Careful Times

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

There was a time in the late seventies or early eighties (I think early eighties because I was in college) when a terrorist group of broadly commie tendencies (Italian) was “fighting” industrialists, which was actually an euphemism for threatening/kidnapping/etc rich people for cash.

Dad wasn’t one (mom and dad did okay considering where they started, but they never went past mid-mid while they had kids in the house) but he worked for one. As in, he managed factories. Which I guess looked close enough to the commies, because we had threats.

And since one of their things was car bombs, and our car was parked in the (gated off, but the gate and walls were four feet tall) garden, (mom used the garage as a workshop) every morning, when dad gave me a lift to college (which cut about an hour and a half of public transportation out of my day) dad asked me to look under the car.

Yes, I broadly knew what to look for. IF they were all thumbs, at least. If they were subtle, no one was going to see it.

So, morning routine was: shower, get dressed, have coffee, grab books, go out to garden with flashlight and look under car to make sure dad and I weren’t going to go out with a bang.

I don’t actually know how long this went on. In my head the shenanigans of Mano Rossa (sp? It’s been years since I used Italian) in Portugal went on for a couple of years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a month or two. Things tend to either stretch or shrink in my memory.

BUT what was weird was how fast it all became routine, and also what a relief it was to drop it when the danger passed. It was routine, and yet, it ate at the back brain.

These things are more onerous than we think, and take more time for the scars to fade than we think. Actually, from my experience, the time of scars fading might be “never.”

After 9/11 I thought I had it all together, until I found myself driving back from the grocery store with the Expedition as packed as possible with groceries and canned stuff. (Friends, we ate on it for five years. Maybe ten.)

I realized something in the back of my brain had activated the stars of “unstable times” from the seventies in Portugal and translated it, so I MUST HAVE FOOD STORAGE as the shelves might inexplicably be empty tomorrow.

In the same way, yesterday, when I heard that two bright sparks of the left had tried to car-bomb a Fox news truck (Fox News, people, I ask you. It’s actually left on left violence, but the left likes its stereotypes and imagined opponents and will never get how much Fox News has nothing to do with the real right) I remembered the story above and I got … well, I’m typing this when I am because despite going to bed on time, I didn’t sleep much.

Look, I don’t know what’s going through the heads of our leftist… morons, really, but … no I didn’t sleep enough to come up with a more diplomatic description, and the ones doing this stuff ARE morons, but they seem to think that killing Charlie Kirk was a major win and some number of them are all excited and trying to strike while the iron is hot.

If you have leftist friends or family, DO try to convince them it’s more akin to committing suicide with a blunt knife. It’s going to take a while to kill you, but it will hurt the whole time. No, I don’t expect they’ll listen, but in common charity you must try.

And if you fly on the internet under your own name and are even as opinionated as I am, let alone some of my friends on the right, be aware we’ve entered “Careful times.” Don’t open the door to people you don’t know. Don’t post pictures of your kids or pets if they spend time outside your direct supervision (or your entire family are hermits.) Don’t let repairmen into the house you haven’t vetted extensively, particularly if they approach you. Don’t go for long walks alone. And for the love of Bob, don’t spend a ton of time outside unsupervised. And don’t stand in front of windows with the light behind you.

Sorry. It’s really impacting my ability to get exercise. But there’s nothing for it. And it makes you feel silly and paranoid. Which, I’ll point out is miles and miles better than dead.

You’re probably safe. I’m certainly probably safe. I work in text which means I largely fly under the radar. But you never know. You just don’t. Like my dad was probably safe and his boss was the one who should worry, but you only need to be wrong once to die.

Oh, yeah, if you park your car on the street or in an insecure location, familiarize yourself with what it looks like now, and do a quick inspection. Yes, your co-workers will think you’re nuts. Make up something. You have an oil leak you’re trying to track down. Something. It’s better than their saying “Well, good old Bob sure was a bright spark at the end.”

And while we’re being careful, remember life goes on. The kids need looking after. They need feeding. They need clothing. Heck, even now I don’t have kids in the house I need feeding and clothing. And I will have to come up with some alternative for exercise, or the sleep will JUST get worse.

My dad didn’t stop going to work or taking me to school because commie insano-idiots were running around killing people. He just took precautions.

Yes, we’re all sitting at the edge of our seats afraid the idiots are going to call up something they can’t put down.

But while we’re doing so, remember to look after yourself as though you were someone you love for whose well being you’re responsible. Take your meds. Try to eat decently. Read a good book (Have you tried No Man’s Land, the link is on the side bar? Guaranteed no real-world politics!) hug your spouse, love your kids, make your doctor’s appointments.

Because you can’t stop living just because the worst might happen. Years from now you’ll have trouble remembering how long we spent waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the scars will only show up when something else brings it up.

And we might brush through this okay — yes, it would take a miracle, but the USA IS a miracle — and come out okay on the other side. You can’t give up living, because what life will you pick up on the other side.

Sure, beef up your apocalypse-pantry. Buy one of those crank radios (I have no idea where ours ended up) and a whole house battery. Prepare as you would for a big storm. Also be as careful as you’d be if your area were subjected to home invasions.

Other than that, carry on. Life must still be lived.

Even through these very unsettling careful times.

132 thoughts on “Careful Times”

  1. I very much doubt I’m big enough to be noticed (the algorithms hate me and/or I’ve never been able to figure out how to leverage them) and I’m careful to not post personal info on social media, but still…

    …I was glad I finally bought a house with a garage so I wouldn’t have to dig it out every time it snowed. Now I’m glad because I (shouldn’t) have to worry (much) about car bombs.

    And here I already haven’t been sleeping well…

    Liked by 3 people

  2. The question is not “Am I paranoid?”

    The correct question is “Am I paranoid enough?” 😁

    ———————————

    I used to be afraid I was paranoid.

    I thought people were out to get me.

    Now I know the truth — they are out to get me.

    I feel so much better.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. A few days ago, a commenter at Reason, on a thread about the Constitutionality of canceling people for their views of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, suggested that I should post under my real name — that I wouldn’t say the stupid things I say, nor the make the threats I make, if I had a bit of “real world constraint”.

      I pointed out that:

      (1) If his handle was his real name, it wasn’t keeping him from saying stupid things;

      (2) I’ve spent a whole lot of time on Facebook, where I use my real name, and I know myself well enough to know that (a) it doesn’t stop me from saying the things I say, and (2) there is little evidence that anyone else is limited by “real world constraint”; and

      (3) That I wasn’t threatening anyone — I think he was alluding to my tendency on that thread to describe what will happen if the Left doesn’t stop killing us — that it starts with these cancellations and the removal of people from office; if that isn’t enough, we’d likely move on to tit-for-tat assassinations; and if that isn’t enough, it would likely devolve into door-to-door destruction where no one would be safe — I pointed out I wasn’t threatening anyone, I was just explaining what would happen if the Left didn’t stop killing people, and I was wondering if the Left would push us to that point.

      Later I realized that one of the things he may have taken as a “threat” was a paraphrase of Chuck Schumer — and I made another comment pointing out that that particular comment led to an attempt to assassinate a Supreme Court justice.

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  4. Most of your suggestions are part of the anti-terrorism training I got each deployment. Although a complete walk around the vehicle besides looking under it is best. If you find bits an pieces of wires and such time to call the bomb squad regardless of what you can see underneath if you are brave enough to not run away immediately.

    Dress as close to a native as possible.

    Sad but I’ve continued to follow that back home even though I got out over a decade ago. Of course I have two violent and crazy ex’s, so it’s not just political terrorism I have to worry about…

    Liked by 2 people

    1. My wife and I both did the anti-terrorism thing when I was stationed in Belgium, and living off the installation. Only had two “terrorist” incidents while we were there, although being run off the road by a logging truck might be questionable. The other time I’d just left the base and when I came up to the stop sign at the end of the entrance road, someone pointed a long hollow tubular object out the upper story window of the local protest group HQ at me. There are probably still twin rubber strips where I set the unofficial international quarter mile drag record through that hamlet. Needless to say, the gendarmes paid them an unpleasant visit about 15 minutes later.

      Liked by 3 people

  5. And one more thing. About garages. It’s not so hard to rig an innocuous looking package to go boom when the garage door next to it goes up…

    There, now you all can sleep better, right?

    Liked by 3 people

    1. It’s a radio transmitter; they all run on the same frequency. Nowadays you just set a common code between the opener and the remote. Number of digits varies, but it’s a lot like your router, the default is all 0s so I hope you set it to something else when you installed it…..

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      1. Modern garage door openers and remotes use codes that progress through a complex sequence determined by an algorithm and a secret number set by the user. Picking up a code and re-using it won’t open the door, and the next code can’t be predicted without knowing the secret number.

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            1. Even better avoided if you disable the remote function; mine has been “local control only” for about 19 years.

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              1. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of the opener, to allow you to pull inside without getting out of the car into the elements or the uncivilized?

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                1. Luckily for me, neither is an issue; in my part of Arizona the uncivilized are almost nonexistent (and stay away from my neighborhood anyway), and “the elements” consist of dry, usually hot.😉

                  Admittedly, living in or near a major city, even a red one, would probably result in a different choice.

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      2. You don’t need a radio transmitter. Just a motion doctor (of the mechanical type – like a piece of ribbon or string and some tape or chewing gum).

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  6. Just remember, “Sometimes The Dragon Wins” and “We’re The Dragons”! 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

    Liked by 3 people

  8. There was some discussion possibly returning to office in the future but the company has been saving money having people work from home. Everyone felt much safer working from home instead of going to the center of a metro area.

    So the question came up, “What does your home office have that the work office doesn’t have that makes you feel safer?”

    My answers:

    • No commute through dangerous areas or on trains with junkies
    • Individual offices and rest rooms
    • Life long relationship with those in the physical office :)
    • Free indoor parking
    • Dogs
    • More cameras
    • Neighbors that know everyone and their vehicles
    • And better trained/armed security at home than in the office

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Allowed “and better trained/armed security at home than in the office” …. FIFY

      In other news. Will be commenting through tonight PST, but tomorrow, early AM, we’re taking off for the wilds and hopefully some wildlife photography. Not taking laptop. Even if cell coverage found, WPDE cell phone comments every single time. Won’t be commenting until next Tuesday at the earliest. Take care everyone.

      Liked by 4 people

  9. First of all, there’s no such thing as being too small to be noticed when it comes to victimization by the Left. You only need 1 deranged maniac to ruin your whole day. I’ve run for, but never held public office, and have had high velocity lead thrown in my direction for mere common-sense suggestions (don’t litter, don’t speed, maybe we could have the cops drive down the road twice a day instead of just once.) Go figure.

    I do fly on the internet under my own name (although Farcebook is hardly the entire internet.) Most other blogs and news reply threads I use a pseudonym. And I never have any on-line association with the places I work. I am as much a Kaffir as Pete Hegseth, but so far haven’t seen any deranged Muslims running around (unless a couple drive for Amazon.) But you are right, these are the times you need to be careful. Funny, but when I open the door to strangers or repair people , I happen to have my ccw on my hip. Ward Bird was falsely imprisoned for, and then only received clemency instead of a full pardon by a POS RINO governor, merely for clearing a round out of his gun before going back inside his home, which the DA charged him for “brandishing.” (Remind me to check on his legal status and write to Kelly Ayotte to get that corrected.) I do go for long walks alone, and work on my property alone, but again, I’m armed. Shades are drawn every night. And all doors are locked.

    For what it’s worth, checking all around under your car before getting in is still a good idea. You can spot damage from idiot drivers soonest. You can also spot maintenance problems (brake or coolant leaks, hanging parts, etc.) While finding bombs is going to be rare, it is FAR more likely to find some buttwipe placing nails or broken bottles under your tires to blow them out when you unwittingly drive over them.

    Liked by 6 people

    1. I too post/comment under FB, (technically) MeWe, and Nextdoor, under my full *name. Should have setup like here with just my initials, but naive a bit. I comment a lot more here than any of those locations. I post almost nothing to start threads (seriously, last two posts on FB were announcing the death of the last dog, and another post death of one of our cats). Comments on FB are limited to private groups, 100%. MeWe, I follow things, but rarely have commented. Nextdoor I limit to facts with links.

      (*) Mentioned before that I have a very common name. Good luck finding me.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Seconding your last paragraph – our maker space had to routinely deal with vagrants leaving sharp things behind tires as revenge for all the times we busted them trying to steal catalytic converters, use the cars as unauthorized shelters/latrines/safe injection sites.

      Liked by 2 people

  10. I’m currently reading “The Battle for Spain” about the Spanish Civil War. What I’m really worried about is that the left’s leadership is egging on their useful idiots to try and get reprisals from the right. I think they are desperate and want things to get spicy and their idiot followers simply can’t conceive of violence being directed at them because they are used to amendable authority backing them.

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  11. The Red Brigades. I kind of remember hearing about that stuff every so often in the early to mid 1980s on the news. At that time I would have been in middle school or just into high school. so it just kind of blurred into the whole mess of Cold War with a side of Middle East terrorism to me.

    Now instead of going down the rabbit hole and googling about it, I really should be doing one last set of review practice tests for my CDL permit test tomorrow. Going to try to train to be school bus driver again (prior attempt was interrupted by health issue).

    Also, I’m not a religious sort, but I have a younger sister a couple hours away who has some sort of brain lesions and has been in hospital for 10 days while they wait for tests to figure out what it is (biopsy tomorrow). She and her husband could probably use some prayers, and my Dad too – he’s practically worried himself into even worse health than his existing issues.

    Liked by 4 people

    5. Prayers for all of you, sis, and the whole family. Thank you for not making her suffer alone.

      As a big sis whose had major health issues, it’s meant more than I can possibly tell you to have my little bros, who are not religious in the least, offer to ask for prayers. You may not know what you have done, but she does!

      So let her know. It will mean the world.

      🙏🙏🙏

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    6. May the doctors, nurses, and various vivisectionists and bloodsuckers be as competent, confident, and calm in the moment as any could ask for. May the family have all the strength, incisiveness, and endurance needed or wanted to face what will come, be it good or ill. May there be healing and may there be time with family and friends. Time with joy and memory, both old and brand new.

      May you all be blessed with what grace Himself can spare. Be well.

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  12. Yeah… a closed door is a locked door. That attitude used to make the wife irritable but I’d say that I worked in prisons and it’s a life safety issue. She quit being irritated and would ask at night if all the doors were secure. I carry every day but stay very low key about it. I did add an additional reload to my pockets however. I’m not going to ‘Rambo’ my way out of anything but I try to be more than a potential victim.

    I’m the quite old guy with the little dog down the block and for that am a much reduced target but I still think condition ‘yellow’ is where I’m at any time I leave home. Heck, at home I tend to be ‘pale yellow’ and the dog (warning system bark-bark 2000) is a good security hedge for me. As cold weather/winter arrives I’ll have additional options to being prepared when out and about which will also come into play.

    It’s odd to me that post Kirk shooting I feel there has been a social “shift” and I’m waiting to see how it plays out – it could be a sort of calm but good thing or it may get really ugly fast. I hope and pray it’s the calm shift to reality but I’ll still keep a few extra magazines (you know, TV Guide, Reader’s Digest?) near by.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. We don’t live in fear. We live WITH fear. Completely rational, reasonable fear that we’re going to be going about our days trying to be decent people upholding our morals and ethics and some nutcase with an entitlement the size of Long Island and hurt feelings will decide we need to die.

      After all, that’s what happened to Charlie.

      Heck, I was going about my day a couple years ago, asking for someone’s ID for a military discount, and someone decided I was a racist for doing so and threatened to shoot me.

      And some years before that, one of my idiot brothers (guess which way he votes) decided to clean a loaded shotgun in the house I was living in. I didn’t know he had a gun; apparently he borrowed it while he was getting police training, thank goodness he failed that for physical reasons.

      He left a very neat scatter pattern through his door and the wall over the washing machine. Guess where I’d been standing three minutes before?

      Fear is a warning signal. Fear is meant to keep you alive.

      Being careful is a sane reaction.

      Liked by 4 people

        1. BTW, part of how I got out of dealing with that customer in one piece was a deadpan, “You aren’t the first person to try.”

          She left, I got all of her info I could and turned it in to the store manager, then went and shook in the bathroom for a few minutes.

          Then finished my shift.

          I still check all IDs.

          Liked by 5 people

          2. This could be the script for a training video. No, really.

            It checks all the boxes including the important “give yourself time to at least start to get over the inevitable reaction.” Because if you’re (a normal) human, there will be one. Physically too.

            It’s also worth noting explicitly that “communicating threats” is an actual offense in many jurisdictions, and depending on the circumstances this might be “assault “as well, even without adding “battery” by touching or slicing or shooting someone.

            Some people might just be a net loss on the human ledger, overall.

            Liked by 2 people

      2. One of pur neighbors has threatened to shoot out son’s dog. With reason (the dog is neurotic and barks and growls at almost everyone, and when he got loose he chased the neighbor I to the house)., but still, I don’t know how good his aim is.

        We are now rather careful about not letting him get loose, but he still manages it.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. A neighbor threatened our (at that time) semi free roaming cats (were terrorizing the birds they were feeding … being a cat). Pointed out it was 1) illegal to feed wildlife, and 2) in this area, both county and city (we’re county), it is illegal to harm or relocate non-feral cats (since they knew to threaten us through a mutual neighbor, they knew the cats were owned), 3) if anything happened to any of them, at that time only 2 were ours, but we knew where the other cats called home, they would be turned in because of the threats. No more threats. Cats did not get harmed or disappear.

          These were also the “neighbors” who complained about noise all day at the house behind them, across from us, and traffic and noise from area across the street, from the house west of them. The house where a home day care was operated, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, long before the complainer’s bought and moved in. Oh and the other location where traffic, parking, and noise complaint? A Grade School.

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        2. Colleague of mine, retired now, used to live in a small village in $ASIAN_COUNTRY. A village, I should add, where people are not starvation-poor but they’re certainly NOT rich either. He told us a story once about a dog (was it his? or a neighbor’s? I forget now) that had gotten loose and killed at least one chicken belonging to a neighbor of the dog owner. Later, that dog was found mysteriously dead, having “somehow” managed to consume poisoned food during the night, while it was tied up. (I want to say the dog had killed multiple chickens, which would make the dog’s “mysterious” death make more sense, but I don’t recall the details well enough to be certain). As I recall the story, the dog’s owner chose not to bring the dog’s “mysterious” death to the attention of law enforcement in any capacity, and subsequent dogs were better secured. Message communicated and received.

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      2. Yes.

        The first purpose of any “carefulness” is to reduce risk and/or exposure; it has to be, otherwise it’s merely your own personal performance of “TSA Security Theatre.” (h/t Dr. Pournelle, IIRC.)

        But the second purpose is, when that annoying little voice in the back of your head, the one that wants you to live in fear or even more simply the voice of your fears, says “But have you done everything [reasonable] you can do?” — you can just answer, yes!

        In factual detail. Or even ask, “So, do you have any suggestions to add?”

        I.e., the overall net effect is really not to live in fear.

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      3. Being prepared or cautious is not living in fear, but many are living in fear, fear of things they can never control. To the point the fear controls them and their actions. Words mean things, the words were simple, not an accusation, nor pointing fingers at anyone. I did not say Sarah stop living in fear, I simply said ‘stop living in fear’. Your post wasn’t about fear, it was about situational awareness.

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      1. “If any of you lack a sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.” (I like the KJV for this with “garment” rather than “cloak”, leading to the implication that it’s better to be naked than unarmed.)

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Cloak is indeed more commonly used by modern translations including the ESV (English Standard version). The ESV uses what is called formal equivalence for its translation method which strives to keep as much of the word order and closest word meanings as possible.

          We tend to think of cloaks as just occasional outerwear, but in first century Judea it was far more than that. It was your bedroll when traveling, whether you slept outdoors or in. For most people, it was the ONLY possession of value they had and the only outerwear they possessed. Selling your cloak for anyone NOT of the nobility was nearly as traumatic as selling our home might be for us. Like many arid climes, much of Judea experiences a significant temperature drop at night, and the light wool or linen garb (Chiton and similar) worn by the common people was too light, leaving them at a minimum miserably cold, and likely teetering on the edge of hypothermia.

          Basically add penniless and freezing to your (effectively) naked and you have the sense of things.

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  14. Just to do a hard left turn, I wondered if the AI created the right number of toes on the elephant. Answer: it’s hard to tell.

    But it’s nice to see the fella gallumping along with his life anyway. Elephants have tough hides.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Offering prayers for other people’s medical adventures. I wouldn’t mind some for my own.

    Late next week is the routine (shoo, Murphy!) retina check. In Medford, in the least crazy portion of Oregon west of the Cascades. Low bar, but I plan to keep a very low profile. Costco run along with the medical stay, and I scamper back home the day after I see the doc.

    Then it’s knee fun. Tuesday after I get back, there’s a fancy CT scan with dye to determine what and how much to cut or clean out. Two weeks after that, the procedure. The doc wanted to do a total knee replacement, but I asked for arthroscopy to buy time. Still, this is a 4 day hotel stay. It’s day surgery, then 24 hours on interesting painkillers, then the boring ones until I go home.

    Flyover Falls is usually not attractive to terrorists, but wasn’t immune in 2020 (Labor day arson fires were bad in the state, and got nearby). I’ll do what I can to check the Subie when I start driving. Beyond that, I’ll carry the pistol I shoot best. Wish I had practiced weak hand shooting. Sigh. (Cane in dominant hand for a while. Oh joy.)

    Liked by 3 people

    4. May your local sawbones be more savvy than you expect, the alchemist’s potions be more effective with fewer strange, unusual side effects, and the neighborhood witch be at least friendly enough to keep the haints and bone eaters away. May your preparations be largely unneeded, the car reliable and stout, and your weak hand shooting be as accurate as a tack driver at conversational distance.

      And may you and yours have many further years full of memories, joys, and the sort of life you dreamed of when you were but young.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. [Smile] Thanks for that, and for all of you.

        May Neighborcat be victorious over the RLF, Nastycat cherish his pink dino, (I don’t know enough about Othercat to wish him well specifically), and Doofus be the happy fluffball he should be.

        Liked by 3 people

  17. “And I will have to come up with some alternative for exercise.”

    Try stepping up and down in a low chair. You won’t go far, but it won’t take you long to get there…but it’s as much exercise as you want it to be.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. If you have the room and the budget, there are a handful of inexpensive exercise bikes on the ‘zon. I bought one before I got the right knee fixed, and used it regularly until the left knee raised objections. I’ll resume a bit after surgery.

        The model I got is “currently unavailable”, but similar ones range from $150 to $200. They have recumbent cycles too; wish I had thought of it, since the default riding position and my back don’t agree. OTOH, “Look Ma, no Hands!” works with a decent seat.

        Recommended.

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        1. We have a treadmill.

          Also you can use step up/up/down/down on a single step. Seems simple. But you can get your heart rate going if you do it long enough.

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          1. Stepping up and down on a step is time honored.

            Way back in the distant Cold War past of the 1980s, when a particular flight surgeon wanted my heart rate elevated so he could perform upon me one of the arcane skrying rites which flight surgeons perform, he had me step up and down on a low step. A lot, but I was a callow yout at the time, in fairly good shape, so to be fair it took a little bit more exertion to get me breathing hard than it does these days.

            Still, I was not directed to jog in place or side-straddle-hop or any of the many, many other exercises then so popular with other uniformed individuals in my sphere of regard. It was the step.

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            1. There’s a reason why step aerobics is so beloved of a certain segment of the population. It works pretty well. Step up, step down, step to the side, lift the trailing leg, etc. Cheap, easy to store the step away when not using it, or you can set it somewhere and do a quick step up-step down whenever you pass it by.

              Bonus with the aerobic step is they’re usually broad enough to set the foot firmly, and you can get risers to vary the intensity, as well.

              Liked by 1 person

    2. leg lift marching in place,

      sit / stand / repeat

      squat / stand (with or without lifting a weight)

      those are all good.

      If you need aerobics, I like my stationary bike

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    3. Where I live, walking outside is constrained by snow and cold. Paced out a course from farthest corner of living room to farthest corner of bedroom. I keep score of the circuits made and the distance. Best part is grabbing a sip of coffee passing through the kitchen and I can stop and sit on the sofa whenever I want.

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  18. It’s about patience. Make feeble efforts to help the economy, increase costs on seniors, hope they die soon, and make full use of the younger folks with heads full of mush. The danger may be from rabble rousers, but the real danger is the government that forces the citizens to finance their madness and greed.

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    1. Jess! Most of the young are trending conservative. It’s a relative thin margin, but it’s the first time in the history of tracking. They don’t have the time. That’s why they’re going insane.

      Liked by 5 people

      1. Indeed some of this is massive frustration. They thought they had the future in the bag with indoctrination of the youth combined with regularizing the large illegal/undocumented population and control of several minorities (like 95%+ control of their votes). Well the minorities (particular the Hispanics and to some degree the asians) are fracturing because they’re going solidly middle class and don’t like that they are being nosed out by newcomers and other minorities. On top of that the black males started to exit because they were not getting what they were promised and were being scolded by the “lights” of the party for not supporting Kamala. Trump 2.0 has started to evict large swathes of the illegals and even though the Republican majority is about as firm as soft set jello, they (mostly) know the quickest way to get the boot is to even mention another illegal immigrant amnesty. The college grads which had been like 85%+ liberal are slowly either switching as they come into the parenting home buying years or are not buying the line of nonsense the Democrats have been spewing for the last 40-50 years or so. Finally DOGE got much of their funding tanked with its exposure of USAID. That combined with TPUSA sending Gen Z at least to Dem Skeptical has the Dems on the ropes screaming “I’d have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.” The problem is unlike a Scooby Doo villain they still have hordes of insane fellow travelers who they have convinced that assassination is a valid tool. Like some kind of injured animal they’re still thrashing and that thrashing is dangerous. They missed getting Trump by millimeters/milliseconds. Luigi Mangione walked up to an insurance magnate and pumped several shots into him including shots when he was down. As an aside do any of our lawyer types here have a reason why Mangione is being prosecuted for 2nd degree murder? To me that reads malice aforethought/premeditation loud and clear. I mean a reason other than that the DA in NYC is likely some bought and paid for Soros lackey. They killed Charlie Kirk. They have a radical guerrilla arm in Antifa that rivals the nastiness of SDS types of the 70’s or the various Red Brigades of the 70’s and 80’s. Like any injured animal they are most dangerous when injured.

        Liked by 1 person

  19. When you approach your vehicle, preparing to drive it, look carefully inside including the back seats.

    Plenty of petty crooks start off carjacking by popping a lock and waiting for you to deliver the key/fob.

    In your home, near the various entrances, leave a small but obvious valuable where it can only be seen from inside. Money clip, coin, watch, valuable looking nicknack.

    If you come home, and it’s missing, you may have a burglar inside. -Surprising- a burglar can be quite spicy.

    Not so much “avoid walking alone”. Go patrol. In other words, arm yourself, take a phone, look out for foes and random preadators, and have the mindset of hunter versus prey. See all. Hear all. Process all. Observe and report. But be ready. Best in pairs, but solo can work.

    Only you can prevent hoodlums.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Huh. I’ve never considered that I might walk in on a burglary in progress. The timing would have to really suck, but I’ve had many “that timing sucked” moments.

      Speaking of timing, I finished No Man’s Land last night. Loved it. Review posted.

      Liked by 3 people

      2. “might walk in on a burglary in progress“

        –

        Or worse, your teen child.

        That was the post realization we had after our 2006 home invasion (no one home so robbery, but still, invasive). Timing such that had the day been a short day for son, he too easily could have walk in on the robbery in progress. Worth everything taken that our 16 year old did not walk in on them.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. My Aunt lived in a ‘hood of Pittburgh. Whenever she arrived home, she would loudly say “Hello Mister Burglar!” so as not to startle any burglar. She walked in on a few, who thus warned promptly fled.

          Having a “tell” or three, to determine if your perimeter has been breached, is of great value.

          Liked by 1 person

      1. It wasn’t the local prosecutors that went after George Zimmerman. It was somebody brought in for political reasons. Fortunately his defense team was good (though expensive).

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      2. Lol.

        None of which negates a word I wrote.

        Walking around like prey -will- eventually get you stalked and attacked by a preadator. You are -increasing- your risk thinking/acting like prey.

        Guaranteed.

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        1. Go patrol. In other words, arm yourself, take a phone, look out for foes and random preadators, and have the mindset of hunter versus prey. 

          I’d say it negates what you said here pretty thoroughly, since that’s precisely what Mr Zimmerman was doing.

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          1. He lost contact with a preadator without taking the aporopriate actions, and stayed distracted talking on a phone, and we could go on for hours on his various mistakes.

            Patrol mindset works.

            You don’t understand it. Badly.

            Like

    3. My cousin, her new husband and their unborn baby were killed by a surprised burglar. Would have been her mother (my first cousin)’s first grandchild.

      Like

      1. Our robbery was clear. The gaming equipment, laptop, new (hadn’t made the first monthly payment on!) SLR digital camera, point & shoot digital camera, and any jewelry I wasn’t wearing (not worth much, though I miss my childhood confirmation cross). The way to stop future disappearances? A gun safe, gutted, with shelves for the cameras, my jewelry box, and laptops. And any financial information that they’d go for now (didn’t get any of that). Also didn’t get the truck out front, you know the one whose keys were hanging on the side of the refrigerator. So, yes, keys and garage fobs are in that safe too.

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        1. You can also do things like display a junk/non-working camera, firearm, etc. Give them a feel-good to steal and they might call it quits on the hard work of busting your safe.

          A buddy has a small portable safe in the bedroom in plain sight. It’s full of concrete. He uses it as a boom catcher when loading firearms. The burglar that steals it will get …. ballast.

          The real gunsafe is hidden, rather well.

          He also has a small “cashbox” full of washers, barely hidden.

          Liked by 1 person

  20. While on the road this past weekend, I made darn sure that my clothes and weapon* were where I could find them in the dark. And I always glance at my vehicle. A few years back, there was a social-media fad for sabotaging teacher cars. Toss in the ever popular sport of catalytic-converter rustling, and a walk-around is wise. Also had someone smash one of my headlights in a hit-and-run in the parking lot.

    *If I had taken a weapon, which I might or might not have done.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Would have found it eventually but same with the car son was driving. Not a parking lot but in front of the house. He was parked “backwards” putting the driver side on the curve. Evening before a car backed out of the driveway across the street and dented the passenger rear panel (badly). Got a note taped to the door. Driver was not going to confess, told parent that “hit and run parking lot accident at school dance”. Unfortunately for said driver, his friend, who actually lived across the street, told him to “fess up, or he’d tell us”. Got the note, included proper insurance information, texted son to check his car. Yes, dented.

      Lesson learned. Always walk around vehicle.

      Like

    2. I may or may not bring multiple weapons when I travel. The answer depends on circumstances, who is asking, and (possibly) the number of weapons I actually brought.

      Discovered that the ER considers a 3″ blade pocket knife to be a weapon. Had to have it secured by Hospital Security until I left. Tool vs weapon. Shrugs. OTOH, Flyover Falls is not immune to exciting evenings in the hospital ER. The security people can run pretty fast, too.

      It wasn’t me. Honest! (Felt like hammered [redacted] anyway.)

      Liked by 1 person

        2. A couple of my canes (one rides in the Subie, another in the truck, Just In Case) have grips resembling a pistol’s. This has triggered (sorry about the word :) ) some interesting ideas on a modern day update to the sword cane.

          Obligatory note: I am not planning to do this. Really!

          Like

            1. Ah, another of the dead tree books I mean to read. I have the updated version of Stranger. Just did a re-read of Starship Troopers, plus picked up an eCopy of Time Enough for Love to match my ancient hard back. The hardcovers will wait until I’m home; for reasons, I recover from medical fun at a hotel in town for a few days. Carrying hard cover paper books with a healing knee? Hard no.

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    4. Flashlight by the bed. Hard to escape a darkened smoke filled whatever without one. Also other uses.

      Note to novices. Flashlight and smoke detector before gun, unless you live in true dystopia. And fires are still more common in dystopian slums. So…

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  21. Well, that’s brought up a good few memories, of paranoia when I lived in Greece as an American service member in Athens, in the early 1980s. How I carefully blended in, wearing European-style clothing, not speaking English loudly in public, never letting any service-connected items be seen in public. (No military logos, no bags from the BX, no t-shirts with identifiable military slogans or designs.) Planning to ditch or hide my military ID if any terrorism incidents went down …

    and checking underneath my car, every morning. Which had to be parked on the street outside the suburban apartment where my daughter and I lived – a car with American Forces Greece license plates on it. Well, my landlord and his family all liked me very much, and they lived on the ground floor flat, so I suppose I had that margin of safety… but my daughter has always said that her first and earliest coherent memory is of standing on the steps outside the apartment house door, and watching me check the underside of the Volvo for a car bomb.

    We eventually transferred to Spain, which also had a terrorism problem, but it was mostly the Catalan separatists going after the Guadia Civil, which was rough luck for them, but as far as we American military personnel felt – rough luck for the Guads, but made a nice change for us.

    My daughter has always said that 9-11 wasn’t so deep a shock for her, as it was for many other Americans. We had already spent years keeping our eyes peeled and our heads on swivels.

    When I began blogging, one of the long and ever-green discussion threads was between those of us who used blog-nyms, and those who blogged under their real-world identities. I preferred using the nym and being discrete – I had already had the experience of being a quasi-public figure as an Armed Forces Radio on-air personality, and some brushes with serious crazy. So – air-gap between the public face, and the real-world identity.

    Liked by 3 people

  22. Being prepared is not a matter of fear. I see the assumption of fear as projection from those who are afraid.

    Do you buy life insurance because you’re afraid? Or do you buy it as insurance? Do you invest for retirement because you’re afraid?

    I store food, clothing, water, grow gardens, animals, invest in skills, not because I’m afraid but because I want a hedge against fear in the future.

    Liked by 2 people

  23. Buy one of those crank radios (I have no idea where ours ended up) and a whole house battery.

    I am highly fond of the jumpstarter/power pack we got for the tank.

    See, The Tank is old enough, and heavy duty enough, that new cars can’t always manage to jump it at all.

    Then when I was shopping, I noticed that a lot of them have standard outlets on the front. Also things for airing up tires! … very slowly, but airing up tires!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. You can also acquire solar rigs to charge the pack in the field. They are slow, and require you sit there and wait, but they provide an option to (re)power stuff when way out there.

      “Goal Zero” brand is pretty good stuff.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Those battery/carplug tire inflaters can be oh-so-handy, especially if you have a nail or other slow leak, and an emergency.

          fix-a-flat works for emergencies, but guns up the modern pressure sensors, expensively. But it is an option for oh-crap.

          I have a 20-amphour battery for IT stuff. Never considered such for a jumper. Thanks. Exploring options.

          Liked by 1 person

    2. I am -so- dinosaur.

      My memory of a portable jumpstarter is a motorpool handtruck with six big 12v truck batteries on it, and several switches and sockets for military jump cables. (allowed different combinations of batteries/voltages, etc)

      Just perused amazon. GeeWowWow!

      Some of the modern ones will start a -big- engine and still fit in a daypack.

      Much Thanks. Very useful.

      Like

      1. :cheers: Much welcome!

        Since the dinosaurs usually get parked wehre it’s heckin’ hard to reach to jump them, I much prefer our “it’s a marine use battery in a big plastic case, with support gear” luggable to the 24 foot long cables I was eyeballing!

        You can also use them to trickle charge something like a lawn mower, though that’s not as good. (The safeties on the seat of a riding lawn mower won’t let you jump it.)

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I have a rechargeable power pack that will allow me to jump a mower. Attach it to the battery, sit down on the seat, turn the key. It will also do a trickle charge. It’s about the size of a thick paperback and has jumper cables attached.

          Like

  24. We have a vigil tonight in an hour. They’re expecting a couple of hundred people, so not real big, but big enough. We’ve already had calls from the local news crews about what sort of security we’ll have in place, and a couple of calls from non-students angry that we’re allowing a vigil on campus. I already was working during the swatting event this month, I’m about done with people. Only another 13 years and two months until retirement. ugh.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. Vigil went well, no excitement. I estimated probably around 250 people, it was hard to tell since no camera showed the whole field. Someone else thought around 500-600 people. They apparently handed out all 700 candles they brought though.

      Liked by 1 person

  25. This has been a year for security re-assessment. I’ve been trying to get to the range at least monthly or a bit more. Now that I’m no longer driving through the Chicago area regularly it is easier to be armed most places I go.

    I’m not at all sure what the long term effect of last week’s assassination will be, but we have mid-term elections coming up next year. I don’t have as much energy as I had when I was working, but I have more time to help out. I know some people have doubled down on their political hatreds, but I hope some others have had their eyes opened to the existence of those hatreds and will step back from the brink.

    There are some places on line where I am known by my legal name. It can’t really be helped. Even the name I use here is one I’ve had for fifty years, so if someone was curious, I’m sure the connection could be made.

    In the end we all have vulnerabilities. Staying safe is an important thing, but it is not the only thing. We still have lives to live.

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  26. Re: what’s happening politically.

    With the 2 million plus gain of the registered republicans, and the drop of about 2 million democrats, plus the 35,000 applications for new Turning Point groups on college campuses, I’d say that things were going to stabilize quickly. Walk-Away is also reporting significant responses with testimonials. NOT A SMALL THING!

    Take heart folks, stay condition yellow/orange (no need to be foolish), but things are changing in our favor (even those of us, like me who are A-Caps).

    Liked by 2 people

  28. Atta girl, Miss Sarah. Life is for the living of it. We live in interesting times. So be it. Me, I very much hope each and every one of us survives said interesting times. Maybe some of us write a bit about it. In a journal, publish an article, maybe a little book. Something for later generations to read and experience in their own interesting times.

    As for me, for my sins I’m something of a public figure of a sort. There are threats. Said threats have appropriate responses and suchlike. Things that do not include hiding in my house with a blanket over my head and a bangstick clutched in my sweaty, hairy mitts.

    May we all face our troubles with a light heart. Should my life end tomorrow, so be it. I would regret not finishing the stories and hope the fuzzies get the kind of care they have become accustomed to. But otherwise? Eh, no worries. I worry more for the the fathers and mothers out there. Those with families that depend on them, rather than single old farts like me. May those families be blessed. May the children learn well and be strong. And may they face their troubles with light heart as well, with happiness within and beloved friends and family without.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Speaking of interesting times…. as I’ve mentioned before, I work for a state of Illinois agency. Our office is located on the same floor of the same building as the current office of our (ahem) esteemed Governor. This afternoon we were told that the building was on a “soft lockdown” and we were not to leave our office, except to go to the restroom, until we got the all clear.

    When we finally got the all clear — it was at the time we normally close for the day — we noticed that there were a bunch of dudes in hazmat suits inside the governor’s office, and a bunch of fire trucks and ambulances outside. No one told us what was going on but I presume there was some kind of bomb threat or suspicious package involved. It was in all probability totally fake but you can bet your ass that JB the Hutt will use this as further “evidence” that the righties are just as violent and dangerous as the lefties and this is all Trump’s fault.

    So in addition to being possibly in danger from loony leftists there’s also the possibility that if an actual deranged rightie decided to take revenge I would get caught in the crossfire. However, we have too many debts and too many home repairs, car repairs, etc. for me to give up my job. I have been more ashamed than ever of late that this clown is my governor but then again, Charlie Kirk himself was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs so maybe something good can come from Illinois after all.

    I would also like to mention that on Sunday we went to a small town near Peoria to see a live band that is fronted by one of my husband’s brothers. As we were leaving we noticed a large crowd gathering in a downtown square, we suspected it was a Charlie Kirk vigil so we stopped and joined them. It was brief but quite moving to see.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Don’t assume that a leftie being targeted is from the right. They are eating their own. But your precautionary measures remain the same. Another friend to keep in prayer because I understand about monetary pressures.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. There was a huge vigil in Eugene. From Alton Baker to the Duck stadium. C. Kirk was a Duck fan (sigh, he couldn’t be perfect. Oh well Go Ducks …. I guess. JIC, for those not in the know, We’re Beaver fans. I’m a platypus – degrees from both universities. IF I cared about sports, that is.) Vigil was for Charlie and what he stood for. But a lot of green and yellow in the crowd. I expect to see green with yellow “I am Charlie” and the UofO Duck Nike t-shirts (and yellow with green).

      Liked by 1 person

  30. Go to any conventions? To book signings? To any author-meets-public events?

    Just… you be careful, all y’all in the writing field. Because the unhinged left has shown for the last 30 years that they ‘own’ the publishing and book distribution system.

    I am honestly surprised that the same people who’ve cancelled authors at cons haven’t stepped to the violence stage. But this year’s been really weird so, again… just be careful.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. I was young & dumb & full of… yeah. There was a girl. She had a boyfriend.

    Yeah. He threatened me. I took measures appropriate to my situation. Everything worked out fine. No drama, kinda (some related stuff happened years later.)

    Always treat threats seriously.

    Liked by 1 person

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