Spoiling For A Kicking

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

For those wondering at the title, it comes from this:

A fake fortuneteller can be tolerated. But an authentic soothsayer should be shot on sight. Cassandra did not get half the kicking around she deserved.

Robert A. Heinlein

In my defense, I’m not even a fake fortune teller. (Though I won’t object at all if you cross my palm with silver. Have I mentioned these are fundraising days?)

What I am is someone who has an uncomfortable little imp at the back of her head. If I’m similar to a Heinlein character in that it is Friday. Why Friday? Well, remember the scene where her boss calls her in the middle of the night and asks her questions, before she has the time to think and her “guesses” are correct?

Well, the minute I read that scene my head went “ting” and I thought “that’s what I do, or would be, if I could just randomly rabbit hole from subject to subject and read research and news and fiction and– without limit.” Even at that time, with “just” books (but I was a much faster reader back then, I should add, and even going to college, taking extra courses and working I read at least one full book a day and often much more.) or later, with access to a library, and with full awareness of how controlled publishing was, I’d get these uncomfortable “tings” in the back of my head and know conventional wisdom was completely wrong. Sometimes, digging after the fact even told me why it was wrong. Other times I couldn’t put my finger on it, I just “knew” it was. (And that’s a horrible feeling, kind of like having an itch where you can’t reach.)

All of it became much stronger with the internet. Much. Like…. Through the roof. Both because it gives me a better opportunity to feed the elephant child, and even when I’m not avoiding writing (These days, TBF I don’t have that much time to avoid writing. I’m usually either writing or cleaning/cooking/planting/weeding. Or looking after DIL’s quail, though lately she’s mostly done all of that.) I read an awful lot of … stuff. Partly because I am a compulsive reader/can’t do anything else, like, say, cook, without also reading. Partly because I’m ADD AF (Which makes me wonder if this is the evolutionary advantage of ADD brains.) So on any given day I’ll read history, news, an article on some obscure craft like how to make rosaries out of dried rose petals (you only think I’m joking), ten posts screaming about the next great doom, a bunch of email lists some by highly specialized people others by my delusional lefty colleagues who have forgotten I’m on the list (yes, I know, this might get me kicked out. If they remember my email. LOL.) To which I might add I listen to people’s conversations with the shamelessness only a writer is capable of. People walking by my yard while I’m weeding, people talking on the cell phone outside the pharmacy, people arguing on whether to buy the discount beef or the chicken in the grocery isle… You get the point.

And sometimes something causes me to go digging through like a deranged rabbit which is why I can honestly tell you I now believe there were humans in the Americas as far back as 100k years ago, or further (We’re a curious ape.) BUT I don’t believe they were enlightened; some kind of great matriarchy; gentle carers for Gaia; superior to our civilization. Whether they might have been “civilized” I leave for a future in which we know a heck of a lot more, and perhaps have less crazy academic establishment. (Which means till the afterlife, when I hope I get to KNOW stuff. Or maybe not. some of it will horrify me.)

Oh, add to that that I live with an ADD AF husband who not only falls down his own rabbit holes BUT also repeats whatever he researched lately at me during meals. (Not work. Just crazy stuff. Like the latest was Victorian Mass Murderers. Look…. I don’t KNOW why. Another time and for about a week it was (I swear I’m not making this up) Ways to Make Cheese (he’s never been near a dairy. He’s never known anyone who ran a dairy. In our last house in Colorado some people pastured cows in the undeveloped 400 acres behind us and older DIL and I didn’t know how to explain to Dan what had happened to all the cows in fall — including the cute little calves he’d named — without breaking his heart. I mean he used to watch them through binoculars and named them.)) He often listens to podcasts or reads stuff while puttering around the house, and then SOMEONE has to hear about it all. I’m the only one in the house. I’m someone.

And then… And then I wake up in the middle of the night, as the imp in the back of my brain stomps his little foot and goes “But everyone is wrong.” And then I play Cassandra. And sometimes I’m even right. (Oh, not every time. I was so wrong in 2016! To be fair, though, I was in accord — then — with a substantial minority of people to the right of Lenin. Not against everyone.)

Anyway, right now the hot topic in every blog, even on the left is “When will Biden step down.” and “Will he be killed if he won’t.”

I have bad — or good, who knows — news. The imp of absolute certainty in the back of my head is saying “He won’t step down UNLESS a very unlikely thing takes place.” “If he dies, it is either a deuced clever hit, the kind I don’t actually believe the left can carry out right now, or truly natural causes.”

So, how do I explain this? I’ve been noodling on it for days and keeping my mouth shut. And then when I figured it out, I still didn’t know how to explain it.

Except…. hey, you know, any of you know your Gibbons? The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? Never mind that they’re lousy history (truly) some of the things are broadly true.

Like the fact that whenever one of the truly horrible, crooked emperors fell, everyone in their circle got killed.

Look, it’s a human thing. It’s very akin to mob wars and dynasties, I understand. (I don’t know. I don’t read much mob anything, certainly not fiction. I might be the last person alive in the wild, my age, who hasn’t watched The Godfather.)

That is our model for the current Democrat party. Some of the GOP too, kind of, or would be if they had any power that’s not by attaching to the democrats, and if the media ran the same cover for them they run for the democrats. What I’m saying is the GOP isn’t inherently virtuous, but they’ve suffered different evolutionary pressures than the dems. And therefore the result is different.

But the dems have now, increasingly and over the last 100 years or so been the darlings of the mass-media-entertainment establishment, meaning that they were never exposed, their bad side never shown, and they never got called to task for anything from vices to outright crimes.

They also have to a great extent controlled the voting through machine politics and outright voter fraud, with increasing ability every election.

What does this mean? It means that it have them the ability to grow into a mob-like elite where the power plays are all within the party. And they are ruthless and brutal. (Also often incompetent. I’m still convinced that Paul Pelosi was the victim of a hit, and I wonder by whom, and how he survived, and what deal he made to stay alive.)

But wait, Sarah, isn’t that a reason for Biden to meet the Almighty personally in a month or two at most? We don’t understand.

Well, it would be a very good reason. And if their dome of untouchability from the media were still in place, this would be true. Also, if Biden were alone and isolated.

Biden isn’t alone and isolated. Guys, alone and isolated the walking corpse would never make it out of bed in the morning.

Instead, Biden — on purpose or not — came in surrounded by his own clique. And before you tell me it’s Obama’s clique… waggles hand. I think a lot of members of both are the same, and he inherited some of Obama’s consiglieri, but you’re not in fact going to convince me that Obama was more self-actuated than Biden. Oh, sure, in his life maybe, but not in governing. Over and over again we figured out Obama was just a puppet. And possibly a construct. (Likely a construct, says the imp.)

I think — and if you pause and think for a moment you will too — that Biden was supposed to step down to spend more time with his family two years in, tops. But Cackling Kamala is…. well, they can’t even pretend she’s all there. I think they expected her to be like Obama, and plausible. But also–

But also someone or some ones on Biden’s consiglieri turned out to be more capable of bare knuckle fighting, and far less willing to bow out than the people picking the ticket and supporting it expected.

Look, I’m not going to guess who. Could be Dr. Jill, but I kind of doubt it, on account of she ain’t very bright. Could be Hunter, but guys? The man’s genetic donors aren’t that bright, and he plays with mind altering stuff all the time. Could be anyone else in the clique, really. But someone there a) knows where the bodies are buried. b) has enough power/ability to command “death squads” at least equal to Hillary Clinton’s.

I’m not going to guess because it could be anything, and at this point you have to realize the Praetorian guard er… three letter agencies are in play too, and not all on the same side either, but all broadly on the “democrat” side, because that’s the side that gives them unlimited power. So it could be someone within those, not necessarily the official head.

Hell, for all I know, Kamala was picked as a compromise candidate between two powerful and equally murderous factions, and Kamala’s is just not as strong. Though together they’re obviously stronger than Hillary Clinton’s, and boy, does she have a machine.

What I do know is that they haven’t been able to dislodge the corpse. They haven’t been able to make him stop breathing in a plausible enough way. And they haven’t been able to make him step down.

The step down is out. You may — as my grandmother would put it — take your little horse out of the rain now. Waiting for that one is a moot point. Ain’t gonna happen.

Why not? Because if he steps down, his entire faction is at risk. And given how corrupt they’ve been revealed to be, and how much has come out about the Biden Crime Family while they’re still in control of the entire apparatus of state? The best they and their faction can hope for is that they’d be ruthlessly persecuted if Biden stepped down. More so because they know their own side is ALREADY trying to underbus them to cleanse themselves of “sin” by throwing it all on them.

These people are quite literally fighting for their lives. Because the BEST that will happen to them is persecution and imprisonment. However, death is far more likely as soon as it can be contrived without being glaringly obvious, because they all know things. Even if they’re innocuous things in their circles, they probably can be made much bigger/will still shock the mundanes.

If Biden steps down, most of the people deep in his administration, including a substantial number of those pulling the strings will die. Oh, accidents. Suicide. Strange illnesses. We no longer do the praetorian guard rampaging through the palace and killing everything including babies. We’re not ROMAN. But die they will. And they know enough of the inside mechanisms that they’ll never do it.

I’d guess condition ONE for them to let the puppet bow out is that they get whatever the equivalent of a safe conduct and promise of never being harmed. Of course, that would require them to TRUST the other dems. Anyone see that? Because if you do, you are more trusting than I and a beautiful soul, you sweet summer child, you.

I mean, it COULD happen. But I rate it as a marginal chance at best. AND if it happens it will be only if they find another puppet the Biden faction feels as confident with. I’d say if that were possible, it would ALREADY have happened. And it would depend on the Kamala faction accepting it, too.

So, the death. Same conditions apply. How well would you guard the life of someone on whose life yours depended? And if you were a crooked mafia-like cabal, how many fail safes would you have in place?

All of this is particularly delicious, because I believe the only reason Trump is running is to stay in the public eye and avoid being Epsteined. If they’d left him alone, he’d have let DeSantis or whomever take it. But he can’t, because if he falls off the public eye the dems off him, openly or not. (The fact they haven’t managed to tells you how much more difficult it would be to off Joe with INTERNAL factions militating against it.)

Look, in the 35th century someone is writing a bestselling series about this time, and it’s called something like “A time of knives” or “The clash of factions” or whatever. And I’d appreciate the artistry of it all far more if I weren’t stuck living here.

BUT as it is my bet is: no step down. IF there is a step down expect Hunter and close family and some VERY SURPRISING people to take off to non-extraditing countries just ahead/just after.

No death, unless it’s natural, or a really gifted assassination, of the kind that only happens in books. OR of course an in your face lucky hit of the kind Gavrillo Princip pulled off. And if the last one is the case, well…. It will make WWI look like the Teddy Bear Picnic. This time, the rerun will be WWI like global and combined with ACW. ON YOUR …. not movie screen, alas. But natural or really gifted assassin? They’ll be prevented by all means possible, including but not limited to animatronic preserved corpse (Come on, guys, RGB, remember?) or banned therapies that are much akin to necromancy.

No, I think we’re in for a very interesting time. Possibly terminally — but briefly — interesting.

It’s The Godfather meets Weekend at Bernies meets Imperial Rome. All against the background of technologies that make the outing of plots FAR more likely, and a populace that’s getting restive and frankly pissed off, worldwide.

Hold on to the edge of your seats. We’re riding into a hurricane.

And — as RAH always advised — keep your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark.

Most of all, though, be not afraid. This kind of corruption is self-defeating in the end. And they’re more of a danger to their competitors than to us. We just have to get to the other side.

UPDATE: argh, I forgot this on first go out, because of course I did:

*Because these are my two weeks of fundraising, I’m obligated to add the following:
This blog is reader funded. I don’t have a grant or a patron. You’re my patrons and only you can compensate for the toil of keeping the blog going day after day, year after year. For the full explanation of why a funding drive, and what I intend to use it for, if you’re interested, go here.

There are several ways of supporting me.
GiveSendGo, for which I make no promises meaning I’m not giving you anything for your contribution; Chapterhouse, for which I will give you my fiction that is in process and yes there will be typos, backtracking, characters who change names suddenly and other mishaps; and Patreon, for which I give you cat pspsps posts. For the more exotic ways to donate: email me for paypal address. The book promo email will do for that: bookpimping at outlook dot com. And there is the snail mail address at: Sarah A. Hoyt, 304 S Jones Blvd #6771, Las Vegas, NV  89107.
I know times are tough — for all of us — and I don’t hold it against anyone who can’t contribute. But all contributions are greatly appreciated. – SAH*

273 thoughts on “Spoiling For A Kicking”

  1. Mid read, I immediately stopped to do a search for “rose petal rosaries” and by golly. (That’s *my* ADD kicking in.)

    But yes, I think your theories are at the least very possible. I’m going back to review requirements for the 25th Amendment right now as well.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Now I have to look that up, too. I learned how to make the knotted rosaries for service members or other folks who need to be stealthy about it (and I’m not even catholic), but that’s because I have all the knotted string hobbies except for battenburg lace and bobbin lace (so far), and I’m ADHD enough to NEED something for my hands to do, and tying string in knots is the cheapest hobby I could find.

      For the step-down… I’d have said the walking corpse wouldn’t make it six months, but I was very wrong. At this point…. I’m just keeping my head above water any way I can, and take care of my family best way I know how.

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      1. I know I’ve dipped a brain cell in that one, at some point, in the wee hours of the dawn while half caffeinated and hip deep in reports that no one ever read but nonetheless had to be filed and annotated perfectly (damned perfectionism). Dried rose petal rosaries, I mean.

        Hey, I’m a lapsed Catholic (post Atheist). We do these things.

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      2. There’s always fingers when true stealth is needed. Five fingers for the decades, and the other hand you go through, say, folding them down and straightening them back up.

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      3. I have an Irish Rosary hanging on the wall. In memoriam. It’s a large circle (keyring-size) with five beads strung off it. You start with it on your thumb, then shift it to each finger in turn.

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  2. Well, I could see an assassination of Biden* IF they could be sure that it could be blamed on Trump-followers.

    But what are the odds of such a Trump follower getting close enough to kill Biden?

    IE The Idiots would have to explain “how did that happen”?

    Even Democrats who hate Trump might not buy the “evil Trump follower” or might just use the “how did that happen” question in order to destroy the Biden puppeteers.

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      1. Nod, if the other dems think they could bring the Biden circle down over Biden’s assassination, they would attempt it.

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      2. Given that the gatekeepers to Senile Joe are Jill and Hunter, isn’t it really the CCP who is going to decide whether Joe stays or goes, and won’t they only allow him to be replaced if the replacement will be as obedient to the CCP as the Biden Crime Family?

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        1. It’s a lot more complicated (and simpler), I think. There are generational factions, single issue factions, literal organized crime (not that kind) factions, foreign interests, and more, and they’re all in a VERY uneasy alliance wherein both the Rodent in Chief and the Painted Hyena were the only compromise all could tenuously agree on. And even then, each faction is staring daggers at the other, waiting for a chance to strike.

          They have to keep him on the spot, or it all falls apart. If he croaks and they can’t resurrect (yes, that word. Not save.) him, then the bloody knives come out.

          I am also trying really, really hard to avoid this rabbit hole. Political sci fi is my nemesis. I never get out of the worldbuilding.

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            1. Given the current course of our crazy years, I see a religious revival party in the near future.

              Hopefully our version of Nehemiah is a litte less repressive.

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              1. We already had Nehemiah. Heinlein suffered from blindness on that. It’s impossible to unify this country under a “prophet” because the multiple sects will fight to the death before then.
                We had Nehemiah. He rode in on the prevailing religion of the state. his name was Barrack Hussain Obama.

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                1. And Heinlein imagined that Nehemiah could “mind control” the US Army in only four years.

                  Obama couldn’t do that in eight years.

                  Liked by 1 person

                  1. Wasn’t there some sort of mind alteration technology in that setting? There was a story set after the religious dictatorship period where the restored US could sentence someone to have their mind fixed, but the convicted could refuse and accept exile to some anarchic location that had been setup for people like that. Read it decades ago.

                    Liked by 1 person

                    2. IIRC, the Rebels developed that technology thus Nehemiah didn’t have it.

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      3. The wild card is some mad genius inflamed by all the, “saving our democracy/taking out Trump,” rhetoric. But that’s unpredictable by definition.

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        2. I don’t think “avoiding an Arkancide†” is the only reason or even a main one for Trump staying in the race. He and most of his supporters know that 2020 was a scam from end to end, and I believe he wants “some of his own back” as much as his base do. The lawfare of the past three years (as much IMO to cover up and cover for the 2020 vote fraud as to destroy DJT himself, largely) just dug his heels in.

          But it also showed (everyone) that he was on their hit lists, and the implied Damoclesian sword is not an irrelevant motivation to hold the present course. On the other hand, successful re-taking of the White House will render him (per 25A term limits) far less of a threat once he’s OUT of office (supposing he survives to pass the reigns) than he’s been or seemed to them these past four years. And it will soundly repudiate the Democrat party machine (if not their agendae) for all but the True Believers.

          As to the strings of the puppets, has anyone asked how many strings Joe’s less-publicly-senile and Not-in-Politics™ brothers Jim and Frank are holding?

          Liked by 1 person

      4. I believe that the schemers realize that once the “whack” door opens, a great many folks, pro and amateur, will say “well, ok then”. The resultant cull would be epic. Also it would approach extinction for certain major factions.

        We are the most free and most heavily armed society in human history. Yet there is almost no significant killing outside a few failed-state cities.

        The faction most likely to go “purge” runs those failed areas. They know how close those areas are to Revolution. Against -them-. The thought of all those others going hunting, and likely -competently-…

        We lack the social controls for “They wouldn’t dare”. What we have is “They wouldn’t freak”.

        Dont freak the normies.

        There is a saying. Only the first murder costs you. The rest are free.

        That is the only thing currently holding back the peaceful majority.

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  3. I agree that Biden is likely to stay on if for no other reason that “everybody” says he won’t and everybody is usually wrong. the real question to me is whether the dems would pull the 25th amendment option for the Kamel. That’s intriguing to me since it would be effected by the Kamel and 8 — I’ll have to check — cabinet members. Booty Gig will be up for it as VP presumptive, but the rest?
    Please note that I don’t believe any of these people have any agency, they’re merely hirelings. The money now, the money exists, and the the money knows that the Kamel could only take 1.5% of the dem primary voters and might be even bigger poison than Biden. The money might suddenly wake up and realize that they can do business with Trump and four years isn’t such a long time after all.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. That’s what I was just now wondering.

      What if they decide that they can ride it out for four years and rely on the deep-state “resistance” to kneecap Trump? I mean, that’s the way they’ve done it time and again; they wait, the Republicans eventually cave and play ball (or simply do something stupid; R’s create a governmental tool to fix a problem, which may even kind of work; D’s then co-opt it and weaponize it; wash, rinse, repeat), and then they’re back in the driver’s seat with an even better engine than they had before.

      It’d be the sanest thing they could do. But I dunno…Trump’s election in 2016 broke something in them, and they haven’t been sane since.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. There are likely to be quite a few Democratic politicians who would prefer a lame duck Trump for four years than 8 years of Kamala or (Newsom, Whitmer, Shapiro), in terms of their personal chances for the nomination.

        An open convention for the presidential nomination would be the ultimate jump ball.

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  4. Comment on the 25th Amendment thing.

    Basically (or at least the part people are talking about), it is a method of giving the Vice President the full powers of the President when the President can’t do the Job.

    The Big Problem is that the President can send Congress a letter saying that he’s now fit for the Job.

    It would take a 2/3 or 3/4 vote of both Houses of Congress to say “No Mr. President, you’re not fit for the job” to stop the President from regaining his power as President.

    I can’t see Jill Biden letting Biden to be removed that way.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The other problem with the 25th Amendment, at least they way things stand right now, is if the 25th gets invoked, then it’s Cackling Commie LaWhorish who will be handed the reins. And she is even less competent and only slightly more mentally coherent than Pee Pads Joe.

      I heard a theory a few weeks back that Kamala was installed as VP as a life insurance policy for Joe, not so much to keep Radical Right-Wingers from taking a shot at him, but to keep Radical Leftists from trying to off or remove him for not being Leftist enough. Because the one thing that anyone can agree on is that Kamala so dumb and so nuts that she shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. It wouldn’t be the first time a VP has been installed by the rules of the Stuart succession. (The childless King Charles II was chided by his brother and heir, later James II, for going about London unguarded. Said Charles to James: ‘No one will kill me to make you King.’)

        But a lot of it is tokenism, plus the inherent Marxist assumption that humans are fungible, and one person is no better or more capable than another. Harris checks all the diversity boxes, and of course she can do the job, because how dare you question that, you sexist racist this-that-and-the-other-ist!

        Liked by 2 people

        1. I’m sure that was the original plan: let Joe stay in office for just a hair over two years, then 25th Amendment him out of office and let Kacklin’ Kamala replace him. Actually, side note, my tin-foil hat theory is that Kamala was the Dem’s original preferred candidate in 2020, but she kept getting slaughtered in the Primaries so badly that they couldn’t bend the rules enough to get her anywhere near the nomination.

          But I digress.

          Like I was saying, I think the plan was to let Joe stay in office for two years plus a day or two, then replace him with Kamala and let her finish out Joe’s term and then run for two of her own. Except she proved to be so utterly incompetent and failed so spectacularly at every job the Administration gave her and made such an utter fool of herself every time she was in front of a camera that all but the Wokest of the Woke realized that if she were to ever assume the Presidency, she would be so spectacularly bad that no amount of media spin would be able to hide it and she would destroy the Democrat Party’s credibility for at least a generation.

          Which is why the Democrats are now in their present situation. It’s obvious to everyone that Joe is no longer fit to be POTUS, but their one legit replacement is barely any better than Pee Pads (and arguably worse!) and there party is so splintered and factionalized that they can’t agree on a replacement for their replacement.

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          1. I was following Scott Adams at the time, and he was absolutely sure that was the plan. Kamala effectively fires her sister from her campaign staff without saying so directly, gets prepped by the best preppers money could buy, then comes back as a fun not functional facsimile of a presidential candidate, to take the reigns from an aging Biden as he rides off into the sunset.

            And he later pointed out that plan shat the bed so hard it broke the box-springs. Probably because the VP is the logical ultimate end point of all hiring based on other than merit.

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            1. Fully expected Kamala to replace Joe and then the real candidate would be appointed VP and then Kamala would quit and the real candidate would take over before the next election.

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          3. Oh, yes. That conceivable plan was bruited about — starting with the inauguration and why they didn’t 25th him that day.

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      2. hate to say it but the only thing worse than biden IS cameltoe harris, she is the epitome of an idiot west coast democrat, and its not a good thing if anyone is confused by that

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        1. On the one hand, Kamala (probably) doesn’t have dementia, which is a good thing.

          On the other hand, at least whoever’s actually running things behind the scenes can keep Biden at least mostly under control. Kamala strikes me as being stupid and impulsive enough that she could not be kept even a little bit under control. That’s A Very Bad Thing.

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    2. I would be astonished if Frau Doktor Jill does not have that letter already signed with a blank date, ready to be fast-walked over to the Capitol building the instant any such effort manifested in Brandon’s cabinet.

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        1. And it takes a 2/3 vote of both Houses to remove him. As noted several times, the R’s aren’t the brightest bulbs on the tree, but anyone with two neurons to rub together should realize that keeping Brandon in office would be a wonderful gift to Trump. So they should all vote “Present”. :twisted:

          Liked by 1 person

          1. And there’s actually a reasonable argument to do so, given that the elections are so close. Why put someone new in power when it’s only for six months?

            It’s also worth noting that even if Biden were removed from office, there’s nothing in the Constitution (including the 25th Amendment) that disqualifies him from running again. So he would still be the Democratic nominee unless the party removed him from the ticket.

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            1. Now that wouldn’t that just be the cherry on top of the whole shit sandwich? :-o

              Highly unlikely, though. Looks like we’re stuck with the Sniffer-In-Chief until next January, unless the zombie ups and falls over before then.

              Liked by 1 person

            2. Good. Someone else noticed that.

              It would wind up before SCOTUS. Logically, a removed president should not be eligible. But the Constitution doesn’t say it. And the current 9 tend to go with a more strict interpretation. Not always. But often enough where I think it the reasonable bet is that Joe gets to run again “and the People, through the Electoral College, decide”.

              Besides, they have all those pre-printed Biden ballots staged and ready.

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          2. No, it takes a 2/3 vote to keep him sidelined. At no point does Section 4 of the 25th actually remove the President from office. Biden would have to die, resign, be impeached and convicted, or come to the end of his term to actually stop being President.

            Section 4 also doesn’t say that said 2/3 vote would permanently sideline him, either, so presumably he and DOCTOR Jill could repeatedly notify Congress that Biden was back in full health and trigger another vote after 21 days, and then another, and another…

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            1. All good points. But I would submit that at this time, we need to think more, shall we say, Roman. The MOMENT that FJB and his cabal get a whiff of a possible 25A declaration, FJB will fire the entire Cabinet. No half-measures here – everyone is put to the sword. The Deputy Secretaries can serve as Acting Secretaries. No Cabinet, no Cabinet majority for a 25A declaration. And there will be NO nominees to send to the Senate.

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            2. “At no point does Section 4 of the 25th actually remove the President from office.”

              That is correct; it simply keeps the Veep as acting President. A distinction with no difference (see below), but technically correct.

              “…trigger another vote after 21 days, and then another, and another…”

              As I read it, that is not correct. The 25th allows for one and only one attempt by the president to reassume the office. The full text of the relevant section (after the “He’s incompetent”, “No, I’m not”, “Yes, he is” occurs):

              “Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.”

              Nothing there about anything further, not even a re-vote by Congress, and I suspect that the USSC, if it got involved, would interpret it strictly; no “penumbras of emanations” garbage from this Court.

              Liked by 1 person

  5. I agree with your assessment of why his faction won’t step down. I actually don’t think they will get killed, but I don’t doubt for a second that they don’t think they will be killed or subject to Fates Worse Than Death. (god, spell checked changed that to ‘dates worse than death’…)

    That said, I do fear we may see a lot of death come from people so afraid that if they let go of power they’ll die that they make it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I declined. There was this one chick that stalked me through a haunted house where I was working as a scare boss. Hotter than an arc blast but crazier than a meth addicted bat. Definite NO territory.

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        1. Like one of those little Honda scooters advertised by Grace Jones in the 90s.

          Fun to ride once, but don’t be seen riding it.

          (grin)

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      3. I was thinking they were more something you bought at the “Something Wicked This Way Comes” version of Whole Foods.

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            1. Aha! OK, it’s been at least 50 years since I read it, so I don’t feel too bad at missing the reference. 😉

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    2. I don’t think anyone will be killed.

      I don’t think that being a member of the Biden White House will carry much cachet in the future, though, so this is it for all of them. It may be the equivalent of dying to give up access to the ultimate inner circle of power.

      I’d say both Biden and Harris are safe from violence. Two words: President Johnson.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Convince 2 more RINOs to resign, or pull another 2 Santoses, and it’s Speaker Jeffries.

        However, I think they have left that a little late.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Yes, your take agrees with my take. It’s vaguely possible that somebody in the Biden administration will convince everyone to go with November and to leave in January, but historically that’s not the way to bet.

    It’s also possible that the Dems will work everything out at the convention, if only because they’ll be forced to. But conventions are a great place for assassinations and such, so I wonder if anybody important will actually go.

    Yep, rose petal beads on rosaries are a thing. There was a point when they were so popular that people were passing false information about the word “rosary” (rosarium, a rose garden or a wreath of roses) coming from the use of rose petal beads.

    Anyway, they smell great, but durability is a problem. As well as allergies or sensitivity to roses. (“Rose fever” runs in my family, but fortunately it’s just something we get in the late twenties-early forties. And then it’s gone.)

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I have one that my mother gave to my grandmother after a trip to Rome in the 80s or 90s, and that passed to me when Grandmother downsized. It lives in a screwtop plastic container that seals pretty well when it’s not in use.

      Basically, they hold up decently as long as they’re well-made and decently cared for, but they are not suitable for people who instinctively fiddle with the beads while praying, or for children, and the results of leaving them in the pocket of something that’s going to go through the laundry are pretty disastrous. (Which is what happened to the previous one I had.)

      Like

      1. I have one made of silver rose petals that I got for my confirmation 50 years ago. Well, I have all the pieces anyway.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. My husband would like to know why my rosaries keep falling apart. I showed him the newsites and blogs I follow.
          He refuses to read them. Just told me to be gentler on the rosaries. :D

          Liked by 2 people

          1. we have an entire drawer full of broken rosaries. I suppose we could donate them to nuns who might be able to use the bits to make newer ones.
            I just count on my fingers and have done for most of my life. I have the set the KofC gave me on my initiation that I take out at wakes and funerals but otherwise it’s fingers.

            Like

            2. There are entire organizations that do Rosary Repair– try an internet search in your area, or email the local Catholic radio outlet, even if “local” is like a state away.

              They don’t have to be repaired and returned, they also do kind of the rosary version of taking your flag to the boyscouts.

              Like

    2. Keep in mind, they’ve already had to schedule a virtual convention, because they put the date in Chicago too late to meet the law in some states. By the time the “real” convention comes, they will not be able to change the ticket unless Joe dies.

      Liked by 1 person

  7. 2 Scenerios I’ve been thinking through (they got me to pay attention, NOT a good thing).

    Scenario A. Kamala gets an offer she can’t refuse along the line of be a shame if something happens to your dog/cat/family/house/something. Resigns to ‘spend more time with family”. Standard corporate leave or else. Then some congress critter is put in as VP as a safety, giving the fraud in the fall a way to be sold.

    Scenario 2. Biden/Kamala do the presidential run, but the money folks pull back on the fraud and let Trump in who then doesn’t directly use the courts, but leaves them alone and does an overall governmental trimming, with everyone letting him or he does do the direct action. Hey they can increase the size again after he’s gone, and the people that really don’t want to see a cell get to skate away.

    Something in between? Not sure, just know that this is one weird time line and could I get back on the one where ice cream was affordable?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. From the pov of the Golden State I can state that option A won’t work because she’s too, well, let’s say underpowered in the mental horsepower department to be able to connect the dots between that actual bleeding severed head in her bed and a decision to withdraw to spend more time with her family. She just won’t get the hint.

      2? DJT has already signaled that only banana republics pursue previous officeholders, and no matter what Brandon’s Frau Doktor Ehefrau thinks she’s President of, he does not wish to be President of such, so we shall see if the donors and backers and stringpullers take that hint.

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      1. DJT has already signaled that only banana republics pursue previous officeholders,

        That’s great and all, and probably the better path for long-term stability. (You can always let the governmor’s take a whack at them instead.)

        But for pity’s sake, can you at least revoke their clearances and toss them in the “ineligible for re-hire” pile?

        Liked by 3 people

        1. Endorsed.

          Some have called for executions. I, bleeding heart that I am, would be happy if they lost their jobs and pensions. And the housing market in Alexandria, VA crashes.

          I’m debating whether they should all have FED tattooed on their foreheads, or if massive declassification will let the private sector take care of it.

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        2. He revoked some clearances – including Brennan’s, iirc. Biden promptly gave them all back.

          Despite Trump’s comments during the 2016 election, he very notably did *not* go after Clinton following the election. So despite his comment about Biden during the debate, it’s possible that Trump won’t go after Biden if Trump wins.

          On the other hand, Trump might also decide that “Examples Need to be Made” to avoid a perpetual cycle of the Dems going after every last Republican that might pose a potential political threat.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. The Prisoner’s Dilemma. There have to be consequences, to prevent endless repetitions of the Democrats turning the government against their political opponents. Crimes must be punished, or the criminals will never stop.

            Liked by 2 people

          2. He revoked some clearances – including Brennan’s, iirc

            And Brennan has one of the bigger Rolodexes in the world. I doubt it slowed him down much… especially since no one was investigating leaks against Trump.

            Like

        4. Making the rash assumption that I’ve understood various posts/speeches, I think President Trump would not go after JoePedo, but the actors in the 2020 fraud would likely find themselves in a world of hurt. [Contemplates Jack Smith whining about sanctions applied to his past lawfare. That would be hugely entertaining.]

          I’m not sure that Wray and Garland should be looking forward to a peaceful retirement if Trump beats the fraud. Insert other names as desired. coughComeycough

          Liked by 1 person

  8. The Reader leans toward your second scenario. The money appears to be backing away from Biden but as of today he (or his puppet masters) appear to be determined to stay the course.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The best of all possibilities, IMHO: He won’t quit and has no money to run.

      The only problem (well, one of the main problems) I see with all this is the current rapidly deteriorating state of the economy; it may all be moot by the time November arrives.

      Clothes; weapons; dark.

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      1. Yeah, the Reader sees November as a plausible starting point for the oncoming unpleasantness.

        Like

    2. who hasn’t watched The Godfather.

      I’m a bit older, but I managed to miss all the Gf movies. (Does Prizzi’s Honor</> do? Didn’t think so.) OTOH, I did see THX1138. :)

      Over at CTH, Sundance is convinced (I think he’s right) that the skids are a) being greased with both the Obama/DNC faction and the Warner/IC/Deep State faction deciding that Beat Trump is more important that Joe & Jill’s Muh Legacy. He’s also mentioning that Jill seems to be doing some possible exit negotiation.

      FWIW, one thing Sundance guessed as leverage is an “accidental” leak of the Hur tapes. My own guess is that Hunter could be targeted, though it would have to be non-pardonable jeopardy. (Some ticked off cartel types? Dunno.)

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      1. A little younger and I have as well, so between us we bracket her indicating it is a larger club than our hostess thinks.

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  9. So, do we wind up with Biden trying for “four more years” but bought off to quit the week after inauguration? With a new Veep, Clinton or Obama or Biden (EdD).

    Biden could bulk-pardon a bunch of folks, including himself, and if he does it before the balloting it will likely wreck the Donks at the polls. That is his method to prevent too great a shenanigans by the party. He probably has them ready to deliver, with “in case of my demise” copies suitably back dated. (Oh yes he can.)

    The three big factions are the Obamas, the Clintons, and the Bidens. There are a bunch of small-fry that can tilt, but not power play.

    Note that Hunter is now operating out of the White House. He brings the “enforcer” to the table. He has all sorts of sketchy contacts, and he is about as cunning as an addict gets. He is high-function and high-success.

    Note the -Bidens- are the cunning ones in this game. And Joe Biden has just been recently declared “un-prosecutable before a jury” and “immune for official acts”. Obama only has one of those, and Clinton has zero. Biden family connections are fresh. Obama and Clinton are stale.

    Joe is in it to win it. And given a choice between Biden and Trump, the Donks will carry Joe’s drooling zombie across the finish line.

    I still think “Senile Joe” is a clever act to avoid prosecution, similar to that mobster that used to wander around in a bathrobe. -Cunning- not smart.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. THIS.

        They’re the ones that actually know some of the sh*t they’ve been up to already, the stuff that will only partially come to light in about twenty years or so.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Just think of the various Democratic Party cabals as being the Idiocracy version of the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

        Liked by 1 person

    3. Joe has always been an idiot so it doesn’t take much addling to make the idiot a drooling idiot (his own party knew he was a moron and had sayings like “If you ever wonder what foreign policy stance to hold, look at Joe Biden, then pick one diametrically opposed to his, and you can’t go wrong.”)
      And, like so many other idiots out there, he’s always been convinced of his own brilliance.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I’ve heard a different formulation from the Biden/Clinton/Obama, that of Chicago, New York, California. On that view, Biden is an Obama front from the Chicago machine, Clintons map to New York, and Newsome is the California wing.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Newsome’s linked to Pelosi, and he’s linked to the Silicon Valley cash coffers. Pelosi’s likely linked to the latter, as well, given her geographic location.

        Harris was supposedly a favorite of the SV crowd. Between their very large wallets, and the “Minority on the Ticket!” items, that might have been what got Harris onto the ticket. Though you’d think that the SV people would have chosen to put their efforts into someone at least *mildly* more competent than Harris.

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        1. One of the pillars of Leftist ideology is the belief that human beings are fungible, and one is as good as another. Starting from that axiom, you can only conclude that competence is at best an illusion, at worst a ‘dog whistle’ for the ‘patriarchy’ – and that is exactly what they do conclude.

          So of course Harris was capable of doing the VP’s job, because how dare you question a Womyn Of Colour, bigot!

          Liked by 2 people

        2. Newsom is “small fry” and “wannabe”. He has yet to prove he can make power moves at the federal level. As fry goes he is from a big pond. But so far he hasent successfully challenged or opposed a big player to “make his bones”.

          California is big, but one-party easy. Easy compared to a highly contested area. The Presidency is highly contested. So still small fry and wannabe.

          He has yet to show either the power or the balls to move up.

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          1. Working on the rash assumption that elections sometimes reflect The Peepul’s Choice, Governor Hair-Gel isn’t all that popular in his own state. Thinking of the failed(? was it?) recall here.

            Granted, frauding him into the Residency is less unlikely than Joe or Kamala, but as Obama and his handlers managed to do, currently the Dems don’t have much of a farm team of plausible candidates.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. He is one of those “competent, but picked near last” players. Useful, but no one really misses him if the other team gets him first.

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      3. Yet another “if I heard it correctly”, but I believe that the Prez and VP are not allowed to be from the same state, so getting Hair Gel on the ticket would be getting Harris out of the way. (Rewritten to avoid some double entendre. I prefer my ribaldary to be intentional, not accidental.)

        Liked by 2 people

        1. It’s Constitutional for candidates for President and Vice President to be from the Same State BUT the electorials of their state can not vote for both.

          If Hair Gel gets votes for President, then they can’t vote for Harris.

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  10. They’re not just afraid of imprisonment or a clean death. They’re afraid of mobs tearing their hanging bodies limb from limb, a la Mussolini, or thrown up against a wall and shot like Ceausescu, or even getting a bayonet in the rear like Gaddafi did in his last moments.

    They’re murderous criminals and they stole the election, and the bill is coming due at last. I don’t think they can manage to steal the next election. But the stakes could not be higher for them. Clothes and weapons where we can find them in the dark for us. And prayers for a resolution without bloodshed.

    Liked by 3 people

      1. Exactly. They’ve reached a position from which there is no safe way to climb down.

        There was a young lady from Niger
        Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
        They returned from the ride
        With the lady inside
        And the smile on the face of the tiger.

        The tiger is showing his teeth now.

        Liked by 3 people

      3. When the left was in the midst of their full smug triumph and gloating I warned them this victory will soon turn to dust and ash in their mouths.

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        1. In a Roman Triumph, the recipient is accompanied in his chariot by an ordinary slave, who does nothing but repeat quietly,

          “Remember, all glory is fleeting”.

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          1. It was more than victory fades over time, I could see frauding Biden into power was a pyrrhic victory for the left at best, and finally after several miserable years they can finally see it. (Some of them anyway)

            Liked by 1 person

  11. My feeling is this parallels an old ‘analysis’ notion of mine.

    Though, I probably have to credit BGE for the insights wrt later.

    The Manson administration is effectively a headless mess of factions. Internally feuding, and maybe not all strictly doing the same decision making and thinking.

    This seemed pretty clear early on in the regime. Like, there was the woketard Lloyd Austin, who wanted to sell procurement contracts, but also a bunch of other appointments on behalf of factions which had zero investment in continued defense spending. I forget what, if any, evidence I had for this conclusion.

    BGE pointed out that Barack, Jill and Hillary were clearly playing some of the game. And Pelosi’s fingerprints are on a bunch of stuff, and at the same time, she was somehow forced out.

    One of the details that indicates a female feminist is an insider is all the efforts to destroy any female candidates among the 2020 nominees. Most likely, Hillary.

    If Hillary has any pull left, she won’t want Kamala “taking HRC’s spot”.

    I’ve been overly responding to the Sotomayer stupidity with the ‘executive power’ disstent lately, but it kinda makes sense as ghostdancing.

    Anyway, so their current helter skelter plans may catastrophically fizzle, like their previous helter skelter plans.

    I dunno.

    Like

    1. The main job of the USSC is ruling on the Constitution, right? While Sotomayer’s dissent revealed that she’s either a bit dishonest or incapable of understanding the plain English of the majority opinion (or both), a complaint by a sitting USSC Justice that “The First Amendment hamstrings the government”, which is, after all, the point of it, proves that she is a Constitutional ignoramus and would seem to constitute just cause for her impeachment for incompetence.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Ma’am, I believe you are exactly right about the factions in the Democratic Party.

    Much of the rubbish I see from armchair analysts on the Right posits the existence of an all-powerful cabal, an unseen puppet-master who pulls everyone’s strings and is always thinking six moves ahead. These people have spent too much time watching The X-Files and are now trying to blackpill everyone else.

    As often happens, you’re a voice of sanity on this subject. You’re the one saying, ‘Turn off the television. Forget Game of Thrones. Forget Mad Max. This is real life, and when things collapse, it doesn’t look like that.’ I salute you for it. Keep it up!

    Liked by 2 people

    2. I do think there is a cabal. A cabal doesn’t have to be competent, never mind thinking six moves ahead. A cabal would be made up of humans after all.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. A cabal does actually have to work together. The people running the Democratic Party only work together when it’s obviously in each individual’s interest to do so.

        They worked together to install Biden, because (1) he was not Trump, and (2) he was a nullity who would let each of the capos run their own operation without pesky things like legality or oversight to cramp their style. But whoever replaces Biden will be beholden to one faction or another, and at that point their interests collide. None of them can afford to let any of the others win.

        I’ve been saying for some time now that Biden would have been replaced already if the big dogs of the Party could agree on a replacement. He’s the American Brezhnev. Brezhnev was actually clinically dead at one point. The Party bosses made sure he was resuscitated because there was no clear succession, and they were desperately afraid of the violence and chaos that would break out if he died before they settled the question among themselves. (They all remembered what happened to Beria.) In public, of course, the Party line was, ‘Comrade Brezhnev has a cold.’ Sound familiar?

        At this point, Biden is Chesterton’s lamppost. Everybody else wants to tear him down, but they can’t agree on what to put in his place. And as Mrs. Hoyt points out, Biden’s personal minions need him to stay in office to save their own hides. The Party can’t get rid of him suddenly, and they haven’t agreed on a single plan of action to get rid of him slowly.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Well, there’s a cabal surrounding Biden but as Sarah said there are other cabals within the Democratic Party.

        Like

        1. The usual story among the armchair commentariat is that there is one cabal that controls the entire party and everything in it. That’s what I am disagreeing with.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Agreed. I admit, my fictional template is, I, Claudius, but without a reasonably competent Claudius in the wings. Crab bucket.

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              1. You know how piñatas work, right? Blindfold, paper mache thingy with goodies inside? Only this time there is not goodies inside. And everyone is blindfolded. And each one has a spiked bat in hand.

                The agreement now is nobody starts swinging first. But everybody knows last man standing wins…

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                1. That’s very similar to Douglas Adams’s rules for Brockian Ultra-Cricket:

                  • Rule One: Grow at least three extra legs. You won’t need them, but it keeps the crowds amused.
                  • Rule Two: Find one extremely good Brockian Ultra Cricket player. Clone him off a few times. This saves an enormous amount of tedious selection and training.
                  • Rule Three: Put your team and the opposing team in a large field and build a high wall around them. The reason for this is that, though the game is a major spectator sport, the frustration experienced by the audience at not actually being able to see what’s going on leads them to imagine that it’s a lot more exciting than it really is. A crowd that has just watched a rather humdrum game experiences far less life affirmation than a crowd that believes it has just missed the most dramatic event in sporting history.
                  • Rule Four: Throw lots of assorted items of sporting equipment over the wall for the players. Anything will do – cricket bats, basecube bats, tennis racquets, skis, anything you can get a good swing with.
                  • Rule Five: The players should now lay about themselves for all they are worth with whatever they find to hand. Whenever a player scored a “hit” on another player, he should immediately run away as fast as he can and apologize from a safe distance. Apologies should be concise, sincere, and, for maximum clarity and points, delivered through a megaphone.
                  • Rule Six: The winning team shall be the first team that wins.

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        1. It could only be done as satire. Or maybe as historical fiction in a future where everyone is aware of the broad outlines of the insanity.

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    4. I wish I could believe in a cabal like that. It would let me go back to voting in the belief it matters if only as a middle finger

      Accepting it all is just factional power games between people whose existence I’m not even privy to has pretty much taught me no election was real, just a facade to legitimize the current winner of the factional fights and that all the issues, up to and probably including the Cold War post the death of Stalin, were just things to keep us occupied between facade creations and not noticing our pockets being picked.

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  13. “an article on some obscure craft like how to make rosaries out of dried rose petals (you only think I’m joking)”

    Actually no, I’ve seen that article or one like it!

    And oof. Interesting analysis. It… does scan with organized crime types/those who take power by unlawful means. Oh dear.

    …Now to try and calm my nerves with whatever “find them in the dark” prep I can pull off…. Currently includes resume updating and more filling-in-plot-gaps.

    I need to dig out your post on how to write faster. If I can just convince my brain to do it!

    Liked by 1 person

  14. You guys remember how in history class, we used to hear about how a 5 year old would be crowned king, or an old geezer who couldn’t pee on his own would be propped up as emperor forever? And we would always say: “What idiots! Such primitives! We modern people have evolved far beyond that now, we are so much smarter than those old dumb people!”

    Yeah. Here we are, the Emperor propped up by his sycophantic court. Can’t find the bog on his own (or at all, in some cases) but they’re out there lying for him like a whole warehouse full of Persian carpets. (Persian carpets have the best lie, Lefties. Go look it up, you illiterate schmucks.) It has been damaging my calm the last week, I do admit.

    So yes, as Sarah says the regime can’t dump #LetsGoBrandon because if they do, THEY WILL ALL BE FIRED. There is an entire industry of busy little rodents out there, all beavering away keeping their iron rice bowls bright and shiny.

    But on the other hand, if #OrangeManBad wins the election (shut up back there, stop laughing!) then the DC alphabet swamp is going to be drained, set on fire, the ashes sowed with salt and plowed under by the Tractor Of Doom. #OrangeMan will not have a choice this time, it’ll be nothing but self preservation. He’ll do it on the podium when he’s sworn in, if he’s as savvy as I think he is.

    So many iron rice bowls broken. Oh, the humanity.

    Will they go full retard and begin sl@ying candidates, openly corrupting the election where we can all see and daring the peasants to do anything about it?

    They’re doing -exactly- that in Mexico, right now. 37 candidates deleted. Mexico is full-on banana republic, and we are not hearing zip about it.

    Will they go banana republic this time? It might depend on how desperate they are. One gets the feeling that important people have been doing stuff that will make #SonOfBrandon look like a choirboy. I mean, all he did was drugs, hookers, sell some influence with #TheBigGuy and break some (stupid) gun laws. I’m sure there are guys doing stuff with foreign powers that will make all that seem naive and innocent.

    Same with Canada. Notice that #ShinyPony has not taken his walk in the snow. Wondering why not? How about the possibility that 50+ federal MPs (and who knows how many provincial ones) are actual agents of foreign powers? Currently the #Pony is hiding from his own MPs on summer break, using the PMO (prime minister’s office) to forbid them from getting together and kicking him out.

    Because if he’s out, everybody at the PMO is instantly fired. And, if they’re all fired then the peasants will find out who’s a foreign agent. One of the disgruntled broken rice bowl twerps will squeal for sure.

    I’m going to buy popcorn.

    Like

    1. Popocorn and a sh*tton of ammo. Because I still can’t shake the feeling that we’re on the verge of something, I honestly don’t know what to call it, that will make 1990s Yugoslavia look like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. You need enough ammo, but it is only a box or two per firearm. One loaded gun and one reload is minimalist.

        That is the magazine in the gun to obtain the first harvest, and the other mag to get you safely to where you can figure out how to use the new toys.

        In that novel of a popular uprising against a tyrant usurper, the protagonists will harvest all-up military/police arms and ammo from the antagonists. The pre-boog civvy arms just provide the seed for the first harvest of arms. Any guerilla movement gets its logistics from the foe, at least until the helpful outsiders start providing the majority of it.

        In a real boog, private arms get banned and confiscated, so the heroes won’t be taking family afternoons at the range during active hostilities. Some surreptitious function testing or zero check will occur, but any ranges will either be closed or heavily monitored.

        Once the protagonists have the boog starter kit, they need all the other stuff. Two pair of good walking boots. Rucksack. Suitable durable “field” clothes that can also look civvy, benign. Hat. Team insignia/markings. Stocks of preserved foods. Medical supplies. Tent. Snivel gear. Pioneer tools (shovel, axe, etc) compass and maps. Radios. Cameras. Binoculars. Tools, etcetcetc….

        Stashes of same.

        Locations of threat persons who can be looted for above, or narked out for credit with the antagonists. Ideally, do both.

        The protagonist(s) can credibly start the fracas with just a small. 32ACP pocket pistol (or zapgun/burner equivalent) as “arms”. Note that two lunatics with just that started World War One, for a shocking net body count.

        An objective and plan are also good things to have. However, both may be unrecognizable or forgotten by the end.

        As may be the initial characters.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I got all of that except “snivel gear”. Gotta love them Intertubes: “equipment or gear that is deemed non-essential to a military mission, but rather provides comfort and luxury to the individual.”

          Now the name even makes sense. But seriously, “dry socks” and “windbreakers” are considered snivel gear?

          Like

          1. In my (very long ago) army years, a group of us agreed that, at least for the infantry, you aren’t really uncomfortable as long as any 1 of 3 parts of you are dry and/or warm: top of the head, armpits, and a-hole. So windbreaker and socks are very much only snivel gear, to a field soldier.

            Steve O

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            1. I cannot think of any time those areas were dry unless they were very cold.

              Socks are not snivel gear. They are life for Infantry. (grin)

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          2. -socks-? -Essential- gear. I have a pair of good socks in a ziplock in my laptop bag as I type this. I wouldn’t go to the field without extra socks any more than I would without canteens.

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      2. “Because I still can’t shake the feeling that we’re on the verge of something”

        I think EVERYONE feels that.

        Like

    2. The word from a Canadian friend of mine is that Trudeau’s party does appear to be ready to kick him out due to his massive level of unpopularity.

      Liked by 2 people

  15. Lately I’ve been watching a bunch of the Shawn Ryan Show interviews (I can only watch so much before my blood pressure gets too high though), and reading various non-fiction things, and there seem to be a bunch of names that keep popping up over the last 30 years. Not just the Clintons, but also Jake Sullivan, Sonya Sotomayor, etc. Every time there’s a “distraction” from some politically sensitive situation our people end up dead or in prison (or both) so that movers and shakers in DC can get what they want.

    And I agree with Sarah, Obama was just the face of someone (or group) that was pulling the strings. He was slick and polished in his appearance and words, but I really doubt he or his wife were smart enough run things. I believe they thought they could do something similar with Biden, but he just doesn’t have enough left in the tank, and someone in his inner circle (probably Jill) had enough sense to maneuver Kamala into the VP slot as insurance. I wouldn’t be all that shocked to find out the Clintons were controlled by the same group, though Bill was a Rhodes scholar so might have enough brains to have pulled that off himself.

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    1. Remember that Bill wasn’t supposed to win. He was going up against the still very popular Bush, and it was only due to some last minute screw-ups by Bush that Clinton got the traction that he needed to win the White House. Even with Perot “running”.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Perot was the Margin of fraud factor. As in the amount he got was what was needed to over come the fraud/hide what was there.

          Like

  16. We’re not ROMAN. 

    To the Praetorian Guard the calculus on picking a new guy was, at base, “How do we prevent yet another bloody Roman civil war where the Legions pick sides and kill each other en masse, including us Praetorians, to fill the chair?”

    Once you pick a new guy, eliminating all the prior guy’s potential counter-claimants down to the infants to cement the new guy’s claim to the chair is just simple ruthless Roman math. It still leaves distantly posted Generals with their own Legions to acclaim them Imperator, but at least there won’t be any counterclaimants with any loyalty to tap within the Praetorians.

    And as far as analogs these days, Russia is Rome, so look for these type shenanigans in the Kremlin if things continue to go badly for the Formerly Red Army in the field.

    Like

    1. “…as far as analogs these days, Russia is Rome…”

      This is certainly a big “theme” or “trope” in Russia itself… Moscow being “the third Rome” after Rome proper and Constantinople, and often also the last bastion of civilization / Christendom against an ever more secular, materialist, decadent, or just plain loony West. (See “wokerism” for much of what they’re complaining about, or rolling their eyes at.)

      Note that being “the third Rome” is seen as a good and noble thing here, not a failure mode…

      Liked by 2 people

    2. That was the biggest laugh I have had in a month.

      Not in the wildest crackhead fever dream is Moscow (or Petersburg) “Rome”. They want the glory without all the foundational/functional stuff.

      Emerald City, not Eternal.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah, I’d agree with “Rome wannabe”, and put it in Latin if my HS Latin was anywhere close to brain cell accessible anymore, but they really really want to be, so they ape what they think are Roman Empire foreign policy and leadership stuff.

        My point was mostly we ain’t anything close to Western Empire Rome, and if Xi’s little thing in the Middle Kingdom is anything other than fascism redux it’s one of the weaker middling Imperial China dynasties that left not much note in history.

        Like

    3. You give the Praetorian Guard far too much credit. Their main motivation in choosing/approving an Emperor was getting paid. From their behavior for two centuries, they clearly didn’t give a toss about civil wars out in the provinces that massacred the legions needed on the frontiers, as long as they got their payout in their nice cushy billets in Rome.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Furthermore, only a handful of emperors were actually chosen by the Praetorian Guard. It was customary for every new emperor to pay a bonus to the troops, and a bigger bonus to the Praetorians, but it was not customary for the Praetorians to stick their noses in the succession.

        They did it with Claudius because they needed someone on the throne after Caligula was assassinated. They killed Galba (who was only emperor for a few months) and installed Otho, but he soon committed suicide. After that they stayed quiet for over a century.

        Most of the Praetorians’ reputation came from the disgraceful episode in which they sold the throne outright to Didius Julianus, who, again, lasted only a few months and was overthrown by the regular legions. His successor, Septimius Severus, dismissed the entire Guard and replaced them with his own troops. They ceased to be a political force thereafter.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Other weird theories I’ve heard after drinks this weekend:

    Sack of Beef and Drunk’s nephew are the ticket and the Biden gang is self pardoned.

    Fake wind-up TLA “MAGA” is allowed to take out Joe, remaining Bidens get safe passage and the the Demons use the event to clamp down on MAGA.

    Trump wins and gets disposed by selected law enforcement/military due to treason to “democracy”.

    Trump wins and with the recession/depression and civil unrest encouraged by TLAs, gets blamed like Yeltsin for all the problems. Strong man “reformer” from left appears as savior of “Democracy” and invades Canada twenty years later to save native Chinese speakers.

    Billionaires go aboard or to their bunkers and start WWIII. Military refuses to follow along and removes most of the elite. Musk sends his frozen body into space to escape, but his self driving ship crashes into the Tesla he had launched years ago.

    Border crossers vote, are armed and get promised American virgins to kill citizens, can’t find any virgins and leave. “Hoes, nothing but hoes, Akmed. I had to settle for some fainting goats and half of them were just Antifa Furries…”

    Rapture happens and it turns out to be space aliens playing a practical joke as only the Buddhists are “taken”.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Red, white, and blue jello shots. Also some sort of fancy gin and a single cask Texas whiskey made at the local distillery.

        Had two separate parties, each with a fresh smoked brisket and pot luck dishes to spread the love and cheer. Found out one of my new neighbhors is a hard core science fiction fan and I lent him my “The Expense” DVDs.

        No Despair Allowed!

        Like

      2. Drinking local tapwater, or decaf unsweetened tea.

        Lusianne tea, if that helps.

        (grin)

        Like

      4. Note: Alcohol was for the guests.

        I drink water, Kirkland Sparkling Water, or Gatorade in the summer.

        Tending a grill and smoker in 100+ degree weather isn’t the time or place for imbibing brews or advanced chemistry if you want a good product. I needed to help keep an eye on kids and dog. Cats hid in one of the bedrooms away from the youngsters. Dog joined them after a few hours.

        Also 90% oak and 10% mesquite is the perfect smoke mix for a tasty slice of meat.

        Like

        1. Neither oak nor mesquite, alas, will grow in Alberta. (Well, oak will grow in a few places well away from the mountains, if cared for obsessively.)

          Which may explain why Alberta beef is so seldom seen smoked.

          Like

        2. My beloved uses hickory, which has produced some really, really good pulled pork. But we had a source which may be gone now. (Wood plant producing drumsticks; the blanks that failed quality control).

          Like

  18. I stopped mid-read to go find the rose petal rosary my SIL gave me 40 years ago.If you scratch a bead with an emory board you can still smell the roses decades later.

    I have been informed my whole life it’s impossible to read a book a day and that I am certainly exagerrating.

    Although, once I became a librarian, more people believed me.

    Now I’m off to see if I can make peony petal rosaries. Peonies are even more fragrant. Next year I think I will try lilacs. I have a friend who is crazy about lilacs and they are sooo fleeting.

    I too believe that there is more deadly stuff going on behind the scenes than we mere kulaks know. They can have it. And whatever circles of hell they end up in. May The Almighty have mercy on them.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I have been informed my whole life it’s impossible to read a book a day and that I am certainly exaggerating.

      Oh, I hate when people do that. Enough so that I still remember when a teacher denied my (accurate) assertion of the time it would take me to read a selection. In elementary school.

      I mean, you get good at the things you practice, and this is something I’ve practiced on a daily basis for decades.

      Liked by 1 person

          1. That’s why I bought a Kindle. I was resisting. Then I went on a business trip through London, Frankfurt, Moscow, Samara, and Yerevan. I came home with eight novels in my luggage. Never again, I vowed.

            The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo and Twilight were in airports at the time. They are both very weird series. Never again, I vowed.

            Like

  19. “It’s The Godfather meets Weekend at Bernies meets Imperial Rome.”

    Beautifully phrased! 😁 And to which I might add: “Documented by Kurt Vonnegut, with technical advice from the writings of Harlan Ellison and Bram Stoker.”

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I suspect a committee is involved. Possible other contributors:
        Tom Wolfe
        Hunter S. Thompson

        Like

        1. Hunter S. Thompson, huh? Sounds reasonable: “I was on the stage, just getting to the podium, when the drugs started to kick in.” 🤣

          Like

  20. One side thread on the left, we do see them as having a capacity for violence, but I think we overrate how good they actually are at it.

    I didn’t save the link, but I remember that for a long time it was suspected that one of the Clinton staffers had a hit taken on them. I recall a few years ago, it came out what was really going on was Hillary apparently had these insane public workplace humiliation rituals she’d inflict on certain people working under her, usually for no good reason, and that guy had been her favorite chew toy for an extended period of time before his death.

    The up shot was the Clinton campaign has felt it less damaging for there to be rumors they’d killed someone than it was that she’d driven him to suicide through purr malicious cruelty.

    So they covered it up.

    Like

    1. Oh, no. Hillary has a massive kill list. Heck, Obama has a kill list. I’d be shocked if Biden doesn’t. It’s just harder to take out the guy at the top particularly now. They might even know it.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I’ll differ on a couple of points. The fact that “Arkencide” is a term points to the ability of Hillary’s targets to die in peculiar ways is one.

      Second: While the actions of Antifa/BLM were unimpressive where they were opposed is noted, they seem to have armed up and are showing some signs of competence.

      Second-prime: The myriad single males of military age lends plausibility to Kurt Schlicter’s <i>The Attack</i> scenario, though that book didn’t include any efforts from the additional influx of Chinese.

      I’m not black-pilling, but keep an eye out. (And weapons & clothing handy if needed in the dark.)

      Like

        1. So does the blackpilled segment of the Right.

          A rabble of immigrants from all over the world, who are not trained as soldiers and don’t even speak the same language, many of whom hate one another bitterly on account of feuds in the old country, do not even begin to be a substitute for an army.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. I’m not considering them as a potential army (though I’ve seen questions about the Chinese illegals), but you don’t need a lot of organization for a bunch of terrorists.

            Not terrified nor blackpilled, but cautious. $TINY_TOWN is probably in the bottom 5% of places that random terrorists would be interested in. The city? Varies depending on the actors. PLA types might be interested.

            Liked by 1 person

  21. “…but you’re not in fact going to convince me that Obama was more self-actuated than Biden. Oh, sure, in his life maybe, but not in governing. Over and over again we figured out Obama was just a puppet…”

    Also remember that Comrade Obumbles started political life as a “community organizer” in deep-urban Illinois — which is to say, his job was to encourage / persuade / browbeat / almost-bribe (etc.) people of the “community” to vote how his Party bosses decreed. His entire function and goal and political existence was to do just this… and no matter how far he might later have risen (or been raised) above his Party-uber-alles footsoldier roots, old habits of thought and action die hard. Especially once taken for granted, simply done without thinking.

    Even Joe Blow the Cheapfake President likely has moments of actual genuine “agency” — but how many, how often? Barack Hussein isn’t nearly that dotty, even now… but was he a truly free agent, ever?

    To do something, you first have to be still able to imagine it.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. A lot of people assume that Obama is a product of the Chicago Democratic Machine of the Daley era. Well, having observed Chicago/Illinois politics and media for my entire life, I dunno if that’s entirely true. You see, to the traditional Chicago Machine politician, the ultimate prize is not the governor’s mansion or even the White House — it’s City Hall. They want to be big fish in the pond that is Cook County, not tiny fish in the ocean of national politics. A Machine pol will treat a stint in the Statehouse or Congress or any state or national office as a steppingstone to becoming mayor or alderman. (Rahm Emmanuel, who went from Congress to the WH staff and then became Mayor, is more emblematic of a Machine politician.) If Obama were a true Machine pol, he would have returned to Chicago and run for mayor after leaving the White House. That said, the old Machine (dominated by Irish, Italian and Polish pols with a smattering of Black and Hispanic) no longer exists, or if it does it’s morphed into something much more radical than it used to be.

      Like

  24. There’s hundreds of millions in campaign funds that belong to the Biden ticket.

    Someone will be jockeying in position to get that.

    As the Wicked Witch of the West said, “These things must be done very carefully.” Right before she turned her flying monkeys loose.

    It could be as simple as letting Our Dear Leader try to climb the big stairs to AF-1 after they had been freshly spiffed up up with Mist ‘n Shine.

    But they can’t do THAT until the money and their phoney baloney jobs are secure.

    But I didn’t watch “The Godfather” either so I dunno how criminal mobs work.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If it’s any consolation, The Godfather bears little resemblance to how criminal mobs work. They’re not that organized, and they have nothing like the sense of honour or tradition that the crooks in The Godfather had.

      I have read that for real-life Mafiosi at the time, The Godfather was actually aspirational. They saw the movie and adopted it as a kind of mythology for the mob. Occasionally they even tried to live up to that standard – which tells you something about their usual standards.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I grew up with them and can confirm that the Godfather had little resemblance to the reality. Most mobsters that I knew were too stupid to organize and the bosses were no geniuses either. What they are is greedy and violent. Some of them could be very entertaining and “nice guys” but they’d kill you and cut you up for a nickel.

        In fact, my Da who also knew a lot of them told me that the who la famiglia thing started with the movie. The boys watched the movie and thought it was cool.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I’ve not only watched The Godfather multiple times, I READ The Godfather (in a vintage hardback edition purchased at a garage sale). Needless to say there are a lot of details and subplots in the book that did not make it into the movie. For example, there are lengthy subplots concerning Johnny Fontane (the singer whose resemblance to Frank Sinatra is even more obvious in the book) and Lucy Mancini (the bridesmaid that Sonny banged at Connie’s wedding).

      There’s also a passage in which Tom Hagen, while waiting to see Jack Woltz the movie producer, sees a beautiful young girl of about 12 or 13 sitting with her mother. Later in the day he sees the girl again, only this time she looks very disheveled and her mother has “a look of triumph” on her face. A scene that was cut from the movie depicts Hagen telling the Don about his meeting with Woltz, and the Don asking “what you said about this little girl, is it true?” When Hagen nods yes, the Don mutters “infamia!”

      Like

  25. Meanwhile, the “Patriot Front,” reappeared in Nashville this weekend and did their usual thing: marched around with flags (including a Confederate one or two) and vanished. Still in their matching dark shirts, khaki pants, white gaiters and identical hats….plus standing in ranks, obviously at attention. Not Feds. Uh huh, right.

    But why, and when (or if) are these guys going to do anything but march around? Are they a distraction, or are we being trained to believe they’re harmless?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I so want to see these curiously-disciplined and uniformly-clad guys unmasked. They glow so obviously, I think they could be seen from outer space.

      Like

    2. The big current whipped up fear is “Project 2025,” which is apparently Gunna Pull Us Back to the Dark Ages™ after we follow it in lockstep. And Obviously, Obviously, Trump is Behind It All™.

      I mean, the original documents are online, but I haven’t looked at them because this really seems like an outrage of the week, and it’s not worth my bother to debunk at this time.

      Like

      1. Project 2025 is apparently an Heritage Foundation thing. That gives you an idea of how much anyone likely needs to worry about it.

        I’m also seeing rumors constantly pushed regarding Trump and Epstein. The claim is that Trump appears a lot on Epstein’s call list (might be true, for innocent reasons; we know that Trump and Epstein knew each other, and there’s at least one photo of the two), and that Trump watched a couple of pre-teen girls having lesbian “sex”. The rumors are couched in such a way as to make them appear to be the result of the recent info releases. Though the one time I tried to check a cited source, that source had nothing on the topic (as I had suspected). Some of the rumor mongers are also claiming that the media is ignoring the story to protect Trump.

        Which is so absurd as to be comedic.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. Of course it’s nonsense. Trump wouldn’t have thrown Epstein out of Mar a Lago, and made sure that a police report was filed over that incident if he and Epstein had been on good terms. And the claimed underage lesbian sex would have given Epstein something to hold over Trump – again something that would have kept Trump from throwing him out of the resort.

            It’s an attempt to throw wild accusations at Trump and hope something sticks, while also hoping to divert attention away from Biden’s issues.

            Like

            1. https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/02/brad-edwards-jeffrey-epstein-victim-attorney-donald-trump-mar-a-lago/?dicbo=v2-y1HPdJn

              “The only thing that I can say about President Trump is that he is the only person who in 2009, when I served a lot of subpoenas against a lot of people … he is the only person that picked up the phone and said, ‘let’s just talk, I’ll give ya as much time as you want, I’ll tell ya what you need to know,’” Bradley explained.

              Liked by 1 person

    3. There was that one video someone posted on the Insty open thread last night where a bunch of actual right-wingers drove away a bunch of PF Fed interlopers, yelling for them to be demasked.

      The Khaki-pantsed brethren were awful intent on hiding their faces when anyone succeeded in removing their balaclavas.

      Like

    4. I saw some pictures of the Proud Boys going after the Patriot Front guys. I’m not sure if it was from the Nashville appearance, or an older one.

      Like

  26. Bags, one of these days I need to scribble up the post that has been boiling in the backbrain about the really deep cover operatives that are embedded in the D Party infrastructure.

    The conspiracy theory goes, back when, there were intelligent men and women that ran with the D Party. The smart ones that didn’t buy the propaganda, but used it to put themselves in positions of power. Not the clueless Joes we have now.

    There were smart guys on the other side, too, and they put in ringers. Real true blue boys and girls that pretended to drink the ink, but didn’t actually go full retard. They stayed in, moved up, and then… waited.

    These are the ones behind the bumbles that have since been memory holed. DIE before it became DEI. Pass the bill to see what’s in it. And lots of other stuff. These patriotic ticks are the parasites that have been poisoning the host for generations, pushing the envelope when what was needed was calm, inciting the crazies and giving them floor and space to destroy.

    What will history say of these hidden saboteurs? Will they be hailed as the heroes that pulled down the religiopolitic heresy? Or damned as the villains that fed the beast that wrecked a nation?

    /conspiracytheory

    Liked by 1 person

    1. My immediate feeling is that incompetence is probably more plausible than many lasting deep cover types.

      At least, not intentionally planted deep cover types. Those feel psychologically improbable to me.

      Disenchantment and preference falsification? Maybe, dunno how to estimate.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh, I realize that. Simpler explanations and all. This conspiracy theory came about from the continual stupidity that seems to come about from the Progressive movement.

        I mean, DIE was kinda on the nose, wasn’t it? There are a lot of other buried examples out there. Yes, incompetence is the more rational, practical, and reasonable answer. But it isn’t the fun one.

        This one is more the speed of the old “I had a ghost’s baby,” “Elvis is undead and living in Chile,” or “China doesn’t exist, it’s a mass delusion illusion” kind of conspiracy theory, like the ones that used to be in the tabloid section right next to the cash register back when newspapers weren’t completely dead and folks actually believed half or more of what the newsreaders said on tv.

        Liked by 1 person

  27. I want to think that the media’s sudden interest in Biden’s condition is an effort to try and get themselves out from the upcoming train wreck that this election is going to be.

    And on the subject of Biden’s replacement/leaving…I want to think that there are enough people in power that if Biden loses, it’ll be worse than if they put a new candidate up and have him/her win. It doesn’t help that the Democrats suspect that a Trump win will result in a Donald Trump in full revenge mode. And he’s got a lot to avenge himself on them…

    Otherwise, I agree. There’s nobody on the current Democratic bench that can take over without a purge, and nobody has enough power (or desperation) to stage a purge to take over.

    Like

  28. “The step down is out. You may — as my grandmother would put it — take your little horse out of the rain now. Waiting for that one is a moot point. Ain’t gonna happen.”

    No kidding. I think it was Judge Jeanne on the Five (Fox) that stated “Biden is just like grandma/grandpa with alzheimer’s and the kids/grandchildren are trying to take away the car keys!” I will add “or move them in to a home.” Either works.

    Like

  29. What is the date after which the Democrats cannot put in a candidate other than Joe unless he dies?

    Like

    1. For enough states, that date has already passed. Can’t change enough of them to get to 270 Electors.

      If the donkuloids really do change candidates, and if the Stupid Party surprises me by -not- going along with the change, the election could likely wind up in Congress if neither candidate gets to 270.

      And -that- could get seriously interesting….

      Like

      1. “election could likely wind up in Congress if neither candidate gets to 270. And -that- could get seriously interesting….”

        Especially since the sitting Congress that this falls to is the newly elected members in January 2025. Not the one from election November 2024. There is real fear among the democrats that Biden’s state, and the public’s perceived maleficence of the sitting legislative democrats aiding, and coverup, i.e. “democrats watergate”, that the down ticket voting will be strongly affected, causing majorities in both houses.

        I mean, I can hope that Oregon legislative democratic idiots, both federal and state, lose their respective tickets, I mean legislative seats, but wouldn’t put money on it.

        Like

        1. And in the case of the election being thrown into the House, each state gets one vote, regardless of the number of representatives each state has, with a majority of all states (i.e., 26) required to elect, even though a quorum is 2/3 of the House. I suspect the Dems would lose badly.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Did not know that. Ouch. Even if by legislative count the democrats have the house *majority, no way will they have majority of the states. They couldn’t pull that off with Biden’s win, and all the cheating in both 2020 and 2022, down ticket races.

            (* Which is looking doubtful. Doubt republicans get super majority. But suspect they’ll get majority in both houses.)

            “I suspect the Dems would lose badly.”

            I suspect you are right.

            Like

            1. “…suspect they’ll get majority in both houses.”

              Same here, but let’s not forget 2022: “It’ll be a landslide!” Nope, not even discounting the fraud. Complacency loses races.

              Like

              1. So does fraud that can’t actually be addressed through the legal process because no one has standing, and court orders don’t count unless we feel like it.

                Liked by 1 person

                1. Oh, no argument about that; the fraud was blatant (“Look at all the ballots we found while the curtains were drawn and counting had stopped! And they’re all for Brandon!”). But my point was that I heard/read quite a few republican voters who commented something to the effect of,”It’s going to be a Red tidal wave, and I’m too busy to vote.”. As I said, complacency loses races (or in that case, with the fraud, loses them by even more). At least make the bastards work for it! :-x

                  Like

                    1. Point. I seem to have changed the election to which I was referring in mid-post. Mea culpa.

                      Like

  30. What’s that old quote: “Predictions are hard, especially about the future”? I think we’re in for events that no one on either side can predict and we’re all going to be saying “What the heck was that?” I guess we can revisit this post mid November.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. So, with widgets, we can somewhat predict the future if our population of test widgets (for our test data) is ‘like’ the population of the widgets we use in the future. If the materials and construction are close enough, the statistics of failure under use might be pretty similar.

      Humans are not widgets. Even if we go full stupid, and stick to a purely material, deterministic, wind up clockwork model of a human, the state spaces of humans are not very observable/measureable, and we would not know much of how much like Person A Person B is. Humans are at least statistical, not deterministic. Also, humans have memory, and many widgets are made with ‘memoryless’ materials. So, future humans may be very unlike past humans, and not in any obvious or necessarily predictable way.

      I think you and I are strongly concurring.

      Though, my expectation for surprise is pretty strictly ‘some time in the future’, and I’m refusing to commit to a limited period of time. When I let myself do so, I wind up waiting for the surprise, and the experience is not good for me.

      Like

      1. Given standard spherical humans of uniform density and known material,

        the dang things still bounce oddly.

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  31. Much more fleshed out than what I’d thought, but yeah.

    The Biden family cannot afford to lose power.
    And so, they will not give up power voluntarily.

    The thing to watch, IMO, is Biden’s long history of shameless corruption. There’s zero chance he failed to use his position to get a slice of all the rackets the various factions backing him had going (not to mention the massive crony payouts of his first year in office).
    If he gets exposed, so does nearly everyone else in Dizzy City.
    And wouldn’t that be just a damned shame.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Regarding signs of collapse of the cabal, here’s what to watch for. Sudden movements of the people who aren’t in the forefront, but are in the power circles. Going to a conference in a foreign country, going on vacation, suddenly resigning and moving to someplace else. This will occur after the looting of their party’s treasuries, of course.

    It’s like the 2nd or 3rd tier Nazis who got out before the fall of Hitler.

    Though it will be hard to spot, as the power brokers who will go silent as they bug out are the ones that are hard to notice, the voices behind the mouthpieces, so to speak.

    Like

  33. We’re just about the same age – and I’ve never seen The Godfather, either. Or any of the sequels. So there’s at least two of us. (I think. Artemis seems to believe that I am not wild, but domesticated. Only way to get her out of in front of the keyboard these days is a thorough brushing, which I do provide on demand, this being the summer and all…)

    Like in my reading, I don’t want to use my time auditing something where I just want ALL of the characters to die. This gives me something of a problem in that I need to follow politics at least somewhat.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. The movie came out when I was in elementary school. One of the kids in class was a transplant from $MAJOR_CITY, and managed to hook several of us suburban kids on “Gee Officer Krupke”. IMHO, it’s the high point of the movie, though “America” is a close tie, with standings depending on the phase of the moon.

        Many years ago, somebody did an album with then-notable opera singers doing the parts. I have a copy (not up to digging it out today) and just might have blown a speaker fuse or two playing “America”. [Makes note to put that on the MP3 list when I get the analog–>mp3 capture setup done in the shop.]

        Beyond that, it’s Romeo and Juliet in New Yawk. Also, one of Stephen Sondheim’s more accessible efforts. (Bernstein didn’t do too bad, either. :) )

        Like

        1. Well, yes, the score was quite something. Agreed on “America.”

          Just the plot was annoying… (Okay, Shakespeare – but I’m prejudiced by seeing the original by a very good traveling troupe.)

          Like

    1. I have never watched The Godfather all the way through, either – occasional snippets of scenes. But I did read the book all the way through, although so long ago that I have probably forgotten most of the details.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Same here. Caught snippet, because the snippet is often played referencing the movie. Other than that, no clue.

      Like

  37. While considering the comments about this post this morning, especially about the levels of competence in the various factions jockeying for power, I had a brief flash in my mind.

    Picture, if you will, Stan, rampaging around the various circles of the underworld yelling, “Why?! Why!? am I surrounded by morons? The smartest being ever created and I can’t get one plot to go right because I’m forced to work with these fools!”

    Like

    1. And now we know why. Saw this via an e-mail from Bari Weiss’ Free Press Substack newsletter:

      Anyone from families earning less than $300,000 will be eligible for the gift. Memo to any billionaires reading: more of this kind of philanthropy, and less for hustles like Ibram Kendi’s anti-racism center. 

      Just move the anti-racism center into the medical school. Call it “docwashing”.

      Like

  39. The mainstream of the GOP never got over the traumas of being blamed for the Depression, and then hit by Watergate just when they were living that down. They’ve become like the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (the second largest political party in the so-called “People’s” so-called “Republic” of so-called “China.”) They’re the “us too, but not quite so much” party.

    Trump, like Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura, and Sarah Palin, is a symptom of how tired a lot of people have become of the irksome, elite, stuck-in-the-past yuppies who presume to govern us all. Even if Trump himself falls, someone will come along who learned from his mistakes.

    Like

      1. I guess we’ll have to keep calling them “The Crazy Years” because “The Batshit Insane On Steroids Years” doesn’t really flow…..

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  41. There’s also the “lose the Black vote” issue with ditching Kamala. Throwing out the black woman in favor of a white man will, at the least, destroy Black turnout. While I don’t necessarily approve of that attitude (because she’s an incompetent black woman), I do think it is fair and understandable, especially by the rules the Democrats themselves have established.

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    3. Throwing out the black woman in favor of a white man will, at the least, destroy Black turnout.

      In more ways than one. The activists threatening this are also eyeballs deep in the fraud schemes.

      Liked by 1 person

  42. And now I’m picturing Biden proclaiming:

    “I have existed from the morning of the world, and I shall exist until the last star falls from the night! Although I have taken the form of Joseph Biden, I am all men as I am no man, and thus I am…a god!”

    And appointing a horse as a Senator.

    At least he doesn’t have sisters!

    Liked by 1 person

  43. I haven’t seen the Godfather. (I deduce from some of the comments that there are indeed people commenting who haven’t, but indirectly.)

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  44. And… Here… We… Go:

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/colorado-governor-declares-disaster-emergency-over-bird-flu-outbreak-5682947

    Colorado Gov. Jared Polis issued an emergency disaster declaration in his state over an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in northeastern Weld County as officials recently reported that 1.8 million chickens were impacted by the virus.

    The governor “verbally” declared a disaster after “an avian flu outbreak in a commercial poultry facility in Weld County,” according to a news release from his office issued on Monday. Mr. Polis’s office did not name the facility that was impacted by the outbreak.

    The declaration means that Colorado can use its emergency powers to “take all necessary and appropriate state actions to assist with response, recovery, and mitigation efforts.”

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  45. I’m behind on reading you, having too many “tings” of my own.
    I took my tings to counterterrorism where I attributed my fidelity to having grown up with four older brothers.

    One rabbit hole took me through the DNC rules and bylaws. Did you know that if a nominee for President dies or steps down after nomination, the National Committee makes up a new ticket without further involvement of delegates?

    Gavin (Pelosi’s nephew by marriage)-Michelle 2024 for the Barrack’s 4th term.
    “I dodge!” rolling percentile

    David G Terrell
    Round Hill, Virginia USA

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