

  12. Doom, despair, and agony on me.
    Deep dark depression, excessive misery.
    If it weren’t fer bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!
    Doom, despair and agony on me!
    A person who I love very much has been flapping like a picked chicken over this whole Roe-deo. I shook my head at her and said, “Best Beloved, this too will pass. Dire howls of doom you see in the media are all just to get people ginned up to support people who are rotten. Do yourself a favor. Turn off the phone and go camping.”
    She said, “But I don’t go camping, the spiders will get me.”
    I said, “The spider is far more afraid of you than you are of him. That goes for the idiots online as well.
    If you don’t believe a word they say, what have you lost if they’re right? Not much. If they are wrong, and you go along with them, you may lose your self-respect, which is of far greater value.”

      1. Embassy is probably her idea of roughing it, She goes to cons which are usually Hilton class or better.

        2. My wife likes to say that she’ll rough it in 4 star. She don’t do roughing it.

            1. I heard that at a few district events. I told my parents, added “Does this mean I do not have have to go on camping trips?” If I remember right, mom and dad almost fell off the coach laughing. Full disclosure – I knew that would be their reaction. The answer was “No … Not even in your dreams.” Pretty sure our first large purchase, even before hubby’s first SLR camera, was updating my backpacking equipment.

            3. That lack of room service comment is so old school.
              With almost every possible edible imaginable available on delivery you can make room service happen your own self. One of the wonders of our modern world exacerbated into common place by the recent pandemic.

    2. Camping is fine. I’m cool with camping. Much prefer to read, though. Or write. Zombies in my head that need to be on the page. Some dude on another site asking in broken English if there will be more chapters this week (there will).

      Doom’s going to have to wait in line. I have too much stuff to do first.

    4. I love camping. Hubby does not.

      So…. I am creating a forest out of our yard so I have a forest area in which to sit and read books. With a fire pit area too. Because one of my favorite things about camping is a good old campfire.

      It would be cheaper and less work for him to take me camping. But this is actually kind of more fun for me even than camping because I get to plant trees and shrubberies and flowers.

      2. LOL.

        We aren’t the only couple who enjoy camping together.

        But when only one spouse enjoying camping, it isn’t always the husband who is the one who is the camper and the wife who is the hotel or else. I know of a few other couples where it is the wife not the husband who prefers to camp. Definitely not a majority for the latter, or even 50/50 (in my limited experience).

        1. Raises hand.

          My husband and I are in this picture.

          One nice part of camping, from my perspective, is that there’s no annoying electronics, I can just sit and read a book.

          1. Honestly. I didn’t know any different. This is how I grew up. Mom’s parents camped together (until over age 90 when the state took their driver’s licenses; they couldn’t see). Mom and dad camped together until dad was just too sick to go. Aunt and Uncle camped. They tent camped until ’68. Then started with camper shells (beds, sink, and stove, no tanks), moving on up to larger rigs long after I left for college. I mean every weekend we camped, starting with trout fishing open through to elk hunting season. Deer and Elk camps were a week long; though us kids didn’t go once I hit middle school, because of school, we stayed with neighbors.

            We, hubby and I, tent camped, until ’90 when we got our first small RV for longer trips (one weekend with a 6 week screaming baby in a tent cured me, mom did this for 12 years with 3 of us). We didn’t use sites with connections (dry camped) but, other than backpacking we used that, until cubs and scouts. Good thing we had one, hubby had to live in it for 17 months because of a bad timed forced transfer and housing at the location was non-existent. We’ve sold our last RV and are doing the hotel, VRBO, route now. But we sure aren’t looking for the Ritz. We have one rule “is it clean” (2nd rule is “pet friendly” even though they have to allow service dogs even if not). While we haven’t rule out tent camping … it is a lot harder now that we’re over 60 (dang ground has gotten harder).

    5. Up here atop the world we got around an inch of snow last night. The mosquitoes have all ready started coming out. The spring puddles are still growing, I could almost canoe down the 1/4 mile trail to my river shop. Can I have an OK gloomer? 😉

      Seriously though, I rather enjoy this season, too rainy, snowy, muddy, wet to do much work you bet, so I don’t feel at all guilty about just kicking back.

      1. Yesterday, I ran the ancient, underpowered electric mower around the deck–between the snow showers. The ground is warm enough that the snow melts fairly quickly, and the grass is getting pretty tall in spots.

        I need to a) get the gas mower running, and b) make the snorkel it needs to get the air intake above the dust level. Pumice dust is a pain when it’s dry.

        I’m wondering if TPTB are going to call fire season before my burn piles are dry enough to burn. It’s been that kind of a year. Cold and dry, then really cold and dry, then warm a couple of days, then cold and wet. “We really need the water, so I shouldn’t complain.” Arggh!

    1. Oh, heavens. It’s a picture of “Traveling broke and Ugly.”
      (You should ask younger son to tell the story at Liberty con. Every times he tells it he adds more ridiculous details.)

        1. The interesting thing is the change to “Doom on me,” which is actually (IIRC) some kind of Vietnamese language reference from American soldiers.

          1. That would be “Doom on you” a corruption of the Vietnamese phrase “Du Mhan Yhu” which translates to “Go Eff Yourself!”

          2. Best begging sign was a(n) (at least) sexagenarian woman holding up, “Grandma needs a makeover’.

            Yes, she did.

    2. I know there’s something by either Waylon Jennings or Johnny Cash that would fit right in…

  14. The wheels have come off their bus and the sparks are blinding as they slide toward the cliff. I don’t take joy in the self inflicted disaster going on inChina right now, but I am not unaware that the CCP is one of the largest funding sources for the adversaries and anything that cuts into those funding sources is a good thing, it is joyous to watch all the American woke capitalists end up with the bar tab and an uncomfortable burning sensation now that China is starting to exclude their products. Once the companies are done it’ll be the universities and politicians turn,

    All we have to do is keep on keeping on because, after all, you go on or you go under.

  15. The “doom doom doom” brought me to the first LoTR movie. The Fellowship is in Moria. Pippin elbows a bunch of junk down an old well, scares everyone to death, and just as they are sighing with relief, they hear…. “BOOM BOOM BOOM” of drums from the depths where good people do not go.

    “You.Shall.Not.Pass.”

        1. After we beat the crap out of him on the way down to the lowest low. I love how Gandalf still fights on the way down.

      2. Just imagining that scene and those that followed makes the hair on my arms stand up.

    1. The idiots that I had to deal with in school were remarkably confused when I attempted to school them in what a proper insult was, as opposed to the confusing tripe they considered sick burns, or whatever. There is a proper way to do almost everything. I even brought source material.

      Sadly, not everyone is interested in doing things the proper way.

      2. Have you read ‘There Will Be Dragons’ by John Ringo? Duke Talbot is a hoot when he schools Dionys McCanoc in proper taunting technique.

        4. I don’t recall that particular one, but I always thought that Megan’s method of dealing with Paul, a self-appointed “better”, using wine with an…ummm…additive had a lot to recommend it.

      3. I had a spirited discussion with my (now late, seriously unlamented) neighbor. He proceeded to tell me that everybody in two organizations hated me.

        I knew his sources; one was the wife of the leader who was forced out because they were using benefits reserved for the needy, while not being needy. They left town before the tribes really got irritated.

        The other was a guy who couldn’t tell the difference between a gas powered pump and a generator. Said guy claimed to be the new equipment expert, but never looked at what he was responsible for. (We suspect he might have ended as the subject of a 3S eviction for other things he did.)

        When the insult is unintentionally funny…

    3. I must be an odd Odd. I’m used to people not making sense but I…don’t deal well with being hated. I deal, because there are things about myself I refuse to change, but I get pouty and sad. Which is why it’s good that most of my social interactions are virtual, I guess. In space, nobody can hear you whine?

      1. Grass, greener, other side…. I can usually almost get a glimpse of someone’s reasoning, if I can get them to talk.

        1. And sometimes the more they say the more obvious their lack of reasoning ability is; witness some of the diatribes about how dangerous WuFlu is (especially the Dreaded Omicron Variant!) or how 100% honest the 2020 election was. But it’s usually worth checking, and at worst becomes yet another data point about irrationality.

      2. I’m with you. Working on sterling myself, but it does not come natural…

  17. I believe, “Doom!” was the only and oft-repeated line of a misguided member of the League of Assassins in the book An Excess of Enchantments (Highly recommended. Read the first page, and you’ll be hooked.) When the little party of adventurers were about to be eliminated in “Death by Custard” (tied up and dropped in a vat of custard) though, someone recommended the chocolate as less cloying than the butterscotch, and I believe he ate his way out.

    1. Heh. I referenced this above.
      Hendrik, bearer of the accused club Headbasher (Which could not be owned, only rented). He pronounced “Doom”.
      Until he learned he liked humming. Then it was more “Doom de doom de doom”

      The Dealer of Death was the assassin, and his surviving Trial by Custard was pretty epic.

      1. Bugger. That’s twice Otto switched “accursed” on me without my catching it.

  18. Bilbo at the top of the tree in Mirkwood, looking for the edge of the forest, but not realizing that he was at the bottom of a valley.

    I don’t know what the future will bring. But no one ever does. I do, however, see that the eastern horizon isn’t quite as dark as the night sky above me. It might just be the first signs of the coming dawn.

    The insanity of the Dems in the 60s begat Nixon, who, for all his faults, curtailed the worst of the left’s excesses. He was replaced by Carter, who led the country back into decline. But we all know who succeeded Carter.

    It’s not over until it’s over.

    1. Trump succeeded 0bama, but we didn’t appreciate him until it was too late.

      Seems like, ever since Kennedy, the Democrats have been dead-set on ensuring the previous Democrat did not remain the worst president of all time. Johnson was bad, but Carter was worse. Then Clinton was worse than Carter, 0bama was worse than Clinton, and now we’ve got Biden the FICUS.

      And even so, there are worse Democrats than that mumbling, bumbling, stumbling buffoon. Schiff and Swalwell leap (repulsively) to mind.

        1. I like (and almost missed) “0bama” in place of “Obama”. Subtle and clever!

          1. “0bama” in place of “Obama”

            –
            🙂 ❤

            My first reaction was, “um, what?” Then it is “Ohhhh. That is Good!”

      3. I keep telling you it can get MUCH worse. AOC turns 35 before the 2024 election, just saying…

      4. Johnson and Obama have a general tone in common – an attempt to massively overwrite the social net systems of the country. Carter and Biden have a general tone in common – a lackluster fumbling of their way through a decline that they seem helpless to do anything about.

        Wait and see…

      5. > “Trump succeeded 0bama, but we didn’t appreciate him until it was too late.”

        Speak for yourself. I didn’t approve of EVERYTHING he said or did, but I was looking forward to another four years.

  19. For an optimistic(ish) look at the future (if you’re an American), I recommend Peter Zeihan. I tripped over him on YouTube, bought his first book (published 2014) thinking “if it has held up, I’ll buy the next one”, then bought the next two (most recent is still pre-order – and pricey). I tend to fanboi over the latest thing I read, but while I don’t necessarily agree with everything he says, it’s difficult to disagree on the bigger picture.
    His basic thesis is simple: The US put the Bretton Woods World Order in place, it succeeded beyond all dreams, and now the US doesn’t care any longer. For the rest of the world, this involves various degrees of suckage. For the US, not so much.

    1. Giscard D’Estaing called it “exorbitant privilege” and John Connelly accurately described it as “our currency but your problem.” Both were right. Now, this privilege doesn’t come without cost, see Triffin’s dilemma, but the Dollar is king and almost certain to remain so despite what they say. Even sleepy Joe can’t really mess that up, much, and he’s a sh-t Midas,

      The reason why is babies, Americans had ‘em and the rest of the world didn’t. Couple that with immigration and you get relatively healthy demographics. The only question looking forward is whether the current generation will start getting and begetting. We’re in a bit of a lull right now, but It ought to start to accelerate again over the next few years as the age cohorts move through the life-cycle.

        1. It’s been a lumpy sort of wave over time, so I’m not worried, yet. Even if it declines, we’re still in much better shape than everyone else.

          Doing what I do for a living requires that I look at what it’s like on the other side of the fence and, just for giggles, have a look at housing prices to income in, say, Canada. The Canuck’s are paying a huge price for being China’s elite’s bolt hole. Australian, New Zealand, UK, all of them, Sweden, . As bad as our prices are, their’s are worse mostly because we have really high incomes and positive demographic growth.

          1. It’s been a lumpy sort of wave over time, so I’m not worried, yet

            That’s basically why I stopped freaking out about “overpopulation,” many years ago.

            Old-people-not-dying eventually tops out. Immigrants-having-kids does add to the population, in a specific area.

            But you can’t have both rather significant immigration coming in, AND somewhat steady birth rates, AND a ginormous peak of 4.3M births, AND recent “we’re all dying off of …. 4.1M… with over population, or the US truly dying off.

            1. How dare you be logical, how very dare you! 😜

              Not the least of the attractions of posting here is that the other denizens check one’s figures. Keeps one on one’s toes.

                  1. So is this Dan. The CDC used to be reliable. They used to have facts and figures on real things that mattered. These days… disgusted noise

                    1. It will get worse. The National Center for Health Statistics has a study called “The National Ambulatory Health Care Study” (NAMCS). It samples a one week of patient care of a random selection of doctors. It has been going on since the 70’s. The CDC used local Census bureau field representatives to contact doctors, get them to cooperate, and abstract patient data. All kept secure and confidential. (The census is paranoid about confidentiality). This year, the CDC decided to do it themselves by phone, trying to directly sample doctor’s EHR (electronic health records) systems. This will not end well.

                      It is easier to just make up data. But then you end up with the KGB flying planes to try to learn what the actual wheat crop is, because you can’t trust “Statistics”. Or Putin thinking the Ukrainians will welcome them as liberators from “nazis”. Or us thinking you could turn Iraq or Afghanistan into democracies. This is where I am with CDC statistics. Someone needs to fly a plane.

                    2. I know. It is of a piece with the other troubles we have with the skin suited remnants of once honored and prestigious institutions. Their hollow protestations of relevance and dignity fall flat when one remembers their wholehearted embrace of anti-science for the shallow purpose of fleeting political approval by a few and diminishing number of sycophants and sybarites.

                      Those who actually do assay to “fly the plane” will likely be denounced as the vilest of traitors. The political machine that is leftism is a fragile thing of lies and corruption, relying still on respect for institutions that have long since lost the foundation they had which made them worthy of attention.

                      The dirty capitalist in me says that the fall of such institutions reveals an opportunity for those with the knowledge, skill, and talent to create something of worth, as the CDC once was.

                      One could also say the same thing about many other once-respected institutions that could be mentioned, as well.

                    3. Replying to your reply, since your reply does not have a reply.

                      The truth is dangerous. I tell people I am dangerous because of one of my three goals. This one is to make people think. (the other two are that everyone who meets me is made more joyful, and that I reflect God perfectly to everyone I meet).

                      Just realize we now live in China of the red guard, but Hitler has not disarmed the Jews. A time of paradox. They want us to give them an excuse to crack down, yet knowing how dangerous we are they don’t. To let people know how the statistics are being corrupted may be one of the most important things we can do. To know you can’t trust the brakes in the car doesn’t make it safe, but it makes you safer.

                    4. “A time of paradox. They want us to give them an excuse to crack down, yet knowing how dangerous we are they don’t. ”

                      This – they keep prodding and poking, hoping for a violent reaction that will allow them to justify squashing us Tea Party/MAGA conservatives for once and for all, and install their Proggie Paradise. They want that reaction so badly, they can taste it.
                      I honestly don’t know for how long we can keep holding our tempers, and our own hot-heads in check.
                      Interesting times, interesting times…

        1. What we are is Jed Clampett and rest of the world is is Mr. Drysdale. If we should ever decide to withdraw, the whole thing collapses. Really. Trust me on this, as bad as we may be, everyone else is much, much worse,

                  1. Not old. Refined. Experienced. Capable. Wise. All of these things, with bad knees.

                    Science needs to hurry up and start fixing this whole aging problem. I want good knees again.

                3. Madam people have claimed many things about you, but that you have hooves, horns and a barbed tail is generally not one of them :-). Certainly the Tranzi’s wouldn’t say that as they know the one they worship…

      3. He has the Mierdas touch – everything the FICUS touches turns to excrement!

  20. Case in point: some Handmaid’s Tale cosplayers tried to interrupt worship at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Sunday. They didn’t get past the door, because faithful men stood in front of the doors praying the Rosary. The enemies of Life and Truth are getting angry and violent, which is not the behavior of people on the cusp of victory. They’re coming unhinged, in ways that might help red-pill the normies.

    1. The wall around old Saint Patrick’s is loopholed for muskets. Archbishop Hughes — dagger John — told the city of NY during anti Catholic riots that if one church was burned NYC would become “another Moscow”. They believed him, as well they should have done.

      We could use dagger John again today.

      Protecting the Mass is one of the primary roles of the Knight of Columbus, we haven’t forgotten even if the hierarchy has. Ancient Order of Hibernians too, their HQ is right across from Saint Pat’s for just that reason

      All that said, the woman at St. Pat’s is there all the time. The NY Times managed to get out of bed and go downtown this time. They should have gone into Mass, would have done them some good, they could see the shrine of Venerable Pierre Toussaint, that might do them so good too. Bit more charity, bit less rage.

    2. The action itself was courageous…but I’d hesitate to praise AF and Fuentes’ outfit too lavishly.

      1. As I noted, this was a media event. I’ve learned that the first questions to ask upon getting new information are why do I know this now and whose interest might it serve to tell me?

        1. I’m reminded of something Gandalf said to Frodo: “There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides that of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.”
          I do not much care who barred the way. Not a one of us is perfect, yet God in His boundless grace uses us for His glory. I prayed last week that the protests wouldn’t disrupt worship.
          From my perspective, this is all a spiritual battle. If Roe stands, we fight on, with fasting and prayer. If Roe falls, we fight on, with fasting and prayer. The Enemy would probably like us to imagine that the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places are in full control of the battlefield, including what we know about it, and therefore to despair of victory. Nothing is further from the truth. The battle belongs to the Lord. The question you ask is certainly a valid one, but never forget that we might know something because the Good Lord wishes it for our encouragement, rather than because the Wicked One wants us discouraged.

  21. If I was the surrender type, I’d have suicided long ago. Nope, I’m the berserker; push me hard enough, I’ll strike back, full force, and to hell with the consequences. Control means avoiding triggers. However, when the time is right, I might just be able to be aimed…

    1. I’m not a berserker. I’m just plain old garden variety stubborn.

      You can convince me to move if you have good reasons. But I don’t force very well.

      1. Likewise. I kept trying to TELL my liberal friends this, back when we were friends: “I will give you the shirt off my back until the moment you point a gun at me and tell me I HAVE to. After that, it is MY shirt and I will die or kill to keep it.”

    3. Unthinking wrath does not suit me. That’s more the progressive hate machine’s wont. Nor berserker, me. I like the quiet. I like peace and stability. Patient effort, slow building changes are what suit my temperament.

      There are others like that, out there. Some such people have knowledge, skill, and capability, but really do not enjoy the use of such things.

      Better we assay what peaceful means are available, yes? Watch polling places. Investigate candidates. Weed out the establishment goons before they sprout. Speak up with words when necessary. Speak out when leftism tries to infiltrate workplaces and the like.

      Anger is a poor tool for such men as I. We don’t use it to take away reason, as is most commonly done. Rather, its use is in cutting away mercy and hesitation. I’d much rather not be angry. I’d much rather read a book.

  22. Watching the NPCs get their software update to simultaniously chant for a war that we can’t afford, that we largely instigated by being international dickheads, and can’t possibly get anything good out of had me down in the dumps for a while. It seemed like Covaids insanity all over again. But even that doesn’t quite seem to be going as they plan, much to my relief.

    1. Oh to hell with that nonsense.

      The wife-beating nonsense is OLD and still false– NOBODY forced poor widdle Pootie to invade the neighbors.

      Not even if he says we burnt the dinner. Or he says we forgot that he hates peas, on purpose.

      1. I misread the comment you’re replying to and thought the commenter meant that Biden had basically given Putin permission to invade with his comment about the US not responding to a “limited” incursion. But on second read, you’ve understood him/her perfectly well.

        1. I can definitely argue that failure to stand up when Putin carved off chunks last time is part of why they’re massacring civilians now, among other failures, but that’s not us being a jerk. At most, not helping to prop up Putin’s puppet after he massacred protesters then fled to Russia could, maybe, if you squint, be called some sort of a jerk move. Not with much sanity, but it COULD be CALLED that.

          1. You know, it just occurred to me how many miscalculations Putin made. We all know about his overestimating the readiness of the Russian military, and we all know why. But another miscalculation he made was thinking that if America wasn’t going to respond, Europe would follow America’s lead. This proved not to be the case. Then the third thing he failed to realize was the state of America’s internal politics. He took Biden’s comment as accurately reflecting the policies of the Democratic party — and why wouldn’t he think that? Anything he says is certainly the policy of Russia, or else heads roll (and he makes sure of that). But he didn’t realize how little anyone in the Democratic party actually cares what Biden thinks. In fact, the Democrats had spent so long screaming about how Orange Man is Putin’s Puppet, and therefore Putin Bad because Orange Man Bad… so now they had to continue saying Putin Bad, therefore Ukraine Good.

            Finally, I also credit Zelenskyy for doing a masterful job of propaganda (in the strictest sense of the word, disseminating information to influence public opinion) to get the world to support Ukraine. I’m not taking a position on whether any given story out of Ukraine is true or false, as I’m in no position to sort truth from fiction. But Zelenskyy knows how to use the media to portray himself as the plucky underdog, which has the advantage of being true, and milk that underdog position for all it’s worth. So Putin has found himself isolated in world opinion, which is another thing he didn’t count on.

            1. I think he also made the mistake of thinking the various anti-corruption actions in Ukraine were Russian style “anti-corruption”– that is, new management.

              Going off of how many Americans are willing to work in the Ukraine, doing stuff that is relatively easy to have stolen, that isn’t entirely accurate.

            3. The core foundation of his miscalculations is the experience of being a Soviet intel officer, and his decision to not really learn and grow.

              Even if you choose evil, you would tend to have a bias towards thinking that the stuff you spent a career on was not so destructive as to be a complete waste of time.

              He is biased towards thinking that the cruelty of totalitarianism is a good that somehow can offset all of the other issues of totalitarianism.

              From this, it flows that he underestimated how badly he ruined Russia’s military capabilities with his criminal games, and underestimated how much Ukraine could recover, relative to Russia, for lack of having a real Putin cognate. Both these misestimates cover events occurring from twenty years ago.

              Intelligence officer is an occupation often bad for mental health. In Putin’s case, he seems to seriously see internal security service games as being the core of sound domestic politics, as well as seeing all opposition to such Russian games as being a super genius master plan by US security services, such as the CIA, etc. Merkel in Germany was clearly something he saw as a Russian success, and a useful Russian advantage. But, it also relates to ‘paralyzed US equates to paralyzed NATO powers’. Where these are untrue, these are fundamental errors of perception, and the time scale of the mistakes is not as easily identified.

              It does relate to “US owned/funded biotech labs in Ukraine are super concerning” insanely paranoid perceptions.

              Any analysis of the timeline of this, and Putin miscalculations, has to consider the prior Ukraine invasion. What, eight years ago? This relates to the very early period of this year’s invasion. There are some very technically demanding elements of modern military art, that basically require junior officer and enlisted ability and motivation to improve capabilities. Some people, some where in the Ukrainian military, saw the warning of Russian intent in the previous invasion, and took that as motivation to improve their practical hands on skills, and to reform the organization to be more effective. That success, was the success that Putin most badly mispredicted, and which was not ‘given to the Ukrainians by the US’. No matter how much instructors the US provides to another country, the instructors cannot fix an entirely screwed up culture that doesn’t care about the ‘crazy’ US ‘nonsense’. Whereas, if a culture realizes ‘no, this is actually important’, the foreign people are smart enough to figure out a lot from information already widely available, because the US won’t shut up, and has spread it all over the place. This does tie into the evils of totalitarianism, but also relates to the Holodomor, and other Ukrainian motivations that are not necessarily part of the ‘official truth’. But, there are definitely miscalculations here on the eight year time scale. All the US technical handouts in the world would have had no value, if the Ukrainian military had not first unf&cked the objective reality of their actual in practice doctrine. Same equipment or perhaps worse, similar ideas of theoretical doctrine, but their training, discipline, motivation and their actual doctrine were better than Russia’s.

              Only then do we come to the recent miscalculations, that could be misrepresented as being bad behavior or choices by Zelensky or the Democrats. Two-three year time scale on “advantageous/friendly US regime again, ‘use it or lose it’ opportunity considering the chance of future Republican presidencies.” Either he sensed fragility in DC regime ability to hold on to power, or he planned to take more of Europe after Ukraine, down the line in a hypothetical continued Democrat regime. Or, he expected the dumbass Russian intel model of a US civil war leading to the end of the US as a power. The invasion decision was not based on wrong doing by Biden in Ukraine, it was maybe based on expected weakness of Biden regime. Or maybe believing Democrat spin about January 6th, combined with a saner reading of the politics since than the democrats have, but Russian intel is perhaps more likely to have a crazier reading of US politics than even the Democrats. Likewise, it was not Zelensky doing something real, that Putin perceived as being super beyond the bounds. Putin appears to have a really crazy view of what counts as intolerable rebellion by the Ukrainians, and nothing Zelensky could have done would have satisfied Putin.

              Lastly a) Zelensky didn’t rabbit, and that alone screwed up many Russian plans b) Zelensky has waged some effective propaganda war. Zelensky’s choices and abilities were possibly foreseeable, but that would have been difficult enough that they are not obvious miscalculations.

              1. Re your last paragraph, I agree. Also, the failure of the assassination attempts against Zelenskyy. That also torpedoed his plans to install a puppet government, but I can’t chalk that up as a miscalculation on his part. There was a good chance it would have succeeded — he’s been successful with that tactic plenty of times before — and from his perspective, there’s no reason not to try. (The fact that a tactic is evil is not a reason not to try it, in Putin’s world view.)

                1. I disagree that assassinating the head of your enemy’s system is evil. It’s non-evil to kill thousands or millions of soldiers but evil to assassinate the single person holding it together? A bit Utilitarian of me, but I see nothing wrong with the tactic.
                  Of course, there is some difference between killing the leader of the attackers vs of the attacked, but I don’t think it rises to the level of “evil”.

                  1. “You can solve this problem if you take him” she pointed, “out and shoot him. Do it now.”

                    Maybe we could use an Empress, now and then? 😛

                  2. Decent point. In war, it’s legitimate to try to take out the enemy commanders: colonels, majors, generals, etc., all the way up to the commander-in-chief. (Who’s usually sitting in his office in the nation’s capital, which means most of the time the tactic isn’t even tried). But everyone knows Putin has ordered many assassinations of people who spoke out against his regime. Those were not legitimate wartime targets; those assassinations were simply murders. So the tactic is usually evil, but I’ll concede that in this specific case, it’s no more evil than the rest of his war against Ukraine.

                  3. Problems are escalation, effectiveness, and what making such decisions on utilitarian grounds does to your decision makers over time.

                    It is a lot easier to negotiate peaces, and deliver them, when the negotiation participants aren’t routinely at risk of being killed.

                    If the cause of the conflict is fundamental issues of cultural issues, killing a leader can result in a replacement leader that has the same goals. Thus, assassination may be ineffective.

                    It probably isn’t an accident that most of the regimes that use the tactic often are totalitarian dictatorships under murderous psychopaths.

                    If the decision is a possible outcome, folks who get their jollies through murder will be attracted to the decision making positions. Okay, not being totalitarian, and generally ‘not doing such things’ has not by far been perfect for the US. Forex, that lunatic JFK, and I want to say Diem?

                    And, droning may well have result in US leadership drawing a lot of psychos, though, chicken or egg wrt causality.

                    1. Nod.

                      Assassination of Political Leaders rarely work out in the way that the senders of the Assassins plan on.

                      Of course, an unsuccessful assassination attempt causes major problems

                      But then successful assassinations when the Assassins are caught (& possibly talk) really cause major problems.

      2. > “The wife-beating nonsense is OLD and still false– NOBODY forced poor widdle Pootie to invade the neighbors.”

        Well… what was Ukraine wearing at the time?

    2. Possibly the invasion is messed up enough to have been on a short timeline and a shoestring.

      But, it can’t really have been started from first principles recently. At the very least, Putin has had staff working for a while on invasion plans.

      Even discarding prior invasions, it can’t have been based on stuff actually done by the Biden administration. Because the earliest and best reason for going forward, from a Russian/Intel/Putin perspective, is the calculation that Biden is too senile to be interested in foreign affairs, and additionally that Obama 2.0 would be willing to favor Russia even if there was interest. Russian intel overestimates the extent to which America is behind everyone who isn’t under their direct control, and calculated that Biden regime was going to be more advantageous than anything else that they could expect to see. “Anything we don’t take now, will be a very long time before we can take.” They decided they shouldn’t ‘leave money on the table’, and seem to have lost their shirts. Do not seem to have realized that a weak Biden means little control over Austin, and seem to have misread Austin.

      1. I think the fact that the Turnip in Chief’s Foreign policy people are in charge certainly said to Putin’s Advisors, Hey look they bunch of weenies that were in control in 2014 when we romped all over the place are back. They’ll sit with their thumbs up their asses like the last time. However, no one actually looked at the state of the military. Oh they read the reports and the reports reported that 100% of the required exercises were performed, Maintenance has been perfect and the quality and morale of the most recent set of recruits is exemplary. The Colonels and Brigadier generals say this for 2 reasons. 1) if they don’t their life (and that of the people they love) will be miserable and likely VERY short, 2) They can look and see that the US military has been busy with Iraq and Afghanistan (and you can bet they laughed their asses off when we decided to attack Afghanistan). Then in 2008 the Obumbles crew started selecting generals for their political nature and really started screwing up by the numbers making the services nearly all tail by add 6 million forms of training that enssentially rook any esprit de corp the units might have and threw it to the wind. Seeing that the west was never coming and China was busy getting set to deal with the US the mid level brass started siphoning money off to their on desires, needs, dachas, mistresses, you name it. But the upper brass never checked on them (didn’t listen to Ronald Reagan’s use of the “old russian proverb” Trust but verify. Simlarly the oligarchs propping Putin up have to trust the upper brass as they’ve avoided service like much of our political class. So they asked, the Brass checked the reports and said “It’s all ready to go” and so they believed them, because hey the upper brass really thought that’s the way it was.

      2. I’m confident that Russian staff has been working on the current invasion plans since Crimes was annexed, and the two autonomous regions were created. Even if there was no immediate intention to invade (and I don’t believe that at all), Russia undoubtedly has plans in place regarding what to do if it wants to invade its neighbors. The US has similar plans just on the odd chance we decide to gain a monopoly on the maple syrup market. It’s just what countries do.

        Having a plan like that, and updating it frequently (which is also normal), meant that the army just needed the order to move it’s units to their jump-off points.

        I would expect that serious discussion about whether to invade started when Biden bumped the price of oil back up.

        1. That briefly up on the internet Denazification essay speaks to a long standing desire to recover Ukraine, that would have been followed given any sufficient opportunity.

          I did forget about the oil price, which is related, is orthogonal to the question of US foreign policy weakness, and is also a Biden choice compared to Trump choice.

          Oil is the only source of spare Russian funds for military adventures. Biden restoring the high price of oil was also a use it or lose it opportunity, and the prior Trump policy resulting in price decreases would have created a certain financial desperation in Russians ambitious beyond the nation’s actual means.

        2. Just before mud season is a bad time to invade the Ukraine. Part of that was wild optimism.

          That they did not do it earlier means that they needed a certain amount of prep work, and didn’t have it ready to roll before now. This was a big gamble, and even if they could have pulled it off in theory quickly, the way every event lines up means that their lead time in practice was almost certainly longer.

          That they did not do it later, with better preparation, means that someone feared the closing of a window of opportunity.

  23. I’m a black-pilled doomer by temperament, and hope is difficult, but I try.

    Reality is a b*tch, but she’s also blind and indifferent, raining on the just and unjust alike. They may be going down, but they’re going to do a lot of damage on the way out, one way or another, and its hard to imagine what will be left on the other side, and how anything will rise, considering how many people are still thoroughly on board with owning nothing, being happy, and who think pod life and bugs are a good thing.

    1. They ain’t ever tried to eat bugs….

      I like knowing what CAN be eaten in a pinch. There’s a reason why there’s no market for grasshopper nibbles or acorn-flour scones, just saying.*

      *I will, however, nosh my way through chickweed like a very happy goat. If only chickweed season were longer than three weeks.

      1. You need to get someSouth Korean recipes for acorn flour delicacies. Maybe they have a better class of oaks, but acorn stuff is a thing even now that they have money, and the groceries here carry acorn flour. I think Shawnee do acorn flour pancakes too.

          1. Acorn jelly cold soup is apparently a South Korean summer thing. Large amounts of hot chili paste may be involved. (It is solid gelled squares made from acorn powder, not jelly jelly.)

        2. Well, remember the saying – A nation’s national cuisine is what the poor used to eat when the grandparents of the current generation were growing up. When you’re poor, and there’s nothing but crap to eat, you will figure out a way to make it palatable.

    2. They seem more than they are. Because the ones rolling their eyes and thinking the bug-eaters are loons tend to be too busy and polite to do more than mutter ‘idiot’ under their breath. They’re getting louder because the bug-eaters are trying to do more than be crazy somewhere over there… They’re trying to force the crazy on the rest of us.

    4. That many people are on board with OTHER people living in pods and eating bugs.

      They didn’t sign up for the revolution to be proles.
      Or dig the holes.
      Surprise!

  25. Don’t be a Doomer. Like poor Gollum, fight to the end for your Precious. And know however it ends you did your best.;) Remember Kevin Stacey’s Firesale speech in “Margin Call” and know that your talents have not been wasted and you have served the greater good (of your investment bank).

      1. From the book:
        “All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”

  26. I read the title of this post aloud and it sounded like the start of the Imperial March. Doom doom doom doom-de-doom…

      1. Bahhh Mr Williams made a poor copy of Gustav Holst’s Mars from The Planets. Many of the Star Wars themes are stolen whole cloth from The Planets 🙂 .

          1. And that’s what I get for NOT listening to it :-). I have a deep suspicion that if Mars was played on Kazoos the Chichester Cathedral where Holst is interred would become a powerful power generation site due to his vigorous rotation:-). I can’t imagine Mr Holst had a strong sense of humor, his music is a touch, shall we say, pretentious though always beautiful.

  27. We are unbreakable. They are increasing their calls of doom and doom because they are not breaking us, and they are going insane over it. I keep safe, watch my six, and smile.

  28. It is interesting how I hear both sides of this.
    Having originally come from the Soviet Russia, and a Jew, I tend to be pessimistic.
    But having come specifically to the United States, I find my first decade here (the 90s) to have been wild-eyed optimistic to the point of being naïve. Which, I guess, is a destiny of many a neophyte.
    Now I oscillate.
    As the federal monstrosity driven by bored nihilistic incompetents does its level best to purposefully destroy that which they do not possess the brains to have built, we also see We The People actually move our States in the direction of liberty. Right to Work is slowly but surely marching across the country. Constitutional Carry is now enacted in half the nation (!), with most of the rest being shall-issue. I would not have thought this possible barely 20 years ago, and yet here we are.

    So there is life in the old girl yet. Yes, “our betters” will no doubt succeed at making life as miserable for us as they can, but we might just pull through and ensure that Usaians don’t become merely a mythical sect.

    1. 22/25 cc have passed since 2015. It’s like the social rules changed about then.

      1. Sure, but Shall Issue has been conquering May Issue and No Issue pretty steadily long before Heller, and the AWB got successfully expired in 2004.

  29. Because it seems relevant, a short excerpt from my book A Geek’s Progress (to be released upon my retirement or demise, whichever comes first):
    Meanwhile the process improvement initiative was gaining ground. The Software Engineering Institute had been recently founded, and it was a marketing plus to be able to be assessed at software development maturity level 3 by their criteria. Many good habits were instituted along with a lot of meetings. Everybody was split into teams and “empowered” to fix problems that we discussed at the meetings (as well as less formally). Our supervisors were in these meetings as well as their own supervisor meetings. Soon it became obvious that our developer meetings would uncover a problem and use our “empowered” status to implement a solution, but then the supervisors would meet and enforce a different solution. Since I was the developer associated with process improvement (my process improvement mentor was management), I soon had developers stomping over to my cubicle to complain. Having heard enough, I finally said, “All right, we’re going to have an off the books meeting at lunch 2 days from now. Just developers, no leads. The only agenda item will be a debate and vote on whether we tell our bosses that they’re banned from our meetings.” I was rather surprised by my own audacity. At the meeting you can imagine the debate among 20 developers on whether to tell our leaders that they were not welcome. The motion failed to pass although it was close, but when we left the meeting, we heard that the bosses had met and decided to remove themselves from our meetings! News of our meeting and its agenda had leaked, and our leaders had decided that discretion was the better part of valor. Sometimes it pays to take risks.

    1. I recall the ‘lead’ dev at #WeBuildScales having one a Dilbert cartoon on this office door (on the inside, I think) where Dilbert is interviewing for another company. He told how empowered people are there and cuts things off with, “If you have to tell me that I am empowered, I’m not.”

  30. With respect to the doom-birds, how many of them glow in the dark? That goes along with the “Ruth Sent Us” people who were offering to pay the protest-theater creeps.

  31. Saturday the wife of the couple that hosts D&D (she doesn’t play, just her husband and daughter) gave me three cucumber and two green pepper seedlings she didn’t have room for. I’d planned to take the year off after three years of failed raised beds.

    So Sunday I bought potting soil, 12″ pots, and seven more pepper plants (two red bell, one snacking, one jumbo sweet, one cayenne, one poblano, and one Fresno) as well as catnip and cat grass seeds and some smaller pots.

    As of two two catnip pots, all the cukes, all the hot peppers, and the two green bells are transplanted. I lost the snacking somewhere and need to transplant the red bell and jumbo sweet peppers.

    I guess that’s an act of faith/belief we’re not doomed, at least not before the fall.

    Plus, the line of pots creates a diversion the cat we’re trying to get not to go into the yard of the neighbors to the south has to navigate. The catnip is on the north side of the door on the front lawn. Hopefully, we’ll create a carrot and stick to change his normal direction of wandering.

    1. C brought home a replacement snacking pepper (orange not red) and everyone is transplanted.

      Tomorrow I pot up some catnip and cat grass seeds.

        1. I have a pepperoncini pepper plant and had to look up a recipe for pickling them, as there are half a dozen ripe peppers on the plant already.

      2. $SPOUSE started the tomato seeds. It’s colder than we like (it’s snowing right now), but with some luck, they’ll be fine in the greenhouse as June starts.

          1. You might be OK with a place like Burpees. We’ve had good luck with their retail seeds, and ordered our squash (heirloom, so the seeds will be viable) from them online. burpee dot com will get you there

            One of the tomato varieties we have came from New England Seed. https://www.neseed.com/

            They have a variety of seeds, (We’ll use Tomato Grower’s Supply for another variety.)

            All of these outfits will give some indication of growing time til maturity.

            1. I know Burpees doesn’t carry them. The only source of Anatolian peppers I know of is these guys:

              https://www.threshseed.com/collections/turkish-peppers

              My question is more one of time: would I be starting them too late in the season to get a harvest. I’d really like to grow some Tatli Kil Sivri as I have seen them nowhere for sale and Refika uses them in a lot of her videos. I’ve been substituting fatter sweet peppers, but would love to try the “real thing”.

              1. If you can set pots in a window, that could work. We learned to shake the tomato plants to help pollination (a neighbor picking up beekeeping helped more 🙂 ), but the peppers I grew in pots didn’t overwhelm the space. (OTOH, we have to use a greenhouse.)

          2. It all depends on how fast the seeds get there, and when your first frost happens. But: if you order a grow box from agardenpatch dot com, and start it outside, then when frost time nears, bring it inside. preferably a sunny window. Then, go to our friend Amazon, and get a grow light. https://tinyurl.com/47csxe6m
            This is a perfectly good one, comes with hanging hardware and a hygrometer, and is in stock for immediate shipping. I suggest a timer; make sure the timer supports a 3-pin plug. It says 1000-watt, but that’s how much power the old models used. This one gives better light and uses 70 watts.

            With that grow light you can grow year round indoors. You will be happily surprised at how often the plants bloom. Well, they’re optimized for growing dope, after all. Your grow box will support your pepper plants plus several herbs. Be prepared to share lots of herbs with friends, because they will grow like crazy. Imagine sage, basil, thyme and rosemary that are years old and still growing happily.

            Don’t use moisture control potting soil. Regular potting soil only.

            2. I have avoided indoor because cats but I do the work to turn the front office into an actual office instead of storage room we normally keep that door shut. I could do some year round and seedlings for next year.

              I would think in Atlanta I might have time to sow outdoors this season. It says 60-75 days to harvest. If I get the seeds and sow around June 1 that’s mid-August.

              Maybe I should be worried more about heat than cold. That said, it recommends growing seedlings at 85F with a thermal mat under if needs, so they should be okay.

              Hmmm…I’m almost at pulling the trigger, but I also am not much of a gardener yet. I think I’ll order when I get fruit from my existing plants (ie, I have a clue about raising bought plants from the Big Box) before branching out.

              Still, it is tempting and maybe I’ll grow a fall indoor Turkish pepper crop.

    2. Coworker giving away free blackberry bushes (thornless and tasty, he said), I took one. We’ll see if I can manage to keep it alive in a big container long enough for it to produce. My other plant pets are a rambling rose and a cluster of irises, both low-maintenance plants I generally ignore. (The rose gets a haircut in late winter and erratic bouts of dead-heading. I sometimes remember to give it and the irises water in hot weather).

    1. And what’s fun is when they are flying! 😀

      Alma had one of her Mage summon Winged Hussars and they were flying. 😉

    2. Loved the Winged Hussars!
      YouTube gave me a “companion post” – looks like the folk song may have been added to a movie excerpt, as with Sabaton’s clip, but the enemy in the song is Sweden, not Saracens. Lots of info on the Hussars, and the lyrics in Lithuanian and English.

      Winged Hussars / Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth & Traditional War Song

  33. And how do we know they’re doomed? They decided that abortion was the hill to die on. Whoever the leaker is (no hurry to out this person, eh, media?) must have thought that this was the issue to rally the ultra-Antifa troops around. I mean, they think that harassing Supreme Court justices and disrupting religious services with their Handmaid cosplay parades is just the thing to win over average Americans.

    I look very much forward to them learning otherwise.

    1. I love how the lame-stream and lefter media are claiming it was a right wing clerk. Goes along with the “fear” of right-wing anti-abortionists causing violence. Curious how it’s pregnancy hope centers that are getting targeted under that scenario.

      1. Talking your girlfriend into illegally stopping your child support obligation is a lot easier when she gets no support.

        1. I recall someone going after abortion clinics, but in the loony corner of Oregon, there was another pro-life center firebombed. Those right-wing MAGA arsonists must really have Portland under their thumb. /sarc

      2. I mean, they claimed that pro-lifers would riot if Roe was overturned. Because that’s what groups that get exactly what they want do, I guess . . .

  34. On a long enough timeline, we’re all doomed.

    The catch is that long timeline is impractical otherwise.

    I’ve lived through the brushing-up end of the ’70s and ’80s, when Regan was going to get us all killed because he thought the USSR could be beaten.

    I’ve survived the ’90s, and that we were all going to live in a corporate dystopia.

    I’ve survived the ’00s, when it seemed like Islamic Jihadists were everywhere and we were going to have to do terrible things that would make Tom Kratman blush.

    I’ve survived the ’10s and the run of Obama.

    I’ve survived New York.

    At this point, as long as I can move and talk and work, world isn’t doomed yet.

    1. Nay, on a long enough timeline we all will take part in the glorious victory.
      The kernel of the following is stolen with permission from Mad Mike.

      55 thousand US Marines have been killed in combat since 10 November 1775. At the end of days, when the forces of darkness assault Heaven’s walls, they will find those Marines arrayed before those walls. And if they have any sense at all they will go back where they came from.
      The meaning of this tale is: Fight the fight with all your strength. And you will skip St. Peter’s screening, and enter Heaven via the staff entrance.

    2. Re: the future corporate dystopia foretold in the ’90s, that one actually came true. Kind of. We’re definitely in one right now. It’s just that (as always) the leftoids that told us it was going to happen got the who backwards and the how all tangled up.

  35. I know I’ve posted some dark black pills in the past, but news hasn’t always been good. My spouse encourages more positivism. Not a total doomer, but a realist with a reasonably accurate track record. (I hate being a Cassandra, wish I was a dumb, happy, Pollyanna sometimes.)

    Let’s just say I work in the insurance domain that deals with a certain aspect of the supply chain. Plus have family on the agricultural/commodity side of things. Like our hostess says, “Things are going to be bad.” Real Soon.

    Besides all the good advice of taking care of self, family, support network while also fighting the system legally at the local level, what else?

    We keep fight the uphill battle and try to soft sell the red pill to those that are willing to listen. I’m still involved with election and voter roll audits. I realized that you can track whom supposedly voted in which primary in Texas, so I know who still believes in the Empire of Lies. Quite a few co-workers and family are still backing the Blue-tards, so it’s getting interesting to hear their excuses over time.

    If I get too worried, I just go outside and work on the garden. Not large enough to feed us, but it’s more spiritually than anything material.

  37. Over at MGC Dave was mentioning that the Oz gubmit is going to “pay writers a living wage” and he’s pretty sure he won’t be seeing any of that money.

    I mentioned that this has been the case in Canada for 30 years at least. The government essentially bought the Canadian publishing industry for a bag of magic beans. Doom doom doom, right?

    Thing is, nobody reads that stuff. A big Canadian content hit sells 500 copies. Because it’s horrendous, pretentious drivel. So the government a-holes can control it all they want, it still doesn’t do them a pinch of good. Propaganda only works if people -see- it.

    Capitalism treats socialism as damage and routes around it.

      1. Unless the government is a Renaissance Prince required by peer pressure to have cool-looking stuff on his walls. Then the artists he supports might actually turn out to be competent.

        1. There might be a slight difference between “government” and “patron of the arts”, even if that patron is part of government…

        2. Government supported art is fine as long as the bureaucracy is kept OUT. After all, just because you’re a prince doesn’t mean you can’t demand a good story as the proles do.

  38. My answer to the prophets of doom was written a long time ago. I hope you all understand this is pointed at enemies of liberty and not at any other demographic.

    Commandancy of the The Alamo

    Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

    To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-

    Fellow Citizens & compatriots-

    I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna – I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man – The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken – I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls – I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch – The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country – Victory or Death.

    William Barret Travis.

    Lt. Col.comdt.

    P. S. The Lord is on our side – When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn – We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

    Travis

  39. Amen! A significant part of our winning is not just those of us who fight, but the fact that far more are becoming aware that there is a war and no longer passively/ignorantly assist the enemy.

  40. Sarah,
    Keep fighting the good fight, I and many others are with you. Even if we don’t continually give feedback, we burrow deeper under their walls with our petards, setting up the charges to produce the most effective emotional/political devastation at just the opportune moment. As an aside, the walls have always been gelatin, about as far from rock as you can get. If one thought the sight of all of the crying fools at HRC’s loss was amazing, wait until they completely grasp how badly they’ve lost.
    Until final victory!

  41. Apparently SJWs who are funded by Daddy and Mommy had better things to do than show up at churches on Mother’s Day, for the most part. They did show up at Our Lady of the Angels in LA and St Patrick’s in NYC.

    The Handmaid’s Tale cosplayer in LA was apparently unaware that US Catholics get executed by the weirdvangelicals in power in the novel. But why read or find anything out?

    1. Also, the cosplayers were apparently weakened by not realizing the ushers and congregants in a Catholic church in LA would include a lot of Hispanic and black people. The softspoken Hispanic usher kept moving them back and back.

      Sigh. Funny, but also sad how insulated and incurious that SJWs are.

      1. Worse than that IMO.

        They can’t imagine resistance of any sort to their actions.

        We’re supposed to “stand there and take their sh*t”.

        I’m reminded of the idiot Antifa girl who was boasting about what she was going to do to those “Nazis” (on Facebook IIRC) and started whining after one of her “victims” hit her before she hit him.

        Oh yes, the ushers peaceably resisted these idiots but they didn’t expect it. 😈

  42. Word of the day: ochlocracy, or mob-rule-–– the symptom of a political order decaying into tyranny.

    They only win if we let them! They are loud but they are not brave. They think that they are neuvo and very enlightened but, in reality, they are retrograde, unread primitives. Like an eating disorder, maybe they will out live their psychosis, on the other hand, maybe they won’t. Cults end in despair and hopelessness!

  45. It’s not doom, doom, doom that goes through my mind it’s “how are the Republicans going to screw this up?” that goes through my mind. We don’t call them the stupid party for nothing. I’m 99% sure the Republicans are going to regain the House and the Senate. I believe they had the opportunity to win huge majorities in both places. However, I see the giddy little critters bragging about the investigations they’re going to do, when they get the power. Of course we want investigations, but more so, we want solutions to Biden’s problems. With big enough majorities they could over-ride vetoes and actually accomplish something useful, but they’re talking about investigations.

      1. It isn’t that the Dems aren’t stupid, but that their stupidity is overshadowed by evil.

        The gopes have comparative advantage in stupidity.

    2. “With big enough majorities they could over-ride vetoes and actually accomplish something useful, but they’re talking about investigations.”

      –
      But. Can’t they do both? She asks.

      Oh! Wait! Congress and Senate …. Never mind. (Walks off stage mumbling.)

  46. Really well thought out and… most importantly… desperately needed thoughts. Will include this on my “what I learned this week.” I sometimes feel that the entire world has gone mad and is spinning out of control. Luckily, I’m old enough to remember 1968 – I think it may have been worse then. One year later, symbolized by the Moon Landing and the fact I was able to get a girlfriend (sort of – I was young) the world seemed a lot better. Doom was avoided.

  48. “They won’t win”?

    They murdered the late Constitutional Republic the United States of America (July 4th, 1776 – November 3rd, 2020) by the removal of the consent of the governed and usurped the “government” of its remains, Venezuerica.

    They own 95% of everything somewhat organized in Venezuerica.

    They are in charge of the education of Venezuerican children and the young. They own “education”

    They own Venezuerican culture.

    They have destroyed the Dollar.

    The language we use is theirs.

    They have destroyed our military.

    They are replacing the voters because we vote “wrong”

    I could go on.

    “They won’t win”?

    What is there left for them to win?

    Please, what would you call a “win” for them, then?

    Evil is in charge. And we let them.

    We all know what should be done.

    We all know we won’t do it.

    1. Are you fond of spreading enemy propaganda? Are you out of your fricking mind?
      If the US was murdered, it would have died under Woodrow Wilson.
      Dearheart, you’re not even an entertaining troll, but the Huns are bored.
      Hey, guys, have fun.

    2. They have destroyed our military.

      :looks at her old shipmates, her relatives, and even the DangKids! that she knows in the service:

      ….you’re one of those folks who sat in class and didn’t correct the teacher, then assumed none of the other kids was doing the same, aren’t you?
      Even after idiots like me spoke up and got in trouble for it, so sensible folks will keep their mouths shut?

    4. Evil is in charge. And we let them.

      We all know what should be done.

      We all know we won’t do it.

      You and the mouse in your pocket can just piss off already. Find a nice, quite, preferably dark room, and try not to break anything.

    5. Not sure where this Venezuerica country is, but it sounds like things are going to be bad for them. From the description it sounds like they don’t have the American sense of no fucks given about what authority thinks when authority goes insane.

      1. Cue the filk song “I Have No Fucks To Give”

        I have no fucks to give
        My fucks have all run dry
        I tried to go fuck shopping, but
        There are no fucks to buy

        😀 😀

    8. Dude, try Wilson or FDR for the murder, with LBJ as maybe the gravedigger.

      They own education so effectively that the homeschooling rates have *exploded* over the last few years.

      They own coastal and urban culture, much of which is happily destroying itself while everyone looks on going “huh, what a buncha weirdos”

      The language… dude, do you have any idea how English works? Controlling English (snicker). Note that every term they bring out in pride (including woke and Social Justice Warrior) quickly become terms of derision they run away from. Yeah, good luck controlling the 3 racoons in a trenchcoat…

        1. I still prefer ‘Social Justice Wanker’ 😀

          They have taken over the scum that floats on top, and have no clue what’s brewing in the Stygian depths they pretend don’t exist.

    9. What totalitarian hellhole did you crawl out of, to think that a few ‘successes’ at the federal government level is complete control, and a regime that lasts eternally?

    10. We all know what should be done.
      We all know we won’t do it.

      I thought I knew WordPress formatting tricks, but how’d you get that glowing effect in your text?

  49. Pingback: What I learned this week, May 13, 2022 | Bill Chance

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