Month: February 2021

15FEB2021 – OCF Update

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We got a good response on my “Who is the Worst RINO in Recent History?” post.  And I’ll have to say I really enjoy getting the feedback.  In fact, I crave that experience.  It’s no secret that I despise Romney.  But even if the winner had been someone I don’t really care that much about like Richard Burr or Bill Cassidy, I still would have been gratified to get the information.  I only have my small group of friends here in the Northeast and finding out what the rest of the country thinks is valuable.  Not knowing what has been going on in the rest of the country is part of how they have been able to rip this country apart.  When people get to tell their stories it makes us all better informed.

I encourage all of the readers to say what you think even if you think my opinions are mistaken, even, especially if you think they’re mistaken.  And I’m interested in any topics you are interested in me writing about.  If you have a topic send it in the comments.  And if you want to write on it, even better.  I’ll set up a folder for you and post it.  Just pick an alias and it’ll be searchable for your alias and if you ever want it removed I’ll be happy to do it.

Now that the impeachment is over I’m hoping that we’ll start to hear from Donald Trump and what his plans for the future are.  I’ll continue my own series of posts about what I think the country needs.  At this point I think a convention of conservative leaders is desperately needed.  A national organization separate from the federal government is going to be needed.  It will need to coordinate all the red states that are tired of being ignored or persecuted by the feds but it will also have to represent and help the conservatives living behind the enemy lines in blue state America.

I am also looking for any practical experience with the topics that I am discussing for the “Reclaim the Family” series.  This is one of the most important topics but it’s also one of the most difficult to come up with practical and actionable advice.  Families aren’t widgets.  Each is different and the people in them aren’t as easy to model as simple things like economics and missile ballistics.  Even anecdotes about life and families would be welcome.  The contributors’ stories are some of my favorite content here.  I really miss War Pig’s stories.  They were always entertaining.

I think after I finish the Star Trek series I’m going to review the old Jackie Gleason series, “The Honeymooners.”  I haven’t watched them in decades.  They should be a lot of fun.  Ralph and Norton, Ralph and Alice; these are almost archetypal relationships that I think still resonate with men and women.  Plus they really are funny and we could all use a good laugh.

So stay tuned, plenty coming up and even beside the politics there should be plenty to read and discuss.

Battle Ground – A Novel of The Dresden Files – by Jim Butcher – An SF&F Book Review

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Spoiler Alert.  All my reviews are spoilers.  If you wan to avoid them go down to the end and just read my recommendation.

For anyone coming to this review without any background to the Dresden Files, Battle Ground is I believe the seventeenth book of that series.  Jim Butcher has created quite a complicated and very entertaining world that centers on a Chicago that is embedded in a reality that has several kinds of vampires, two faery realms, werewolves, sasquatches, Norse mythological characters, Knights of the Cross, Fallen Angels and wizards.  And in particular Harry Dresden is the extremely conflicted and always wise-cracking Wizard of Chicago.  If you want to delve into the series, I guess it would be much more sensible and fun to start at book one but to each his own.

Battle Ground is the conclusion of the story arc begun in the previous book, Peace Talks.  And for all intents and purposes this book is taken up by the Battle of Chicago.  A really angry Titan named Ethniu has decided to destroy Chicago as a way to turn the human world against the supernatural groups that were parties to the “Unseelie Accords” that acted as a council to ensure that humans do not discover the hidden creatures all around them.

Along with her amphibious allies the Fomor who have a settlement under Lake Michigan they attack the city and with the power of the “Eye,” that Ethniu wields, they begin destroying the city and killing the population.  Standing against this systematic destruction and murder of Chicago is Harry and his allies.  I won’t say friends because many of them fear and/or hate him.  He has an Italian American mobster turned supernatural power broker named Marcone providing significant infrastructure, manpower and significant strategic support.  He has his current boss the Queen of Air and Darkness, Mab the Winter Queen, providing her troops and her own very considerable magical powers.  There are Harry’s nominal brothers in arms, the White Council of Wizards that are always right at the edge of expelling him for all the unorthodox and insubordinate actions he takes.  This includes his grandfather Ebenezar McCoy who is more or less the head of the Council and who always seem on the edge of either throttling Harry or apologizing to him.  There are the Knights of the Cross who are Harry’s friends and possess power that can stand against the evil that the enemy represent but even with these allies Harry and his friends are hopelessly overmatched.

But Harry has one ace in the hole.  He has a magical resource that if he can lure the Titan to a certain spot would allow him to capture her permanently.  But in order to do that Ethniu would have to be lured in by targets that she wanted to destroy and the destruction that she would accomplish would be ruinous.  And that is what the book is about.  As Harry and his allies go block by block saving civilians and battling monsters the Titan levels the city skyscrapers on her way to confronting Mab and the other powerful leaders.  And it’s a long book, over four hundred pages and the overwhelming majority of the book is this battle.

If you’re a fan of the series, and obviously if you’re still reading at book seventeen then you are, you will like this book a lot.  Sure, there are parts of the battle that seem kind of repetitive or at least maybe overkill.  And I have never been a big fan of Harry’s romantic attachment to Karren Murphy.  For whatever reason it never seems to keep my interest.  And there are a few scenes where some of the characters sound a little too touchy feely with too much “I’m here for you,” and all that.  But there is plenty on the battle side and on the personal side of this story to satisfy fans of the books.  Some questions from Peace Talks get answered and some things that were left hanging remain that way.  Some old friends and enemies die.  Others change their relation to Harry and further complicate his life.  And some characters that do not have a major part in the action still provide a needed presence.  I always enjoy the character of Michael Carpenter.  He’s the retired Knight of the Cross who is probably the most grounded character in the series and also provides sanctuary for Harry’s young daughter when horrible things come looking for Harry.  And Harry reaches a kind of crossroads with respect to his stature in the supernatural world.  He is now a heavy hitter and has gained respect and even some wisdom.

What can I say?  You’re going to like most of this book. And there will be few things that you won’t care for.  But if you’re a Dresden fan you will have to read it.

Now Let’s Switch It Up – Who Will Lead Us Out of the Wilderness?

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Yes, Mitt Romney is the lowest of the low.  But who do we we think could be part of the solution?  We need a leader, a hero.  Someone powerful and smart.  But who is out there?  I’ll put a few names out there, pick any that seems like they could help.  If you have a better name pick “other” and list him in the comments.

This is a lot more difficult than the other survey.  This isn’t a simple choice between obvious choices.  None of us know the answer to this.  Some of these people want to help us and even have done things to help us like President Trump.  But who has the wherewithal to get us out of the trap that the Left has gotten us in.  Strength, brains but also enormous courage.  That’s what’s needed.  Because the enemies ranged against him will be almost irresistible.

And honestly, what it’s going to require is someone who can organize the other leaders around him and forge that coalition into a weapon to defeat the Deep State.  And that is going to take more than anyone has shown so far.

 

Who Will Lead Us Out of the Wilderness?

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Who is the Worst RINO in Recent History?

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I skipped small timers like most of the house reps who voted for impeachment and guys like Jeb! and some of the small time hoodlums who showed up in the White House cabinet positions.  But if I missed someone good feel free to pick “other” and add him in in the comments.  Pick the creepiest low down skunk of the bunch.  I tell you it’s not an easy pick.  McCain, Romney, Ryan.  It’s real close.

 

Who is the Republican You Despise the Most?

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Update:  The people have spoken.  Mitt Romney is, hands down, the the most despised Republican.  Quite an honor.

 

 

 

 

 

Something to Raise My Spirits

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I was writing a post about what might be going on this year.  It was coming out pretty depressing and so I put it aside.  As I mentioned yesterday the Mid-Winter Blues have reached me.  Adding depressing predictions is just something I can’t justify at the moment.  I need something light to move me through my day.

So, I checked my almanac and sure enough we’re over the hump of winter. There are approximately thirteen weeks in winter and we’re in week eight. and the days are about 90 minutes longer than they were at Winter Solstice.  So, by any measure of sidereal momentum, we’re on the upswing.  In honor of this milestone, I will put all doom and gloom aside.  After all, the human soul needs hope and light to carry on.  That’s what I’ll do.

Here’s a video that lists the ten most conservative cities in the US.  The narrator is a little bit snarky, probably a liberal jerk but I still found it interesting.  I’m sure there are alternate lists but it’s a good starting point.  If you want to add a city to the list leave it in the comments.

And because I’m always looking for good science fiction movies here’s a video that claims to do that.  CineFix Top 10 Science Fiction Films of All Time  I agree with some of these picks disagree with a couple and have never seen a few others so I’ll check them out and maybe find something good.  If you disagree with any feel free to say.

And this just in, the idiots in the Senate have finally finished the farcical impeachment theater with seven cretinous Republicans voting with the Democrat creeps.  These were Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.  Burr was a bit of a surprise.  I wonder if he’ll join Romney and Sasse in being primaried out by their states when they come up for re-election.  Let’s hope.

Well, look at that.  Now my spirits have lifted.  I’ll get on with reading the accounts of the farce and wait for President Trump to comment on it and then tell us what the future will hold.

Well see there now, seek and ye shall find.  Ask and ye shall receive.  A nice reward and we can hope that serious people will now step forward to start discussing what our side can do to sidestep what’s going on in Washington DC and begin to return our lives to something resembling the better world we lived in just one long year ago.  I only hope the smart and powerful decide to come to our aid.  They can make this easier and less ugly.  If the little people have to do it ourselves it’s going to be very painful and so ugly that I don’t even want to imagine it.  No one wants the United States to go through something like the fate of Yugoslavia.  But more and more it’s looking like that is how it will play out.  But that’s a discussion for another day.  Today I’ll just bask in a good ending for a mid-winter day.

Update:  Now it can begin.