Before The Crash 3

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

There is this article that a friend recommended as a preparation for the next year, because you know that whoever wins (I believe in miracles, despite the fraud) it’s going to be hell on earth, and for what comes after, as well, when we, hopefully, get to rebuild. (That article link is archived, because I’d rather not start a blog war. Not because I can’t hold my home, but because I’m buried in fiction and don’t have time.)

The article surprised me, both in its being useful, and in the level of utter blindness of someone who wrote this before Trump’s first presidency, and who is now running it again, because Trump is so dangerous. It’s unbelievable how he doesn’t see what this administration has already done and is doing that fits his list, or the violations of this list that are solidly in the “progressive” camp.

Anyway, this is part fisk and part “Yeah, he’s right and here is how we can apply it to our situation, but ARGH how blind can he be?

Part one is here.

Part two is here.

11. Investigate.  Figure things out for yourself.  Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media.  Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you.  Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad).  Take responsibility for what you communicate with others.

11. And there we go. Yeah, sure, print media does investigative journalism. (Smacks head hard with flat of hand.) That ANYONE in the 21st century still believes this is mind-boggling. As for some in the internet being there to harm you: No shit Sherlock, but compared to the AP fed media they’re virtually sweetness and light. As for the sites that tell you what’s reliable, hasn’t he noticed most of those have been debunked or revealed to be lying themselves? No, he probably doesn’t at that. Liberal privilege is never having to think.

SO FOR US: Investigate, investigate, investigate. Most of us already have an habit of doing this. Because as someone pointed out, even sites we trusted bit us during the Covidiocy. Or went they went foaming at the mouth siding with democrats, just because Trump won in 16. Even though none of their dire predictions about Trump came true.

So investigate. Then investigate some more. Particularly if it’s something designed to “scare” or make you give up. We know the other side is running psy-ops on us, and even the “just” right has a bad habit of gloom and despondency from the days when everyone assumed that Communism was the future and that anti-communism could never win.

Even the right tends to emphasize the bad things that the other side is doing, and look here, it’s not that this isn’t happening or isn’t important to know. But you’re not the only one resisting. There are thousands of quotidian acts of defiance and non compliance you never hear about. Most of those you don’t hear about because they are tiny, but even when the aggregate is huge, the media doesn’t report it unless to condemn it.

Note the frantic advertising for the vax, because it’s dead in the water. And the way their hair is on fire about Trump because they are afraid they can’t fraud enough.

I’m telling you to suspect the doom narrative most of all, because it’s so prevalent, and because if we really were losing they wouldn’t be working so hard to convince us of it. And remember that after the unprecedented brain washing and lockdowns and everything, they still had to fraud at the last minute and visibly in 2020, because people didn’t say anything, but hunched their shoulders and went to vote for Trump.

Despite how corrupted our information system is — in a lot of this, nobody knows the truth — for the small psy-ops operations they run, the truth is out there and can be found. So look for it.

12. Make eye contact and small talk.  This is not just polite.  It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society.  It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust.  If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

12 – Sure. Why not. Look, I’m not wonderful in the real world. For one we don’t visit much, since we work from home, and we work a lot. But when we go out, I pay attention, and I try to be cheerful and respectful of others. I figure everyone is under a great deal of stress whether aware of it or not, and I don’t need to add to it.
This magic of knowing whom I should and should not trust is not a thing I know. Maybe he mind-reads? But I know not to trust the Che-t-shirt wearing people. It suddenly occurs to me I haven’t seen a single one in our new area. Interesting.
The “enter a culture of denunciation” is hilarious too, since some of us have been called everything but nice people ever since we’ve been out politically, and interesting crime adduced to our account with zero proof. Sigh. Never mind. Idiots gonna idiot.
I don’t expect strangers to come to my defense because I smiled at them once. That’s simple-minded. it’s movie thinking. Networking? Sure. It might help. I suck at it, but it might help. BUT most of what he thinks this advice can do, it can’t.
What it can do is get you out of the house, interacting with others. When you’re out, mind your six, both because we’re going to be seeing attacks here (duh) and you need to be ready to react, but also because you’re a social ape. You need some contact with your species. In my case, it doesn’t have to be much, but I need to see strangers every so often.

Remember staying shut in will distort your view of real life, and how real humans are coping.

13. Practice corporeal politics.  Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen.  Get outside.  Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people.  Make new friends and march with them.

13. Snort giggle. ”Power wants.” Dear Lord. How Marxist is this man? There is no such thing as incarnate power, and the oligarchy trying to install itself on our necks is not “Power”. It’s more incarnate “greed and stupidity.” They have some power and some levers, and boy, are they pulling them. But honestly, I don’t think even they care if my body softens or not. This is utterly bizarre. Does he think tyrants spend time sitting around, rubbing their hands and going “You, Mr. Smith of 454 Main street. I want you to become a couch potato.” Bah. The rest of it is also fairly daft. ”Put your body in unfamiliar places” might be a great idea if you’re young. But all the same… Why do the places NEED to be unfamiliar? Or the people, either? I mean what is the net value of unfamiliarity?
I’d rather not put myself in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people for the hell of it. I mean if there’s something I want to see or do, and it’s a place I’ve never been (let’s face it, usually a museum) with people I’ve never seen that’s fine, but no, I don’t think this is advice I want to follow for the hell of it.

THIS part was the most hilarious of all though “Make new friends and march with them.” Er…. where are you marching? And why? Is this a thing that happens a lot in lefty circles? “Hi, I just met you, want to march?” What the holy hell does he think marches accomplish other than pissing off a lot of people? Also, do any of the marchers have jobs, and lives? And while they march, do they sing “A thousand miles on foot, it wears out the caligas?” Or perhaps “Lock up your sons and your daughters, home we bring the bald hair plugs seducer sniffer”? Or do they just do boring crap like sing “The International.” (Wanna bet he and his friends are now shaking fists and chanting about from the river to the sea? No? No bets? Aw.)
FOR US: The Power to Truth Camp wants you to do stupid things, and march and trust strangers particularly those with a high and tight haircut and nice polo shirts, not to mention expensive, matching sunglasses. What do they think we are? Stupid? And who has that kind of time, anyway?

Instead, perhaps just extend your areas of comfort a little. When go have to go to an area look around and familiarize yourself with different routes. Health? Sure. try to get that squared away if you can. (After a certain age it’s all downhill, but I should not have let my glasses go two years.) Exercise, if you can and it will help. Walking is good. Avoid cosplayers carrying tikki torches, though. And do the same in the non-physical sense. Learn something, even if it’s not something practical. And learn to do or make something new. It keeps the mind supple, dissipates the sense of doom and gloom, and who knows, it might come in handy in the future, somehow.

14. Establish a private life.  Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around.  Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis.  Remember that email is skywriting.  Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less.  Have personal exchanges in person.  For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble.  Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you.  Try not to have hooks.

14. Giggles hysterically on “Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around.” Dude. I assume everything I do can and will be used against me.

Fortunately — not saying I don’t have a past. Everyone does — most of my life is incredibly boring. I get up, I have breakfast, I write while husband works. We sometimes pet the cats. On really exciting days we have dinner out at a cheap place. On red letter days we meet a friend for dinner at a cheap place.

The most subversive things I look up are usually historical and for a book. The most damning things I write I write in public, on this blog.

If the “nastier sorts” like the ones we have want to pick me up, nothing will save me. Or you. Be you as pure as snow or innocent as a dove, they’ll accuse you of something horrendous and probably plant evidence.

We’ve seen what they did to the Covington School kids. And what they’ve tried to do to a lot of other people. Again we’re not stupid.

FOR US: You’re not safe. There’s nothing you can do to be safe. No, not even joining the left will make you safe. They turn on their own on the regular.

Sure, sure, run malware sweeps, and if you must talk about something mildly damning do it in person if you can. That doesn’t hurt anything. However, be aware it won’t save you. Again, nothing will. We are under a particularly vicious kakistocracy of idiots who will think nothing of making up atrocities to denounce you for.

Move where you feel safer. Don’t give your address, or give an address that will forward to the mass of people. At least if you’re out and exposed. PARTICULARLY don’t give your address to leftist friends and family if you still have any, and if you can avoid doing so. because they’re human (yes, I know, and yet they are) and they will talk. And even if they don’t intend to hurt you, the friend they talk to about you is another matter. (Says she who, at the height of the puppies came home to find a junior kicker in her home, because her son was dating her, and brought her by to introduce her. Yeah. Kids, right? And no, that relationship didn’t last long after she realized who his mom was. Snort. However I felt unsafe until we moved form there.)
Don’t take unnecessary risks but be aware you can’t be safe. So come to peace with that, and instead concentrate on not doing things that you’d hate being arrested for. Look, it’s like this: If they plant evidence of a crime in my house or computer and take me in for it, I don’t care how heinous it is or even if they condemn me for it, because in my heart I’ll be at peace with the fact I didn’t do it. But suppose I’d actually done the thing, like, oh, I don’t know, stolen the family’s silverplate (we never had any) or set fire to a kitten, or whatever. When I was taken in for it, I would be triply upset: Upset for being caught, upset I was so evil as to do THAT, and upset I gave them an opening to get me by doing something evil and stupid.

If they take me in for saying that Joe Biden is an evil old pedo and stupid to boot? Well, at least they’re taking me in for something I did do, and I won’t be the least bit remorseful I said it, because I think it should be shouted from the rooftops. So, you know, at least I’ll feel better, and be able to live with myself.

Another part of this, in the mental hygiene front, and tying to number 11: if they take you in because you, say, blog at instapundit, and they have convincing proof that Professor Reynolds who owns the site blends puppies for a secret youth-giving shake?
1) Refuse to believe them without verifying your friend/relative/friendly acquaintance really did the heinous thing. 2) If you verify it is true (snort) be aware you’re still innocent, because you didn’t know that when you associated with the person. People have secrets you sometimes couldn’t imagine. 3)Question their idea of guilt by association and list back at them all the reprehensible criminals they associate themselves with.

15. Contribute to good causes.  Be active in organizations, political or not, that express your own view of life.  Pick a charity or two and set up autopay.  Then you will have made a free choice that supports civil society and helps others to do good.

15- I agree you should contribute to good causes, political and not. Putting a charity or two on autopay… 
Look, it’s not that there aren’t non-corrupt charities out there of the kind you can autopay. In fact, Dan and I have donated to one — which we investigated thoroughly — for 20 years now. And will probably put them in our will unless they change markedly.
However, while you’re doing that, keep in mind that people have horribly crisis when they aren’t poor, and which they couldn’t have foreseen. Particularly right now, because so many people are tight to the bone and have been for years now. This means that any little thing: health, home repair, car repair, can put them in a terrible situation. Yes, we investigate those too, and we don’t donate to “chronic cases”. (Note this is separate from donating, say, to bloggers, which, yes, I do too. Even wealthy ones (I’d like to be wealthy. They keep drawing the wrong lottery numbers) because they’re providing a service I use and laborers deserve pay. Also because frankly, any blogs I’m likely to read regularly mean that people are extending their neck into danger in the present day. But what I’m talking about is charity.) But we do help those in our circle, from friends to acquaintances, to friends of friends. It’s gotten so pervasive, because of the terrible economy, that we had to set a cap on what we’ll give, because we were spending way too much on that every month. Don’t do that.

BUT do contribute to organizations and help people out of tight spots. We don’t have much of a safety net — all of us — these days. So help as you’d wish to be helped.

And sure, get involved in organizations if you can. As I and others have noted, a lot of things have gotten taken over. So, start a new club. A new book discussion on line. Do the thing you want to happen. Make it as cool as you know how.

Be a light to the world. Go and do it. Even when you’re worried, your fingernails are bleeding from trying to climb a sheer scarp, and you don’t know where the next paycheck will come from. Do what you can when you can. It will help you too, if only psychologically.
Trust me on this. Do it.

More tomorrow.

156 thoughts on “Before The Crash 3”

  1. Several of today’s points can be summed up as: Isolation kills. Don’t go easy.

    And given they’ve been working on…well everybody, but especially us, in this way forever, we tend to be vulnerable to it.

    Find kindred souls. Hang out with sane friends and family. Whatever it takes to remind yourself You Are Not Alone.

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    1. In a strange turn of events…checks current year…oh wait….nm.

      I recently discovered that I seem to be developing actual, real live, friends in my local area. It’s not that I don’t have friends. But none of them live close in spite of the fact that I have lived in the same location for 35+ years. But, suddenly, a prayer group I am a part of seems to be developing into a tight group of like-minded friends. They’re all ladies who have moved here recently though so maybe that’s it. But still, I have been part of various prayer groups here for decades and it’s never happened. I have worked in the same place for decades and it’s never happened.

      So, seemingly, at the very time I have decided it would be worthwhile to have a network here where I actually live, TA DA! One appears.

      Being an introvert on the extreme end of the spectrum, I honestly didn’t realize how much it comforts me to know that I have a group of friends who are HERE and who I can discuss anything with and who I can defend against all comers and who would defend me as well. And they never believe the lies currently being pedaled.

      So, yes, even if it doesn’t seem like it is important, it is. Especially if you are seemingly surrounded by liars and clowns.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. And conversely, you might be just the thing that someone else needs. Be warned, though. Himself uses human tools to reach His ends, but the using tends to be hard on the tool. Be prepared for a kind of hardship that leaves scars.

          Not to say it isn’t worth doing. Just that it ain’t easy. Himself asks more from you than you’d ever thought possible.

          But some causes are worth the sacrifice.

          Liked by 1 person

            1. As Theresa of Avila said, “No wonder He has so few friends considering how he treats the ones He has.”

              She’s my confirmation saint and Doctor of the Church.

              And, yep, I’ve agreed with this assessment at times.

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  2. I’ve often wondered how to get lib friends to take a look outside their media bubble. One site I’ve recommended is allsides dot com. It rates all media on a scale from far-left to far-right and usually labels the source for any story. On many stories, they will show you 3 links, for a left, center and right source. You may want to quibble with their rankings, but at least they give it a shot.

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    1. This looks super handy. Will be sharing it with the wife, who still(!) refuses to believe that the media sources we grew up with are biased (not to mention disastrously unreliable), and cannot be persuaded to look outside that bubble at anything those sources label as “far right” (i.e., anything that doesn’t toe the leftist line). Maybe seeing an even-handed treatment of how various outlets cover the issues will help.

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      1. The media aren’t “biased” per se, they are vocal open agents of Satan. I don’t want an unbiased mainstream media, I want a burned to ash and scattered to the wind mainstream media.

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        1. It’s gotten to the point where I feel shame for ever having been a journalist — I spent 20 years working for various small newspapers (small town weekly, Catholic diocese weekly, small town daily). I know it wasn’t the NYT or the WaPo or AP, or any of the classic mainstream media, and I loved it while I did it, but there is absolutely no way I could ever do it again and I certainly could never make a living at it.

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          1. Have you considered being a real reporter/journalist on a blog?

            Heaven knows that someone who actually does the job is in demand, even though news is mostly defrauding folks when they claim to be doign so.

            Liked by 1 person

            2. Sure, I could set up a blog and write commentary on current events, the problem is that you still have to rely on articles and material written and gathered by other people unless you want to personally go fly to Gaza or Ukraine or Washington D.C. Which most people can’t do, unless they make that their full time paid job. That’s why, as obviously biased as the mainstream media are and as in dire need of reform as they are, I’m not so sure we should wish for them to disappear completely. Saying “We don’t need the media, we can get our news from the internet” is, kinda sorta, like saying “Who needs farmers and ranchers when we get our food from the supermarket?”

              That said, if I ever won a multi-billion-dollar Powerball lottery jackpot or had money to burn like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, JB the Hutt, et al. seem to have, one of the things I would want to do with it is establish a truly reliable news organization that does justice to all points of view and hires/trains old school “just the facts ma’am” reporters. Probably something like allsides.com, only in the form of a You Tube channel or stream like Newsmax or Real America’s Voice.

              Liked by 1 person

              2. You can’t personally report, but you can gather all the various different reports, and note where they’re from, and look for older information/primary sources.

                Which the modern reporters don’t, they just say wahtever the AP feed says.

                Liked by 1 person

                1. And note where what they’re reporting is flat impossible. And what indicates missing information. it’s a lot of what I do with things like “the overpopulation crisis” and why I was pegged at “none of this is true” 20 years ago.
                  Also, once you become known, people will come to you.
                  I don’t know what you could call it. I’m tempted to have it be something like “Don’t trust and verify”

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              3. Saying “We don’t need the media, we can get our news from the internet” is, kinda sorta, like saying “Who needs farmers and ranchers when we get our food from the supermarket?”

                Been poking at this… and what I’m suggesting is more like doing real shopping.

                When you’re living on a budget but also have the time to go to different stores, you shop around. Get the best deal on this, that and the other.

                We need someone that at least doesn’t just repeat the AP feed, or the Reuter’s feed, with a little embroidery.

                We need someone who is going to read both, and look at what they claim, how they characterize folks, and then go look up to see if what they claimed for the past is actually true, or if there’s better sources saying otherwise, or even just “what other reports ARE there?”

                Liked by 1 person

                1. AH. When the kids were teens, we religiously read the sales leaflets and planned. Sometimes we hit SIX stores in five hours. I forgot how much work/time that was.
                  Hey, hon, it’s easier at the end of the tunnel. Lonely though. I am glad they’re off and doing their own thing, and are by and large decent human beings (their beliefs and decisions are not always mine but they are acceptable in my friends, so that’s enough) but boy, I do miss them. Often.

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  3. Regarding “go march”. Well this little fucker can march and get a pat on the head after blocking traffic protesting on behalf of terrorists. It has been made crystal clear that if WE ever march again, they’re going to mow us down with fucking machine guns.

    This little shit needs a mirror and the line “am I one of the baddies?”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. We won’t march. We’ll scramble, run and weave and we’ll…. end it quickly. Because we don’t do this for posturing. If it’s important enough to distract from our family, our lives, our jobs, we want to make sure it’s finished.

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      1. I don’t know anyone who has time to march around.

        Or anyone who gets the point of marching around.

        If there is something that needs to be handled you handle it then go home.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Actual marching is there to instill discipline. Not “marching” as in a rabble roused to wrath intent on wanton destruction.

          Actual marching has a purpose. “Marching” with cardboard signs hasn’t an excuse, but has got plenty of feckless brats without the discipline to hold a steady job, nor the courage to challenge their convictions with an opposing view.

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  6. I disagree with the nothing will save you point. Exterminating every f’ing Leftist vermin on Earth will keep us safe from the Left.

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    1. It would…if it could be done. A world without leftists would be a beautiful thing…but there are very good reasons (every revolutionary purge ever) not to make the attempt. Even if such an attempt succeeded, it’s likely that Marxism is one of those bad ideas that will never die; it’s a magnifier for envy, and that’s something we’ll be dealing with as long as humans exist. Which is not saying we’re doomed — just that leftism or something like it is always going to have to be fought.

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      1. Maybe, but given the bodycount when Marxists get into power it seems to me that every effort should be made to annihilate Marxism and Marxists, for the safety of all.
        Some of my ancestors fled the Russian Revolution, others suffered under Nazi occupation, and others still fought them and the Italian fascists. I don’t want my daughter having to deal with that. Better to just wipe out all the Marxists.

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        1. These days you’d wipe out everyone, including some who THINK they’re on our side. Everything you’ve been taught has a layer of Marxism. This very idea comes from a Marxist undertone.
          You can’t know another’s heart. You don’t know how many people are submerged in enemy territory. I used to be one of those. And judging from some things that are submerged in movies, as well as the donations I get (deeply anonymized) from that zipcode? I’d say there’s a lot more than even I thought.
          Chill.

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    2. Yeah, but you can’t do that. No seriously. Beliefs aren’t evident from the outside. And many of us have unexamined leftist beliefs at the back of our minds. Even I. It’s a process, and it’s not a “kill them all” process.

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        1. Marxism is a mind virus and viruses are notoriously difficult to eradicate.

          Your best defense is a mind that has a high level of immunity to stupid and evil pushed by greed and envy.

          In this case laughter truly is the best medicine, followed by a sincere effort to cultivate actual virtue and not the signalling kind of virtue.

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          2. Indeed. Marxism could be thought of as case of Christianity distorted and taken to a pathologically extreme level by a group of totalitarian con artists.

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            1. Yes. Woke is a gnostic christian heresy that removes forgiveness, which is the most important part of Christianity.

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          3. An intelligent, educated mind with a knowledge of actual, real history as opposed to mindless propaganda is surprisingly resilient to attacks from pseudo-intellectual quackery when paired with a strong, tested morality.

            Which is another way of saying teach your children well. And live the values you wish to instill in them.

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          4. Pol Pot got his little party going by just having people gather around some trouble spot and just stand there and look at it for a while. Got people thinking about change. No, I am not advocating genocide or revolutionary violence.

            Cialdini’s book “Influence” has a number of suggestions for encouraging the changing of the minds. Possibly a kinder, gentler version of Mao’s struggle sessions might be helpful. Cult deprogramming might offer some ideas.

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            1. Come to think of it, some particularly egregious bastards (or bastardettes) might star in hemp neckties parties. Seulment pour encourager les autres, bien sur.

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        1. This is the other side of the leftist ‘Eat the rich’. Yeah, no. You do that and find you’re the richest one left and surrounded by people who now have a taste for cannibalism…

          Same here, just the other way around: I really don’t want to have to figure out how to turn off roving death squads of any stripe, regardless of how well their notional politics does or does not align with mine.

          Liked by 1 person

          2. I’ll point out I never align with anyone’s “stereotypical” politics, anyway, because I arrive at each piece on my own by thinking. (And yes, sometimes I’m wrong and have to fix, when events prove me wrong.)
            I can pass for a quiet, Catholic, grandma-age woman. (With practice duct tape grandkids.)
            BUT you guys know what I write. And I’ve heard what crazy people say about my politics based on my fiction. “She has female main characters. She hates men.” Is probably the least crazy thing. (Instead of “you couldn’t sell a male-action-protagonist to trad pub. Particularly if you were a woman. not by the time I broke in.”)
            So, no. No roving death squads looking for “Marxists” please. You’d find yourself knee deep in the blood of Freedom Lovers before you realized what you were doing.
            Also, kindly, don’t make me defend the parasites.
            If you want to send the worst offenders — looks at the Junta — To China, in a shipping container (with food, and breathing holes. I’m not a monster) I’m okay with that.
            But leave people alone. Once you remove the Marxist finger on the institutions-control button, they’ll collapse like a deck of cards. They got nothing. Their “philosophy” is nonsense. Their history is incoherent. They sell nothing but envy and hate, and people are seeing the results of that.

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  7. 11 – the more my nearing/at 30-ish nephew investigates and REALLY looks into things, the more he realizes how much he is being lied to. People canceled for saying the wrong thing. “Look at what they really said and why” oh look, it was either harmless or true (heh, mistyped it as ‘twue’) Someone he had lost all respect for because something he “said/implied/did”, and proof of it was he dropped by a business he were working with . . . years after and he found the business literally said “We know he is totally innocent in this, but we just don’t want all the drama so were ending our contract with him”, and this caused him to look at a lot of things again in a new light. What really happened, what are all the statements/verdicts/facts, why is this person suddenly doubleplus ungood? He is finding that 90+% of headlines and narrative are false.

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  8. Marches, that’s funny. March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb. So do most of their marches, then because they don’t control the astro turf mob, the secondary mob turns violent, old scores are settled out in the open. Looting and murders and fires to cover the murders. And whatever point they were trying to make gets lost in the violence. Because it was astro turf to begin with. Ah, but when the public itself is roused, truly roused all hell breaks loose and those in power generally loose their heads. Let’s say a silent prayer they aren’t that stupid. No I wont take any bets on it either.

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  9. “Make eye contact and small talk.”

    I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of folks who compliment me or started up a conversation because I was wearing either a camo-patterned ballcap or my “Whoever Voted for Biden Owes Me Gas Money” t-shirt.

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  10. They do think we’re stupid, though.
    See the Lloyd Austin thing for an example. We learn he was incommunicado in Walter Reed for four days and never notified the White House. Now the story is, “Well, he told his Chief of Staff, but she had the flu, so she didn’t tell anyone.” (I guess we know who the designated scapegoat will be).
    And we’re supposed to nod, “Yes, of course, that makes perfect sense.”
    And his ” elective procedure,” has turned into, “prostate surgery to remove cancer,” and he’s still at Walter Reed. Sheesh.p

    Liked by 2 people

    1. On the bright side, at least this didn’t happen to anyone who was actually useful or necessary — as evidenced by the fact that he spent four days incommunicado and nobody knew or cared until someone wanted to score political points. (Not that I’m criticizing whoever dug up the truth and publicized it; it’s the kind of thing that should be known, and besides, making Democrats look bad is both good and necessary.)

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      1. That he and some of the other top-echelon people were nowhere to be found likely meant that the few competent and well-adjusted workers in the Five-Sided Nut Hut had time to get some work done…

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        1. Having been in such a situation several times over the years, I judge this as quite probable.

          The removal or temporary absence of micromanagers and gotcha boys is always a net positive for practical work performance if there are any dutiful and well trained folks left in the shop at all.

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        2. They aren’t the ones really running things anyway so of course the absences had no impact on what was being done. I am sure the person really giving orders, Obama, was informed promptly about the surgery, etc., and that the people actually running things on his behalf were likewise informed.

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      2. No. But it did prove to China, Russian, Iran, and the rest of the world that American is totally in the hands of utter incompetents, and that they can guarantee that there will not be a military response to any of their actions in anything less than a week, if ever.

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    3. No, this doesn’t strike me as “the proles are stupid” thinking. Remember that the real problem is that Austin’s own superior and own immediate subordinate didn’t know that he was in the hospital. This isn’t just hiding it from the masses. This is making sure that no one knows.

      This strikes me as the kind of thing that one does when they’re worried about enemies being able to take advantage of temporary weakness. And given that it’s being done by the head of an important American bureaucracy, that should be particularly worrisome.

      And there’s also the secondary issue – namely, “How did whoever is running the government not know that a Cabinet-level Secretary was unavailable for such a long period of time? Are Cabinet meetings not being held?”

      Liked by 1 person

          1. If there was one single competent individual in the Biden* Regime, there might be some point to holding cabinet meetings. As it is, what purpose would be served by a room full of clueless diversity appointees jabbering nonsense at each other? At best, it might keep them from causing trouble for a couple of hours.
            ———————————
            Not my circus, not my clowns.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Which is, more or less, my point. If they’re not holding cabinet meetings, that strongly suggests that no one is running things, and in a much more forceful way than “right-wing conspiracists whispering about Biden’s mental health” do.

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        2. Or worse, doesn’t sleep through them, but actually tries to give instructions, or doesn’t like a Secretary’s face and fires / reprimands / diminishes the authority right there.

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  11. He says 14 like your smartphone isn’t recording every single word you say and Big Data isn’t watching every keystroke you make, and forwarding it all to the NSA in real time. The only way to be live a completely “private” life is to pull a Ted Kaczynski (without, I say again, WITHOUT the whole blowing-people-up bit) and live completely 100% off the grid without any internet connection or any tech produced prior to the mid-90s. Which will, of course, attract the governments attention all by itself. So you’re boned no matter what.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. About the only positive firsthand story I’ve heard cops tell about dealing with FBI was from one who was working one of the Ted Kaczynski bombings. The FBI were reportedly useful and professional.

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        1. Probably. The few secondhand positive stories I have heard were from the 90’s or earlier. Though there must be few semi-decent apples left somewhere in there or we wouldn’t have the (admittedly limited) leaks and whistle-blowing we have gotten.

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      2. I had a relatively large number of cousins who were FBI agents and special agents. They were all honorable, faithful, decent men. They’ve all been retired or deceased for some years now. The low rumbling I sometimes hear from the direction of the family graveyard is certainly their response to current events….

        Liked by 1 person

      3. There were, and continue to be those who are drawn to such agencies out of a desire to protect and defend both the Constitution and the American people. This is not in dispute by any who argue honestly.

        There are and continue to be enemies of the Constitution and the American people infesting the upper echelons of the rank structure at such agencies. This tends to cause loss of morale, loss of trained, dedicated personnel once they reach a certain rank (and smell the bullfaeces wafting from above), and worse things.

        Such agencies tend to only get recognized when they screw up. Given how much they’ve screwed up in the last thirty years, and how bad those screw ups were, things don’t look good at all- for them.

        The sorrow I hold for the poor sods stuck out in the cold while their bosses fester like an intestinal disease is not small. Nor is my contempt for those who grow fat on the loot snatched from hard working citizens. May those who grasp at the reigns of power be forever barred from it, shunned, and remembered for the petty bandits they were.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. The best you can do is flood them so much it’s confusing. Or be like me: the same in private and public. Except I might say a few more swearwords in private but EVEN THAT is not consistent because I usually swear only when really upset or for the funny.

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      1. Or do something that makes your shoulder angel, shoulder devil and the government agent assigned to you utterly horrified? (Some cartoon I saw on Twitter had something like that.)

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  12. “ Make new friends and march with them.”

    And wear all black, and mask, totes for “disease” and not to deny it was you on that vid. And carry sticks, just staple signs to them. And shields. And shine lasers into the eyes of LE.

    But beware of marchers in uniform.

    I mean, it’s like the guy does not read his own words.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. If ever he applies himself to the contradiction and investigates, as he so encourages us to do, I suspect he would be rapidly cast out of the mob and attacked as a counter-revolutionary extremist.

        Many a firebrand conservative started out a disillusioned leftist that once said “that doesn’t sound right…” It’s hard to come back from a betrayal that deep. But for those that do, there’s a strength to be found in standing defiant, despite it all. I have great respect for those that brave the fires of denunciation and worse to stand for truth.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. Of course, since Gov Abbott ordered the TX National Guard to keep Border Patrol out of Eagle Pass, it will be interesting to see if Brandon considers the TX STATE Guard a private militia once he sends the TX National Guard back to barracks.

            https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2024/01/12/border-patrol-union-abbott-eagle-pass-n2633551

            “The Lone Star State’s latest action on Thursday: seizing a swath of city-owned parkland along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, kicking federal border agents off the property, and enforcing the international border with Mexico. “

            Liked by 1 person

  13. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen.

    I dunno, that sounds an awful lot like this guy is suggesting that people go out and exercise.

    As we all know, encouragements to “get healthy” and “exercise” are both white supremacist and an example of size and/or diet shaming. How dare this man suggest that couch potatoes who spend all their time staring at screens are less healthy than those terrible people who set off Planet Fitness’s “Lunk Alarm”?

    Somebody report him to the fat-tivists for a struggle session.

    /sarc

    Liked by 2 people

    2. The dirt goddess and her dirt-anointed little cult hate exercise and especially exercise outside, thus being locked in your house for months and arrested for paddleboarding alone or running not wearing a mask in recent times.

      The thing is, the dirt goddess and her cult just hate people.

      Liked by 1 person

  14. “Make new friends and march with them.” Er…. where are you marching? And why? Is this a thing that happens a lot in lefty circles? “Hi, I just met you, want to march?”

    Having spent most of the past 25 years working right in the middle of a big university campus, and thus having observed more protest marches than I can count (all of them leftist), I am completely convinced that this is, in fact, what happens in lefty circles.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. As happy as it would make the world, killing all the Marxists would pretty much decimate humanity, there is a lot of stupid indoctrinated people out their. Better to defeat them in a way that makes the real Marxists commit suicide, then keep a few around in a zoo so people can watch them where they are safe even from themselves.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. YES. The survival instinct is strong in humanity. Leftism is a positional good, and a trapping of the political elite. That draws in many, especially those that come from cultures familiar with the dance.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. A 10% reduction of humanity, if concentrated among the bureaucratic/governmental/cartel/academia ranks, might not be a bad thing.

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      2. Madame guillotine is a thirsty wench whose desire for blood is nigh unquenchable. I don’t think it would stop at 10%, once started. Far from it. And eventually, after much irreparable harm, someone would have to make her stop. Forcefully.

        That ain’t a road any of us want to go down.

        The founders had the right of it. Rule of law. No nobles, no favoritism. Enforce the laws on the mighty just as hard as on the petty. Justice must be blind to power, if she is to be of any use at all.

        That would, in point of fact, result in enough blood to sate the most powerfully incensed of men. Just enforce the laws equally to one and all. Hang the bastards that rape, that kill, that commit treasons.

        Those that betray their oath? I’m for hanging them too, but would accept permanent exile if it were enforced at rifle point.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Given how many folks in the US came from places that started down that route, and how many folks are familiar with where it tends to go, there’s a good chance that anyone trying to do a the “selective reduction of the population” is likely to get shot pretty dang quick.

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      3. as a general rule of thumb, people who prioritize killing lists in percents are not thinking, or insane.

        Mass killing is actually pretty expensive, and wasteful if you don’t actually need all of it.

        A narrower sort of list, or criteria, is better than thinking it out in percents.

        Once you are thinking it out at aggregate scale, you lose a lot of information. Which is very likely to be and cause misjudgements.

        There are three expensive failure modes for a mass killing based on a percent. One, guessing wrong. Two, wrong targeting. Three, not being able to stop immediately.

        Let’s suppose that ten percent is not rounded, and has an error within 0.2%.

        If that is guessing error, or targeting error or overshoot error, that is still a lot of people who will have other people irritated about the injustice. Which is a lot of opportunities not to keep things contained.

        Okay, yes, lots of crazy people coming out of academia. Who hate peace, and who hate civilization.

        Being a similar flavor of theory obsessive crazy is not going to be the most effective counter to them.

        And, the academics are flinching. A fair number of the worst assholes are recalculating what they can get away with.

        I know that is not a great comfort, but it is the best new thing I have noticed, and can recall.

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      4. The Reader thinks minds are a terrible thing to waste and humanity needs all it can get. Let’s get to work on that antivirus for Marxism and defrag their brains.

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    3. Plus, someone noted up thread that some of the most committed conservatives are redpilled former leftists who finally realized they had been lied to/betrayed. If you kill ALL the Marxists you may lose some, perhaps a lot, of potential converts. You also lose people who can testify to how bad it is “from the inside”.

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  18. Thought on the investige, I think we also have to figure out how to operate without perfect knowledge, and be more ok with not worrying asuch about things we can neither directly test for certain, nor may even actually directly affect us in a measurable way.

    It just seems like ‘distant shores’ problems are mostly about gathering massive amounts of central control over things that can’t actually be measured or tested.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Not just scare us, or make us give up, but also things designed to make us react without thought, particularly in a violent fashion without paying attention to consequences, particularly secondary and tertiary ones. (The Left rarely think about consequences, only their desired response to any provocation.) If you’re going to do something like that, think very, very long and hard about those secondary and further consequences.

    Eye contact and small talk? That’s what church is for. Ditto, town meetings, political party meetings, waiting for Scouts, or volleyball, or soccer. Also talking to cashiers and other folks in the supermarket.

    I hate marching. I hated marching every time I did it in the military. Marching and close order drill have their place; but since we’re not carrying pikes and taking cavalry charges, today isn’t the time or place. Hell, I suppose my Viking ancestors formed a shield wall occasionally, but they probably didn’t last long when they finally got to melee distance. I don’t think it would go over well if I suggested to my neighbors that we all grab battle axes, and row down the Piscataqua River to Portsmouth and go reaving, raping, and pillaging through the city for a fun Friday night. “Michael Douglas Houst! I don’t care how much loot you came back with. We can’t afford to keep a thrall around the house. And no female slaves for you either!”

    The only way you’re going to have a private life in today’s America is if you never use the internet, pay for everything in cash, and pretty much are a hermit. My politics are public knowledge already. So are my positions. There’s at least one person in town who’s crazy enough to unload at my place with gun fire because of them. There’s no such thing as absolute safety. The best you can do is be aware of your surroundings, have contingency plans, and be able to return fire.

    If you don’t donate to independent good causes, then the government will decide which causes they want to donate to with your money. Think about that. And consider all the charitable organizations that Uncle Sam’s thugs have destroyed over the past 100 years.

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    1. “Eye contact and small talk? That’s what church is for. Ditto, town meetings, political party meetings, waiting for Scouts, or volleyball, or soccer. Also talking to cashiers and other folks in the supermarket.”

      At a recent family gathering, we played bingo and my adult autistic daughter really enjoyed it. There is a bingo hall in our area which is open 6 days a week, and often has special events on holidays (they were open on Christmas Day afternoon/evening for people who were looking to get out of the house). I found online an article about the “regulars” there and how they seem to have developed a sense of community. So now I’m thinking, maybe that would be a good place to make connections? (As long as it doesn’t get too expensive)

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      1. Just about anything that brings you in more than momentary contact with other people will work, especially if it’s repeated contact. You don’t have to treat it as looking for people to date, although there are some similarities; but you can treat it as a game. “Can I make 3 new acquaintances or possible friends today?” In my case it’s more like, “Can I remember the names of 3 new people I’ve met?”

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  20. Investigate. Hahahahahahahahaha…

    I had to laugh at the suggestion to subscribe to print media. Longer articles means more bullshit.

    When we found discrepancies in local tax assessments, we couldn’t get a journalist to touch the story. We ended up disclosing the data and analysis to some interested parties that backed different candidates, and forced the resignation of the official, plus got a state law passed about conflict of interest. Now we get ripped off more equally.

    No “media” investigated the elections. Concerned citizens did the audits, analyzed the data and did interviews.

    No big media asked serious questions about Covid origins, the clot shot, and big pharma, they just gobbled up the commercial and federal money. Concerned citizens sifted through the details, connected the dots, tracked the relationship, found the paperwork, tracked the money.

    No media questions the relationship between BLM, Antifa, sex offenders, teachers, and the trans movement. (We see many of the same faces at local events…)

    The media covers up the crimes and the evil.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. During the first of COVID, my hospital went to almost no patients in the ED. My husband’s did too. I kept hearing stories of ERs being overwhelmed by COVID but every doc I talked to said the same thing. “It’s not bad here, but I hear the next hospital over is swamped”. Husband volunteered to go to New York City, supposedly the worst of it, and work and was told they didn’t want doctors. Newspapers are obviously worthless. You get more info working your connections…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. NYC? You mean the place where Trump sent a hospital ship to handle the crush and it was literally never used so they wouldn’t have to admit he’d helped?

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        1. Denver converted the convention center into hospital beds, and not a single one was used. I believe for a while they turned it over to homeless housing.
          And Vanderbilt put up emergency beds in their parking garage. This was given much publicity, but not the fact not a single one was used. Rinse and repeat.

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          1. IIRC, LibertyCon 2021 was canceled because the city was holding the convention center is reserve in case of mass of COVID cases overwhelming the hospitals.

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        2. Look, if you use the easily isolable hospital ship, you’ll never bring down the numbers of New York pensioners in nursing homes.

          Basic financial management!
          /sarc

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      2. In the SF Bay Area the local media kept reporting the top line “available” ICU and MedSurg bed stats, but if one dug into the underlying numbers it became clear that the hospitals were all staffing up or down to show “available” bed percentages at the direction of local public health dorks – they had access to on-demand staff and could spin up staffed beds, and in fact had right at the beginning when they too panicked, but to do that again would just lower their stats below “critical shortage” and undermine the panic-mongers, so they carefully kept things critical by not staffing up to their max capacity.

        The floors were light, the EDs empty, and so were the overflow pandemic tents out in the parking lots, but “whoop whoop danger danger” was all that the lapdogs in local media reported.

        I guess TV reporters get free syphilis treatment from the public health people in non-pandemic years or something, and those favors were called.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. …and in the meantime, all ‘elective’ medical procedures were canceled due to the ‘EMERGENCY!!!‘ Unimportant little things like cancer screenings and treatments, cardiac bypasses, joint replacements, reconstructive surgery…

          Because ‘elective’ has a very specific meaning in medicine — anything that can be scheduled in advance, as opposed to ‘you’re gonna DIE!! if it’s not done RIGHT F*KING NOW!‘

          How many people died ‘later’ because they didn’t get necessary but not immediately critical medical services? Because by the time they were immediately critical, it was too late.

          The ‘Publick Health Authoriteez’ knew that, too. They knew their panic-mongering would kill thousands or tens of thousands. They did it anyway.
          ———————————
          The government can mandate stupidity, but they can’t make it not be stupid.

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          2. True. Our hospital census maxed out many times in the few months immediately after the restrictions were lifted. And in many cases, patients were much worse than they would have been had they received the proper care at the proper times during the covidiotcy. You can chalk up the decrease in national life expectancy to that shutting out of patients from the healthcare system also, although nobody in the government, and most executives in healthcare will also deny it.

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          3. While I do know people who worked at overwhelmed areas, most of them traveled to those areas because the ones where we were ended up within limits. I greatly suspect that has to do with overall hospital management and area health more than they were willing to admit.

            And people dying? Don’t forget that suicides went up too. One of which was a neighbor, and the police chaplain talking with us neighbors basically said that lockdowns were the last straw for a lot of people, meaning he’d been seeing that a lot.

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        2. “I guess TV reporters get free syphilis treatment from the public health people in non-pandemic years or something, and those favors were called.”

          “Consensus, not Conspiracy”, Exhibit A. Both sides knew the goal.

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    3. “No media investigated the elections. Concerned citizens did the audits, analyzed the data and did interviews”

      And more power to them. Here’s something that a lot of people don’t realize, probably because the media would prefer they not know it: journalists have EXACTLY the same “right to know” what the government is doing as an ordinary citizen does — no more and no less. The reason special press rooms and press briefings exist is for convenience, logistics, and security — every Joe Blow can’t go to the White House or the Capitol so someone has to do it for them — not because journalists are some kind of exalted class with special rights.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. “Make new friends and march with them.” When my dad was living and working in Hondo, Texas, he joined the Wednesday Night Beer Drinking, Pizza Eating, Pool Shooting and Marching Society. They’d get together on Wednesday nights to drink beer, eat pizza, shoot pool, and anybody who wanted to march, could.

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    1. The only march I’ll join is my friend’s now-annual Plague Doctor Procession, so there.
      Your dad’s society sounds like a fun one!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. This is why I have only a rarely used dumb phone and a large, hard-to-carry laptop – so I’m forced to look up. Look up at the sky, look up at the passing scenery, look up at the people, and smile and say hello. There are SO FEW people who look up and smile back.
      And I’m a raging introvert. If I can manage that much, it’s quite doable.

      Liked by 1 person

  23. Making friends in this environment is almost impossible for Weirds like us.

    Mostly because the moment you start to argue with people about the sheer stupid coming out of their mouths, you’re instantly branded with a red MAGA hat.

    Case in point, today-I was at a writing group and one of the people started to talk about a TV show (okay). But they started to talk about the whole “the Native Americans only hunted for what they needed and always offered a prayer to the animals they killed” thing and that frustrated me because I know what kind of BS that is.

    When the rest of the group started nodding and agreeing…I had to leave before I lost my temper.

    And these are the same people that are proud of how “tolerant” and “caring” they are…as long as you always agree with them.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I’ve gotten too good at keeping my mouth shut, as I promised Mom to not come home after getting into a fight with idiots.
        Even if I win.
        Even if she can’t scold me because she’s dead.
        And beating their heads in won’t change their minds to the positive so…

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Oh man. In my case, knowing some registered tribal members might help with that snark, though nothing beats the original source. One of them said, “My ancestors wouldn’t care whether you’re white or black; they’d make a slave out of you either way.”

        I mean, there are so many ways that would make heads explode in the right company.

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    2. All you have to do is bring up the history of the buffalo jumps. There was no prayer for each of the animals killed. And the amount of wastage was very high due to overkills. They literally couldn’t process and keep the amount of meat, hides, and other materials from all those animals. So it was left to rot.

      Then you can also bring up that they practiced slash and burn agriculture in many places, including rather uncontrolled burns in the Northeast (and other parts of the country) to destroy mature forest in favor of new growth that would support more of the food species they hunted or gathered.

      Which brings to mind that I wonder how many plains tribes started prairie fires to weaken or wipe out competing tribes?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Utah Dead Horse Point State Park is named for the fact that the local tribes ran large wildlife over the cliffs there. Later used to easily corral horses for containment.

        The reason why eastern emigrants didn’t find Willamette valley full of old growth forests was because the local tribes set fires to clean timber out to improve grazing for deer and elk in the valley. Trust me. Trees have no problem volunteering anywhere in the valley that doesn’t clear them out. Even trees that the valley are not the standard habitat like Giant Sequoia and Redwood will thrive if planted as seedlings or cuttings (Giant Sequoia won’t seed, but the Redwoods sometimes will). Neither are inexpensive to remove either. Ask how I know.

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  25. Not that it matters much, Sarah, but I did buy Darkship Thieves and am in the process of reading it. I’m hoping to learn some writing craft from it. I just hope I have enough time left to learn how to write well enough to make a couple of bucks in my old age.

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      1. I’m reading it in spurts, but I will at some point write a five star review on Amazon for you.

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  26. “Make new friends and march with them.”

    We need more groups like the New Ashmolean Marching Society and Student Conservatory Band.

    Liked by 1 person

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