And Marry our Fortunes Together

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Recently there have been a lot of days I glance and the headlines, then shut the browser and dive into writing. Because honestly even some of the things happening here, I AT BEST don’t understand and hope sincerely there is something going on behind the scenes to make it more hopeful. Also, I don’t want to ponder questions such as “Will California ever be a representative state again, even slightly influenced by the will of its inhabitants?” Not that I particularly care about California, but I know what happened to my beloved Colorado. And then there’s abroad. Don’t go abroad. They do things stupidly there. From the latest nonsense of our neighbors to the North to Spain killing trouble teens and deeding their kids future to the Muslim invaders whose ass their ancestors’ kicked all the way to Africa, to… Well, we’ll just say under no circumstances should I have done a deep dive into the Henry Nowak’s case. More is still coming out and I stumbled on a piece this morning about how the lesson the British establishment took from this was “We need to fight disinformation.” By which they, like the Autopen Administration mean “We must stop people telling the truth in a way other people hear it.” And then I get very angry and have trouble writing fiction or blog posts or much of anything.

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Heinlein was right during WWII to only read the papers two weeks late, when it was pointless to get angry about old news.

However of the many things that enrage me — why is your blood pressure so high? asks my doctor. We must put you on meds. No, they must not. I must curate what I read, is all — right up there, at the top, under the tab marked “I’m getting sick because I can’t kick the *ss of people who righteously need it” are a bunch of naturalized Americans talking about what a terrible place America is and how ashamed they are of our history. PARTICULARLY some *sshole in the news talking about how there was nothing worth celebrating for the 250th anniversary.

This is when I start stomping around the house screaming “America, love it or leave it.” Or “Terrible compared to what? (with a choice of profane adjectives afterwards)” Or “If you hate us why did you come here?” Most of all though, I basically want to grab them by the shoulders and shake them till all their teeth fall out. And then I can help them pack, hold a whip around for their return ticket to whatever sh*thole they came from, and they can go back to the place they really love. Or, alternately, we can save money and time, put them in a large packing box and mark it “return to sender. Content not up to standard.” I promise we’ll put holes on top of the box. We’re not monsters.

If you’re looking at that and raising your eyebrows, let me make things clear: No, I’m not saying we can’t criticize our nation or our government. Look, I’m still me. I looked, just this morning (Okay, I was trying to figure out where the heck I put the kleenex store. I swear our basement is arranged according to a schizophrenic hoarder’s dream) and there was no pod in the basement. If I go an entire year without criticizing the government, even when they’re the guys I vote for — which honestly, usually means I wanted to vote AGAINST the other guys — I strongly advise to come rescue me, because it’s a sign I’ve been kidnapped and am under duress.

But criticizing our government or particularly aspects of our nation, even the parts we can’t change, like climate or fauna — y’all, Texas is lovely, but could it be SLIGHTLY less lizardy? Shudder. — is not the same as criticizing the nation. And it’s definitely not the same as hating the nation, saying there’s nothing to celebrate, or pretending that our history is particularly terrible or scandalous compared to the rest of the world.

Those of you, if we have any reading this, who are recent graduates from our factories of mass industrial “education” let me assure you that if you think that America is “The worst” you’ve been the victims of a scam that maleducated you and gave you a skewed view of the world.

Briefly, every nation in the world is composed of humans. Humans — though this was said originally of Americans in another form — can be counted on to sometimes do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else. This is particularly true when it comes to humans in the thrall of a newfangled idea that all the experts say is true. So, if you flinch at stuff like slavery, or eugenics, or even witch trials, rest assured that all these ideas were, at the time, considered “actually compassionate” and endorsed by all the best experts of the time. Which is also a caution towards assuming your opinions and the way we live now are the right and correct ones. Because I guarantee that not very far in the future, people will be looking at the 21st century and saying “Ew, they were the worst.” (And I could give you guesses at the things they’ll say, some of which will shock the living daylights out of you. Though I bet they’ll come up with new fads that make me want to shake them to.)

It is the temptation of the young and poorly educated to think that what we “know” now was always known and that the things our ancestors did that horrify us they did KNOWING they were wrong and from evil motives, instead of their being merely human, doing the best they could in their times.

In that sense, the US does more self-examining and chest-beating than any nation ever, except for ancient Israel. Also, because your teachers were themselves maleducated and dreaded above anything seeming TOO patriotic (quelle horreur) they didn’t tell you that for all the bone headed stupidity this nation has achieved (Hey, we elected Woodrow Wilson and FDR and let them run around doing stupid sh&t to their heart’s content, blatantly against he constitution, okay?) we’re still a shining line among the nations of the world.

Take slavery, for instance: it’s still a defacto occurrence in most nations in the world, particularly Africa and China (ooh, boy, China) not to mention every single Muslim country. It might fly under other names, but it’s still there. Oh, here too. You’ll be happy to know the stunning brave people attacking ICE are fighting for the perpetuation of slavery. What? Oh, yes, WHY DID YOU THINK THEY WANTED TO BRING IN PEOPLE IN BATCH LOTS WHO HAD NO DEFENSE AND NO CONTACTS HERE? Sure, there’s also an army of them brought in to plunder the social net programs (which honestly should not exist, not here of all places) but a lot of them were brought in simply to work for no or very low wages and to be in positions they couldn’t complain. Do you think the vast numbers of kids apprehended in California pot farms were there on a field trip? And don’t get us started on the unaccompanied minors (a lot of them kidnapped from their families) released to the first person who claimed them who subsequently disappeared. Pretend they’re all JUST being exploited in sweatshops. No, really, by far the preferable fate, and you’ll sleep better tonight.

But the point is this is not a “American guilt.” Yes, absolutely it is something we should be working on, which is why good border control and a pruning back of H1B visas to about 1% of current would be a really good idea. No bringing in of the vulnerable to exploit and no displacement of American workers by what amounts to slave labor is a good idea, but more importantly, it removes the incentives to enslave people one way or another. Because wanting to enslave people is a defect of the human heart. Yes, yours too, gentle reader. (Though some of us consider telling people what to do a chore and are therefore slightly immune to THAT one issue.)

On every score just about, America is better off than most of the nations of the world. Yes, even Europe, whose patina of history and beauty has been cracking in truly ugly ways recently.

Which is why so many people, including yours truly, was always attracted to the US and came here to live and to become as American as possible. (98% or so. There’s some that will never conform, but that’s for anyone raised abroad, even Americans.)

Yes, becoming American after coming here was work. Yes, some of it pretty much amounted to chasing myself around my own brain rooting out “everybody knows” most of them things I learned with mother’s milk and before I could examine what I was being taught. I’ve described it as being akin to self-brainwashing. Rooting out as much of my previous culture as I could find and identify and correcting it.

Now a lot of it — maybe 25% — wasn’t so much rooting out wrong things for right ones, as rooting out “habits of how we do things” for new ones, that fit better with the US. It wasn’t a moral thing, just a fitting in thing.

So, why do it? Why undertake that painful process if there was no moral issue involved? Well, because there was a moral issue. Having undertaken to come and live here, I owed it to my hosts (and later my co-citizens) to respect their habits, traditions and beliefs as much as humanly possible. I.e. to become as much like them as possible.

Because by coming here to form a family and have children raised as Americans, I was in fact marrying my fortune (in the sense of fate) and future to America’s, and uniting my progeny to hers. It is nothing else than a marriage. And as in a marriage, you adapt as best you can to your spouse’s habits and way of doing things (and he/she to yours) so I was duty bound to adapt to America. Only since I am one person, and relatively unimportant, in all but matters of morals, I am the one who should adapt, because standing by yourself and telling the world to move is cute, but very ineffective, and a nation of at least 300 million is the world, compared to me.

And, this is very important: if you’re going to marry your fortunes and your fate and your descendants to a place WHY WOULD YOU DO IT IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IT’S THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH? (Warts and all?)

If you are moving to a place you think it’s terrible, particularly if that place is a foreign country, WHY MOVE? Why not stay where you are?

Now, there are times and movements of utter necessity. Sometimes people have to abandon a place they love and to which their ancestors gave blood and money, for the sake of preserving their lives (salutes Dave Freer across the ocean) but even then…. EVEN IN THOSE CASES why would you move to a place you consider worse? Why not escape to the best place you can find, one you’re prepared to adapt to and love with all your heart and all your mind and all your will power?

And yes, some people come here for money, same as many people marry for material considerations. There’s nothing dishonorable in a marriage of convenience. That was most marriages throughout history. However, as a matter of morals and attitude, once you decide on the marriage of convenience you’re still honor bound to cleave to your spouse and defend them right or wrong to the best of your ability (even if slowly and carefully trying to influence their less than admirable qualities.) BECAUSE you wed your future to them. Your descendants are part of them. If you find you can’t love them, it behooves you to leave.

Of course, what we’re facing is the international would-be elites, who view themselves as supra-national. They think that they can move anywhere, and they don’t need to fit in because they’re above us, the common folk.

In fact, what they have done, in their ignorance and vaunting ambition is ignore that culture always exists and there’s no such thing as a human who is above culture. What they’ve fallen for the is “international” illusion that was part of the supposed international socialism, aka communism. It was never true. At the root it was always Russian nationalism projected on the whole world.

And what they have done by trying to mold themselves that way is turned themselves into a culture of international parasites. They remind me of the line in Independence Day “They’re like locusts….”

There is only one remedy for those people. If you hate this country so much that you can’t celebrate 250 years of survival against all odds?

My offer to help you pack stands. And I’m sure all Americans of good will — and ooh, do we have a will! — will contribute to your return ticket.

Or, you know, postage. And we promise to punch air-holes on top of the box.

112 thoughts on “And Marry our Fortunes Together”

  3. Use a sewing needle to poke the holes in the top of the box. You didn’t say how big the holes were supposed to be.

    Liked by 4 people

        1. “Or, you know, postage. And we promise to punch air-holes on top of the box.”

          But, to steal a line from a beloved author, label it “This Side Up” on all six sides. No worse that what they would do to our society.

          Liked by 3 people

          1. There is a scene in a Kratman “Legions” novel, where there is some concern about sufficient air holes in a shipping container full of badguys.

            Thus, when the crane operator dropped the container overboard, air could escape allowing water to fill it and sink it.

            Davy Jones has a brand new locker!

            Liked by 2 people

            1. Yeah, while CONEX shipping containers are not airtight, they do need sufficient and roughly equal total area of “air holes” in both the top and the bottom of the container, otherwise if dropped overboard they could roll as they sink, or only sink very slowly, or even sink to just a few tens of feet under the surface and achieve neutral buoyancy, and that would just be mean, as well as constituting a hazard to shipping.

              Erm, hypothetically speaking, of course.

              Liked by 1 person

    2. If you use a needle, the holes might not be big and/or deep enough.

      I say use a large heavy lance. And make sure the hole goes all the way to the other side of the box. Prolly an X pattern of holes on two sides.

      If you wait until the box is occupied, the passenger can alert you as to your placement of said holes.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Come now! Everyone knows the traditional ventilation tools are swords.

        LOTS of swords.

        And, they’re re-usable! Eco-friendly! Make pointed comments for you, cutting remarks, too! Mostly pretty ‘edgy’, which seems to be an ‘in’ term these days.

        Liked by 2 people

        2. I have several real swords. Alas the value of one went from $1000 to $20 when my sister let some friends “sword fight” with it and notched the blade.

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          1. Condolences.

            I have 25-ish, and a couple of sword-shaped objects (Depeeka and two other real junk-wall-hangers, though in truth they are all used as wall hangers). I think just 2 of those are at the $1k level, and that’s replacement value for things bought much lower. (Windlass regular, Windlass Royal Armoury, LK Chen, Tod Cutler, Darksword, one Arms&Armor, couple others. Got active in buying late, too old to wait for Albion or any of the custom sword makers.)

            I’d be kind of unhappy if someone-not-me took any of them down to play; so would the combatants, since mine that are supposed to have edges are sharp, and if they’re supposed to have points, they do.

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              1. IIRC, her selection is Japanese, not my jam.

                I am a bit better than ‘dilettante’ level knowledgeable on European blades; just too much work to educate myself on Asian stuff. Vocabulary alone is daunting – see https://katana-usa.com/blogs/every-part-of-a-katana-anatomy-guide/

                And, I’m nearly out of wall space … Waiting for the next tranche of Royal Armouries which I expect will have an early-ish English basket-hilt model for my one obvious spot remaining.

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                  1. A tiny bit; and I already have my Viking axe.

                    To paraphrase, when you strike at Kult of Athena, you must kill it.

                    Morrigan’s Mercantile does have some RenFaire stuff; I’m actually going to the Oregon RF up in Canby, and it’s even on Pirate weekend – but I’m going as a Prince of the Church – goodness, all the red stuff! – and pistols are out of character: I have staff for that. (Michelotto Corella, are you listening?)

                    Happily, my daughter and family are Rennies, and they are flying down to PDX; my son (staff!, as a monk) and I will drive up and we’ll all stay in a B&B for a couple nights. Things are coming down from my walls to arm the party, peace-tied, of course, since flying with 3 kids plus LARP weapons is a little complicated.

                    Did you know that Grok refuses to tell me what knots to use in the middle of a garotte? I find that rather prissy on its part.

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  4. I remember when I realized that illegal immigration was about making a new chattle class on the public dime. I want to say it was the 2011 California Wildfires and seeing reports of illegal workers who were told to finish the harvests in the fire path, or else.

    They get a comparatively good life, normally, through the combination of generous public services and a relatively low, but untaxed wage, so long as they do exactly what the boss says. Otherwise out the door they go, with prejudice.

    It’s a really evil system, and it hasn’t changed in the time I’ve been aware of it. Hasn’t gotten better, either

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Oh good, I’m not the only one hissing “Then leave!” at the screen. The “Declaration of Independence” is an aspirational document, just like the US of A is an aspirational country. Everyone who signed the thing knew that neither they nor the new republic were perfect, and that they and the country had room for improvement. Both are still true. How improve, well, that’s the hard part, but we’re still a dang sight better than the rest of the world. Want to talk smack about the government in Germany? Get ready for fines and/or jail time. Love Sweden’s social welfare system? Get ready for 35-85% sales taxes on top of the income taxes. I weep for what has happened to Britain, Germany, and Austria, even just since 2015.

    I am sooo stinkin’ tired of “Not my desired perfect = evil and worthless.” Dudette, seriously? Try criticizing the government—or even a specific politician—in Saudi, or Australia, or Britain, or most EU countries. Let me know how it goes, once you get out of prison. And let me know about your personal spending after you pay Scandinavian taxes (income and sales both).

    *Races off stage right, pursued by a soapbox*

    Liked by 9 people

    1. Sorry about the rant. The “USA is the worst place evuh!” combined with “The Founders should have known that …” attitude of these people pushes several of my buttons.

      Liked by 4 people

        1. *Races past in the other direction, pursued by Federalist 51 and the Teacher Hat* Nooooooo! Not an essay on the Founders and their inspiration. It’s summer! *Vanishes under the bed*

          Liked by 4 people

        2. How could imperfect people create a Perfect World? How could imperfect people live in a Perfect World?

          Nonetheless, there is no shortage of people convinced they can create a Perfect World. They just have to eliminate all those imperfect people who won’t fit in it.

          Liked by 3 people

          2. Most of them believe it is simple and easy to turn all those Imperfect People into Perfect People until they actually get pushback.

            Still remember a guy who went from asking me wouldn’t I like to live in a world with the security he offered to declaring I would be exiled in isolation within about three exchanges.

            I asked how slackers would be prevented; he said by people not providing services promptly; I asked how people withholding services out of spite and claiming it’s for slacking would be prevented, and he got spiteful. Down to claiming that they would destroy all signs where I was exiled to, to prevent my being bothered. (Not, of course, to prevent other souls escaping there.)

            Liked by 3 people

              1. Only Pol Pot, of all the 20th century dictators, didn’t call them re-education camps or other euphemisms, so I suspect euphemisms.

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      3. Yeah, I do not want to immigrate blindly to another country, without considering changes to my behavior, and what I am comfortable adjusting to.

        I do not want to even visit another country as blithely as I would visit Texas or Alabama.

        I love the United States, and am often enough pretty sure it is the best place in the world. My personal customs are almost functional here.

        There are a number of people here that I do not care for. I am pretty sure that, for example, I would find people to vehemently disagree with among the Swedes, the Dutch, or the Taiwanese.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.

        One of the pointless-however-righteous hatred and rages I have had in recent years is the gross injustice we do to the international graduate students, and the foreign origin newbie faculty by providing them a university as an environment to acculturate to America in.

        I mean, if we locked them in prison with the race /and drug/ gangs there, we would do a worse job of teaching them to live gainful, peaceful, non-criminal lives among Americans.

        I love America, and when it comes to stuff that somebody should teach the graduate students, America and maybe also the love of America is first among the gaps that I identify.

        Anyway, I have a hard time blaming the kids and the working adults for being ignorant, but I do want to teach them.

        The henwits in media, on the other hand, I do not feel so willing to grant the ‘working adult’ excuse. It is a terrible crazy-making line of work, that would not make me a well man. Yet, they do not treat it as a dangerous occupation that needs mitigation.

        The more public facing and open your white collar occupation, the more you genuinely need to actually understand the public in America. Thinking that it is reasonable to start from a position other than ‘America is, objectively and after full consideration, the best place ever’ just means that you are going to be a terrible voice marketing for your profession.

        Whether in media or at a university.

        This is a bad negotiating position if your occupation’s negotiating position is as bad as what the university people have made for the universities.

        Liked by 2 people

        2. “The henwits in media…”

          I’m pretty sure my hens are smarter than the vast majority of presstitutes. Certainly they produce more value.

          Liked by 5 people

          2. Which is why the bureaucracy is going after domestic fowl on account of Bird Flu.

            It’s not the flu they are worried about. It’s the competition.

            Otherwise they’d target the wild birds spreading disease while doing the migration thing.

            Liked by 2 people

    2. Yeah, at times I totally for sure find myself wanting to relocate to France, Croatia or Singapore, and then live there according to my American mores, being constantly critical of government.

      Apparently I really want to be administered by a regime that thinks a beating is a perfect cure for my tongue.

      I am pretty constantly making terrible life choices, but apparently not ‘move to singapore when I do not love the wet’ foolishly terrible.

      (Not only do I not love the possible beatings, nor the speech laws, nor the climate of Singapore, I understand that for people like me the cost of living is fairly high, and I definitely do not have the skills or employment that they would ask of someone like me.)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Personally I want to stay here but due to financial reasons I am retiring to the Philippines. Just recently married my Filipina girlfriend and have a literal bamboo hut and adding a concrete & cinderblock laundry/bathroom to the back. $3000 paid in full. I’ll be living on a one of the smaller islands that is more like living in the countryside in Kentucky or Tennessee. The Philippines government is corrupt but it seems like they are more honest about it there than our government.

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    3. No worries. And no need to apologize for sneaky soapbox rantage. And it’s totally not self serving because I rant for pages sometimes. It’s because a good rant is worthy of being added to the communal consciousness in times of need.

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    4. Shoot, I went to college with one of those types. Born and raised here, and would loudly proclaim to anyone and everyone who would listen (whether they wanted to or not) about how horrible and evil the US was and how there were absolutely zero redeeming qualities about this disgusting country and how she couldn’t wait to pack up and leave and move to the glorious paradise that was The Dominican Republic (note: she was whiter than me, and I make Wonder Bread look tan) after graduation.

      I remember one day in the dining commons, I finally had enough and told her I would pay for her to leave. I’d give her the money for a one-way first class plane ticket to Santo Domingo…and in exchange she would renounce her citizenship, give up her passport, and agree to never set foot in this horrible, evil, disgusting country again.

      Suddenly, I was the loud-mouthed, hate-filled asshole.

      Far as I know, she and her husband (who went to the same school; I’m pretty sure he protested the death of bin Laden) are still here and, other than a vaycay to Mexico, have never set foot outside of this horrible, evil, disgusting country that they both love to hate so much. Odd, that…

      Liked by 4 people

  6. “But criticizing our government or particularly aspects of our nation, even the parts we can’t change, like climate or fauna — y’all, Texas is lovely, but could it be SLIGHTLY less lizardy?”

    Lizards?! Usually people complain about fire ants or all the snakes here. :D

    Liked by 2 people

        1. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a city in possession of a small university must be in want of a lizardoid invasion.

          (I’m guessing I had the spelling wrong. I’ll claim a long day.)

          Liked by 1 person

  7. “Pretend they’re all JUST being exploited in sweatshops. No, really, by far the preferable fate, and you’ll sleep better tonight.”

    …believe me, I do. I pretend that just as hard as I can, because otherwise–well, not gonna say. But look up “gibbet” in the dictionary for a handy hint!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Can’t pretend. I have read John Ringo’s ‘Kildar’ series, as well as ‘Not That Kind Of Good Guy’.

      Main characters in one of my stories are going to find out things they didn’t want to know, and do something about it.

      “Who could be better qualified to judge a sex criminal than a dozen women who’ve been exploited and abused?”

      Liked by 3 people

      1. A friend’s parents used to take in foster kids to give her a conception of “sibling.” She mentioned two things: one, the 3-year-old girl who announced, at the dinner table, “My daddy f***ed me.” Very matter-of-fact, because how is she to know it’s not normal? The two boys from what used to be called, “reform school ” turned white and lost their appetite.

        The other was the 9-year-old Laotian boy brought into the country by his uncle….since he knew so many people who “liked,” young boys.

        *Spit.*

        Liked by 2 people

          1. Imaginos1892 said:

            Where did the ‘s’ go?

            Perhaps stolen by the lizardoids in the previous comment? They use a fair number of them.

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            1. The blue mice say the lizardoids did. The pink elephants say the blue mice.

              The blue mice change their mind and say the pink elephants did it.

              Fluffy suggests we have BBQ and ignore them both.

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  8. The combination of reading the news and interacting with one’s medical provider reminds me a bit of that man kzin wars book, in which if I recall correctly they discover that the autodoc is medicating away their ability to recognize and address their current crisis…(Google tells me I’m remembering part of an Anthology, about a ship called the Happy Gatherer).

    Which is to say, maybe the circumstances indicate that much of society should be depressed/anxious and possessing high blood pressure.

    Liked by 4 people

  9. As long as Liberal Democrat Politicians live, Life will be hell in America. You couldn’t get me to walk across the sidewalk and urinate on one if the fetid thing were on fire.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. Well said, way too many who should have never come here in the first place. If they hate our culture and way of life so much they need to go somewhere else. Quite a few people who were born here that should probably depart with them. We aren’t perfect but we still have more real freedom left than anywhere else in the world (despite the claims of would be elitists). And we want to keep and expand our freedom even more.

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        1. Well, they do qualify as petty tyrants. Only fitting we use them to water the tree of Liberty. Feed them into the woodchipper and let them fertilize it. The non-violent ones we’ll shoot first before feeding.

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  12. Speaking of Texas, I once walked out of a building in Dallas, turned around for some reason to look at the door I had just exited (for no particular reason that I can recall), and saw a tarantula clinging to the wall above the door. Since I knew that tarantulas are basically harmless to humans (oh, if they bite you it’ll hurt, but no worse that a wasp sting unless you’re unlucky), I went, “Aww, what a cute l’il fella.”

    P.S. I discovered, while writing this comment, that WordPress had actually removed the “shift+backspace deletes a paragraph” misfeature! For once, just for today, WP non DE.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Robin Munn said:

      P.S. I discovered, while writing this comment, that WordPress had actually removed the “shift+backspace deletes a paragraph” misfeature! For once, just for today, WP non DE.

      AHA!!! Every once and a while I’d be typing along and large portions (or all) of my ongoing post (umm well often rant) would disappear. I was usually trying to capitalize something and likely mashed the backspace in my thrashing. Amazing WP did something right for a change. Well. as the saying goes “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time”.

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  13. When online folks in other locales were celebrating Mr. Pratt making it into the LA mayoral runoff right after election “day”, I made it a point to note that we had not yet hit Saturday 3am. And lo…

    It could not be more obvious if they tried.

    An observational prediction from within the Formerly Golden State: If the ballot box is no longer effective, the other boxes become more attractive.

    And to cheer me up, here’s a clanker song:

    Liked by 3 people

          1. Alignment consists of taking all the ethical conundrums that the wisest and best have broken their hearts over for millennia, misunderstanding half of them, boiling them down to a set of gaming rules, and handing them over to sophomoric gamers — some of whom, to be sure, have the excuse of being sophomore.

            Liked by 1 person

      2. OK, WPDE weird doubletap-copy-paste comment stuck in mod – trying again:

        Another D&D clankertune for cheerfulnessing: Mostly Lawful

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    2. I should note there’s a case waiting on a ruling from The Supremes that could mandate an election “DAY” nationwide, so there is a path where this election result could make Spencer Pratt instantiate the Obi-Wan quote, the same way Reagan’s abject defeat at the 1976 R convention did for him:

      “If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

      Liked by 2 people

  14. As a fellow naturalized citizen of these United States, I remember giving my oath to forsake all other states and swear to uphold the Constitution. I still choke up when I hear the Star Spangled Banner. If you are forsworn, I see no problem with getting rid of you. Either by deportation, if you were just stupid, or other more permanent methods of it was malicious.

    Liked by 2 people

              1. And even that old liberal fraud Issac Asimov wrote this

                I sang all four stanzas in public only twice, but each time it was a memorable experience for me, and, I believe, for the audience as well. Now I do it for a third time, in print only, and without the additional dimension of my voice (such as it is). I can only hope that you get a bit of what the national anthem means to me and that you will look at it with new eyes, and listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears. And don’t let them take it away and substitute “God Bless America,” for goodness sake.

                Quoted from this longer text (http://vexillogicast.com/asimov.txt). The past is a different place. Dr. Asimov was clearly Liberal (see his quotes on the Mexican American war and Vietnam in the same piece) but yet he LOVED this country and what the Star Spangled Banner represented. That particular strain of the leftist side of politics seems nearly extinct (with the rare exception of Senator Fetterman to my utter surprise).

                Liked by 2 people

      2. I choke on the last verse of “America the Beautiful.” We sang it right after 9/11 and when we hit, “….thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears, I absolutely lost it.

        Liked by 1 person

  15. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » PEOPLE WHO IMMIGRATE OWE A DUTY TO THEIR HOST COUNTRY:  And Marry our Fortunes Together.

  16. I am really horribly critical of our country. There is so much darkness and it seems to grow every year, every decade. I grew up reading Heinlein, Louis L’Amour etc… Books based in honor, ethics and civic mindedness. I feel as if I have a good understanding of the intent of this experiment of ours. It is a great and flawed experiment. As much as I criticize I’m constantly defending it to. It’s intent and in most cases implementation is head and shoulders better than any other systems I know of.

    What gets me is that the majority of people are so black and white. It’s perfect, or its the ultimate evil. This is probably one of our greatest problems, the inability to see that great good and great evil can live within the same person, the same group, the same polity. Our system does more to combat the great evil’s that any other that I can tell, while still mostly not being a totalitarian society.

    On my personal scale of 1 to 10, the US probably only hits a 5 or 6, there is truly a lot of darkness out there. It makes the US look really good when half the rest of the world is a 1 to 3 and the rest of it is only a 4.

    This isn’t the end of the story though. We have a very good system even at a 5 or 6 except for a couple of small problems, ones that the founding fathers talked about but were not able to address. Our system only works well if the majority of the members of it have ethics, honor, empathy, charity across the majority of the people (mostly the ethics of a new testament christian faith, doesn’t matter if you follow the faith but the tenets are valuable).

    Also you have to start with individuals having rights that supersede the rights of the group. This gives you the bill of rights that is so powerful. You can’t let those rights be interpreted as the right to oppress the group or other individuals either. It is a balancing act. Sadly enough individuals just don’t care other than being able to use those rights to take advantage of the system.

    Sociopaths (most politicians) are a great example, they rise to the top levels of government it seems, the advantage of not playing within the system gives a lot of power to them that is hard to compete with, especially when the modify the rules to favor ill behavior.

    People focus on our federal government and it is a very important thing to focus on, however even more important is our local governments. Every time I dip my toes into the stream of current events and YouTube videos, for every story of federal overreach, there are 100 stories of local city and county governments, HOA’s, sheriff’s dept’s, state or county police, courts, zoning enforcement dept’s, with individuals using their authority in those agencies to abuse them for their personal gain, the thrill of power, their desire to enforce their belief system over others etc.. Every single example is an abuse of those civil rights. That’s why our constitution is so important, it codifies a system that allows us to fight back against the abuse’s of those in power and holds each individual as valuable in their own right.

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    1. It’s easy to curse the darkness, as they say. Go looking for it and you won’t have far to go. Part of that is the human capacity for not just out-and-out evil, but banal laziness. Yet who among us actually looks for the good in the world as much as they notice the bad? That it is a very real way our brains seem to be wired (bad things stick around, good fades), that is no excuse.

      As for other countries, I’d not rate many as high as 4 if the US is only 5. Infrastructure wise, economy wise, bureaucracy wise… Not culture, that can be more contentious- though I would still rate my own culture far and away the best. Popular media in our own country is one thing, but if you’ve traveled to any extent and really looked, actual state controlled media is a rather different beast.

      Put it another way. If it bleeds it leads is descriptive, not proscriptive. Current events and Youtube cater to that because it works. It gets the clicks. And thus drives the cycle.

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  17. https://pjmedia.com/tim-o-brien/2026/06/09/data-centers-will-turn-red-states-blue-n4953752

    Since I can’t read or comment at pjmedia (not a paid member).

    Specifically talking about Wyoming, but Montana and N. Dakota, are implied. How data centers being built in the middle of nowhere, need temporary housing for over 5,000 employees. That’d be construction workers. I doubt the data centers need that many ongoing operations employees.

    1. Construction workers, while transient, aren’t typically liberal.
    2. Wyoming, etc., are used to worker housing camps (usually RV’s, but they might be bringing in more substantial tiny homes/bunkhouses and separate kitchens). Usually at pipeline and drilling camps.
    3. “In the middle of nowhere” is not a euphemism. It will be miles and hours to dinner out, or any kind of shopping. Would not surprise me if laughter is replied to delivery inquiries, even mail. There are “no facilities” exits off highways and freeways. (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, have some of these too. They are ranch exits.)
    4. Most costs are significantly higher. Items available limited. (Limited grocery item choices, I’m going off of National Park ports of entries. Which typically stock as wide of choice as they can, given the variety and numbers of through visitors they get. Trust me, I’m not picky. Limited is not an exaggeration.)
    5. RCPete has mentioned a time or two, that newcomers to his neck of flyover country in eastern Oregon are met with politeness. No one is fully welcomed warmly until they have, um, weathered the weather for at a minimum of two or three years. The northern high elevation prairies? Weather extremes are worse. It isn’t just “it can snow or freeze any day of the year.” The wind (nothing stops it, although there would be some insolation inside data centers). The *wind blows most the time. That is discounting the elevation itself. A not insignificant number of people can visit, even work at, higher elevations, for a time, but can’t live there. Our hostess isn’t the only victim of living at high elevation. (* It is like rain in western PNW, we can have a beautiful semi dry winter. But have the rain come late spring into early summer, like now? Grrrr. “I’m tired of rain!” AND it is needed!!!!! Both can be true.)

    Unless the data centers are going in near bigger cities, or any city, which is not what is implied, even being constructed near a smaller town, the above conditions apply. Except part of item #3.

    Mostly I’m scoffing at “turn red states blue”.

    Like

    1. Do those states verify citizenship? Do they allow same day registration and voting? How about ballot harvesting? Maybe the writer watched what happened and is still happening in CA, CO, etc.

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      1. BUT if it’s any of that, you don’t need data centers to turn them blue. Also, no. In Colorado there were no data centers and those measures turned it blue in ONE generation. Bah.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. According to Google research, both Montana and Wyoming require documents proving both US and state citizenship. Require voter ID to vote on election day (state SAVE). Without voter ID or non-military mail-in are provisional votes. I’d translate the latter as “if can’t be bothered to registered more than 90 days before voting day, don’t bother”, “if can’t be bothered to be there to vote, don’t bother.” Might be something there for situations where one could pre-vote in person at an appropriate county location for specific situations; didn’t google that deep.

        Conclusion, the conservative states in question won’t stand for voting shenanigans. Won’t stop idiots from being stupid and voting for stupid things. But the odds off stupid things getting through are less. The new workers aren’t going to outnumber the longer term residents.

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    2. For a real life example, see New Hampshire 2016.

      https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/7/voter-fraud-alert-over-5000-new-hampshire-presiden/

      6,540 people registered and voted on Nov. 8, based on presenting out-of-state licenses.

      As of Aug. 30, about 15 percent (1,014 of the voters) had been issued New Hampshire driver’s licenses.

      Οf the remaining 5,526, barely more than 200 (3.3 percent) had registered a motor vehicle in New Hampshire.

      New Hampshire law gives drivers 60 days upon establishing residence to obtain a state license.

      But more than 80 percent of voters who registered on Nov. 8 using out-of-state driver’s licenses, or 5,313 of them, neither had a state license nor registered a motor vehicle almost 10 months later.

      These are the demonstrated facts that show the precedent. “You can vote your way into socialism…..”

      Like

        1. Sorry, I think you misunderstood. This has nothing to do with data centers; it has to do with “Mostly I’m scoffing at “turn red states blue”.”

          It’s very easy to do that in smaller states by moving in a transient population temporarily, whether college students, construction workers, or whatever, especially if the law allows it, or is easy to circumvent.

          The article was an example of how that has already been DONE.

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                1. As I say frequently, the Democrats have learned that they can just do whatever anyway.

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      1. As I said, Sarah, given the election fraud tactics we’ve seen, the data centers are just the latest cover. Clean up our elections, and a lot of this would go away.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Why “scoffing”. Sometimes pjmedia, for a conservative outfit, puts out some strange sh*t.

        Now if it’d been written acknowledging that the usual suspects are going to try using these temporary workers and longer term new residents this way, but the states in question will be more difficult, not impossible, look at Colorado as our hostess says, and here is why. Then a something to not scoff at. But as it is … scoffing.

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