So, what’s a Poor Boy to Do? – Coming to Terms with the Real World

I was talking to some friends and the discussion came around to Trump and DeSantis in the 2024 race.  And there was all this noise about Trump and the electability problem with women and how DeSantis was like Trump without the drama and on and on.  I kept quiet and eventually someone asked me what I thought and I said, “I don’t think we’ll be winning anymore presidential elections from here on out.  And everyone got quiet but they kinda nodded their heads and said yeah.  And that was a good moment.  We started talking about other things, local things and things we were doing personally.  And that was better.

Honestly, it’s time to come to terms with where we are.  We live in a country that is easily controlled by a subset of the population that will not be knocked off its perch by any combination of opponents currently present.  And that could change but waiting for that eventuality would be like the Carthaginians waiting for the Visigoths to defeat the Romans for them.  It would eventually happen but that would be five hundred years after Carthage had been sacked.  No, we have to utilize our time usefully.

And what is that?  What makes sense?  First off, prioritize the problems with living in this environment.  Look at the aspects of this government that cause the worst damage.  If you live in a Blue State or City then without a doubt the deleterious effects are all around you.  Economic mismanagement and crony budget boondoggles are high on the list.  Then there are the educational issues; poorly performing teachers and schools along with very dangerous social indoctrination of your children.  And if you happen to live in an urban center or even some suburban areas the breakdown of law and order is absolutely a critical problem that will have to be addressed.

These are all critical issues that have to be addressed.  For the most part it seems to me that the best way to reduce the problems is to move out of a blue state or city and into a red state where the local government isn’t oppressive and where conditions are least damaging.  I think we’re already seeing this play out in a big way.  And it just makes sense.  No one can afford the absurd taxes in places like California and New York.  And no one can afford to risk the education of their children no less their lives in cities like Chicago and New York.

But will moving to a red state be enough?  That’s the million-dollar question.  I think in a few years the Supreme Court will be shifted to the Left and federal policy will mandate the same kind of policies in the red states as we see in the blue.  Our hope is that the red states will successfully resist these attacks.  But what if the Left insists?

I think we try our best to opt out of as much of civil society as we can and form our own institutions; our own schools, churches, businesses and the like.  But if all these attempts are sabotaged then the only three choices left are to fight, hide or to leave.  As far as fighting we can’t match the resources that could be brought to bear against us.  Joe Biden wasn’t kidding about nukes and F-16s.  They’ll happily use them.  Unless a real general comes along who can take up for our side, we won’t stand a chance.  At least not in the near future.

Hiding means pretending to adopt the woke identity but maintain a clandestine existence.  It seems to me that such an existence could be maintained for a short time but eventually living in a woke world would corrupt the children.  So, I don’t see this as a viable option.

No, if the federal government decides to persecute the red states and no Caesar shows up then the only real long-term option for people like us is to leave for a better place.  And it’s not obvious that such a place exists.  It would have to be outside of the influence of the United States.  Everywhere else is already being molded to accept the rainbow coalition and pledge allegiance to the woke agenda.

So, what does that leave?  Russia and China are the obvious holdouts.  Probably areas of Asia like India and Southeast Asia and currently a good chunk of the Muslim world are independent.  Brazil has made some movement to embrace China and Russia.  And that brings up the question which is worse; living in a woke American society or living in the third world?  Now there are some exceptions.  Places like Singapore, Dubai, Japan and Hungary are relatively affluent enclaves outside the direct control of the United States.  But none of these places are clamoring for ex-pat Americans to invade.  Even if you want to move to these places, you will need skills that these places need.

So that’s the bottom line.  Is it better to become a woke bugman or to leave America forever.  We may have a generation before the red states are sufficiently degraded but one day that choice may be upon us.  If the Left wins, we will have to pick one.  Choose carefully.

DP Review to Close on April 10th 2023

For photographers in the digital age DP Review was the 500 pound gorilla of on-line photo sites.  And after Amazon bought it many years back it was truly dominant.

Well, miracle of miracles, apparently Amazon doesn’t have all the money in the world.  It’s shutting the site down.  For those who had photos or posts up on their site and would like them back for whatever reason there is information at the link for recovering that data.

I wonder if the two Camera Store guys Chris Nichols and Jordan Drake are up the creek without a paddle.  They left their own gig to work with DP Review and now look what happened.

So if Amazon is tightening its belt what the hell should we be expecting in the coming days?  The only constant in this world is change.

So I’m officially designating OCF as the premiere photography site on the planet.

Take that Bezos!

21MAR2023 – Microscopic Images – Snail Munching

Many years ago I kept snails as pets.  I remember how creepy it was listening to them munching egg shells that I gave them to help grow their shells quicker.  They are weird and interesting critters.  I once started a science fiction story where a geneticist combined the brains and tentacles of a cephalopod with the body of a giant African snail to produce a sentient creature that survives a thermonuclear war and becomes a threat to the surviving humans.  But I got bored with the story and never finished it.

 

Guest Contributor – Chemist – 21MAR2023 – Joey Got His Veto

As everyone knew he would, Slow Joe vetoed H.R. 30, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would nullify his new ESG rule.

Up until Biden, retirement investment fund managers were guided by fiduciary responsibility – the managers were legally bound to invest for the maximum safe return for their investors. They could not put their clients money into funds that would enrich themselves nor could they invest in companies to advance their political views. Return on investment was the only guide with massive fines and potential jail for the violators.

The Biden rule enables fund managers to weigh climate change and prioritize ESG initiatives when selecting retirement investments and exercising shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.

Like I said – this was no surprise, of course we was going to veto a bill that tried to curb his power.

But the way he spun it is really galling. From his Twitter:

I just vetoed my first bill. This bill would risk your retirement savings by making it illegal to consider risk factors MAGA House Republicans don’t like.

 

Got that? Its those evil Republicans who want to put your money at risk by maximizing your return not the virtuous democrats who want to use your money to advance their social programs.

I would suggest reaching out to your fund managers and ask if they intend to “weigh climate change and prioritize ESG initiatives when selecting investments and exercising shareholder rights”.

If the answer is yes – close your account. Move your money elsewhere.

20MAR2023 – Spring Equinox – The Canada War

A work day and a writing day.  Having added a couple of thousand words to my story I felt extremely virtuous.  So, I looked at the headlines to see what I had missed.  Yikes!

What I saw was plenty of panic over the bank failures and the subsequent actions of the Fed and the other central banks.  The narrative is that the Fed and the regulators are going to thread the needle by raising the prime rate enough to keep inflation from igniting but save the banks from imploding by trading their underwater bonds for new ones.  Now of course the bond swaps will be wildly inflationary but the thought is if we just keep pumping cash into the banks it will keep the economy from imploding.  What could go wrong with that?  I’m thinking of converting all my assets into Doritos, the only known commodity that never loses its value and that all people recognize as cash.

Meanwhile the MSM is beginning to get interested in the reports of the Biden family receiving Chinese influence peddling payments, and even CNN admitting on the air that “this doesn’t look good.”  So, what can Mumbley Joe do?  Well, he says it ain’t so.  But nobody believes that.  So, he starts yelling about “assault weapons.”  But nobody even blinks an eye anymore at that ploy.  So, what’s a grifter to do?  I assume he’ll try to wag the dog.  He’s wanted to get the Russian oil and gas but it turns out the Russians have guns and aren’t afraid of rainbow flag waving soldiers.  Plus, it turns out they still have those nukes.  Not good.

My guess is he’ll try for a safe war.  Maybe he’ll invade Canada.  They’ve got oil and gas just like the Russians but no nukes and they’re kind of light in the loafers, especially that Trudeau guy.

I mean, it’s a great idea.  This will be easier than that famous standoff with Corn Pop.  And he could look tough while doing it.  All it needs is a cool name like Operation Desert Storm had.  Maybe Operation Arctic Blast or Operation Great White North or Hey Ya Hosers!  And this would give General Milly Vanilly a chance to actually win at something.  All he’d have to do is have his tranny division roll into Ottawa and de-pants Trudeau and demand he surrender to the obvious justice of a (nominally) heterosexual man groveling before transgender soldiers demanding his country relinquish their harmful fossil fuels to a higher power.

It makes sense to me.  It can be a form of reparations for the slaves that the white people of Canada never got around to having but probably thought about.  Maybe Gavin Newsom could get involved.  His state is looking for $65 billion dollars for reparations and right now the Silicon Valley guys are kind of tapped out.  Maybe Joe can give him a cut of the plunder from the Canada war.

You know I really like the idea of the Canada war.  We can’t lose (probably) and we can sell off parts of Canada to the rest of the world which will give us enough money to keep our economy afloat long enough to get Joe Biden re-elected in 2024.  No, this is good.  This is the real thing.  I’ve got to call up Biden and get his people working on this.  I wonder what my cut should be?  Ten percent?