Where Do We Go From Here?

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

I think yesterday some of us got a very bad shock. Not what the left thinks. We knew they were deranged enough to arrest Trump for…. doing exactly — and far less obnoxiously — what Hilary did in 2016. But almost all of us had one person, that remaining moderate leftist in our lives who were suddenly filled with glee and couldn’t stop celebrating, as though unaware that the door they opened leads to destruction and death unless a miracle happens.

Let’s be clear here, this is not about Trump. Not for me, not for most people on our side. (Though I’ll also admit seeing the orange-plated-son-of-a-bitch show up on twitter immediately after and post his mug shot did my heart good. Because, well, that’s so American. It’s cocking a snook in the face of a dangerous enemy. It is, after all, us all over. He’s of us, and he’s not going down without a fight. More on that later.) But if our side had conducted war on Obama all through his presidency — for the idiots on the left, no we didn’t. Satire and critical articles isn’t war. Undermining his bureaucracy, countermanding his orders in military matters, and conducting an investigation on the basis of various delusions and made up crap? That would be conducting war on him — and then continued lawfaring him as he was running again? I would hope to G-d I’d have the foresight to be scared and worried. Even if I thought he was the devil. (He’s not. He’s just the devil’s buddy. What? Have you seen his friends.)

I know this gets quoted a lot, From A Man For All Seasons:

William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!”

But that quotation is still apt. The left in power feels safe doing this, because they think we will never be in power. They think they’ll be in power forever, via massive, pervasive fraud. Sing me no songs of “don’t fall for that” I was sounding the alarm when no one was, after I saw it in action after poll watching in 2012. And when I saw the Potemkin campaign Biden ran in 2020? Just enough to make it look like there was a campaign, to justify the win? I knew the fraud had been amped up through the roof. As it was in my beloved, lost Colorado, when they instituted vote by fraud mail immediately after they won a bare majority through the extraordinary fraud I saw going on under my nose.

And now they think they’re secure, having forgotten the lessons of the age of revolutions, which is that if you don’t let the people have a say in their government, they’ll seize their say violently. (And honestly, in our mother-culture it was always so. English history is more thickly strewn with kingly executions and assassinations and succession wars than any other European country. It always amuses me that the French do it once and get a bad rep while we do it all the time and then forget it.)

What they’re doing bodes badly. The reaction of their co-religionaires is worse.

As a friend of mine recently said, pertaining to the weather in his area, right now “There’s nothing between us and the gates of hell, but a chain link fence, and it’s down some places.”

I confess I went to bed with a sense of pervasive doom and calamity incoming. The fact we had another cat death in the family this last week isn’t helping, no.

But I woke up this morning with something that’s not hope, nor exactly comfort, but a sense we will survive. America will somehow survive this and come back to herself.

Yes, we’re going to have to march through hell, barefoot, clutching what is precious to us and everything we want to keep. Yes, in a way, we will all die in this. Not physically. Hopefully not physically most of us. But what comes out the other end won’t be the we that we’re now. Just like the we we were at the end of 2019 is dead. If we’d known what lay ahead, that New Year’s party would have been a memorial for what we used to be. But we’re still here. We’re beaten, scarred, a little mad and very angry, roaring back at the tsunami of lies and the hurricane of oppression trying to beat us down. In the same way we’ll still be here, when this washes out, but each of us will be different. Going through hell changes you.

But we will come back. America will come back.

All those of you who say the Republic is dead and America is dead. If that were true Woodrow Wilson would have killed us. FDR would have killed us. If America were that fragile, it wouldn’t be worth fighting for.

The Republic is occupied by its enemies, who are doing their best to destroy our visible laws and institutions, convinced that if they do that they’ll end America.

As always, the left confuses the wrapping for the gift. America is not institutions that can be seized by the fraud of evil men. America is not the force of her armies. America is not suborned unjust judges.

America is an idea, codified in her founding documents. America is her people, with an habit of mind that is rooted on liberty, an inability to suffer oppression gladly, and a certainty that all men were endowed by their creator with certain inalianable rigths, among which are the right to Life, Liberty And the Pursuit of Happiness.

The Republic is oppressed, but it is still here, as long as we remember and know what it’s supposed to be. And she will come back. She must come back, because she is that last, best hope of mankind.

So wipe your tears, stop yelling back at the storm of sh*t. Go put back up those sections of the chainlink fence that are down. Where you are, in the measure possible to you, resist unjust orders, refuse to obey their insane and genocidal commands — hey, have you considered a gas stove? — plant a garden, build a green house, start raising hens, do what you can to secure the food supply they’re trying to destroy. Don’t wear the masks. Don’t eat the bugs. Refuse to be moved off your property. Go for a drive with your spare (ah!) cash. Love your kids. Have kids. Teach them the founding documents, and why America is special. Rise the flag (the left recoils from it like the vampire from a cross). Buy a t-shirt with “no step on snek”. Buy another gun. (And take it for a canoe trip, of course. Guns love water excursions.) Go to the range this weekend. Take your wife to the range. Take your husband to the range. Take the kids to the range. Write a subversive tract. Have a steak dinner. Put on Rich Men North Of RIchmond, and sing along. Sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. Loud enough for the neighbors to hear. Make love to your husband/wife. Pet your animals. Be happy. (They hate that.)

The good thing about the totalitarians in power and their fetishistic and pervasive rule is that so many things upset them. We’re spoiled for choice of resistance means.

Do them all. Do as many as you can. Sometimes all at once.

And when they scold you, laugh in their faces and offer to buy them a ticket to the grey, dingy socialist “paradise” of their choice. If you can’t afford the ticket, we’ll start a gofund me. Tell them we’ll help them pack and give them a farewell fruit basket.

We’re Americans. Boot on our face? Ah! We won’t stay down long enough for them to do that. We’ll bite a chunk off the boot twist their ankle till it breaks, and then throw them over as we stand.

It’s going to chaotic. It’s going to be bad. Going through hell is not a picnic. The only way out is through.

We don’t know where and when things are going to go South, but it will be in places, and at certain times, but not everywhere at the same time.

Be prepared. Be nimble. Be aware of your surroundings.

Keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

And be not afraid. Above all be not afraid. Yeah, we’re going to go through hell. Well, hell ain’t seeing nothing yet. It might not survive America.

America hasn’t gone anywhere. The Republic is still here. And we’re doing pretty well for being occupied. And we’ll do even better when this present unpleasantness is done.

The dead end doctrine of socialism-communism is done. It was never very convincing. It can’t survive outside carefully controlled mass communications. Its time is past.

America? America will survive and dance on its grave.

Go fix the fence. And G-d bless you.

341 thoughts on “Where Do We Go From Here?”

    1. First, I don’t watch TV. Second, my adblockers and workarounds are, shall we say, highly effective. I don’t think I’ve seen a political ad this year. (Saying this makes me feel like the girl who responds to “nice dress” with “Thanks! It has pockets!“)

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        1. I second both the effective adblock and the dress with pockets response. I love me some pockets in my dresses, and I hate ads.

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      2. Not seeing political ads on the daily shows that are on in the background (not news). Ditto on the online ads. Using DuckDuckGo and a few others to stop them cold. I tape everything so that I can fast forward over any ads, or talking heads in news political comments.

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      3. I mostly stream for free, they haven’t gotten around to filling all the breaks with commercials yet. So, no I haven’t seen one either. And it doesn’t bother me a bit.

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        1. I don’t even stream. Rumble, Bitchute, Youtube when I must (FreeTube, which blocks ads and skips over in-video ads), and otherwise stick to physical media and watch old movies.

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    2. Oh, I don’t watch TV. Do some streaming. But I consider all the junk on social media (especially “sponsored”) as political ads, and I can feel the awful coming.

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  2. “Put on Rich Men North Of RIchmond, and sing along. Sing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. Loud enough for the neighbors to hear.”
    and throw Dixie in the mix as well, it’s a good tune, even if you don’t approve of the politics surrounding it..

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    2. It’s the culture, not the politics. The politics was (were?) completely in line with the Constitution; a voluntary association of sovreign states, with no prohibition on disassociation by any state. And if the SC hotheads (yeah, redundant) had been willing to let it play out, rather than giving Lincoln the opportunity to declare it a “rebellion” by firing at (or more likely, near) Ft. Sumter, there’d be two nations here today. And no, I don’t consider that to be desirable.

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      1. Someone would have pushed it. There were too many hotheads on both sides, all just as clueless about what the war would really involve.

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        1. Maybe. But from what I’ve read, Congress worked for almost 2 months trying to find a legal way, per the Constitution, to prevent the South from leaving, and couldn’t find one; even Lincoln had begun to accept that it was going to happen and that he had no way to stop it. And then…they fired on Ft. Sumter, and since there had as yet been no formal acceptance of the split (if one was required, something subject to argument) SC was arguably engaged in insurrection, something which is covered in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). And Section 9 gave Lincoln the power to suspend habeus corpus, which he didn’t hesitate to do.

          But you’re correct about the general cluelessness, which seems to be endemic in humans (“We’ll brush them aside and be home for Christmas!”). Everyone seems to forget the maxim than no battle plan survives contact with the enemy; or “Remember that the enemy also gets a vote”. Or the version I prefer, “Your battle plan went down the toilet when the enemy arrived; that’s why they call him the enemy.”

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  3. First I’m taking care of me and mine. I hope you all are taking care of yourselves and yours.

    Only then can we all together have a chance at taking care of and restoring the Republic that is ours.

    It’s the American Way.

    & yes, I can find everything in the dark.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. You’d think they would have learned in ’94 when Gingrich took the House for the first time in 40 years. The Rs then used every single rule the Ds had created in those 40 years against the Ds. And boy did they scream bloody murder. “You can’t use our own rules against us! We created those rules to use against YOU!” The growing internal squabbles and fights in the ever dividing rainbow crowd is another sign they’re ignoring in their desperate desire to believe their own stories.

    We move into our own house in a bit under 4 weeks. A vegetable garden will be plotted and planned this winter and I will be researching fruit-bearing trees as well. Weapons will be purchased and range time will be utilized. And we are and will be happy and have fun. Because there’s not much I enjoy more than laughing and enjoying something while others whinge and frown at me.

    I am and shall always be ungovernable by tyrants and wanna-be tyrants.

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    1. Or when Mitch McConnell got the President Pro Tempore slot in the Senate in 2017 with incoming Trump and they used the rule changes the Dem’s had made to “simplify” that process to start filling in judge slots Obumbles had been too lazy to fill. All in all that is some of the best stuff that happened (combined with Trump fixing the economy to some degree by removing dumb executive branch regulations).

      Hey how’s this for an idea, If the Republican candidate manages to take the presidency one of their first acts should be to appoint a committee of Conservative(constructionist type if possible) lawyers and economists to review EVERY Executive order from Biden back to say Clinton. If the EO is clearly exceeding the constitutional reach of the Executive (I.E. legislating by executive fiat) it should be immediately rescinded no matter WHO created it. If it passes that test it should then examined on a cost benefit basis, and any that show large cost excesses should be considered for removal (Here there will have to be political consideration given as well as sometimes things have clear value other than a monetary one. Here is something for every Presidential candidate to sign on to.

      Also Trump had an EO that was passed just before Turnip in Chief took over that allowed clearing some of the deadwood in the DC swamp. That also needs to be high on the list. If we can’t make the MS 10-13 managerial types comply with the appointed members appointing folks to clean the Augean stables will not work as the darned horses will just keep crapping and rather annoyingly so.

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      1. The judicial stuff was hilarious. McConnell came up with the nuclear option, but the base warned, “Don’t do it! The Dems will eventually get the Senate, and use it against us!”. So McConnell ultimately didn’t change the rule.

        Then Reid went ahead and did it.

        And the result has been wonderful rulings such as Dobbs, Bruen, etc…

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        1. I was the base, and we didn’t say any such thing. By then (Tea Party days), it was obvious that the opposition wasn’t going to respect any norms.

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          1. McConnell and the nuclear option was when Dubya was in office. Tea Party was while Obama was in office. McConnell wouldn’t have had any reason to invoke it when Obama was president.

            And there were plenty warning it was a mistake over in the comments at Ace’s blog at the time

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            1. These comments make me visualize the following:

              GOP in charge: “Let’s do this!”
              GOP base: “No. DEMS will backlash this on us!”
              This doesn’t get passed.
              DEMS: “This is a good idea!”
              This is passed.
              GOP: “Well if you insist …”

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        2. Not the base, the pundit/consultant class. And they had a point, but so did the folks who said, “Somwhat, they’re going to do it to us anyway.”

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          1. Again, I saw a lot of “this is a really bad idea, since the Dems will eventually be able to use it against us” talk over in the comments at Ace’s blog at the time.

            And the commentors at Ace’s blog are most definitely not the pundit/consultant class.

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          2. In one of the Federalist Papers, Hamilton (I think it was) argued against a Bill of Rights on the grounds that the Constitution only granted certain powers to the Federal government. It did not, for instance, grant the government any power over the press. Thus, no language protecting freedom of the press was necessary and, more, if such language were there, petty tyrants would assume that without it the government would have such power, leading to the government accumulating more power than the Constitution actually granted.

            The Federalists, in the voice of Hamilton at this point) were right.

            The Anti-federalists, OTOH, thought that without the protection of something like a Bill of Rights, petty tyrants would simply grab power and there would be no protection against any such grab.

            The anti-Federalists were right.

            The truth is that petty tyrants will use any excuse to grab power and will make one up if one is not on offer. That’s just what petty tyrants, in their quest to become major tyrants, do. That’s where that whole “eternal vigilance” thing comes in. Unfortunately, that can be slow to rise: “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

            And so, here we are.

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            1. The most prominent Hamiltonian was Lincoln, who almost was able to change the country into a unitary state. He managed to submerge the sovereignty of the states to an extent that it might as well be unitary. We are now living with the corruption that Lincoln laid the foundation for in his war.

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            2. I like the “they were both right” argument. The last time I read The Federalist Papers (early 2000s), I recall thinking “well, everything Hamilton said wouldn’t happen, has happened despite having the Bill of Rights”. Your perspective is arguing in better faith.

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                1. Eh, people change their minds. If they change their minds from expediency, it’s not nice but it doesn’t indicate bad faith when arguing before. Lack of judgment, maybe.

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      2. Make it even simpler. Rescind them all, but send the ones that might have promise to Congress and tell them if they and their constituents want it so badly, they can make it into law.

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        2. I myself accept that there are things that fall under the realm of the Executive only. There are also places where either the Legislature has left precise determination to the Executive. We can argue as to whether this is wise, but it does seem permissible as the Constitution is specified unless Congress is clearly designating one of its powers to the executive (that would require a constitutional amendment) . Perhaps placing a review/sunset requirement on Executive Orders would be reasonable, but there I think we also need an amendment as that is Congress horning in on the Executive branch.

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          1. I don’t like EOs at all. They smack of dictatorship. Other than CinC powers, I don’t see the necessity for them. Most of the stuff EOs are issued for is not urgent… it’s just that whoever is POTUS is pissed that Congress won’t pass his pet bills.

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            1. May be mistaken because I’m old and decrepit but didn’t Old Joe, or rather his minders, spend the bulk of his first week in office rescinding as many of Trump’s EOs as possible?
              I can see some justification. Congress moves at a snail’s pace, except when some bit of legislation benefits them personally of course, so some situations need quick decisive action. And thinking of that in the context of that power in Joe’s trembling hands gives me the heeby jeebies. But since the precedence has been set in stone, it’s only fair that each and every one made in one administration must be called to question by the following one,.

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              1. If I remember the danger correctly, it’s that all the actions based on the EO stay in effect– so, if X choice was made about hiring because of an order, that hire stays on.

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              2. Yep.
                Obama with his, “I have a pen and phone,” did a lot to accelerate the trend toward an imperial executive.

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                1. Nah. That trend started with FDR or earlier. Arthur Schlesinger had a book called “The Imperial Presidency” in the mid-1970s. I read it in college.

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            2. EOs were originally FOR CinC style powers. Such as “This situation cropped up in the course of our legitimate duties, what do we do about it?” EO “This is how you deal with that situation so you can do your job and deal with things that you wouldn’t normally be allowed to deal with but have to because they fell on you.”

              EOs have to be renewed by every president and there are several that get toggled on and off depending on who’s in the white house.

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            1. Which is the job of Congress and only Congress. With bureaucracies running amok, Congress is supposed to supervise, but has found it easier to give up that authority.

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          3. All of the various bureaucracies are part of the Executive branch. They are supposed to implement the laws passed by Congress using authority delegated to them by the President. In theory, the President can tell them what to do, and what not to do, or rescind that authority if they disobey.

            In practice, they do whatever the hell they want and ignore both Congressional and Presidential authority. They all need to be cut off at the ankles. Some of them need to be permanently abolished.
            ———————————
            People can make stupid mistakes, but only the government can force everybody to make the SAME stupid mistakes.

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  6. Sense of foreboding has become something I am getting used to. Head on a swivel and fighting back in every possible way is becoming force of habit. Really just wanted to be left alone to do my thing. Build a boat, plant the garden, love and support the family, contribute to the community around me, mentor some young men. Such is not to be and I guess I have become somewhat resigned to a different path. I can and am doing all those things, but they do not bring the sense of peace they once did as the foreboding interferes.

    Just need to add and a little more range time, Save for freedom seeds instead of tomato seeds, practice more and bring the fam. Setup the archery stand in the back instead of building the seed starting greenhouse etc. Substitute what I might want to do with what MUST be done to thrive in the future. stop pining for that past that cannot be but for the grim path we face. Like you I pray that it is short lived and spotty, but the folks I speak with are ANGRY and filled with a rage that I fear will be unquenchable but for a whole lot of liberty tree watering.

    Stay the course, hold fast anD as Winston said: Never give in, never, never, never, never, NEVER GIVE IN.

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      1. This really is a conflict between the people who want to be left alone and the people who refuse to leave them alone.

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      1. The US domestic policies are being run by Marxists, the US foreign policy is being run by psycho NeoCons, the Marxists have also captured the Department of “Justice” including the FBI and the NeoCons control the State Department and “Intelligence* community three letter gang.
        they worked together to steal the election from Trump, but they’re fundamentally incompatible with each other, and the snake will eventually eat its own tail.

        Perhaps this is what you mean by things will get bad, but we’ll win.
        The Neocons need a strong military, or at least the perception of one, but the Marxists are Destroying it. That, and the fact that the US has sent so much of our equipment and Ordnance to Eastern Europe that now, at best, the US military could barley sustain a conflict for 8 weeks.

        We went frm a force concept that, in the early 90’s could sustain two major conflicts, to one in the that could maintain one and do a holding action in another theater, to one that can’t maintain a major conflict for more than two months. And the Marxists are still degrading the military effectiveness in the name of social justice or equity.

        For example, we’ve sent most of our artillery munitions to Ukraine, which is using up a year’s worth equivalent of our production every week. And of course the SPR, which was to prevent another oil shock and and provide fuel for the military in case of a major conflict, is essentially dry, no mas.

        The only capitalism that the Current illegitimate Regime supports is a fascistic style crony capitalism, giving government dollars to a company like Pfizer for less.than worthless injections, which recycles some of it back the the regulators and agencies, and probably The Big Guy. Big pharma buys so much network ad space that our news really is “Brought to you by Pfizer” .

        Something has to give and soon, Trillions of “dollars” being spent on climate change, and given to the Military Industrial complex and the Medical Industrial complex is going to kill the “dollar” and the NeoCons are going to get us into a major military conflict that we’re going to lose.
        Both things are going to happen, and they are going to happen virtually simultaneously, not sure in what order, but one will precipitate the other.
        And things will be hard, but after, we will absolutely have to go back to real money and free market capitalism, and the empire will be over, as will the oppressive levitation administrative state, and military and medical industrial complexes, because there won’t be enough money to pay for it all. We will probably cut lose our far flung overseas possessions, maybe even lose Hawaii; and we can go back, we, will have to go back, to being a normal country again, a modern version of Jeffersonian America, well as long as the NeoCons and Commies don’t toss around nukes on their way out and get us all killed.

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        1. That is an impressive amount of fear mongering….

          Picking the objective claim that can actually be checked, the munitions claim is based off of a year’s worth of production at the “bare minimum we can keep buying and keep the machines functioning” level of production, and the reserves we sent over was the stuff we were going to have to destroy because it was too old– not everything we had.

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          1. Sorry, but reality has a way of happening regardless of whether or not you call it fear mongering or not. As for our Ordnance supply and production limitations, I suggest that, if you’re actually interested, that you watch what Col. McGregor has to say in the issue. You can start with his discussion with Tucker.Carlson from.last week.where he lays it.all out.

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            1. Test all things; hold to that which is good.

              The part that can be tested… is not good. Doing an appeal to authority harder will not fix that.

              As it happens, actual information is available, which I posted here in the last week, instead of listening to a TV talking head with a nasty habit of giving verifiably false information and uses a lot of appeal to authority from experience a generation back.

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        2. Big pharma buys so much network ad space that our news really is “Brought to you by Pfizer” .

          “our” news? Who is this group you reference? Hardly anyone watches network news – and it’s mostly old people, hence all the drug ads. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Instapundit has better ratings than any two network news shows combined.

          I agree that something has to give and probably even “soon” (for some definition thereof), but what makes you think someone else is going to “win”? As much as the US sucks right now, the rest of the world still sucks worse.

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      1. It may very well be. The question is whether it matter is if it is, if it moves the Overton Window in the right direction.

        Part of that guy’s problem is he doesn’t believe that other people could possibly have been working on the same kind of cultural change that he has been, since well before he started, if they’re not doing it the way he has.

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      3. You mean the guy who believed the Q nonsense, and now believes China and Russia are the good guys and the future?

        That guy?

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        2. There’s a subset of “conservative influencers,” on Twitter who seeem to oscillate between, “We need to stop supporting Ukraine because Putin is unstable and they’re leading us to WW III and we’re all gonna DIIEEEEEEE!” and, “Putin calls out our decadence and is fighting the good fight against the forces of degeneracy!” I’m getting tired of it.

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          1. Putin is evil. That does not make Zelenskyy good.

            We need to stop because the elitists have dumped $100 billion of our money into Ukraine and we got no benefit.

            The Pretendent keeps bleating that “We Are At War!” Bullshit. Two minor countries on the other side of the world are at war. Isn’t the U.N. supposed to deal with such situations? What have they done? It’s been a year and a half and I haven’t heard a peep from the U.N. so far. Why, it’s almost like they’re a bunch of useless self-absorbed windbags that don’t know diddly about international politics.
            ———————————
            Those who do not remember the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the mistakes. Those who do remember are doomed to watch everybody else repeat them.

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            1. The UN can’t do anything so long as Russia has a permanent seat on the Security Council.

              Whether it would if Russia didn’t is another question entirely.

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            2. The benefit of supporting Ukraine is in the long run. If Putin gets his way in Ukraine, that $100 billion will be chump change. Look at what was spent on the cold war. Then think of having a nihilist with nukes, with no compunction about using them if he starts losing, invading NATO countries.

              Putin’s long range goals includes moving through the Baltics, Moldova, Slovakia, and major parts of Romania and Poland. If you don’t want that, then Putin must be stopped in Ukraine.

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              1. I feel very good about a comment made here a week or two back that talked about how badly and easily nukes degrade without proper maintenance. Knowing how badly Russia (and the USSR, going back) deal with regular maintenance, this makes me take a breath of relief when I realize what this means for Russia’s stock of nuclear weaponry.

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                1. “Today, Russia announced that the US nuked them. The US responded that no, not keeping Russia’s nukes ready to fire was NOT the same as nuking Russia.”

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              2. In 3 years Poland will be the strongest military in Europe and more than a match for any possible Russian military incursion.

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              1. On the one hand, the US having a seat on the Security Council keeps some of the more outrageous stuff at the UN in check.

                On the other hand, there’s a decent chance that the UN would collapse overnight if the US pulled out. And that’s even if no other nations decided to leave as well.

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                2. Even if it didn’t collapse, the UN would be less dangerous if it couldn’t use the “implied threat of being backed by the US”.

                  And of course, the US could say that “we oppose that UN decision and will use our military to prevent UN action in support of that decision”.

                  For example, the UN threatens Israel and the US moves a carrier force to be in a position to support Israel. :twisted:

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                3. Most likely route I can see is Russia or China deciding this is a great time to FA, under cover of the UN, and pick a place to invade and loot, supported by the other countries that are in to that. Send in blue-hat troops to rape and loot.

                  Repeat until it’s something we object to, and then they FO. At which point the blue hat forces evaporate and the UN collapses. NGOs and dictators hardest hit.

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                  1. Russia can’t afford to go anywhere they don’t directly neighbor (or have an ally they can use as a jump-off point and supply base), as the Ukraine invasion is making abundantly clear.

                    China might be somewhat more capable (key word is might), but there haven’t been any real world examples of their combat and logistics capabilities.

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                    1. The Reader is still expecting China to take a run at Vietnam. It has all the advantages of being adjacent without the possibility that the West will intervene. If they can pull it off they gain far greater control over the South China Sea, settle their ‘dispute’ with Vietnam over oil in the Spratley Islands, and eliminate a rival claiming some of the manufacturing leaving China.

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                    3. Which is why it’d have to be a “UN action,” then they can leach.

                      Picture it, the entire group trying to make it so everybody else does the hard work of invasion….

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                    4. Vietnam’s aware of the possibility of China attacking, which is why the country is desperately looking for allies. Unfortunately, it’s in a bit of a bind. Russia’s the country’s long-term benefactor, but is proving to be ineffective these days. China’s the country that they’re worried about, so turning to it for help probably isn’t a good idea. The US would be ideal, but has no strategic interest in Vietnam right now (though the idea of the two countries fighting side by side does amuse me). So actual US armed support against a Chinese attack is unlikely right now no matter how many times one of our carriers conducts a port call at Cam Ranh Bay. That’s the big three.

                      There are countries in the region forming a defensive block against China. But Vietnam joining them could be counter-productive. You see, all of those other countries are separated from China by water. Vietnam is the only one that would share a land border. Which means that if, say, Vietnam was a part of that group, and it came to the defense of, say, Taiwan, Vietnam would be the only country that China could attack without having to first pull off a successful naval invasion. That would pretty much guarantee that it would be the first (and possibly only) target of the PLA. That’s not a good situation to be in if there’s any way to avoid it.

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          2. How do people not understand that oftentimes there are no good guys in a war. I mean, does Hitler v. Stalin not ring a bell?

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            1. How is it YOU fail to understand. “This asshole punched that guy in the face for no good reason.” Doesn’t matter if the other guy is also an asshole. The guy who started it is the one who’s wrong and on whom the consequences should fall. And if you bleat about Russia being ‘threatened’ by the west. BULLSHIT. The only time Russia won’t view the whole bloody world as a threat is if they rule it all, then it’s still a threat, just an internal one not external. (See Stalin and his purges. Or Ivan the Terrible’s Operchina.)

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              1. If your neighbor announces he feels unsafe with you being able to defend yourself from aggression, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT’S HOLY, consider BELIEVING that he’s in danger from folks being able to fight back, and ARM YOURSELF.

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              3. How is it YOU fail to understand. “This asshole punched that guy in the face for no good reason.”

                Which part of “I hope Putin loses” do you not understand? Do you agree, or disagree with me when I said multiple times that I hope Putin loses?

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                1. Bless your heart, I’ve been saying that since ’05, and predicting moves like this on his part since the same time frame. You say you want Putin to lose, then bleat about how the Ukraine can’t possibly win. Then go pull the “but they’re assholes too” to justify why you think that’s okay. “

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      4. Fundamentally, it does not really matter if ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’, ‘Try that in a Small Town’, ‘Your America’, or Five Finger Death Punch’s ‘Living the Dream’ are made by people whose politics agree with mine.

        The effect is an emergent property of the general population, and does nto really matter if there is some conflicting bit of secret knowledge about the people writing or singing the song.

        Furthermore, the crazy way to handle thinking about conspiracy theories is to always be seeking secret knowledge for the ‘true context’ of everything. It is okay to take a step back, stop thinking about stuff, and let matters midn themselves. If always working at a face pace, racing everywhere, you will get lost in the experience and become disoriented. Conspiracies cannot focus on you so much as to require that you are always able to follow all of the plotting and counter plotting that someone might imagine exists. Sometimes there is not grand plot, and by not thinking too hard adn too fast, you avoid thinking your way into a mess of your own causing.

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        1. I recall with a good bit of fondness how the usual suspects in the MSM struggled desperately and with little if any success to convince the people that “Let’s Go Brandon” really was what that crowd was shouting at, what was it, a NASCAR race.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Yes, NASCAR. Which is trying to go woke, to their shame. I remember an article at the WSJ that said once the patriarch died, the heirs started arguing. And of course the female heirs thought it was, “too dangerous!” and started making changes to suit their taste, not the audience’s.

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        2. Exactly. Even if Rich Men North of Richmond is by someone who is controlled opposition, and I’m not saying he is. It’s more likely that he’s a millennial, who has been indoctrinated with, and is still, to some extent retains some residual world view of a government school edumacation. But it’s also likely he was exposed to, and has retained some of his grandfather’s world view, and has been red pilled by the way of the world.
          But as you say it doesn’t matter. Because the song and its message has spread far.and wide, and it is the glue that is coalescing the people’s mood about the current national situation

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  8. All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it’s absolutely necessary. And three, be nice.

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  9. All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it’s absolutely necessary. And three, be nice.

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    4. What our enemies are incapable of comprehending is that at some level being “nice” simply means you offer your opponent the mercy of a quick clean death rather than hours or days of slow torture.

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  10. I would hope to G-d I’d have the foresight to be scared and worried. Even if I thought he was the devil.

    When Clinton left office in 2000, some folk argued quite vociferously for bringing criminal charges against him. At the time, I argued against that on the grounds that anything that even looked remotely like it might be using lawfare against a political opponent would be the death knell of the Republic. If there was even a slightly plausible argument that one was criminalizing being of the opposition, then one opens the door to the other side (or one’s own side) actually doing that for fear of having it done in return. On that ground, Clinton’s impeachment was a mistake because impeachment now became simply a means of “punishing” the President for being the opposite party of the House. Yes, the charges against Clinton were valid but 1) there was no chance the Senate would convict, and 2) it was easy to spin it as “lying about sex, which everybody does” dismissing the whole “perjury” aspect.

    Likewise with the “Lock her up” rhetoric against Hillary. Again, it looked a lot to many people like an attempt to criminalize the opposition for being the opposition. Or when people would ask, as what they thought was a rhetorical question, whether someone undergoing federal investigation should be allowed to run for President. I pointed out that would basically give the administration veto power over any opposition candidate by simply opening an investigation against them (Beria would be so proud). And, well, here we are.

    Now, maybe we’d be where we are anyway. Maybe even without the “buildup” in calls for lawfare we’d still be right here, right now. Or maybe maybe without that buildup the risk of outrage to go suddenly to late stage lawfare would generate more outrage, perhaps enough outrage that those in power would hesitate. We can’t know, really. But, in the end, things have played out much as I feared right. down. the. road.

    Do you have any idea how much I wish I’d been wrong?

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      1. How dare you! Epstein’s client list was never found. And that woman who damn well had to have had the entire list committed to memory has somehow vanished from the face of the Earth. /sarc
        FAA seems to be one institution lagging in partisanship, so pilot records of passengers can still be somewhat reliable don’t you know.

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    2. I was against impeachment Clinton on the grounds of, “Don’t fight a battle you know you can’t win.” The bitterness of that led directly to the 2000 election crap, the constant sniping against Bush, and so on.

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        1. I know, I was there. It has become more overt and even more vicious.
          My favorite “say what?” thing with Reagan was reading an article from a left-wing rag blaming Reagan for Bill Clinton going into Haiti. If Reagan hadn’t brilliantly and evilly justified invading Grenada, you see, Clinton wouldn’t have been emboldened to go adventuring.
          Uh, guys, either he’s a senile old fool or a brilliant evil mastermind. Make up your minds while I sit here, grinning.

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            1. If they were not both evil and delusional one might almost feel sorry for the left as they watched the great glorious hope of their Marxist religion crash and burn.
              Much as I catch myself pitying that sad old fool as his puppet masters make him dance to their tune while pumped up on what have to be some powerful drugs to make him appear almost functional. But then I remind myself that he and his entire family are a bunch of grasping greedy crooked thieves who would put La Cosa Nostra to shame.

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              1. And always have been. I’d feel a lot more sorry for him if I didn’t know that he courted it and would do the very same thing.

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              2. Same here. I watched my mother go down the Alzheimer’s road, and I see the same exact signs in Slow Joe. Then I remember who he is and what he’s done and any sympathy I might have had goes right out the door. But that doesn’t mean that the lot of them are innocent of elder abuse. Just means I don’t really care. Although it would be fun to see that charge added to the list.

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  11. Wilson and FDR had a population with a moral compass. That bulwark alone kept things more intact than we’re currently experiencing. Your hope is admirable. I wish I shared it.

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      1. The issue isn’t that most people don’t have a moral compass. Its that the minority of people who do not have been contrary to the will of the majority, ramped up their efforts to destroy the republic up to 11 and are no longer hiding it, but are rather brazenly open about their goal. Like with the Marxist totalitarian predecessors, the current crew knows they are a minority, revel in that fact, and seek to rule over the vastly larger majority that the Marxists despise.

        The emotions that animates Marxists first and foremost are hatred and envy.

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      2. He MAY be quoting Heinlein in Starship Troopers:

        “Man has no moral instinct. He is not born with moral sense. You were not born with it, I was not – and a puppy has none. We acquire moral sense, when we do, through training, experience, and hard sweat of the mind.”

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        1. He’s not that smart. He’s just screaming at us and telling us we’re evil and deserve what we get.
          We have had training and experience, most of us. And smacks on the nose.
          I suspect he’d consider Heinlein ungodly. I mean, look at him.

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          1. Call it a charitable impulse; even a cynical old misanthrope like me occasionally weakens…. 8-)

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            1. Someone who comes in telling us we have no moral sense doesn’t deserve it. It’s completely different, and I’m willing to argue with someone who is a long-termer, but not that.

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        2. Eh. You work with children before they learn to talk, just old enough to grab. . . .

          You put on a puppet show, and show one puppet trying to push something along, a second puppet who tries to help, and a third puppet who tries to hinder, and offer the children the second and third, and they want the second one. (Switching the puppets around so it’s not the shape.)

          Then you show a fourth puppet giving the second one something and a fifth puppet snatching it away. They want the fourth.

          Alternatively, you show a fourth puppet giving the third one something and a fifth puppet snatching it away. They want the fifth. Before they learn to speak, they know it is right to punish people for being a hinderance.

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      3. The question is, “where does it point?” Scripture deals with people who conscience is seared, or being turned over to a “reprobate mind.”

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        1. Now that’s a question where you can get evidence, while the other is non-falsifiable– “oh, they were just under the influence of someone of decent morals at the time. They are 10,000% going to do The Wrong Thing the MOMENT the time is wrong.”

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  12. On the one hand, I’ve finally moved to a place (still in PA) where I truly feel like I belong. I’ve met more of my neighbors in the last 2-ish weeks than I did in the 5 years I lived at my old place. I’m in one of the few overwhelmingly red counties in an increasingly blue (mostly by way of fraud and corruption) state. Neighbor around the corner from my building openly flies a MASSIVE pro-2A flag from the flagpole in front of his house. Even though I’m technically an outsider, I’ve been welcomed with open arms. People are good neighbors here. They take care of each other. And food is grown and raised very locally. My apartment building backs up to an absolutely massive cornfield, for example.

    On the other hand… I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and you can accuse me of being a black-piller, but… my fear is that a violent resolution to the conflict between the Left and the Right is inevitable. And when it kicks off, it will be the Yugoslav Wars cranked up to 11. It will make Sarajevo and Srebrenica look like Sesame Street, Rwanda like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. And while America will probably survive the conflagration, it won’t be the same America that stood before, and it may not be one any of us recognize at all.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. And when it kicks off, it will be the Yugoslav Wars cranked up to 11. It will make Sarajevo and Srebrenica look like Sesame Street, Rwanda like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

      I’m not sure if this’ll work, but …

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    3. IT DID!
      (Ah, should clarify, not meaning to be ENTIRELY glib… but I’ve had similar concerns and made a design or two about it x.x because… yeah)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah. History has proven time and time again that the so-called “Safe Zones” are only “safe” (and I use that term loosely) so long as no serious opposition rolls up to the front gate and The Powers That Be don’t chicken out and order the ones guarding the zone to pull out.

        And no worries: I’ve had WordPress eat posts, pictures, etc. before too.

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    4. With the exception of the “5 Evil Sisters” around Philly, Allegheny and sometimes Centre, Erie, Luzerne and Lackawanna, the remainder of our 67 counties are red.

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      1. Good to know. And I need to stop letting Mama Raptor doom & gloom me.

        Unfortunately, Filthydelphia still has too much stinking influence in this great state. Only good things to ever come out of there were the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the cheesesteak sandwich.

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        1. With minor changes for Left Coast details, your PA story is close to ours, moving from San Jose, CA to $TINY_TOWN, Flyover County, OR. OTOH, there’s no apartment building near us, and the cows (used to) outnumber the people, which situation changed as the local tribal leadership got skilled at lawfare. Sigh.

          “Whisky’s for drinkin’, water’s for fightin’.”

          On the gripping hand, the disdain for TPTB in Oregon seems universal in about 3/4s of the state. Clever how that 1/4 (if that) manage to “win” all the elections. I hate vote fraud by mail.

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          1. We are literally on the Left Coast at the moment and it appears to be the same way here. But I wouldn’t be surprised to find a bit of, “Of course, everybody knows (insert bit of leftist lunacy) so we take it for granted and don’t talk about it.”

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    5. The left has no idea what they have awoken, prey it does not desire to feed on them. Again they are the little kid with the stick that keeps poking the grizzly bear. Only this time the Grizzly is not amused. First it will try sticking the stick up the little kids behind, then it will simply devour it. Trumps first election was the stick being shoved up their behinds. We all know what comes next. Because now the little kid has a stick covered in crap and he’s back to poking the bear.

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  13. A couple of folks mentioned getting in some more range time. I’m lucky my back yard’s such that I can do such right outside my door. (Here’s a link, me “blowing out” the 82 candles on my birthday cake a couple of years back; http://www.ipernity.com/doc/319805/50408362 )

    However when the temperature drops to minus forty or so I find having an air pistol and a target set up inside help one maintain eye hand coordination during cold or wet seasons when playing outside ain’t all that much fun.

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    1. I hate to see a cake end up on the ground for any reason, but that looked like a lot of fun.

      Reminds me of one of my favorite birthday presents — son bought a box of .30-30 and got a few throwaway canteloupes from the grocery store (I hate canteloupe so much…even the tiniest hint of its flavor will put me off my feed), and we went out to our favorite piece of the middle of nowhere and blew ’em to smithereens.

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  14. At a street festival yesterday one vendor had, “Let’s Go Brandon,” and related T-shirts in plenty. (The, “Joe and the Ho Must Go,” one kind of surprised me). And this is, technically, a blue state.
    Of course, if you want to be gloomy and if I were an evil overlord, I’d have agents galore selling “subversive,” merchandise and use that to build my database of people who need attention when the trials start. But I prefer to believe it’s capitalism in action.

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      1. It’s harder than you think. This is why they’re doing random people and hoping to cow anyone. But since those are not the worst or have big followings, it just comes across as random and crazy.
        But yeah. If he Chinese couldn’t do it, they can’t either.

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        1. I have cites that say they’re doing it and have been.

          https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-purchase-location-data-wray-senate

          “US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Defense Intelligence Agency are among the list of federal agencies known to have taken advantage of this loophole.

          The Department of Homeland Security, for one, is reported to have purchased the geolocations of millions of Americans from private marketing firms. In that instance, the data were derived from a range of deceivingly benign sources, such as mobile games and weather apps. Beyond the federal government, state and local authorities have been known to acquire software that feeds off cellphone-tracking data. “

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          1. The summary of the article is that a warrant is not required to buy something that is publicly for sale.

            Even if folks were really dumb to trade it away.

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            1. So the government is allowed to bypass due process as long as they have a corporate middleman. Got it.

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              1. If it’s what I’m thinking of, the idea is that if the information can be legally purchased by “John Q. Company”, then it can also be legally purchased by the government. The government isn’t putting pressure on anyone to gather this data for the government (unlike with the social media censorship stuff). Rather, the government is purchasing a perfectly legal product that it wouldn’t be allowed to gather on its own.

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                1. You know, I’ve read a LOT of EULAs. And there’s never a one that said it could be used against me in court without a warrant.

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                  1. Does the government need a warrant to use the information found in a phone book against you?

                    The thing to remember is that the information is available to anyone and everyone, without the government having to take any special steps. It’s a product that’s freely bought and sold. Disallowing the government from using it would effectively be saying that the government can’t use information that’s publicly available. I don’t think the courts have ever agreed with that.

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                    1. Does the government need a warrant to use the information found in a phone book against you?

                      Close, actually.
                      The money for the push to block this is coming from the guys who want to disallow their public posts on social media, or at least require that police can’t look at it without a warrant, and anyone who suggests the police look at it be identified to the idiot who bragged about a crime and posted evidence on a public media post.

                      Right now, if you post it on social media and someone with a right to look at it looks at it, they can report it to the police. So the idiots who post themselves doing attempted murder of a homeless man…..

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                    2. The thing to remember is that the information is available to anyone and everyone, without the government having to take any special steps. It’s a product that’s freely bought and sold. Disallowing the government from using it would effectively be saying that the government can’t use information that’s publicly available. I don’t think the courts have ever agreed with that.

                      Ok, this is specious. We prescribe how, when, and who representing the government can purchase things DAILY. Ever hear of procurement regs? And the courts have been fine with that. See wiretaps below for examples that refute what you just claimed.

                      Part 2 below.

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                    3. Does the government need a warrant to use the information found in a phone book against you?

                      Can you tell the phone company not to put your name in there? Why, yes you can. In fact they ask you up front. And then let’s look at what’s in the phone book. It’s associated with one physical location and one physical phone line. It isn’t a 24/7 record of your movements, who you interact with, etc.. Small difference, wouldn’t you say? And there is an example showing that they should have to go through a process: PEN registers and other wiretaps.

                      “Wiretap communications may include telephones, cell phones, computers and other electronic communication devices. They may also cover oral communications intercepted by direct audio surveillance. In this guide, we lay out some of the basics of wiretap investigations, including the process of obtaining a warrant, ”

                      “In 2018, judges authorized just 2,937 wiretaps. That number includes all federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country (as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts). One reason for the small number of wiretaps is the sheer depth of the investigative process necessary to submit a wiretap application.”

                      Pen Registers: “A pen register (also known as a dialed number recorder, or DNR) allows the police to see the numbers dialed out from the suspect’s telephone and the suspect’s subscriber information. The report usually comes as a physical or electronic document provided by the target’s telephone carrier under subpoena.”

                      “While a pen register captures outgoing calls from a suspect’s phone, a trap & trace order directs the phone company to collect information on all incoming calls, identifying the owners of the telephones being used to call the target’s phone or device.”

                      All kinds of legal hoops required for the government to do these things without a “private” middleman.

                      https://tacticalgear.com/experts/officers-guide-to-wiretap-investigations

                      The thing to remember is that the information is available to anyone and everyone, without the government having to take any special steps. It’s a product that’s freely bought and sold. Disallowing the government from using it would effectively be saying that the government can’t use information that’s publicly available. I don’t think the courts have ever agreed with that.

                      Ok, this is specious. We prescribe how, when, and who representing the government can purchase things DAILY. Ever hear of procurement regs? And the courts have been fine with that. See wiretaps above for examples that refute what you just claimed.

                      We have already seen the DOJ abuse this capability to arbitrarily accuse, arrest and imprison people who were placed within an arbitrary distance of the Capitol on January 6. No proof of intent, no clearly defined crime, just scoop them up and provide them the choice of pleading guilty up front, or thrown into jail until obviously biased judges and jury pools can conduct a “trial”…. whose outcome is pre-ordained.

                      There’s a famous quote by Orson Welles: “Only in a police state is the job of a policeman easy.” One of the biggest factors in my “black-pilling” over the years is how comfortable people like you are with making the policeman’s job easy even when a police state is the fully foreseeable result.

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                    4. First, you try to conflate all things that can be found with a warrant with a warrant being required to find those things, even when a warrant is for search of things not given away.

                      Then you try to conflate things which can be covered by a wiretap– which is a specific flavor of warrant— with information that was put up for sale after the end user transferred ownership of that information.

                      Which means that no, you don’t have control over it anymore.

                      The thing to remember is that the information is available to anyone and everyone, without the government having to take any special steps. It’s a product that’s freely bought and sold. Disallowing the government from using it would effectively be saying that the government can’t use information that’s publicly available. I don’t think the courts have ever agreed with that.
                      Ok, this is specious. We prescribe how, when, and who representing the government can purchase things DAILY. Ever hear of procurement regs? And the courts have been fine with that. See wiretaps above for examples that refute what you just claimed.

                      ….you’re claiming they need a warrant to use something published on page six of the New York Times because there are rules to keep someone’s cousin from magically ending up with all the purchase agreements.

                      Noted.

                      So, the slight of hand with shifting from the information that people agreed to grant to a third party which was then sold over to protection of information they did not transfer ownership of was deliberate.

                      Good to know.

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                    5. “Can you tell the phone company not to put your name in there? Why, yes you can. In fact they ask you up front.”

                      No one’s forcing you to take your mobile device with you when you travel around the city (unless you live in China, where mobile apps are required just to unlock the front door of your apartment complex). Leave your phone at home, and you can’t be tracked this way.

                      “Wiretap communications may include telephones, cell phones, computers and other electronic communication devices. They may also cover oral communications intercepted by direct audio surveillance. In this guide, we lay out some of the basics of wiretap investigations, including the process of obtaining a warrant, ”

                      If I – of my own volition – secretly recorded a conversation I had with you (note that some forms of this are illegal in certain states), and then voluntarily handed it over to LE, it wouldn’t require a warrant for the government to listen to it. That’s the example that’s closest to what’s being discussed with phone geolocation data gathering.

                      “Ok, this is specious. We prescribe how, when, and who representing the government can purchase things DAILY. Ever hear of procurement regs? And the courts have been fine with that. See wiretaps above for examples that refute what you just claimed.”

                      Procurement regs are primarily to avoid corruption in the purchasing process, and shoddy goods. And I’ve already addressed the subject of wiretapping rules.

                      “No proof of intent, no clearly defined crime, just scoop them up and provide them the choice of pleading guilty up front, or thrown into jail until obviously biased judges and jury pools can conduct a “trial”…. whose outcome is pre-ordained.”

                      The abuse in the J6 stuff isn’t in using the geolocation data. The abuse is accusing the peaceful protestors who didn’t enter the building of silly things, knowing that the local juries will rubberstamp the conviction. If you’re being accused of “parading”, it doesn’t matter whether the evidence of your presence came from geolocation data, or a surveillance camera that was pointed toward the street. The problem is that the Feds are making up crimes to accuse you of.

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              2. “Your honor! My due process rights have been violated; they are using the ‘check in at location’ public notice I freely gave to get wifi at the sports complex to show I was at the sports complex! What next, shall they quote page three of the New York Times, WITHOUT A WARRANT?”

                “Due process” does not require a warrant to read information that someone chose to share.

                This is why rule one for dealing with the police is shut up.

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                1. Hmm, even a bottom end flip phone will reveal some geolocation information, though you can make it harder by turning off the standard GPS (AFAIK, the 911 GPS can’t be defeated). There’s also cell tower pickup; not sure if triangulation is built into the system; OTOH, where we live, there’s one cell tower on the mountain 10 miles away.

                  On the gripping hand, if you want to do something that’s likely to be frowned upon by the Stasi, leave the phone at home or in a Faraday cage. We keep the phones off at home.

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                  1. Not sure it’s built in, but they keep track of it, and the cell tower pings are generally what will locate you better– but that’s usually not in the anonymized data.

                    Husband pointed out that another issue, while they do get cellphone sourced data for some products — these companies are usually going around and correlating publicly available information from a bunch of sources, and that is what they sell.

                    Fancy versions of those online websites that let you look someone up and get their age, (family) connections, associated address, any emails they’ve been publicly listed with… they are FREAKY, but it’s just public information.

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                    1. And finding a home address for a lot of people is really easy. It’s harder if you use a mail drop, but a lot of websites will give a lot of information if you figure out where to look.

                      I used random hot spots (with a Kindle Fire in tablet mode–not a fun experience) on a road trip several years ago, but stay away from such. They’ll have to track me other ways, like the license plate readers built into the red light cameras everywhere in Flyover Falls.

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            1. The other little issue is what Foxfier is papering over: the government isn’t supposed to be using private entities to avoid the 4th and 5th Amendments any more that they do the 1st by having Facebook do their censoring.

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              1. The government isn’t allowed to hire or pressure companies specifically to gather that data. But if a company – completely on its own – gathers that data and makes it available to anyone for a price, it’s a lot more of a grey area whether the government can purchase and use it.

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          3. Search and seizure, in criminal law, is used to describe a law enforcement agent’s examination of a person’s home, vehicle, or business to find evidence that a crime has been committed. A search involves law enforcement officers going through part or all of individual’s property, and looking for specific items that are related to a crime that they have reason to believe has been committed.

            https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/search_and_seizure

            clicking on property brings you to the page explaining what property is; at no point does it say “information that you give to a third party with their permission to sell it to others.”

            Same way that the bands that got upset about the Wrong Politicians using their songs didn’t have a legal leg to stand on, because they already gave permission for it to be sold. You don’t get to decide that you have the ability to force people to not use what you chose to make available.

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            2. Cue the Pretenders and what most people thought of as, “Rush Limbaugh’s theme song.”
              Lord, I miss that man.

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    3. The college students returning from summer break were chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” while playing volleyball in the park across the street from my place last night – loudly enough that I could hear it in the back of our property. Now we’re in a red (turning purple thanks to Cali move-ins) state, but I was not expecting that.

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      1. IIRC, the uncensored version was supposedly chanted at more than one NCAA football game back when the chant first started to circulate.

        Like

  15. Sounded like a speech from Gladiator. America as you describe it is gone. Abortion, corruption, sexual sin, addiction, and obesity.

    God wins. IMHO He is surely ashamed of what this place has become and He is judging it.

    Like

    1. Like hell it’s gone. You’re not an American. You just fold and curl up? May your masters be kind to you.
      And G_D you speak for him, do you? You presumptuous little worm. If America’s crimes were the worst, the rest of the world would be scoured in fire.
      Grow up and stop dramatizing our petty crimes compared to the history of humanity. Pfui.

      Like

      1. Hoo boy. I’m having flashbacks to some of the yahoos I went to college with. “America is surely damned because we elected [insert Left-Wing Boogeyman Candidate Of Your Choice Here] into office! We shall all burn for this nation’s sins! God shall surely judge us for killing our enemies instead of loving them!” [saw that last one painted on a big boulder in the middle of campus the day after DEVGRU whacked bib Laden]

        That was a fun four years, I tell you what. The joys of attending a Christian College that bought into ESG and DIE before they were mainstream. In my defense, I didn’t figure that bit out until towards the end of my senior year.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Cat died, you lose a Corvette too?
        Curl up my ass. You need a Gott Mit Uns belt buckle.
        God’s word says what is right and wrong bimbo. It isn’t negotiable.

        Like

          1. I think idiot asshole linked me. I’m not allowing all the idiots blathering on how America is also a territory — fair, and I’m not for ceding it — and designed only for “Europeans” something only someone who doesn’t even understand how VARIED Europe is can think. Magical blood and magical being born on soil. Idiots. CULTURE. Culture matters.

            Like

              2. BTW anyone blathering about “brown people” in the comments: Congratulations on falling for Lefty propaganda and their deranged desire for a race war.
                Go be a fool in someone else’s comments.
                Thank you.

                Like

                1. Yeah, when I argue against gun control I always get the left-wing loonies bleating “That means BlakPeePo can buy guns too, you don’t want that!”

                  The People means The People, dammit! Why do they believe I think otherwise? Gun control has always historically been used to deny guns to ‘those people’ be they Irish, Italian, or Southern ex-slaves terrorized by the KKK Democrats.
                  ———————————
                  Deja Moo — that funny feeling you get sometimes, that you’ve heard the same bullshit before.

                  Liked by 1 person

                2. I’m a brown person. A little darker now at the end of summer, quite a bit lighter shade come March . . .

                  Like

        3. Name calling. Classy. Very, very classy.

          And you are still wrong. America is not gone. There are more people out there with a moral compass than you can conceive of because you don’t want to see them. You’ve made your decision to give up and clearly don’t want to hear otherwise.

          You are more than welcome to crawl back under whatever slimy, mold-infested rock you came from. You mock our hostess with “God’s word” and yet you presume to know God’s inner thoughts. “IMHO He is surely ashamed of what this place has become and He is judging it.”

          Arrogant, ignorant, condescending. You check them all.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. I was called a worm is that classy. What will we do with the 30 million people that claim that they will take up arms if Trump was relected?

              Like

                    4. “What is man that you are mindful of him
                      The son of man that you care for him,
                      You have made him little lower than the Angels
                      And crowned him with glory and honor.”

                      David wasn’t just talking about Jesus in this one.

                      Liked by 1 person

                  2. We don’t make such decisions. God has already decided what will happen to such people and it is the business of the Christian, who has already availed themselves of salvation through faith in Christ, to warn those who remain in sin of the dangers of remaining so.

                    Liked by 1 person

              2. You know, there’s a meme image showing the NPC type bleating something stupid followed by the same NPC bleating “wow, look at all the triggered people” so thanks for being the meme, drone.

                Like

        5. Are you claiming to be Christian? Has anyone told you despair is a sin? C.S. Lewis said it’s a sin worse than any sin that provokes it.
          And if you want to do, “Judgment of God,” stuff, go read Jonah, and see what happened with him. (And I mean the whole book, not the first two chapters. His hellfire and brimstone ministry to Ninevah did not turn out the way he wanted).

          Like

          1. Are you ? 65 million murdered in the womb. Surely God should bless us.

            Read the Problem With Pain.

            Like

            1. And they turned themselves from thence, and went their way to Sodom: but Abraham as yet stood before the Lord. And drawing nigh, he said: Wilt thou destroy the just with the wicked? If there be fifty just men in the city, shall they perish withal? and wilt thou not spare that place for the sake of the fifty just, if they be therein? Far be it from thee to do this thing, and to slay the just with the wicked, and for the just to be in like case as the wicked; this is not beseeming thee: thou who judgest all the earth, wilt not make this judgment. And the Lord said to him: If I find in Sodom fifty just within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.

              Liked by 1 person

              2. I love that passage. Abraham bargains God down to 10 righteous men…and presumably does exactly what Himself wants him to do. There’s a reason God chose Abraham.

                Liked by 1 person

            2. Did. Am not at all sure how you get from, “God may allow your suffering to help you become a better person/Christian,” with, “God will judge you and punish the guilty and innocent alike.”

              Liked by 1 person

        8. Don’t know if there’s a God or not, but if you’re His representative, He’s an evil jackass. Occam’s Razor indicates a more logical answer.

          I suspect this God might have Words with you if He exists, though.

          Like

    2. IMHO He is surely ashamed of what this place has become and He is judging it.

      It is interesting how people taking this line always think the terrible things are crimes about to be judged, and never that those might be punishments from previous judgements.

      Which is particularly relevant in the case of abortion. When suddenly RvW was was assumed to be permanent for all time…… vanished.

      Like

  16. If the trials start, they won’t need evidence, Terror has to be arbitrary and capricious for it to work, History tells us that, after the initial bloodbath, believing leftists are much more likely to be tried than anyone else. The continual purge of the believers is Stalin’s great gift. Mao perfected it and Xi seems to be about the reinstate it,

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Odd thing, saw a Film Theorist on Disney’s slow rolling meltdown. He did not discuss their faceplant into the culture war, but instead focused on their production chain and IP management.

    Basically in trying to take a place in streaming, they’ve massively increased the number of content minutes they’re trying to produce without considering the cost that content takes to make, and it is both severely diluting their IPs, burning through their money, and creating an expectation of low quality content.

    And this is a real problem that YouTube channels must manage carefully or they go under. Disney just isn’t managing it well.

    So, Disney is not going broke because it’s going woke; it is rolling left because it is dying, and thinks that will save it.

    They have no plan; they’re just bad managers who haven’t been able to adapt to the way the world changed and are grasping at straws trying to keep their heads above water.

    They don’t just put their pants on one leg at a time, they forgot to put on their pants before they went out and are trying to bluff it out.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think you’re mostly correct. It’s not roll left and die but rather die so roll left. I’ve seen this in an awful lot of companies. So much that it’s become part of my analysis of the management of companies along with how much of the stock buy backs are recycled back to management, the more they talk about DEI, the more likely they are to be in a declining business.

      DIS made a series of bad bets, their spitting on their customers is only one of them. They’ve managed to wipe out 10 years and counting worth of gains and a huge franchise value. Idiots

      Liked by 2 people

      1. It looks like the company is failing, so rolls left, then is failing worse, so it applies more aileron to roll left harder. It’s pretty much the “socialism isn’t working, so we have to apply more socialism to fix it” scenario.

        Rolling really fast works well if you’re a bullet. Otherwise, not so much.

        Liked by 1 person

        2. “Oh, no! I put too much salt in the recipe!”

          “So add more salt.”

          “But…”

          “Salt makes everything better.”

          “But…that doesn’t make sense.”

          “Just add mire salt. Trust me.”

          “No. Adding more salt…:

          “Just do it!”

          “No!”

          “Then I will!”

          “No!”

          Scuffle. “There. That’ll fix it.”

          (Later) “You put in too much salt! What were you thinking?”

          “You put it in! I said no!”

          “You’re a terrible cook. This is inedible. Pass the salt.”

          Liked by 1 person

      2. I wasn’t happy when my insurance (car) company hired a president based on management, not other background. Then the DIE crap started to infiltrate. Gee, guess what, now they’re not making profits.

        Grrrrrrrrrrr.

        Like

    2. Disney was having wokeness issues before Disney+. Look at the first post-Lucasfilm acquisition Star Wars novel, or the gay comments about the live-action Beauty and the Beast. Or the “grrl power” moment in Avengers: Endgame that was literally every last female hero posing at the same time, with not one male character on the screen.

      But I’m sure what you mentioned isn’t helping.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yes. Seeing company after company rolling left then die also creates a narrative of failure on rolling left. And for a cult built entirely on the premise that narrative creates reality, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

        Liked by 1 person

  18. Don’t forget turning on all the lights on Earth Day. We’ve done that for a few years now and it always raises our spirits.

    Like

  19. The Reader has been focused on other things needing doing. Thanks for the reminder he needs to go to the range.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Two years in and I just hit the garage to consolidate all the boxes into the back – to make room for furniture that needs to move out of the house for new carpeting. In my defense, most of what’s still in boxes are holiday decorations and paperbacks.

        I’ve recently found out that the local “range” is some federal land on Baretta Road – now I need to figure out where that is (I know, hardly onerous these days).

        Like

    2. One of our neighbors has a range, but everybody’s been busy; I’m trying to finish the projects that have to be done by winter. I’m hoping for decent weather for a while.

      Still have some difficulty leaving Kat-the-dog alone. If what we’ve been trying works, one of our neighbors has a range on his small ranch. Barring that, there’s an informal one a dozen miles away. I draw the line at the meadow where “Don’t step on snek” is vitally important.

      Like

      1. I draw the line at the meadow where “Don’t step on snek” is vitally important.
        ……………….

        That does bring up an image like a Far Side panel: Picture a number of bodies on ground, faces in agony/horror with FBI and ATF jackets on. Rattles, showing movement, and snake heads seen sticking out of grass near each one. On the other side of the fence, with the sign, is standing the sheriff with the farmer/rancher (with wheat/grass stem). Sheriff comment bubble “Well. The sign does say ‘Don’t step on sneks!'”

        This needs to be meme. (Not good enough at drawing.)

        Like

    2. I’m afraid to rewatch Buffy. I loved it at the time, but I don’t think it will have aged well (alternative theory: I’ve aged past it). Thirty years is a lot of change, as much for me as the world.

      $20 on Amazon Prime for the first season. That’s not too much. Maybe…

      Like

  21. Auto-Quoting (I know, I know… not in pubic & wash hooves…)

    We are our OWN superheroes.

    The rescuers of us… are… us.

    This is both immensely TERRIFYING…. and WONDERFUL

    Terrifying because… what power (and foresight?) do WE have?

    Wonderful.. because we will be beholden only to OURSELVES!

    No, you do NOT need to “Save the World.” Just save your tiny little bit of it.
    That will be enough. Really, it always has been and always will be. You do NOT need to work the Big Miracles… just keeping working the tiny little bits you can… and, amazingly, the Big Miracles happen from that. Don’t believe it? You’re HERE, ain’t you? Against all odds and (im)probabilities… You. Are. Here.

    If nothing else, refuse to surrender. “That’ll do.”

    (from: https://elegantungulate.wordpress.com/2023/04/15/your-hero-is-in-the-mirror/ )

    Liked by 1 person

  22. 枪杆子里面出政权) “Problems of War and Strategy” (November 6, 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 224.

    Sarah, I’m sorry you’re not a greenie any more. I would have liked to have met you in real life.

    That said, I’m snapping in like the chairman would have wanted and continually getting
    my ducks in a row. You are correct, we will get thru this but none of us will enjoy it. I’m glad I’ve red the little red book and know what basic tactics are. I love my country and will do what I need to protect it. And when in doubt I ask myself, What would Harry Morant do.

    Lastly, I’ve read your site for abut 2 years and finally felt compelled to comment. Respectfully,

    don in the states.

    Like

      1. greenie is a mildly disparaging term for a Colorado resident based on the color of the generic Colorado license plate. Used by neighboring state residents

        Like

          1. I still have relatives living in the Denver Metro. They are like the frog in the pot of water
            not being bothered by it’s rising temperature. We’ll see how it goes. In my case with Mike and Jared running the show and Diana singing backup about the only place I could live is on the western slope but even places like Craig and the Junction are turning.

            I do miss hitting all the pawn shops on 44th along with those up by Water World. And I do need to go down and see how well the Casa Bonita rehab went. We used to go there when we cruised Colfax. ( You know, back when Ramone’s and Dino’s were still in business. Man I miss them. )

            Liked by 1 person

                  1. Me too. I bought One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich. That was the only one. I did like the way it smelled. Looked a lot though.

                    Like

  23. I’ll say it. I’m not Trumpy this time around because I was thinking he would lose. But when the left does their stupid stuff SO hard that they push him into the white house in spite of all his own unforced errors I will wear the “he’s still your president” t shirt that I got for 2020 to the next post election con I am at. And I think I want a mug shot t shirt.

    Like

    1. Is that white pill the one that makes you larger or the one that makes you small?

      I’ll go ask Alice.

      Like

  25. We will prevail. Likely thru unexpected means and strange allies. But we will stand on the bodies of those who sought to control us, and shout defiance to the skies.

    Like

    2. [Blockquote]…If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty, fearlessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored – contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man – such as a policy of “don’t care” on a question about which all true men do care – such as Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance – such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said, and undo what Washington did.

      Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

      —Abraham Lincoln, Speech at the Cooper Union, New York City, Feb. 27, 1860
      [/Blockquote]

      Like

  26. There’s a LOT of anti-Woke feeling bubbling up out here, in all sorts of places. Craft clubs, art lessons, farmers’ market – places I’d sort of expect to find the “nice Left”. They’re invisible. I noticed the “Defend the Constitution” on a sheriff’s department vehicle today. I don’t recall seeing that before. The little Trump-stuff Store seems to have customers whenever I drive past.

    The new censorship law in the EU isn’t going to help, either there or here. I foresee Sneakernet returning to the EU and former Warsaw Pact.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Something I was not expecting is Oregon Sheriff Organization taking OR114 rules to buy gun and turning into “Buy Gun and Get Your Concealed Carry at the same time. Same process. Why not?”* Not overt. Or the PTB would stop that somehow. But the information is out there. All Sheriffs offices. Every single one. Pretty sure that is not what the PTB intended.

      (*) Not quite. Concealed does not require meeting a sheriff at the range to prove that you can safely carry concealed to range, load, fire, and unload, your handgun. Not sure how one does that if they don’t have a handgun. Also just because I can do all this with the S&W EZ 9, does not mean I can do this with the big revolver, or even the small 9mm or big Glock 9mm. Ditto with a rifle. I know of people who can’t put dad’s 30-30, let alone great-uncles 25-35 (which can’t find ammo for), on safety, without dropping the hammer (serious, do not have round in the chamber). Unloading isn’t standard either.

      Like

    1. Measured distances so your trajectories will be known. Also those little plastic garden flowers work wonders, they spin with the slightest breeze and turn to indicate wind direction.

      Like

      1. I have garden gnomes all around our house. Yes they are cheesy. Especially the ones with solar lights for eyes. Hideous!

        However, I have been told you can take the solar lights out of their eyes and put, say, warning cameras in them. For security purposes.

        I’m sure I have no idea how you would do that, of course. You’d have to have a pretty secure network, seems hard.

        But I’ve heard it’s possible.

        Meanwhile, I have been defrosting the freezer, cleaning my fridge and taking stock of my pantry in case I decide to put in a six month supply of food and necessaries.

        Not that I would, but if I decided to stockpile enough for hubby and myself and a few extra people, at least l know what I have.

        Fall season and time to do the fall cleaning you know.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Beware of real gnomes infiltrating your plaster gnomes, though! :-D

          If you hardwire your security system and don’t connect it to the internet, it’s secure. You can also use non-IP video cameras with a DVR to make extra sure nobody can get in.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. For the novel someone is writing.

          Largish garden gnomes, strategicly placed around yard.

          Packed with a pound of Tannerite behind two pounds of scrap nuts, bolts, and screws. “Front towards Enemy”. Some application of riflery required.

          “No solicitation!” crakBOOM!

          For novelization use only. Do not attempt.

          Seriously, dont.

          Like

          1. How about garden stepping stones with the “Don’t tread on me” snek.

            “Ever so sorry about your legs. But it DID say not to step there.”

            Like

            1. That’s the sort of semantic trap I’d expect from the left — something made to be stepped on, that punishes you for stepping on it. I’d prefer the lawn gnomes.

              Like

      2. It is also fun and colorful to put bits of bright ribbon in the trees next to those bird feeders that are a specific distance away. I also like windchimes out there – they can even make noise when the wind isn’t blowing sometimes.

        Like

      3. Make a Range Card for the homestead.

        Also, small pieces of reflective material (1″ to 1.25″ square is plenty because you know where to look) to indicate distances on Avenues of Approach are handy, it’s available in colors and works with IR (although IR doesn’t play well with colors). Check sign shop wholesalers for remnants and end rolls. Pro Tip: position so the reflective side faces only your side.

        Step 2: Read and study the Solzhenitsyn quote. It will be on the exam.

        Like

  28. Build an Island of Sanity among your family, friends, and neighbors. Take care of your Family, Friends, and Neighbors, and they will take care of you. If they won’t, find ones that will. Ask questions, ask good questions, the ones the press won’t ask. Buy or make the T-Shirts that keep asking those tough questions. Go around the press, those pamphlets like Common Sense, went around the censors of their day. If they knew what was going to happen, there would never be a ‘Men North of Richmond’ in the first place. If they were correct in their thinking, bud light would still be the number one beer in the land. You know why they are starting to go crazy? Because they can hear the rest of us starting to laugh behind their backs, every time they say something. And the laughter is getting louder and Louder….

    Liked by 1 person

  29. So, the Biden Admin wants to keep us all off of public lands, limit us to two alcoholic drinks per week, and replace all our ceiling fans with more expensive, allegedly more energy efficient ones.

    Next thing you know, they’re going to tell us we have to get rid of all of our cats and dogs.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. One thing I will note is that the left got their mugshot, their indictments, and the tarnishing of everyone they could possibly tarnish for being associated with Trump.

      They are just as bitter and angry as they were before all that. And really, if Brandon were the best candidate you could muster, wouldn’t you be?

      Meanwhile, Trump supporters are laughing openly at them even as they despise the damage to the country.

      Be of good cheer, people, they have us right where we want them.
      😉

      Like

      1. The Atlantic ran an article with a blurb stating, “a mug shot is an example of humility. Trump made it a threat.”
        What they meant was, “…is supposed to be an example of humiliation.” Ah, no.

        Liked by 1 person

  30. Right now, I’m trying to get into shape, cut down my carbs (far too much food that I love had carbs), and getting everything into shape after Mom’s death.

    Lose weight. Be ready for when things go chaotic, because we’re overdue for bad times.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. It’s always a puzzle to me that Robert Bolt, author of A Man for All Seasons and several excellent screenplays on top of that, was a communist. And well before being commie was a requirement for being an artiste in Britain.

    The left in power feels safe doing this, because they think we will never be in power.

    That attributes more brain power to most of them than they deserve. They don’t think, they mostly feel. And they feel they’ll always have power, because they deserve power, because… well, just because.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. It’s part of being a narcissist. Everything will turn out to your benefit because you are owed, and if it doesn’t happen it is never the result of your own actions.

      Liked by 2 people

      2. And that implicit bias makes target selection in the face of minimal signal amongst already overwhelming noise borderline impossible. (Even without any degree of Ops Sec.)

        Looking down on the rubes, is an invitation to be surprised as your expectations are subverted.

        Like

    2. Upon checking, I see that Bolt joined the Communist Party after the Second World War, which war, be it noted, was the occasion of four solid years of pro-Soviet propaganda and glorification of ‘Uncle Joe’ in the British press. The Ministry of Information leaned hard on publishers to reject Orwell’s Animal Farm.

      Bolt left the Communist Party after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It’s a pity he wasn’t savvy enough to leave after the Budapest rising, or for that matter, the Berlin blockade, but hey, better late than never.

      As often happens with such people, he was wiser in his works than in his life. His Thomas More gave the Devil benefit of law for his own safety’s sake; his political party preached that under Communism there is no law, only Plan. I suspect at bottom he was one of Orwell’s parlour Reds, ‘playing with fire without knowing that fire is hot’.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. The acceptability of communism/socialism in British culture is a lot more complex than merely the post-war effects of propaganda. The Fabian Society, e.g., is still held in reverence, and long predates even the USSR.

        But whenever Bolt joined, or why, the point is that he wrote both the play and the screenplay (and most of his other excellent scripts) while he was a communist.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. And Joss Whedon created Firefly.

      Good prog writers often seem to have a disconnect between their personal beliefs, and what they’re writing about, without realizing that’s the case.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. And Straczynski with Babylon 5.
        Mary Renault (given she did historical novels with homosexual,characters I’m surprised she hasn’t undergone a revival) had Simonides say of “The Bacchae,” “Maybe he meant to say that the gods are not. If he did, someone breathed on his neck while he was writing.” (Close as I can come to the quote without The Praise Singer, in front of me).

        Like

        1. Straczynski is a very different case than Whedon. Whedon was born into Hollywood (Brit education notwithstanding), whereas JMS was born into midwestern poverty. Whedon’s prog-ism comes from being raised in it, more or less, while JMS’s has to have been acquired along the way of his career.

          Liked by 1 person

  32. Your turn of phrase had me thinking of the late lamented P.J. O’Rourke:

    “Hell can’t hold our sock-hops.”

    ― P.J. O’Rourke, Holidays in Hell

    Liked by 1 person

  33. I haven’t read the comments section in quite a while but decided to go down the rabbit hole today. Glad I did. It seems that people are getting as pissed off as I am. I need to get to the range, too. It’s been a few months.

    Like

  35. “that remaining moderate leftist in our lives who were suddenly filled with glee”

    I just realized that I no longer have any of those in my life. Was it something I said?

    Like

  36. “But almost all of us had one person, that remaining moderate leftist in our lives who were suddenly filled with glee and couldn’t stop celebrating, as though unaware that the door they opened leads to destruction and death unless a miracle happens.”

    I must be doing something right, I have seen zero of those people the last little while. Of course I don’t get out much, that may have something to do with it. ~:D

    I will now note some cheerful items that more than make up for the really quite amazing stupidity of Fulton County’s DA.

    1) Of late there have begun to be well-publicized lawsuits filed by de-transitioning transes, wherein they essentially sue everyone who had anything to do with their -underage- transitions. It seems like the little ripples you see before the tsunami wave comes and washes everything away. The back-swing of this pendulum will be epic.

    2) Jordan Peterson has said “Bring It On” to the Ontario College of Psychologists and the Ontario Court who decreed that he would be forced to attend re-education. That should be another legendary public ass-kicking for the Ontario government.

    3) Anheuser-Busch InBev -continues- to find new sales lows. It’s not a boycott anymore, if it ever was one. It is more like the American public has decided they’re simply not having it.

    4) Don looks damn good in that mug shot. We should get t-shirts made up.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I saw a brief video of the Anheuser-Busch beer garden setup at Sturgis. A bunch of staff waiting around for somebody to show up. The commentary was the other gardens were doing just fine, thank you.

      I can’t boycott something I can’t drink, but I sure as hell can enjoy the backlash.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I can’t boycott something I can’t drink, but I sure as hell can enjoy the backlash.
        ……………

        Right? I dislike beer period.

        Just as long as the Clydesdale horses aren’t hurt.

        Like

        1. If A-B was run by people with a brain, they’d fire their marketing department to the last office boy and just run ads with the horses. That would be their way forward. I’m sure a large number of people have told them that. Make a horse movie even. Get some cute girls to pose with the horses in western outfits. Sell some beer, right?

          But they don’t do that. Instead they double down. Oh well. I guess their shareholders will have to adjust their attitudes with a nice costly lawsuit and Chapter 11.

          Like

      2. I saw that video. Apparently the Bud-Lite beer garden remained empty the whole week. Funny that it didn’t make the news, eh? ~:D

        Young Relatives bought a can of BL at the local LCBO just to wind me up. We sampled, and I must say it tastes worse than I remember. Too sweet, and cloying flavor. Ew.

        Like

    3. People are. They’re being accused (by the righteous Never Trumpers) of being, “grifters, just like their boss.” But I bet they sell.

      Liked by 2 people

    4. No leftists in my family. But despite that, I have at least one sibling and one sister-in-law who will vote for Biden over Trump in 2024.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. My condolences. I found out how singular I am in 2020, when I started to question the WuFlu narrative. Lots of family -very- committed to Doing The Right Thing.

        But you know, 3 years later, some have started coming around. Several privately consulted Crazy Uncle Phantom on the issue of what one does when the manure hits the fan. Some remain adamant, but that’s not a new phenomenon with them.

        Being the crazy uncle is really a thing. I read the tea leaves and move accordingly. But eventually, even the most militantly oblivious people will be -cudgeled- by circumstance into understanding the reality of what they’re facing.

        Example, Crazy Uncle keeps two (2) sump pumps in his sump. Total overkill. One of them runs on a humongous battery backup, more crazy overkill. But the true crazy is that he keeps two more pumps, new in the box, and a new roll of hose as well. Nuts, right?

        Well, two nights ago I used both of those new-in-the-box pumps, because we had a rainstorm that soaked everything a foot deep. There are a -lot- of flooded basements this week, but thanks to the patron saint of overdoing things, not mine.

        What kind of thing does one keep handy for WuFlu? Well, I had all that sh!t too. Paper suits, respirators, gloves, tape, the works. Turned out they were just lying, I wasn’t ready for that.

        What does one keep for when the government starts arresting Presidents for the crime of running for the next election? I keep a trailer and a truck to pull it. You can’t beat the Dodge City town council, but you can get outta town.

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        2. I think with a lot of people there’s a disconnect between the narrative still running through their heads, and the facts. They’re aware of some of the facts – they know that Biden’s corrupt, for instance. But those facts haven’t sunk in deep enough to solidly dislodge the narrative that’s already in place. For example, the other day both my brother and I were at my parents’ house. My Dad, my brother, and I, were all talking about how horribly corrupt Biden appears to be. And then the conversation shifted to the upcoming election, and my brother mentioned that if it was Trump v Biden again, he was voting for Biden – or, more accurately, against Trump. When asked why, he listed several reasons, including corruption by Trump.

          Never mind the fact that we had just been talking about Biden’s corruption (and there was no indication that my brother disbelieved any of the accusations against the Bidens). Never mind that nothing Trump has been accused of even remotely approaches the level of corruption displayed by the Bidens. No, Trump is corrupt according to him, and therefore he’ll vote against Trump even if it means voting for Biden.

          My response was basically along the lines of, “Uh… compared to Joe Biden?” And then I allowed the matter to drop in the interests of family comity.

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  37. I don’t really know anything about Minecraft.

    I let myself stay up a little too late. That makes things seem more confusing than they are.

    I’m gonna have a good night of sleep. The world will make more sense tomorrow, after that.

    Everyone needs a certain amount of rest adn recovery to put their thoughts back into some approximation of order.

    Quite a lot of problems in life are long haul problems, where part of the answer is not screwing yourself over at any one point by panicking oneself useless. At least not when one needs to make use of oneself.

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  38. “My ilk” may or may not survive (talking about earthsuits, that is) the coming “fiery trials” (no, not Trump’s); but I know there will be a supernatural reckoning for these [insert colorful description here] people running America into the ditch. (1 Peter 4:12-14)

    The trick for me now is to not comply with their evil requests and at the same time restrain my my face from showing the absolute contempt for their unutterable deeds that I feel in my whole being. Because I’m not supposed to even judge myself.

    I need to remember that, on God’s scale, we’re all sinners who deserve an eternity in Perdition; but He provided a way out of that (Google “Romans Road” if you care).

    In the meantime, if you love America, I’ll buy you a seasonally-appropriate office beverage if we meet. And we can talk about politics and religion or not.

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    3. Never having been a Buffy boi, and of the right age, this is what went through my head at the title:

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