It’s Another Of Those Days

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

Yes, yes, I have walked. I woke up a bit stuffed and feeling under the weather, but I think it’s either allergies or, you know, the stupid weather.

However, in positive news, I’ve sent Lights Out And Cry to proof readers. I never expected major plot developments in a novella, and I’m going to have to put it in the “main sequence” which will be interesting.

So today I’m mostly “reading myself” into Dyce so I can finish book (A well-inlaid death) and cleaning house, and doing laundry.

I’ve fallen deep into FBI memes. Some twit in some scholarly publication says we do those, because we’re habituating being spied on. The twit is wrong. We do those because we’re outraged at the FBI being made into an utter partisan tool. (And perhaps to an extent always having been that.)

You laugh when it hurts too much to cry.

I’m going to put up a bunch of FBI memes. I’ve also decided I’m going to start producing them by the (bit) bucket full.

Anyway, while I’m cleaning, have fun with these.

And non-FBI, but you know….

And because I love you, here are blanks for your own memes:

191 thoughts on “It’s Another Of Those Days”

  1. Anyone in local, county, or state law enforcement will tell you that the fearless band of idiots has been political animals since the founding. The trouble with any organization is the founder’s issues are “baked in” and usually only get more emphasized and extreme as the organization moves forward. With that in mind, is it any wonder that an organization founded by that cross-dressing evil control freak bastard Hover is political and evil?

    1. “…fearless band of idiots…”
      You misspelled “feckless”. HTH.
      Aside from that, I concur; “Hover” is so descriptive… 🙂

    3. Terrible, terrible end.

      We need to be super kind and give allt he snacks to the abused modern descendants.
      – signed, the lazy fuzzbutts of the House of Foxfier

  3. From what I understand J.Edgar Hoover had a little “book” of ALL sorts of interesting facts on rich and politically entwined people, and used it for his own benefit. Alos, I didn’t get “the Lieutenant ” reference in the meme.

      3. I noticed that the Wikipedia article on Starship Troopers was that site’s featured article the same day that you posted that “The Lieutenant wouldn’t like that” meme.

        1. I read it in High School likely Freshman (time is a blur but it could be Sophomore year). maybe that’s why I was one of those who “voted” for Ron back then in 1980 (Start of my Freshman year). We had the machines for the coming election so they had us school kids test them by running a vote a few weeks before the election.

        1. I bet you’re one of those people that says it’s not possible to appreciate a guitar solo unless you love Hendrix.

      3. And The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. At the very least. There is no movie. Rather, there is a movie with the same name, and a few characters named the same thing, but it’s a sci fi movie that had nothing else to do with the book, do ignore that for now.

        But do read the books. If you have any appreciation at all for the wonder that is found in classic sci fi, have a philosophical or curious bone in your body, or have two eyeballs and a brain behind them, read them. You’ll thank us for it.

        2. RAH said if you get Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Stranger in a Strange Land, you’ll understand what he was trying to say.

            1. The Reader relates. He has read Stranger 3 times and still doesn’t quite get it. He can’t connect Stranger to the author who wrote Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Maybe it is time to try Stranger again.

              1. I recommend the 1991 re-issue of ‘The Original Uncut Stranger In A Strange Land’.

                When RAH submitted his manuscript in 1960, the publisher told him it had ‘too many words’. He spent months wringing 60,000 words out of the original 220,000 and that’s what they published. His widow Virginia Heinlein renewed the copyright, then published the original version. That’s what’s on my shelf.

  4. What can’t go on, won’t. Silicon Valley Bank, which was the wokest bank in America, has failed with the FDIC called in. 80% or so of their deposits are uninsured by FDIC. There had been a run all day yesterday, which is one of the reasons I had to go into NYC doing the day job, so it’s not clear how many uninsured got their money out, but ugly.

    Why this matters. They did payroll for a lot of the tech firms, they were a huge source of start-up funding, they were a big holding by hedge funds, specifically Ackman, and they were rated among the top banks in America just 6 DAYS ago mostly because of their wokeness, Their Risk Officer only managed “climate” and seemed to hold her job because she hit at least three ticks in the Progressive Stack being a woman, dark, and gay. The biggest thing though is that reality is starting to rain on the woke parade, I’ve laid in stocks of popcorn.

    Couple of days ago, Balzacq asked for a simple explanation of the yield curve and I think I gave him a bad answer because the why if the YC is hard to explain. However, what the YC does is easy to explain. Stripping aside all the complications, banks borrow short term and lend long term, Normally they earn the time spread, it’s called “maturity transformation,” when ST money is more expensive than LT money, the banks lose money and, if like SIVB they’ve tripled in assets over two years, they fail. That’s why the YC causes recessions.

    You might see a thing about BofA having huge unrecognized losses. That probably won’t matter for a host of TBTF reasons, but small to medium banks that grew aggressively over the last few years taking advantage of what was an extremely steep YC thinking it’s different this time so long as you’re woke enough, they’re in trouble, big trouble.

    1. Ouch. Thinkingof local baker that changed hands (and names) five or six times in the last few years.

    2. Dang. Our little regional bank failed in the 2007/08 crash and had its assets assigned to a bigger regional bank, and now bigger regional bank has been bought out by a very large, very, very woke bank.

      I’m thinking I ought to find a good credit union and keep a substantial portion of my savings there (probably keep the woke bank for paycheck deposit and bill-paying continuity for a while). This is no time to have all your eggs in one basket.

      1. Keep an eye on your credit union. Mine isn’t woke (I think) but they got consultant’s disease a few years ago and forgot that making things easier for the members was actually a thing.

        1. I’ve had to deal with three credit unions in Flyover Falls. One is great, one quite good, the third is woefully understaffed. Protip: If you don’t have enough people to handle retail customers in the branch, it’s bad optics to put the online-only people in offices with glass windows facing the lobby. Makes the hour-plus wait for paperwork service a wee bit more irritating.

    3. This is very concerning information. I appreciate you sharing this with us.

      Is there a list of banks that may be involved? How would the truly clueless know if we are in danger because of our bank?

      1. If you’re under the FDIC limit, you have no worries. $250k.

        There was a guy who used to keep track of this in a generally available, easy to understand format. I’ll see if he’s still around,

        1. I wonder how far this has to go before the FDIC can’t cover that any more?

          Of course what probably happens then is the gov’t issues more dollars and it won’t matter whether ours are in banks or mattresses :/

          1. If that happens, then it likely doesn’t matter anyway, as the money that was in the bank probably has roughly the same value as toilet paper.

            1. Even less. Toilet paper is useful; money is too stiff and scratchy. And it won’t even start fires well.

              1. It’s quite nice, actually, when it’s not fresh off the printer. It’ll clog your toilet pipes, though.

        2. The FDIC is already in straights. If there is a major collapse (e.g. the so-called great depression) the FDIC is finished.

                1. There’s a certain mindset (usually leftist, but they’re not unique) which thinks that money has intrinsic value. They’re wrong, of course, but they can do a lot of damage before they learn different.

                  Cargo Cult USA…

    4. So what actually happened to TBTF banks that take massive losses like that?

      And how does one even tell if one’s bank is doing that sort of thing?

      A lot of account holders, like me, are just looking for a place to store our money that’s not inside of matresses, and a method for paying bills that is not mailing money orders. Hearing major banks may be engaging in weapons grade stupid is frustrating.

      1. Nothing, they don’t have to mark to market anymore after 2008. Unless the other banks decide they’re insolvent, then they’re done.

      2. FDIC covers up to $250k per depositor per bank, but make sure it’s a deposit and not something that looks like a deposit but isn’t. You have to be careful with money market accounts in particular as most are FDIC, but not all. If it says high yield you have to read the disclosures carefully. If you have more then a $250k on deposit, then split banks. Be very, very careful with “brokered deposits”. If it’s just the bank on the corner and you are within the limits the worst that could happen is a delay in access. If that’s a problem then cash is your friend.

        Actually monitoring this is a PITA, but there are ways. Since there is interest, I’m looking around to see if there’s something around.

        1. I think it is more the sudden reminder that what we think of as our money really isn’t all that under our own control.

          We give it to the banks to hold and make reasonable use of in exchange for the cost of holding, but don’t really have the technical expertise to know if they are upholding their end of the exchange or not. And if we don’t, we become liable for civil forfeiture for holding ‘unreasonable’ amounts of cash outside of the banking system.

          Not really sure how to deal with that, aside from maybe investing in hard durable assets. I.e. things I could make an independent livelihood from.

          1. When you deposit money you’re lending money to the bank. That’s not figurative that’s literally what you’re doing. FDIC insurance sorta numbed people’s awareness of that

            1. That, along with zero returns, and the presumptive assumption one is engaged in unlawful activity of one does not.

              Sorry, dark dog day. Just being reminded of how fragile the whole system is.

            2. It’s funny, but I never hear about full-reserve banks in the U.S. even though you’d think there would be enough interested people to support them. Are they illegal, or did the markets just say no?

              Or do they exist and I just haven’t heard about them?

        2. It used to be $100K, which made for a lot of entertainment under the right circumstances.

      3. I don’t think my local bank is going to have a run but most of my cash is in Treasury money market funds at Fidelity Investments anyway. The Fed will obviously make sure Treasurys get paid when they mature, even if the “dollars” are completely worthless by then, until they can’t pay their employees.

        Fidelity has a bill paying service that is only slightly annoying to use; they mail a check to whomever you want to pay. You can also use ACH transfers that usually take a day or so.

        Customer service is pretty good in my experience. They even have native American English speakers in off-hours (no, not that kind of Native American).

    5. There’s also the problem of ‘consolidation in the Banking Industry’ — the Big Fish have been eating the little fish. I used to invest with ScotTrade, until they were bought out by AmeriTrade, and now they’ve been ‘merged’ with Schwab. We seem to be headed for ‘One Bank to rule them all, and in Darkness bind them’.

      I get why they do it. Government regulations place proportionately greater burdens on small businesses (including banks) than big ones. Some of those regulations seem to be just for the sake of regulation. HOW is it any of the government’s business how I access my money in my savings account? Who gave them the authority to dictate that I can only make 6 withdrawals in a month? Why was AmeriTrade suddenly prohibited from providing online bill pay services last year? How does that serve the public good?
      ———————————
      The one thing we need more of from the government is LESS!!

      2. Because TPTB think they can do something about drug smuggling and human trafficking if they implement rules against “money laundering” that only impact law-abiding people who don’t do those things.

          1. If AL Capone had been willing to show that he made some money, and paid taxes on that money, the Feds likely would never have been able to send him to prison as he went for tax evasion for paying basically no taxes at all.,

            1. Yeah, but why would he have worried about tax evasion? He was a crook who did horrible things. And the government was going to bust him for tax evasion? Seriously?

              Well, if the government can’t get anything else on you…

              1. The smartest, most successful crooks break only the law that makes the money.

                With discretion.

                1. Especially when they are busy gloating about “ahahaha, you’ll never prove anything on me, coppa!” you should be very, very discrete about breaking laws they CAN prove.

                  Heck, this is still a major thing, for any bad guys– if all you an prove on the serial killer is jaywalking? Then get him for jaywalking. At least he’s off the streets for a few hours, and maybe you’ll get lucky.

    6. This is “Gods of the Copybook Headings” warning letters. Things get bad when they show up. Banks will fail. Jobs will be lost. But the people, by and large, can fail and try again.

      It’s when things fall so far that pitchforks and torches become common again (in multiple senses of the words), well, there’s a reason the penalty for horse thievery was death back in the day.

    7. How does that bank fail propagate to Credit Unions? Or do they tend to be solid if not run by nincompoops?

      1. I think credit unions sometimes have membership requirements – like living in a certain geographical area or working in a certain industry. They also tend to be smaller, so it should be easier to find higher level suits to complain to.

        But considering how much they’re doing lately, regarding offering loans and such, and what services they’re taking away when they do merge – Mine is in the process of merging with another larger one, and I’m not going to be able to use my CU issued credit card as overdraft protection on my checking anymore – I suspect that they will eventually go the way of the large corporate banks.

        1. Depends a lot on the CU. Hewlett-Packard used to have one for employees and families, with name changes as HP spun itself apart. Most of the CUs in our area are general population. One (now acquired by a bigger one) was for public employees. That was the only local exception I know of.

      2. Varies.

        A very small credit union may use a bank as their clearing agent. If that bank fails they may not be able to clear checks and ACH transactions until they get a new agent.

        Small CUs may contract with a bank for their credit cards. They would have to scramble for a new operator; the cards may or may not work. Even larger ones may contract back office operations; these are not usually shut down as that contract is an asset. Customer service may suffer for a while.

        Investment services are always third party, as is insurance. You’re a client of the broker or insurance company, not the credit union. This applies to most small and regional banks as well.

        Credit union deposits are insured by a different entity (NCUA), not the FDIC. Policy in a meltdown will be different.

    8. The Reader finds it ironic that SVC is in trouble given its core customer base. The gang in venture capital who take crazy risks all day don’t trust their bank anymore?????

      1. I’m warming up the popcorn popper. “What, what? Reality? What do you mean D.I.E., E.S.G., and EIEIO won’t guarantee solvency!?!” Or competence. Especially competence.

        1. Where is Fluffy? The Reader thought that that was how corn got popped here.

          2. Making arrangements for BBQ. Usually the aardvark does that, with some help from the sea serpent in the minion pool, because she gets the shrimp, but Fluffy decided to do it this time,

        3. EIEIO is a Linux error code which seems to be roughly equivalent to “Shut her down Clancy, she’s a pumping mud”

      2. Then again, many of the customers are the exact kinds of people who spend all day looking for companies that have an imbalance between the real value of the company and the share cost. Spotting that sort of thing (or trying to spot it) is how they make a living.

        1. SVB bought Boston Private Bank in 2021. Thus, many of the customers in the Boston area aren’t entrepreneurs, and did not choose the bank. It’s quite possible some of those customers have lost a huge share of their net worth, because the government allowed SVB to buy their bank.

          A friend in his 80s managed to close down his account yesterday morning, by standing on line in person at a local branch. He has friends who were not as organized. Wire transfers did not work.

    9. It just so happened that today was the day I played one of FDR’s fireside chats for one of the classes. Guess which one I picked? (Number 1. Oh, the Federal “bank holiday” in 1933 was in March. The Great Author has a sense of humor.)

    10. The prior reply was parseable to someone with only vague understandings of finance. This one is more comprehensible. Thank you.

      As for Silicon Valley Bank, holy @$#%!! A big bank going TU doesn’t happen except in extreme circumstances like 1929 or 2008, right? Do you have any rumint about what caused it?

      (And so far I’ve been very happy with small, Spokane-based Banner Bank. I bailed from WaMu decades ago and I have no regrets at all.)

      1. The usual thing I’m afraid. Too rapid Growth and the inverted yield curve caused a liquidity crunch which caused a run. Management cashed out millions over the past three weeks. So fraud basically.

        I think rich people lost money here so it’ll be interesting how it plays out.

      2. This is why YC inversions cause recession. Borrowing short and lending long is very very volatile. That’s why you have runs going back to the Goldsmiths

        I don’t think you’re looking at a 2008 or 1929 scenario but you might be looking at an S&L crisis scenario. Painful but not dangerous. That could change but that’s how I see it now.

      3. I pulled away from the big national banks years ago – it was one of my New Years’ resolutions. I have accounts now at Frost, which is a Texas-only chain. I’m quite happy with them. Customer service is amazing – you can actually reach a real human being on weekends and off-hours.

        1. I’m not a Frost customer (yet), but I have always enjoyed their commercials. Quiet, low key, calming instead of loud and obnoxious. I even remember from years ago their commercials on Hulu which were calm, short and ended with “now enjoy your show commercial free” with no other commercials during the show.

          1. I really want my selected financial institutions to be boring. No drama. No adrenaline.

            ” your wealth is (yawn) steadily increasing at a slow (yawn) sustainable pace…”

        2. Last thing on this topic, it’s extremely likely that someone will assume the bank’s assets and liabilities and FDIC won’t pay out. that’s actually what usually happens. Current rumor is Goldman Sachs, but WTFK.

          All the “venture capital banks”:are being hammered. E.g., First Republic is almost as bad. the common denominator is tech and the melancholy fact that most tech can only survive if someone else, us, provides them free money. Since the tech lords are behind all the wokeness, this could really hurt them

        3. If Frost is Cullen Frost then they have a similar balance sheet to SIVB. That’s not necessary bad thing because that’s not why SIVB failed but be wary. Sorry for the delay it’s been a day

      4. We got pulled into WaMu when Willamette Savings got bought out. We were also at WeyCo (renamed Red Canoe decade or two ago), and Selco. When Chase bought out WaMu, for reasons, we bailed, took everything to Selco, all of ours, and all of son’s stuff. Left Red Canoe, too, just to consolidate everything (not because we were angry with them. Chase we were angry.)

      5. Don’t worry, though: Biden’s diversity-hire and woke SECTREAS Janet Yellin took time out from pushing the DEI agenda and unlimited funding for Ukraine, to reassure Americans today that our banking system is “resilient.”

        Basically, she’s the “This is fine” dog from the Internet meme about the burning house.

    11. Ackman already callled for a federal bailout of course; I expect that all the politicians on the tech oligarch payroll will rush to do so. There will be enough RINOs/payees in the House for it to go through.

    12. Not good.

      And Silicon Valley is a place that’s expensive enough that it wouldn’t be all that unusual for lots of “just slightly richer than ordinary” folks to have accounts over the FDIC limit.

  5. I wonder what’s going to happen when China implodes, and the bribe money dries up?

    Of course our ‘leaders’ will suck up (more) to the Middle East oil monarchies but…they’re not communists. They’re the opposite of ‘woke’ and they’re not going to change. Might that shake up some of the Normies?
    ———————————
    Most days, I suspect that we could get a better government by picking 535 people at random. On bad days, I’m certain we’d get a better government by picking 535 people at random from lunatic asylums.

      1. It has been revealed, by no less than CSIS (that’s the Canadian CIA for y’all Amuricans) that the Liberal Party of Canada is BOUGHT AND PAID FOR by the government of Communist China. Proof, my friends. Not suspicion, not dark hints. Proof.

        Suddenly, all the insanity and gun bans and pronoun legislation make sense. They’re softening up Canada to make it easier to swallow later.

        To date, the Normies have done absolutely nothing. They have not noticed.

        Now, what’s going to happen when the CCP goes down in flaming ruin and the money dries up? The Liberal Party of Canada will go begging, hat in hand, for a new Sugar Daddy.

        And the Normies will do absolutely nothing. They won’t notice.

        Normies like to fit in. They will try to fit in with any social situation they are presented with. They don’t really have morals, standards, things like that. Their one goal is conformity. They want to fit. You show them drag-queen story hour, they will take their kids there if they think that’s the done things these days.

        It takes a major societal breakdown like the collapse of the trucking industry to get the attention of Normies, and even then it will only be the truckers who notice. They raised hell last February because they had to, not because their morals and rights had been violated.

        Only weirdos have values. It will be the freaks, the geeks, the nerds and weirdos that decide how this shit is going to go. From what I see, it won’t go well for the CCP and their hangers-on.

        1. If the trucking industry collapses, the Normies will notice when the food runs out. “What’s wrong with the grocery stores? They’re not making food any more!”

          Because of course all food comes from that mysterious place behind the meat coolers.
          ———————————
          It takes a LOT of Education to make somebody that stupid.

          1. The Normies will notice nothing until after the food runs out. They will -do- nothing until after the food runs out.

            Then they will panic, and the for-real Zombie Apocalypse will occur. And probably a war.

            I note that Tucker Carlson has started making jokes about picking up a pallet or two of FMJ on sale. He said that one today when talking about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

            Weirdos like the people who read and comment here have seen it coming for quite some time, and made suitable arrangements.

            Normies have not.

        2. > “You show them drag-queen story hour, they will take their kids there if they think that’s the done things these days.”

          Normals have been rebelling against this and CRT in schools, at least in America. Messing with their children seems to be the line for them.

          Are Canadian parents reacting differently?

          1. Canadian Normie parents, as a group, seem to be 100% clueless. They’re not reacting. At all. Not even a little bit.

            Some parents have quietly pulled the plug on their kid’s public education and now homeschool. They form clubs and hire teachers, lots of private initiatives. This is a very big deal in Toronto particularly, as even the private schools are super-Woke.

            But those people who went private or went off the grid altogether are -weirdos- by definition. Normies fit in. Normies make sure their kids fit in. Normie kids go to those public schools and do their lessons by the numbers, even when the school is basically a hangout for underage hookers and drug dealers in training.

            The reason I say that is observation, not merely cynicism. The parents at Oakville Trafalgar high school did not en-masse keep their kids home until the school board removed Kayla-Lemieux from teaching duties. Some parents pulled their kids out. Most did not.

            https://nypost.com/article/who-is-kayla-lemieux-trans-teacher-with-prosthetic-breasts/

            The Normies decided it would be okay for their kids to be taught shop class by the mentally ill transvestite. Only the freaks and geeks raised almighty hell for weeks, raised hell at school board meetings and generally went at the problem hard. A small minority of about 60 people picketed the school for weeks. Some got arrested, or so I heard.

            School went on as usual. Nobody cared.

            Bomb threats were a weekly, sometimes daily occurrence at the school. School went on as usual. Nobody cared.

            Until last week, when that New York Post article was published. The freaking New York Post sent a guy to freaking Oakville to follow the shop teacher dude around, and posted the resulting pictures of said shop teacher without the wig, makeup, obscene prosthetics and trans-getup.

            Said shop teacher is now on -paid- leave (but at least out of the school) because an AMERICAN newspaper busted him out of drag.

            The Normies did -nothing- and are still doing nothing. That’s what they do. Nothing.

            1. I would remember, Phantom, that your media is a hell of lot more controlled than ours and your government sues bloggers.
              Assume you’re not seeing the resistance.

              1. As it happens, I actually know some of the resistance. They are weirdos, Sarah. Like me, and like you. Goats in the sheep farm. I met a bunch at Kathy Shaidle’s funeral. We’re not a normal bunch. We are the fruitloops who keep looking where nobody else looks.

                There are a lot of very pissed off, very active people in Canada. But they are -not- Normies. They are people who have abandoned trying to fit in, and are now dedicated to raising hell. Perfect example, Tamara Lich. She does not give a single damn, that girl.

                The mainstream media in Canada is indeed very, very highly controlled. Always has been. I had to leave Canada for several years before I realized just how controlled it is.

                But, and this is the thing you need to get about Canada, the Normies here don’t care. If the media is lying about windmills, solar panels, WuFlu masks, it does not matter to them.

                The media tells them what the popular thing is this week. They want to know what the popular thing is. They don’t care why it is popular, or if it is good or bad, or if all Hell is going to follow. They do the popular thing to fit in.

                In Canada, you line up to go to concerts. The venue doesn’t send out security guards or cops to monitor the crowd, stop fights, stop vandalism, etc. Occasionally they’ll send somebody to tell you how long the wait is going to be. People just line up and wait. It’s like a defining characteristic of Canadians. They conform, they wait patiently, knowing that the event will presently take place in good order. Which it does, in good time.

                Likewise, people wear the mask, they sort their recycling, they turn down their thermostats like good citizens, they use the proper pronouns… and they will be very hostile if you are the goat that tells them the mask doesn’t work, recycling all goes in the landfill, and Chinese Communists are behind the pronoun thing. They really, massively don’t care. They’re fitting in with the herd, and you are a weirdo goat.

                I’m pretty sure that Oakville Trafalgar High School with the freakzoid shop teacher would have been closed if it was in Phoenix Arizona. The Normie parents would have closed it. In America, you stick up for your kids. That’s normal.

                In Canada the Normie parents understood that fitting in required putting up with the freak, so they put up with him. Any danger to or upset among their children WAS NOT IMPORTANT to them.

                Which is why I’m pretty glad to not be a Normie. Fitting in with a bunch of shallow peasants waiting to be shorn is not my top priority, thank Ghod. I’m waiting for the shepherd to turn his back for a second. ShaZAM, baby!

                However. Should those impenetrable frigging sheep finally understand that the social contract has been broken, that they are not going to receive their just rewards for playing the game and fitting in with the herd, and that the shepherd has been playing them for SUCKERS, that will be different. Unfortunately that will require a famine. It appears the plague was insufficient and the war isn’t getting it done either.

                Coincidentally, a famine appears to be the next big government plan. They’re really pushing their luck. Chinese communists for the win, eh? 😡

    2. If China implodes, some clever folks might void the bonds they hold as unplayable. Or pay them off with the old owed bonds from the former Republic.

      We have dumped “enemy” obligations in war, so there is ample precedent for “nah” without catastrophe.

    3. Right now it looks like the oil monarchs – the Saudis, in particular – are sucking up to the BRICS nations. China in particular. Nothing ominous about that . . .

  7. I’m going to have to put it in the “main sequence” which will be interesting.

    Alright, just where does it fit in the Hertzprung-Russell diagram?

  9. It is certain that the FBI and/or CIA have studied, in depth, the methods of authoritarian dictatorship’s (and other) intelligence entities such as Stasi, NKVD, GRU, KGB, etc. With perhaps some admiration.

    Could it be then that the FBI was not suborned into what is viewed as a partisanship role per se but actively used a Machiavellian approach to leverage itself into actual behind-the-scenes power far beyond their charter and beyond mere partisanship? I’d give you Hilary (what, no takers?) and the Great Server Scandal as an example of integration into the political PTB. Sure, it stinks like rank partisanship, but given the truckloads of dirt they certainly had on Clinton, Inc. there’s probably a giant quid pro quo involved. And in Washington, Inc. that means power. So rather than a partisan FBI working for their political masters they are aspire to become the masters. (See NKVD, GRU, KGB above).

    It’s not paranoia if they’re really coming after you. And I’m not paranoid; it’s just that everybody thinks I am.

    1. Pakistan seems to be run by their own version. Interesting book by an actual journalist who was kicked out of the country for knowing too much. Book revealed more about how Pakistan is run than any normal would want to know. So they may be the model the CIA/FBI/etc uses. The tree house has many informative postings on the current hidden rulers.

    3. But, are you paranoid enough? 😛

      If they’re secretly working for Cthulhu, would that be ‘giant squid pro quo’? 😀
      ———————————
      I used to think I was paranoid.
      I thought people were out to get me.
      Now I know the truth — they are out to get me.
      I feel so much better.

      2. Now I’m wondering how Freefall managed to go all this time without making a “sqid pro quo” pun.

    1. Doofus probably looked like that when he was a kitten. Much bigger, floofier now. I’m convinced all the hair follicles meet at a single point inside his tiny skull, and that hair follicle root serves as his brain.

      Which is another way of saying he tripped over his own paws and did a header into a mud puddle. Claimed that it was all the dog next door’s fault, too. Was terribly offended by bathtime. And is currently sulking his way into the warm spot that keeps moving on him, gosh darnit.

  16. The whole facade is crumbling, stumbling, and failing. Did they think that the hormone shots and the lavish lifestyles and whatever other substances they take would make them live forever? Ancient Feinstein is senile, Biden falls down stairs, McConnell trips and bangs his head, and 94 year old Soros looks like Jabba the Hutt after Leia choked him out.

    There’s young lefties out there, but they’re so dumb it’s painful. And who do they roll out today? A lizard looking Hanoi Jane, to tell the View that pro-lifers should be murdered.

    I smell desperation. I’m keeping my clothes and weapons where I can find them in the dark, because dying animals can be very dangerous. But dying they are.

    1. Was it Bill Whittle who said that an army takes the most casualties after victory is assured?

      1. But this time it’ll work!

        -Democrats, every time just before their inevitable, foolproof, totally ironclad certain to succeed plans fail, for the last century or so.

  17. The FBI was always political and corrupt, with (maybe) an approximate ten-year window of actual legitimacy.

    Ace agent Melvyn Purvis kept having suspects “commit suicide” by jumping out of ten-story windows. This, of course, had nothing to do at all with his favorite method of interrogation being to hang suspects by the ankles out said windows until they talked.

    Hoover had spy operations against any political threat to himself, including the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr.

    Mark Felt became the Deep Throat source for Woodward and Bernstein to take Nixon down, in revenge for not being named head of the FBI by Nixon.

    And then, after the (maybe) brief respite of actual legitimacy in the 1980s, they entrapped Randy Weaver into committing a crime, so they could murder his son and wife.

    So, you know, mostly a history of shameful abuse, with a few bright spots of actual, genuine law enforcement, just to keep things muddy.

    1. Lots and lots of positive publicity on TV, though. I’m betting most people’s idea of what FBI agents are like comes entirely from TV shows.

      2. most people’s idea of what FBI agents are like comes entirely from TV shows.
        …………..

        Bones.
        FBI, Rookie – And frankly, except for the small special group of 6 rogues, rest of FBI isn’t getting any brownie points.

        Otherwise? Don’t watch the various FBI shows/spin-offs.

    2. “And then, after the (maybe) brief respite of actual legitimacy in the 1980s, they entrapped Randy Weaver into committing a crime, so they could murder his son and wife.”

      Just to be clear, it was ATF who did the entrapping; they just called in the FBI for the kill shot.

        1. ATF; the original “crime” was supposedly cutting down a shotgun barrel to 1/4 in less than legal length.

  18. Now many on the left have learned that being woke does not protect you from failure. Nothing protects you from failure but good solid business practices and a lot of luck. The left’s house of cards are starting to fail. Green energy a bust, electric cars cause more green house gases than they eliminate, not to mention the materials involved start with child slave labor and they cause more green house gases than they ever remove and there is no way to dispose of the used batteries. Popcorn popper is starting to warm up, may need to start running at full speed soon. Large corporations are firing all their diversity departments. This maybe that spark that starts the panic that cause all those rich wokies to feed on each other to maintain their riches. Popcorn is done, just waiting on the butter. I wonder how much a used Ferrari will go for in Silicon Valley, or one of those McMansions?

    1. P.S.
      When liberals are confronted with adversity and failure they don’t all of a sudden get sane, they get crazier and crazier. It’;s all someone else’s fault, not theirs. Keep your powder dry and pray for the best, can’t hurt.

  19. Starship Troopers is still on the Commandant of the Marine Corps reading list.

    1. Makes the Reader wonder if Lloyd Austin and Mark Milley have any idea that the Commandant is subverting their agenda.

    1. Have you watched the video of the moronic school board member wearing cat ears talk about how “dangerous” Christians are at the meeting? You can’t make this dreck up.

  22. …And by the way, where is Ken in all of this?

    C’mon, dude, you stick your nose in uninvited often enough. You’re not going to come out and play when we’re talking about you?

      1. As I understand it, Sarah tried banning him but the ban wouldn’t stick for some reason. And Ken isn’t civilized enough to respect her property rights and stay gone of his own accord, so he pops back up and glows for us from time to time.

        At this point I think we’ve just kind of adopted him as an official chew toy. Just as every village needs an idiot, every right-leaning blog needs a fed I guess…

  23. Julie Kelly at American Greatness is reporting that the FBI was intercepting and reading emails between J6 defendants and their lawyers, and also that the FBI was destroying evidence, including stuff related to confidential informants who were involved that day.

      1. Ah, the cure used by Rainbow Six; IIRC that was an Amazon jungle. Good times, good times…

  24. I’ve mentioned this one before, but there’s a killer joke about the FBI that was supposedly written by an AI. This should go straight to the 47:00 mark:

    1. Damn it! I put “47m” in the link and the video jumps to the 48-minute mark instead! Do I blame WordPress or YouTube for this one?

        1. There are two hard things in computer science:

          1 . Cache invalidation
          2 . Naming things
          3 . Off-by-one errors

  25. And now for something completely different…

    Korean Special Forces sniper visits a US gun store for the first time –

      1. Given the ideology of racial socialism of the people running it and Biden’s Triumph of the Shrill speech choreographed by Riefenstahl, a swastika would seem even more appropriate.

          1. Riefenstahl’s work was aesthetically pleasing and dramatic. Granted, that’s part of what makes Olymipa and Der Triumph des Willens so evil, but if I’m going to get drenched with propaganda, at least make it attractive.

            1. I looked her up some years ago, just to see what the deal with her was. According to accounts, she wasn’t really part of the gang, just some film maker they hired.

              Really, she’s a perfect example of the militant ignorance of Normies. She didn’t know, and she didn’t -want- to know, because knowing would make -her- look bad.

              1. Disagree. From all I have seen, in my opinion, she was a knowing supporter of the Nazi’s, and the portrayal of her as “just some filmmaker they used” who was just trying to make what she saw as good film was an effort to rewrite history to absolve her for her role in their rise to power. I think she spent a lot of time after the WW2 lying to herself about her role.

                1. Everybody in Germany spent a lot of time lying to themselves after WWII. They’re all dead now, and their grandkids are STILL lying to themselves. Japanese too.

                  Put it in perspective of today. You’re a big supporter of #LetsGoBrandon because he’s right on all your issues and he says all the right things that stoke your boiler. Let’s say you’re the guy they hired to do the set design for that speech.

                  Five years from now, after a huge war which your side lost, you find out your guy murdered six million Mexican civilians and did some other things that will live in infamy forever.

                  That’s the situation Riefenstahl was in. I’m willing to cut the old girl a bit of slack. Plus she’s dead now, so we can assume justice was done in the end.

    2. The Reader has another minor correction. Prosecution should be replaced with persecution.

      1. They will do both. The DHS/DOJ part will be in the prosecution of those they persecute.

  27. I wasn’t sure about the “the lieutenant wouldn’t like it” bit. I was thinking Starship Troopers, but not sure about it. I remembered when Rasczak’ dies and they wanted to rename the roughnecks into the Jaguars but the new LT said “no”. I didn’t know that Heinlein was a lieutenant himself. (Or I had forgotten about it)

    1. Jalal says “the lieutenant wouldn’t like that” to hold the men in check and we around here call Heinlein The Lieutenant.
      So we ain’t giving up or surrendering because the Lieutenant wouldn’t like that.

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