A Pause Before The Fire

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Europe is burning. No, legitimately.

You’ve heard about France, where the burning is more or less normal, but it is spreading. And while there seem to be a certain amount of contagion spreading to every European country. And it’s not just Muslims. Actually it’s not primarily Muslim. Muslims and other third world immigrants are as always good for chaos and disorder, particularly when they feel hard done by, or have an entitlement mentality.

No, this wave of burning and fiery, what did the MSM call it? “Scuffles” that’s it, seems to be financed, planned and arranged by Antifa and black bloc and other organized left shit heads. Since now we know the billionaires on their side really do not part with their own money willingly, but suck up our tax money, either we need DOGE again, this time for serious and without all the stupid judges being stupid, or their billionaires are REALLY desperate. Given the wins for the “right” (for European values of “right”) in the latest rounds of elections, it might be the left trying to intimidate Europe back into the left, and desperate enough to use their own money. Maybe. (Sideyes the budget deficit.)

And yet… I was alarmed by all the headlines about how we now have the highest budget deficit in five years. Particularly if it’s true — it might not be. We’re in the process of being stampeded. I bet you real money that gasoline will come down right after the midterms, like magic — it tells us there is an unusual amount of fraud drawing on our finances. Honestly, it could be either.

The one thing I can tell you for frigging sure is that the October surprise they’re warming up is a stock market crash. Yes, yes, I know. AI is overmonetized and will come down hard. I get that. And it will inevitably take some companies — like the chip makers — down hard as well.

But that’s neither here nor there. I’m not a financial expert. I am however an expert in sensing “this is how they’re trying to stampede us, because of a lifetime with the left-controlled media. And I keep seeing stuff about how the stock market crash is inevitable RIGHT NOW.

My bet is that it’s an attempt at an October surprise, to demoralize EVERYONE about the economy. Just like raising the rates was — guys, why does the fed play on team enemy? It always has, and it still does — just like the articles about the biggest deficit EVAH.

They’re trying very hard to crash the economy or make us feel that way in the next two weeks. And it’s raising my hackles.

We’re not hearing much about all of Europe burning. Or starting to. And the fires in California are being downplayed.

So, where are we? D*mned if I know.

Note the most hopeful on our side are saying we won’t LOSE THAT BADLY. Though most of them also assume there’s no fraud, which makes me want to scream and beat them with cudgels.

Otoh Trump is talking like he expects to win. No, seriously. “After the elections” stuff at Iran. Honestly, I don’t think TRUMP knows.

It all depends on the depth of the fraud and how much we can thwart.

I don’t know. But looking at Europe burning makes me think they still have way too much money. And makes me terrified that the amount of money will still enable massive enough fraud to steal at least the House and maybe the Senate too. (Look, there is really no Democrat party. There is a criminal enterprise under the appearance of a Democrat party. Their fight against the SAVE act was their admission without fraud they’re done.)

What I can guarantee is that one way or another, it will burn. Either physically or metaphorically.

Either we win and they try to recreate Europe’s burning — it won’t work the same. Heck, I doubt it will work as they want IN EUROPE — Or they win and try to destroy everything.

We have no choice except try to beat the fraud. BUT they’re bound to fraud harder than ever. So–

I hope we get the result less likely to have me — and a lot of others — end up with a bullet at the back of the head.

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

And remember there’s a way in which we’re blessed in our enemies. They don’t understand reality. Heck, they can’t find reality with two hands, a seeing eye dog, and a specialized reality-sniffer.

The programming they’re trying to run is from WWII because that’s the only programming they have/understand, and at that they imagine themselves not-the-nazis, which is mind bogglingly insane.

They’re going to try. They’ve tried it before. It didn’t work. It didn’t work even when they managed their Color Revolution in 2020. And it will work worse now, I guarantee.

They are trying to build the Berlin Wall while it is being dismantled: by technology, by knowledge, by…. everything.

Not to say they’re harmless, understand. They’ll do a lot of damage if they get in. It will hurt very badly.

Irrecoverable? Eh. Nations are hard to kill.

Also, the more damage they do, the more their funding goes away and allows us to fight back.

In the end we win, they lose. That’s already decided.

It’s how much it hurts getting there that isn’t. And whether Europe can likewise be saved still. It might be able to. The left wouldn’t be burning everything if it weren’t scared.

Vote like you mean it, because I’m too old to go back to my government hectoring me about eggs being “treats” and my being infantile for being able to afford them.

And that’s all I can tell you. Before the fire.

183 thoughts on “A Pause Before The Fire”

  1. “specialized reality-sniffer”?

    Where in G*d’s Name can find them?

    To create something like that, somebody on “their side” would have to understand what reality is.

    And of course, no living being on “their side” could “sniff out reality”.

    Liked by 5 people

    1. It really doesn’t matter if they do invent a reality sniffer, they won’t believe the results anyway., They why is simple, reality proves everything they stand for is wrong. Even the ones who no longer believe the lies can abandon them, lest their true believers find another fool to represent them and they lose their place at the trough.

      Liked by 1 person

    2. I assure you that what the other side is sniffing is not reality. More likely, it’s what Hunter Biden likes. Maybe glue. If we’re really lucky, they’ll find some polonium or some other strong alpha emitter. Mostly they’re sniffing the same things dogs sniff upon meeting, another dog, each others backsides.

      Like

  2. It’s disturbing how you can pick up on things that I can only glimpses of; admittedly, I head down a lot (plus, I try not to think about it).

    Yeah, more ammo is probably needed; he who does not have a gun should sell something so he can buy one isn’t a quote, but let’s pray it’s not an applicable interpretation.

    Liked by 4 people

      1. A frying pan to get a knife, a knife to get a pistol, a pistol to get a long gun. It’s called self defense…

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        1. There’s an old WRSA blogspot site that talks about using a pistol (shows the old WWII stamped 45ACP single shot) to get a rifle.

          Annnnd, I have it bookmarked at home, but can’t find it here/now at work. Maybe later.

          Like

              1. Now there’s an idea for a postapocalyptic story. Man finds 3D printer and starts arming the populace to fight back against brigands. Think The Postman, but with guns. (I’m sure it’s been done.)

                Liked by 1 person

  3. Of course TRUMP knows. He’s been up close and personal with these degenerates from both parties his whole life.

    Which means one of 2 things…

    Either he is in cahoots…

    Or he’s telling everyone his plan so they know he isn’t planning to drop everything once the election is over…however long that takes…( here’s looking at you, AZ, CA, CO, MN)

    If he’s in cahoots, nothing we do will matter.

    If not, we need to vote like the wind and sweep as many people along as we think will vote with us. We know what he is planning to do.

    Either way, keep the necessities close and pray as if the 4 horsemen are at your door.

    Liked by 5 people

      1. I agree wholeheartedly.

        And i think he very much knows his family won’t be the only ones on the chopping block

        He saw what they did to the people who worked for him last time.

        They have promised worse this time.

        How very DARE we attempt to thwart their will!

        Liked by 9 people

      2. His family and everyone else who has opposed the left. They seem to be getting even more bold about saying what they want to do to anyone who opposes them “when” they get into power. They want to make the mass murders of the last century look like a minor incident.

        Liked by 5 people

      3. Trump is telling them Plan A, Plan B, … Plan W, and Plan X so they will guess at Plans Y and Z … and be totally surprised when he uses Plan B, which will be Plan A in disguise.

        He’s a man of infinite Maybees.

        Liked by 3 people

    3. Trump has shown pretty clearly that he doesn’t “cahoot.” He does a lot of his work where it wont’ be noticed, while distracting the Eaters with some flashy move to focus their attention somewhere else.

      Liked by 3 people

    4. Most of what Trump has accomplished so far has been in spite of, not because of, congress. Keeping control would be better, but frankly it hasn’t been a cakewalk so far and if we get an openly hostile congress at least he won’t have to pull his punches. Remembr that most of the old “deep state” is gone, at least at the leadership level, so we’re not likely to see the sort of weaponization they hit us with in the past.

      At least not right away.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. The shouts are getting more and more insane, and you’ll notice they are saying the whole banking system, not just ours, but Europe’s as well, the riots are supposedly over budget cuts at colleges over there in France. The are terrified, they are losing the script, and don’t realize it was inevitable because their houses are built of sand and they are making the waves.

    Liked by 4 people

          1. The trigger event that’s being described is more like an attempt at many mini-Krystalnachts around the country to trigger Trump to respond in a way that they’ll try to paint as a “fascist” overreaction.

            Assuming they were to somehow get power, yes, I suspect that they would try to emulate FDR.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. The Democrats too advantage of the Depression to make a massive power grab. And I still think that’s the primary reason FDR was so adamant to get us involved in WWII.

            Nowadays the US entry into WWII is presented as inevitable. But I’ve read a lot of magazines printed from the late 1930s to 1942, and it’s apparent a lot of Americans remembered WWI un-fondly and were perfectly willing to sit back and watch the show.

            Yeah, another 1930s-style depression would be another Emanuel-style “opportunity.” Why not? The major players would all profit from it.

            Liked by 3 people

    2. American banks are ok … ish, A good chunk of the excess debt that’s swirling about is connected to the LLM bubble and that’s not in the banks, some is in the pensions, but most of it is still in private equity, which is where their money is. ONe argument against an imminent crash is their need to push the debt out of PE into retail, pensions, and normal people generally. Private gains and public losses. A crash exposes them more than anyone else.

      CHina is still the world’s basket case with Europe not far behind. I sense the CCP’s bloody hand behind an awful lot of what’s going on, their only hope is for the west to fall before they do. It been working so far.

      Liked by 3 people

        1. Not investment advice. It’s always being messed with, now they’re using Putin, Hormuz, and the Houthis, tomorrow it will be something else. It’s not all messing though. Yes, the US is self sufficient in oil, but oil is a global price so Hormuz matters to us. Take away Hormuz and the price of oil is $60-70 dbl. add to that, China has lost its subsidized Iranian oil and, thus, demand for all the rest of crude is way up. lastly, markets hate uncertainty.

          We overestimate politicians power to manipulate the commodity markets. Too much cooperation needed, so I doubt it’s that, though they’d love to be able to do it.

          The price of gasoline and diesel in the US is down to not enough refineries and the refiners taking advantage of the shortage. Green Nude Eel and all that. Europe, as expected, is worse. They are lost in illusion.

          IT will end in either supply bull whips or demand destruction. Always does, when, now that’s something I’d give a lot of money to know. I’d prefer the bull whips, but we’ll likely get demand destruction — recession — with all that implies and all the damage it does.

          Liked by 2 people

  5. Obama was behind in the polls until the ‘08 crash. None of the executives who committed fraud, including Dickie Fuld sheesh, were ever prosecuted. All the institutions that survived the initial blow were ultimately made whole when treasury bailed out AIG and, thus Goldman Sacks.

    That said, the markets need to crash, burn, and then smolder. That’s capitalism maintaining discipline and reducing the destruction of capital. Which is now eaten up by two useless entities run by two blithering idiots. Note that Anthropic has gone from a $2 Trillion, to $1.5 trillion, to no IPO and I’d give even odds that Clammy Sammy’s stolen non profit OAI won’t be around this time e next year.

    Liked by 5 people

      1. Oh yes, but their greed is limitless. BIg short squeeze today on the Mag-7 and 18 year old morons in Korea BTFD. They might pull a crash off, but even they have to live with the market being irrational longer than they can stay solvent.

        It needs to go boom.

        Liked by 2 people

  6. A Democratic congresscritter got an envelope of “mysterious white powder,” and a very threatening message from the DSA. She said (on Twitter) that other congresscritters have received similar packages.

    Twitter theory (conspiracy or otherwise) is that the DSA re-creates the 1970s riots, or worse, after the midterms, regardless of the outcome. The idea being to force Trump to use the Insurrection Act, then Democratic governors position themselves as the brave, liberty-loving people fighting against an authoritarian government.

    FWIW.

    Liked by 5 people

        1. Watch me pull a Rabbit out of this hat…

          Aw Bullwinkle that trick never works…

          Well not in the way they expect (as Bullwinkle draws a Lion or a rhino or a platypus out of the Hat)

          They can probably crash the market at least for a while. But they have to do it soon because otherwise they will may get hoist by their own petard. In many places early in person voting is under way. Crash it too early and if it recovers you get nothing or even a strong rebound. Crash it too late and large numbers have already voted. Timing was always the hard part of this kind of plan, combined with the DSA/Democrats utter disconnect from reality and inability to gather good data yjey’re likely

          AS for riots I do NOT like what Datarepublican is finding. This crap is the same kind of nonsense the KGB and other Soviet/Russian groups tried. It didn’t work last time, but we have a different populace now that is unaware of the Wobblies of the 20’s and 30’s and folks like SDS and the Puerto Rican Nationalists and the Symbianese Liberation Army types other than as vague cartoons. Many see government intervention as the be-all and end-all instead of being the horror of “I’m From the Government and I’m Here to Help”. Consider the local (Massachusetts) reaction to USAID’s reductions. The locals seem to think that children are being left unfed, diseases untreated etc when USAIDs original purpose was as a bulwark against Soviet investments. Post-1991, it went into feeding NGO’s and occasionally funding (mostly ineffective) color revolutions across the Third World.

          Liked by 2 people

    4. I just got a text purporting to be from the DSA, in which they endorse our incumbent Republican Senator.

      He should probably retire, but I don’t think he’s been deliberately advancing their “National Socialist” agenda.

      They – or his opponents – have someone at least mildly clever on one of their teams, at least.

      Liked by 4 people

  7. Trump is talking like he expects to win.

    Which is just basic leadership 101. Show confidence to the troops no matter what. There are enough people out there pushing black pills he doesn’t need to do it. We tried that already with President Peanut back in the day and it got the results any intelligent person would expect.

    Liked by 6 people

  9. I am entirely not thrilled with how high the temperature is getting turned. Especially shortly after reading a rather long article of the mexica earth lords.

    I hope this is when the fever breaks, but I don’t know it, and it could easily go the far more destructive way.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. As Napoleon said, “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Trump’s not stupid and not blind, either. If he’s saying we win, he’s probably very aware of how thin the ice is. He just doesn’t want anyone looking down and starting a panic. Besides, looking down means missing important info in the spiral of DOOM. Eyes up and forward is better – down is for when we’re off the ice and can shake about how thin it was.

    As for the “worst deficit in five years”…. Only two of those years are Trump’s. Exactly who do they think the other three belong to?

    This is the first I’ve heard about “we’re going to have a stock market crash RIGHT NOW,” I confess. They really have only one playbook, and it starts in 1929. We’ll see if it works, and pray it doesn’t, but the fraud is by far the most worrisome thing to me. Given the way they’re suddenly talking about Dems not having a blue wave? I remember 2022 and the red wave that got throttled. It would be nice if the shoe was on the other foot this time.

    We shall see. It is all that we can do.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Well, we can also vote. Theoretically, that helps. (Practically, well, I’ll keep that to myself or Our Gracious Hostess will say something outrageously revolting about where that black pill has been. Again.)

      Republica restituendae, et, Hamas delenda est.

      Liked by 3 people

  13. I work at Walmart. 4 weeks ago they set a bunch of prepreblack friday sales. Today they are marking them all down. They sold 6 very nice big trucks and that was it. People are not opening their wallets.

    In the lunchroom now, another work said something about the fires and.rioting. A manager said I do not care, let it burn, let them steal everything.

    Third one is that the Day by Day cartoonist whose name I forget, has apparently gone for a swim in the deep end of the Jooz pool. Sad.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Yeah, Chris Muir has gotten strange just recently (3-4 months). I have read the strip for decades – not sure I started in 2002, but close – and I was wondering last night whether I ought to keep on.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I gave up on him and DBD when he went from fundraising for DBD via Cheesecake to publishing what to me is straight-up porn, which then back-surged into DBD.

        The few visits since to see how it was going just added more YGBFSM level stuff.

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  14. A guess I have is that Slotkin is saying the things because she knows she cannot win.

    I basically do not know anything.

    I am sorta recovering from an allergic insomnia episode over the weekend. Thus I do not care to peer too closely at my sense of optimism, and at my attempting to parse the indicators.

    What is known is consistent with regimes stressed, and groups ghostdancing.

    One week from tomorrow is Israel’s election.

    Two weeks from tomorrow is America’s.

    The Israeli and American war against Iran hurt the PRC, and Pengie the Pooh is no doubt the vengeful sort who wants to establish the hierarchy. Some of the communists are nihilistic enough, or under his thumb enough to do quite a lot.

    Liked by 4 people

  15. I am watching the riotous goings-on in France (and a bit of the mayhem in Italy and other Euro-localities) with concern and some dread. There are places that I visited once or twice, and have read about all my life, and a couple of them which I lived in for some years – places, art and establishments that are important to our Western culture … and now they are threatened by violent aliens and the stupid incompetence and naked corruption of their very own special elite.

    We probably won’t get any of the story through our corrupted, biased mainstream media. About the best that we can hope for is straight local on-scene testimony from those observers whom have established trust through a good reputation.

    Hope that the French authorities can protect the cathedral at Chartres, and the art and artifacts in the Louvre. Also hope that the cemeteries full of American war graves can be safely secured, also. Got an uncle buried in one, and a great-uncle memorialized in another. (Great-Uncle was with the Canadian Princess Pats, though. Lost in 1916 – no remains ever found.)

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hmmm. Sister & BIL head to Europe, this Friday or Saturday (I think), again. Have to double check to see exactly which tour/river boat/cruise they are going on. Pretty sure not France, they just got home from the trip that stopped in Paris.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Just got back from my trip; nothing weird in Rome through Athens, though there was a ‘student’ protest in downtown Athens. Lots of cops to isolate the event. Our tour guide looked at the signs and banners, mumbled ‘Communists’ and led us around them.

        Liked by 3 people

          1. António Mendonça (@AntonioMPatriot) ·

            Finalmente o #exercitoportuguês na #rua em #Portugal pic.twitter.com/TqmdWheLJO

            View on X

            Several posts on X of this same exact video featuring dramatic music, but not much actual news, of military vehicles convoying from somewhere to somewhere else, the caption I think saying it’s in Porto…

            Like

        2. This says Meloni’s deploying 500 troops from the Italian Army to reinforce the local polizia against the mostly peaceful yet fiery scufflish rioting in Milan.

          This vid says the protest are starting off quiet but quickly get hijacked by the pros, who look to me like standard issue black block agitators.

          Liked by 2 people

            1. Some counterscuffling starting up, with one slap upside the head:

              Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) ·

              BREAKING:

              Italian right-wing men take to the streets of Milan to support shop keepers and stop looters and rioters.

              Left-wing protesters show up and a scuffle ensues pic.twitter.com/jEe1zzqL5a

              View on X

              Liked by 2 people

              1. The Italian governments face a test which I fear they will fail: do they side with their ancestral citizens protecting their livelihoods, home, and lives, or with the invaders trying to destroy their civilization?

                Do they even understand what this test is about?

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              1. The only thing more colonizer, white supremacist than a library card is a home library.

                All the best people come from lands with no formal written language.

                Obviously.

                Liked by 1 person

            3. They don’t want the books. They just want to make trouble.

              The better-prepared gangs had probably already raided the stores with the good stuff.

              Liked by 1 person

          1. That is some dedicated, fire breathing, radical fundamentalist Islam-inspired direct action right there. Switzerland, beware! 🤣

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    2. I hope the French want to preserve the treasures of their history badly enough to do it. We don’t need another Sarajevo. And, as the Quran-readers know, destroying someone’s history makes it easier to substitute your own.

      Liked by 4 people

      1. I saw complaints from a “demonstrator” yesterday on X that the French had police snipers and a very clear “Do not come any closer” instruction to the public in place at one of the buildings (unfortunately I can’t remember which one) that the demonstrators were massing in front of.

        Like

    3. There was a suggestion (tounge in cheek to a large degree) that if we manged to reolve Iran a large anti muslim force might be built in a freed Iran. My own comment (mostly reproduced here) was that it seems our interventions in Europe have never ended well. In WWI Wilson screwed up the peace. In WWII (or WWI part 2) we did better and managed to sort of get the piece of Germany back on a (mostly) rational path (although I might argue we did better with Japan though they have their own issues). We fought the Cold War even when much of the populace of France, UK and the BDR as well as the rest of Europe wished to surrender (or more realistically merge) to the USSR. We’ve been policing the the world against the onslaught of various chaotic groups (particularly Islamic based ones) for well nigh on 50 years. Admittedly, we foolishly fueled some of this in the Cold War period in saving Afghanistan (Thank you President Carter with the combination of Afghanistan and restoring the Ayatollah you made a mess MORE horrific than President Wilson, Bravo!).

      To my taste, we have 4 pragmatic interests in this mess Europe is rushing into:

      1) The British and French Nuclear weapons must be secured. Should those weapons get into radical Islamic hands that is a world-ending issue

      2) Much of the tooling and mask-making hardware for high-end (2 nm technology) comes out of Holland and Germany. The modern world runs on this, and the processes and methods are highly proprietary. These workers, designers, and hardware (as well as families) may need to be airlifted or otherwise extracted lest we get a 10-20 year dark age/stagnation as we rediscover or reinvent the methodologies

      3) Europe has large portions of the historical record of Western Civilization. Islam when driven to its fundamentalist base is notorious for destroying or hiding art and history that contradicts its worldview (e.g. the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afganistan, Looting in museums in Iraq). Sadly there is nothing we can do for large objects like the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and cathedrals and churches across Europe. But we can make a reverse of the Monument Men and have plans to rescue as much of the moveable art as possible. In France we’ve already lost several historical buildings that survived 2 world wars. Precisely how long will it be before the mostly peaceful rioters pick up rocks and start lobbing them at I.M. Pei’s cutesy glass pyramid at the Louvre and start burning or stealing the art. When will they start marching on various other museums across Europe? This is a hard problem one does not simply pick up and move 14th-20th century art, many are delicate and need proper shipping and storage. And some pieces are so large (E.G. David, the Pieta) that moving them is an engineering task unto itself.

      4) At present there are large numbers of European and UK citizens who are at grave danger from not only the oncoming mobs but who their own governments wish to confine or silence. These are folks who should be offered asylum ASAP. Also, families (especially those with 2 or more small children and productive parents) should be offered asylum. These are the people we need and this augmentation (not replacement like the Democrat/DSA ) strategy is one we need.

      Will this happen? I don’t know but right now the goat entrails and tea leaves are not giving a good result. The failure to plan is itself a plan and letting the safety of our cities from nuclear attack, the most critical parts of our economy, several thousand years of western history and the lives of intelligent, freedom-loving humans ride on the whims of a bunch of cowardly juvenile sub-morons like those currently directing most European governments seems like a very bad bet.

      Somewhere deep inside me lives an ornery Objectivist id that my Minarchist libertarian superego fails to control. My id replies to this mess with a statement from Rorschach in Watchmen #1 (paraphrased to avoid offense)

      The politicians will look up and shout ‘save us!’ And I’ll look down and whisper ‘no.’

      The Politicians of France and the UK and Europe in general have made (or more precisely not made) their bed. They, I would most assiduously exclude from any asylum. They have erected their lampposts; it is their turn to use them. They are Not worth rescuing. But there are people and things worth preserving.

      Like

    1. The Reader notes that Republicans tend to vote later. Depressing total turnout is the ‘legal’ part of the Demoncrats strategy.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. I’m hoping ballots are at the mail drop tomorrow. If so, I can drop off next Monday. If that doesn’t work, I’m offline Tuesday 10/27 and the 28th. (Knee replacement on Tuesday, I stay overnight at the free fire zone hospital, then get a ride home Wednesday (post op, plus a mini-PT class of sorts).

          I’ll be getting rides to the downtown PT facility, so at worst case, could use the outside (uggh!) ballot drop box by the county office. Have PT at the downtown location on the 30th and 3rd.

          I’m as ready for the knee surgery as I’m going to be. Decidedly not my first rodeo with major knee work, but the first time for new hardware. Praying just a wee bit. :)

          Liked by 5 people

          1. The Reader’s better half had a knee replacement mid March. Two months later she was taking care of the Reader as he recovered from heart surgery. Been a fun year here at the Reader’s abode.

            Liked by 4 people

            1. Yep, they were at the mail drop yesterday. I’ll stop by the county building next Monday and drop them off.

              The next bit is property taxes. Some years, we get the bill by ballot drop-off day. If not, I expect to be driving November 10th (lots of appointments that day), and would pay shortly thereafter. Postal Disservice routes all mail from Flyover Falls to Portland, and I’d rather such a check be handed to the county tax people’s grubby hands directly.

              Like

                1. I’ve been going to e-transfers, with some holdouts. The credit card from a bank known for non-CC shenanigans, for one, plus the property taxes. Others are working their way to direct withdrawal. though I have a couple that bill the credit card first for various reasons.

                  Like

                  1. Yes. Most mine go to CC too. (Not property taxes. County wants a bounty to use a CC.) Why? Same as the bank, I get a tracking number. I can sic the CC or bank on them. Have not had to yet. Just calling and asking where to send verification copies work.

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            1. Yeah, it’s, er, interesting. The fun part is the fact that the left leg took over a lot of the duty over the years when the right knee has had issues. Said right knee is objecting strenuously to having to be the strong one. Sigh.

              We’ll see how it pans out. Last time the right knee was badly kaput, I was unable to drive for 10 weeks or so. (Brace, plus lots-o-healing.) Country life and needing rides suck big time.

              Liked by 1 person

      3. The weird thing to me is how someone thinks watching YooRup go up in mostly peaceful yet scuffly flames would make GOP voters here decide to stay home. It kinda sounds like Underpants Gnomes Logic.

        Historically, one of the reasons Nixon stomped Humphrey with 301 to 191 electoral votes back in 1968 was all the hippie “students” rioting so peacefully back then.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. This last weekend every other FB Reel was about the California fires and the Santa Anna winds. A few on other fires in the west. Today? Nothing. Little on the riots and fires in France either.

    One, who posts liberal points with the proper counter points, notes that it is awfully interesting that ransacked food locations are stripped of everything except pork. Muslim owned businesses and worship are not touched, er torched.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Off topic.

      I think my guys are ready for me to be able to go shopping … LOL They are out now. Part of the problem is all the “prescriptions are ready”, then prepaid texts come to my cell. I have to forward the QR Code texts to whomever is in line (tried the screen shot of the QR code but Android has hidden the dang button during one of the upgrades … grrrrr).

      Not ready even with help. Just cannot walk that far, yet. Not even one store. Let alone what typically happens of three stops in one day.

      Liked by 3 people

        1. Been going to Cardio Rehab. I just need to walk more. I can make it to the end of our street and back; about 1/2 hour, so slowly. Our street is a long block, about 1/3 mile. Next goal is to walk around the “block” south of us. Slightly shorter, but still a longer block than standard. OTOH the dog likes my pace. She can do all the sniffy’s she wants without stopping me.

          Also need to get back to the regular gym and a trainer there. My lower back complains if I stand long.

          One does not bounce back as fast as one wants to at 70 (officially tomorrow).

          Liked by 1 person

          1. Aye, 74 years here. Pre-op exercise was going fairly well until we had to evacuate for the fire. We needed important papers, and I got it in my [redacted] mind to grab the fire safe. Lift it off the second (less important papers) safe, onto a hand truck, thence into the pickup. 4 days later, repeat. (And no, I didn’t clear the freaking thing out. That would have required calmness at the evacuation, and a non brain-fried mind afterward.

            Net result, a painful muscle tear in the groin on the right leg. I now have close to my normal range of motion (sort of), but that leg has been weaker than the left for several years. Home PT curtailed. I’m back to doing the basic leg exercises, trying to get the left leg up to snuff, but the right is meh. (I’m wondering how soon that knee will want new hardware.)

            God willing, I plan to be off opioid painkillers so I can drive two weeks postop. That’s the day I have two postop visits, a blood test, and a PT session. I do NOT want to impose on my neighbor, Kat-the-dog would be a wreck if she were stuck at home that long, crate or no crate.

            I have a history of being able to drop the opioid painkiller fairly fast. My last “get a ride” appointment is 10 days postop. Pretty sure I was off Norco in a week when the right knee had to be repaired 5 years ago (torn quadriceps tendons. I’m a frequent flyer at the ortho practice…).

            Liked by 2 people

          2. I’m coming up on 8 years since the event that should have killed me blew a hole between my ventricles.

            Walking around the nurses station in the ICU was the first milestone.

            Up and down the hallway in my building once, twice … a hundred times, on more lap each time, was the second.

            Going outside and onto the street. 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, a block at a time, you know the drill.

            A couple of years into this sudden kidney failure. Dialysis. Back to square one.

            Kidney transplant (thank God!) and square one again.

            4 years on and it’s 6km daily. Without fail.

            You can do this. You just need to have confidence that the days between now and your goal will be worth the effort.

            Liked by 1 person

        1. Forwarding the text with the QR code link, works too.

          But, yes, I need to research the screenshot method. There used to be an icon on the drop down shortcuts. That disappeared … grrrrrr.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. The Samsung screenshot instructions are tremendously useless. Both alternatives (power + volume down, and hold power a few seconds) don’t bring up anything useful. They say to check the phone manufacturer’s support site.

            It’s fairly easy for me to read a QR code, but Chrome on this phone is zero fun.

            Like

            1. Yes, the QR Code “reader”, is easy. Not as easy as iPhone, which you just bring up the camera app and the app knows picture VS QR.

              The QR code hubby needed was something for the pharmacy to scan for prepaid prescriptions. A much shorter line for prescription pickups (although as more people use this, that line will get longer). He needed two links. One for mine (which prepaid on $0 copay), and one for the dog’s (not $0).

              Like

              1. At least on my phone, it’s fairly easy to get the QR code reader. Log in, swipe down for the basic controls, then again. The reader is on the second page on my phone. Somewhat useful for Fred Meyer adverts and the newish practice of hiding instruction manual links behind QR codes.

                There’s a Linux desktop tool that lets you read a QR code from a screenshot, but the last time I tried it, it wouldn’t play on the desktop computer. Most of what I need can be done by the phone, and if I need the actual link, I can copy the link to email and send it to myself.

                Like

  18. RE: Oil

    For those unaware, there’s something odd going on with gas prices right now. The price per barrel of crude oil is actually close to normal. But for some reason, the price of refined oil (i.e. gas and diesel fuel) is at Biden levels. The difference between the two prices is at an unusually high level.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Our refineries are at max capacity and then some. Frankly, Trump should have seized and reopened the closed CA refineries 3-6 months ago.

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), often called the Steel Seizure Case, would seem to be a barrier to such actions.

        During the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman ordered the federal government to seize control of the nation’s steel mills.

        Per Grok:

        On June 2, 1952, the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that Truman’s action was unconstitutional. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinion, holding that the President lacked both statutory authority from Congress and inherent constitutional power (including as Commander in Chief) to seize private property in this manner. The power to take such action belonged to Congress, not the President acting alone.

        Getting Congress to go along with a Trump idea has proven difficult.

        Liked by 4 people

        2. Also, he wouldn’t have to seize the property; just override the state’s ridiculous enviro regs that make the refineries impossible to operate. Different question IMHO.

          Liked by 1 person

      1. At the local Chevron regular dropped down below $6/gal out here for a few days, down from well over $6.50 the last time I filled up, then it bounced back up to just over $6 this morning.

        Like

        1. Fred Meyers at the Flyover Falls store has regular at $4.69. That’s down a dime from last week. I don’t need/use road-legal diesel, but that’s nasty. (looks: $6.87 at Fred’s.)
          Glad I stocked up on diesel earlier this year.

          Like

    3. The benchmark US Oil price, West Texas Intermediate [WTI) is over $98 pbl. Without Putin, Hormuz, and Houthis it’s $60. or less. Agree about the refineries, but crude prices are elevated. gasoline is about where it would be given crude prices. DIesel is just stupid.

      Liked by 1 person

    4. I suspect delivery schedules are iffy, which will make it hard to plan refinery runs. Irregular and uncertain deliveries add costs. So does purchasing on the spot market so you can fill out a refinery run.

      Like

  20. I dunno about that interest rate bit.

    I’m of an age that my Depression Era parents repeatedly impressed on me the importance of Compound Interest. Deposit 10% of your earnings in an FDIC insured bank at something like 5% interest and by the time you retire you’ve got a nice nest egg. It worked for them very, very well. Nothing spicy, nothing dangerous. Deposit in a bank that then lends that money to somebody else to buy a house or something and pay like 8%.

    Sadly, hippie Boomer that I am, convinced I wouldn’t live this long, I spend that 10% on other stuff that was more fun.

    When I did get smart and went to University in the 90s I borrowed modestly at 8% and paid off my student loans within a couple of years using the miracle of amortization. Just a smidgeon of self discipline can save you a buttload of money.

    When Dubya, who I supported then and still have some fond feelings for, came into office, lowering the prime rate became a political priority. This more or less screwed the normal middle class saver. When the savings interest rate lagged behind nominal inflation the traditional “normie” strategy became a loser. Enter aggressive investment advisers …

    Low interest rates benefit the speculator. Of course, the Objectivists among us tout the universal benefit of venture capital expanding the pool of wealth. But, I remember the greatest boom in our lifetimes – the 60s when rates were high. It seems to my little reptilian brain that low interest rates are compensation for sluggish natural growth.

    Sure enough, the demand for high yield easy to market “instruments” collided with the Bushie enthusiasm for bringing as much of the aggrieved minority community into the property owning class as fast as possible resulted in the commoditization of sub prime loans resulting in the crash of 2008 and the election of Barack Hussein you know who.

    I cheer for Elon and wish him and the other guys the best. It’s fun to watch.

    But, my class consciousness is strong. It’s the middle class that I really care about. My cousins and classmates and their sons and daughters.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Actually, it was Clinton that ‘fortified’ the Community Reinvestment Act and forced banks to give mortgages to people unable to make the payments. The vultures came home to roost after Slick Willie was safely out of office and the Democrats blamed everything on Bush Jr.

      Liked by 3 people

    2. Um. We started our work years, essentially in the ’80s. Those high bank interest savings rates corresponded with high mortgage rates. Luckily our student loans were set at mid-70s fixed interest rates by contract (4% his, 6% mine). But the mortgage rates? 13.5%-5 year adjustable and balloon. Luckily we were able to refinance to 11% fixed in less than a year. Have dropped it down to a reasonable 3.38% over the next years (also almost *doubled the mortgage between two of the refinances).

      (*) Home equity home improvement projects. We could use a home equity loan now but the interest rates are “oh, heck no” territory. Besides we now can use those savings without penalty (taxes, yes).

      Liked by 1 person

      2. September ’86. I bought my place in San Jose (with equity from a previous house that I remodeled–got my materials and contract-out costs, but nothing else). Adjustable rate, with a teaser for a few months in the 8 region, then cost-of-funds. It hit 11 right away, and slowly decreased over time. Due to stupidity, I had little savings outside the pension and 401K. $SPOUSE has been a good teacher.

        Because of the California housing bubble (it was doing just fine while S. Central Oregon was in a housing slump), we got Casa RC and had enough money to do necessary upgrades. (Power to the barn/shop, electric therein.) As retirement money became available (we were both in our 50s when we moved here), the project list got more ambitious, with some parts of projects contracted out. OTOH, I’m a semi-decent carpenter and a good electrician. Also one who knows his limitations. And plumbing ain’t easy for me.

        Like

        1. “Due to stupidity, I had little savings outside the pension and 401K.“

          –

          Same. We did not think this through. Which means we have very little income that is not taxable.

          Liked by 1 person

  21. I claim no precision beyond having lived through it. The idea of promoting home ownership resonated with Dubya’s “compassionate conservatism.”

    My point is the shift of emphasis from savers (middle class) to borrowers (speculators). It lasted long enough to become today’s conventional wisdom.

    It also served to encourage an unhealthy debt burden from top to bottom.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. “Assets are taxed, debt is a tax deduction.”

        Yes, and you can tell because that’s what the ultra-rich are doing. They hold shares but do not sell them. They BORROW against the value of the shares, and their money is not taxable. Because it’s debt. And they keep rolling it over, never paying the debt off.

        I don’t really understand how that all works, but that’s what they’re doing. Because if they had income, the government would take 65% of it.

        Also, somehow they make money off having yachts they never use. More debt.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. Margin rates are fairly stout if your net balance is not in the gazillions. Preferential rates, and hidden discounts and credits and such, are how the uppers stay upper.

            But basically, borrow against appreciating assets, live on that cash while paying the interest on that loan, then on passing away your assets all reset their cost basis, so what would have been “taxable gains” on a pre-death sales are now tax free for the estate to sell, and one’s estate can pay off those loans, all completely outside the tax system, and all at the net cost of just those interest payments.

            Like

    2. Respectively disagree.

      Maybe it is how we grew up, how we have taught and passed on the same philosophy, which is “pay yourself first”. With the emphasis on the power of compound interest, regardless of how low the interest is. Granted at a certain point there are better instruments than standard savings to use.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. Trust me, I know. We keep just enough funds in standard bank savings for a minor emergency. Having floors redone in our family room. Not a small space (22’x30′). That “emergency fund”, is not enough to pay the credit card bill that paid it initially.

          Bank money markets or CD’s are not much better. But both instruments can be used to stash funds initially, until moving the funds to brokerage savings like Charles Schwab. Then their are their 401(k)’s. Eventually, slowly, it does add up.

          Liked by 1 person

        2. In the early 1980s none of my local banks offered any interest at all on a savings account, and generally only 1 or 2 percent on CDs. Meanwhile the real (not official) inflation rate was over 15%.

          Later, reading about hyperinflation, Weimar, and Argentina, I completely understood the “spend it now, before it loses even more purchasing power” concept.

          Like

      2. A lot of it is definitely a generational thing.

        In the wake of the Stock Market crash and then the Great Depression, the FDIC insurance that the federal gummint gave banks made them the safest and most reliable investment.

        If you recall, in 1981-82 the prime rate went up to 25% in order to stop the inflation.

        In the early 2000s the rate was reduced to the levels that we have become accustomed to. That created a huge demand for higher yielding investments, not always sound. The schmart guys linked the demand for “affordable housing” with the demand for returns and voila! the crisis of 2008 and Obama.

        To me, it is an interesting factoid that the postwar industrialization of the US occurred with, by today’s standard, much higher interest rates while the lower rates that should encourage investment attended de-industrialization. I say “interesting” because I don’t see any causation in either direction, it just strikes me.

        Like

        1. I think you’re forgetting the Regulatory Tax, which made it economical to move manufacturing and resource extraction overseas.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. That, and the Fed has agencies that will help you find a Chinese manufacturer, arrange a translation services, provide legal aid for contracts, and handle currency exchanges. Just email your drawings to Shenzhen and boxes of completed parts will show up in the mail.

            Making those same parts myself… the regulatory overhead basically ate the potential profits at any reasonable selling price, even on a back-of-the-envelope estimate.

            Many of the companies that moved production to China did it because the government made it impossible to do business otherwise.

            Maybe it was different in the 1980s and 1990s, but when shut my manufacturing business down due to it in the early oughts, it was pretty much a done deal.

            Like

          3. Granted, it’s a dynamic system and all of the input variables are interrelated in dynamic ways. There is no simple explanation. (Hence: no solutions, only tradeoffs.)

            Nevertheless, I question the current conventional wisdom that lower interest rates are always “best.”

            Like

        2. I know.

          Actual experience. We’ve refinanced this house a number of times. The last time, post 2008, one requirement we got was a demand for the building permits that put in the family room over the garage, before we bought the house. We had to go down to the *county to get them. Problem is the county did not have the correct square footage (per the property taxes information), or someone down there does not. Do we really want to point that out? Note, we did get the permit copies. Turns out the permits were from ’78 – ’88, plus the ones we have gotten, post ’88, when we had electrical and other work done that included that room. I mean the inspectors all showed up with the updated plans. Our income was more heavily scrutinized too.

          Based on the income inspection changes now it would be a lot harder for us to refinance. Because our monthly income does not reflect what we pay taxes on. Because we have income from the IRA’s only when we need it. Not steady. I am sure they account for that somehow, but one never knows for sure.

          (*) The information that there were permits was noted by every inspector in the home inspection reports when we bought the house and every refinance since. Just no copies.

          Liked by 1 person

  22. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » I’VE BEEN SLEEPING VERY BADLY, AND THAT HAS ME HEARING EARTHQUAKE BELLS:  A Pause Before The Fire.

  23. Well, today my friends I discover that I do not know anything. When it comes to politics, I am blind and deaf.

    Alberta had their referendum last night, and voted to remain in Canaduh. I don’t know the numbers or the voting patterns, but that’s the main result.

    I, the idiot, did not expect this. It is a surprise to me. Which goes to show that I have no freaking clue what’s up. My fellow man is a mystery, and I do not understand why they would vote to keep putting up with this sh1t when given an alternative.

    As to France being on fire, that I understand. It’s Pantifa and the rest of the socialist mob like Code Pink etc. European (and Canadian, and American!) tax money is being spent to stage astroturf rioting exactly the same as #GeorgeFloyd/BLM in 2020. Same people, same motive. Same money.

    And you can tell because the cops are standing around letting them do it. Same as 2020.

    The French are not fighting back very much. They don’t really care if their old buildings get burnt down, apparently. Same as Canadians apparently don’t care if Canada gets burnt down.

    Okay then.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Further to my comment, linkage:

      Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) ·

      🚨 NOW: Investigation confirms 54 GROUPS, including communists, socialists and Islamists, are BEHIND the major riots in France

      The fake news told us it's about "students"

      It's about the INVASION of France both by foreigners and 3rd world ideology! 😠

      "You don't see the French… pic.twitter.com/iE44cO4rYO

      View on X

      “Only 16 of the 54 groups are student or youth groups. The other 38 are adult-run communist parties, unions, revolutionary groups and propaganda outlets

      The network also includes Tricontinental and CodePink, both tied to Neville Roy Singham, a Marxist American tech millionaire who lives in Shanghai

      The same Singham-funded network has been behind anti-Israel and anti-America protests in the United States!”

      Like

      1. The French riots remind me of the “mostly peaceful” riots in Seattle. They appear to be professionally managed, with, oddly, the same sort of organized looting of luxury department stores.

        I’m not French, and I mistrust much of the reporting about the riots. I am not convinced that they are spontaneous. France is a weak link.

        Liked by 5 people

        1. It feels to me like there was supposed to be a corresponding “Summer of Love 2: The Sequel” underway here at the same time to make the whole thing synergistically revolutionary, but, uhoh, no USAID money, so the professionals here remain unpaid and thus unscuffley.

          Liked by 2 people

          1. Luxury goods depend on provenance, though.

            Maybe, they are payment in kind for workers/protestors? Good that are sold produce money, which leaves traces in the financial system at scale. Hundreds or thousands of individuals selling random items on Facebook Marketplace would be harder to track as a funding stream.

            As I recall, the worst looting took place in cities that didn’t crack down on looters aggressively.

            Like

    2. Stalin said something like, “It doesn’t matter who does the voting as long as we do the counting.”

      I have no expectation that Canadian elections are any more honest than anyone else’s.

      Liked by 4 people

  24. Remember when Liberal communist Demoncrat Scum claimed Ice would be going to schools to get children, it seems the only ones who believed them were the illegals they need to prop up their failing programs and whorish teachers unions.
    You reap what you sow bitches from hell.

    https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/10/19/migrant-enrollment-in-california-schools-craters-saving-millions-in-taxpayer-dollars/#:~:text=Migrant%20Enrollment%20in%20California%20Schools%20Craters%2C%20Saving%20Millions%20in%20Taxpayer%20Dollars

    Like

  25. Europe:

    Like USA in 2020, the hard Left sees the Right (non-Left) winning, and bigly. So they go apeshit now to try to get their way now, while still possible. In a year, or even lest, places like Poland that have defied invasion and Leftroidism will look like Paradise compared to the nincompoop zones. And there is exactly -no- way anyone can seriously command Poland to suicide wiht the rest of them. They can take “conventionally” any other European power right now. And I have my -strong- suspicions they are either already have nukes, or can in about six months, tops.

    USA:

    The Left ahs figured out that Trump and MAGA-adjacent Republicans are about to win and win big in November. They are panicking. Making open threats that are stupid and show fear. Encouraging all their buddies to act up. Fueling the European stupidity when they should be trying their best to shut it off until December.

    On our side, vote like your Nation depends on it. It does. We need to not only win but win stinkin, break their hears and minds -bigly-. Vote. Nag everyone you know who isn’t Left to vote. Shame anyone who cannot confirm they voted. Don’t fight over the details. Even the RINOs are likely to do the occasional useful vote, versus handing an abstain over to the Left. Vote. Hold your nose if needed. Imagine the Left screaming each time you tick another box on the ballot. Because they are.

    Of course “they” TDS nincompoops are joining the Leftroids to wreck the economy. So effign what? Plenty of young men are willing to go get shot, or worse, for this Country. There are guys in service with 80% burn scars and missing limbs. -We- can handle downturns and even poverty. Sucks much, but it is curable in a Free society. It is near universal in a Leftroid land, and nearly incurable short of a bloodbath, if then. I do not care if I die broke as long as I die free. Money well spent. Help your neighbors. Put some extra cans in the pantry. Buy some extra ammo so using it is not the same as not having any. Have a gun, Have a spare. If you cannot or will not own a gun have something that lets you say “no”, even if it is just a baseball bat or a decent bow. Be willing to fight for yourself and your freedom, be willing, and you -will- have them. Most of those assholes do not actually know how to -fight-, as they are bullies accustomed to kicking fools and cowards, under cover of corrupt pols. Those Lefties that are competent get to deal with those of us who are … willing and able.

    Go. Go vote. Go work. Go plan. Go boldly. We -shall- win this, today, tomorrow, despite setbacks and suckage, inevitably because we -will- fight for it and we have chosen to be

    Willing and Able.

    and thus, Free.

    Liked by 2 people

  26. Again the rich wealthy are demanding a wealth tax.
    Nothing, and I mean Nothing is stopping them from donating all their wealth to the federal government. The next time one of these phony f*ckers make this claim EVERYONE should demand they give all the money away to the government and shut their pie holes.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. Nothing stops voters from personally asking their current Congresscritter “How about you vote to cut Congressional pay and benefits 20% for the next term” and “How about you leaving politics and never running for any office again”

        Liked by 1 person

    2. One interesting thing in Massachusetts is that the current 5.25% flat income tax was raised (allegedly temporarily) to 5.75% in the late ’80s. The legislature left it in place even though it was supposed to revert. Sometime in the late ’90s there was an initiative to repeal the surcharge that passed. For reasons unclear to me, they left the higher rate as an option, and to this day on Massachusetts Form 1 there is a check-off box that says you wish to pay the higher tax. John (Lurch) Kerry got caught on this when he had said he would gladly pay a higher tax rate and then it was found he (of course) did not check that box in 2004 when he ran for President (He also registerd his large sail yacht in Newport RI that saved him several 10’s of thousands of dollars of excise tax he would have paid if it was registered in Boston MA). There are apparently folks who check that box, but I think it is less than 10K people in the state.

      Like

  29. I was tempted to scold a European journalist through the screen this morning. I was reading an article lamenting that his fellow Europeans are just not buying enough EVs and are keeping those icky diesel cars even though electric is so much Greener and better for the planet and supports European manufacturers, and …

    That electricity is becoming scarce, and thus the cars cannot be charged, seemed to completely escape the writer. The high cost of living was also ignored.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. See also: The People’s Democratic Republic of California, which has suffered rolling brown-outs and occasional blackouts since at least the 1960s, and their EV mandate.

      Since the electricity costs for recharging their EVs are typically quoted at 1/3 to 1/4 of ordinary residential electricity, can people use EV electricity to run their air conditioners? No?

      Oh, you pay full rate for your EV, *plus* a “demand charge”, *plus* $5-$15K for a state-licensed union electrician to upgrade your residential electrical service?

      Such a deal!

      Like

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