Category: OCF

Silly Season – 2021

photog Current Events, OCF ,

Definition of “Silly Season”

1: a period (such as late summer) when the mass media often focus on trivial or frivolous matters for lack of major news stories

2: a period marked by frivolous, outlandish, or illogical activity or behavior

 

It’s not late summer yet but when the mercury climbs above 90°F even the Burn-Loot-Murder crowd gets easily overheated and things slow down.  Sure, the professional gang-bangers are making their living and shooting each other off porches and through windshields but that kind of news isn’t very interesting anymore.

With school out for summer the Antifa kids might want to burn down the local police precinct but it’s Pride Month and they have to get the police to protect their freak parade so they’ll take off their black bloc paraphernalia long enough to go down to the local precinct and fill out the paperwork to allow them to float some giant-sized sex toy down main street while dressed as a wombat or whatever other fetish symbol they’ve adopted this week.

What’s a blogger to do?  How will I manufacture sufficient outrage to keep the public interested if all I have is Joe Burden surfacing every few days with another listless mumble about vaccinations or the Fourth of July or white supremacists threatening to tip over the continent or sabotage the summer’s ice cream supply.

I guess I have no choice but to actually think about what I want to write about.  “A thoughtful essay?” you may question.  “Does he do those?”  Well, not normally.  But during the silly season I have three choices.  Either go 100% to non-news topics (entertainment and general knowledge), fly completely off the handle and just rave like a lunatic or spend a little time digging into political and social subjects a little more thoughtfully and try to provide something insightful.

But the truth is insightful is hard.  And it’s hard to pump that kind of stuff out.  In fact, you can’t.  When you try to pump it out it pretty much equals the ravings of a lunatic.  So, during lulls in meaningful political news, I expect to be doing more cultural/entertainment stuff and fewer political items.  But my hope is that the political articles I do publish will be worth reading.

And don’t get too worried that my output will go down much.  There are bound to be a few outrages coming up shortly.  After all, these people are certifiably insane.  Even if they weren’t chock full of anti-psychotics there hasn’t been a moment in decades that they weren’t so removed from reality that they wouldn’t know the difference between a Fourth of July fireworks concert and the burning of the Reichstag.

With respect to meaningful political meditation, of late I’ve been thinking about how I would recognize “the real deal.”  To be more precise, how can I recognize who is truly working towards the re-establishment of the Old Republic and who is just running a grift?  After the exposure of the Bushes and the rest of the RINOs you’d think that we could point to their talking points and know who is the real deal.  After all the people who still whine about “illegal immigration is love” like Jeb Bush are obviously the controlled opposition.  But I think the grifters have gotten cagey.  Even Liz Cheney was smart enough to vote along with President Trump when it looked like he was going to be running things.  It was only after the election was handed to Biden that she showed her true colors.  So, it’s not a foregone conclusion that we know what’s lurking in the minds of men.  And that’s a separate question about how much brains and guts a fellow has.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking about today.  When I work it up into something interesting, I’ll put it out there.  In the meantime, I’ll be watching that H.P. Lovecraft/Nick Cage collaboration.  The things I do for my readers!

King of the Castle

photog Current Events, OCF, photog's Corner, Reclaiming the Family , , , ,

“The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defence against injury and violence as for his repose.”

Edward Coke

Well the Memorial Day Family Barbecue Day dawns wet, freezing cold and gray.

Perfect for New England!  The land of cold and mildew.

But all is well.  I got up and cleaned the grill on the lowest deck and moved it so that the smoke will get blown out to the sky but will leave me under the overhang, snug and dry.  I walked the property in the rain and saw all the flowers and weeds swelling in the rain.  One of the ponds had cold bull frogs and leopard frogs that were too chilled to care that I was walking by.  I dropped the level on the swimming pool and backwashed it to get rid of all the pollen and tree debris that the wind and rain brought down.  We won’t be using it today.  That’s for sure.

23JUN2018 Photo of the Day, Sony A7 III, Sony 90mm f\2.8 macro lens, flower

The hellebore flowers are fading out now and the rhododendrons are at peak bloom and one of the earlier blooming bushes is already shedding its flowers.  Have to get a few photos soon.  The cone flowers and the roses are starting to bud and the irises are just about done.  Boy they don’t last long.  And miracle of miracles the deer haven’t eaten the daylilies or the hostas like they usually do.  They did pick off one bunch of Solomon’s Seal bunches but I’ve got plenty to spare.  As Camera Girl says everybody’s got to eat.  Well, I wish someone would eat the deer but that another story.

It’s too cold for us to eat outside so I’ve made a big table in the dining room from four folding tables and we’ll all sit together and feast on Camera Girl’s fixings and my barbecue skills.  Today is restricted to burgers, dogs, and sausage on the meat side.  We’ll complement that with homemade potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, washed down with lemonade and followed up with watermelon, Italian cheese cake, apple pie, strawberry shortcake, vanilla ice cream and by popular demand Klondike Bars.  All of that dessert will be washed down with good coffee and lots of good talk and laughter as the grandchildren get spoiled their grandmother and I tell lies about the good old days.

Afterwards we’ll talk about school and what they want to do this summer and their vacation plans.  I’ll make a point of leaving out politics and COVID since that will just upset everyone on a happy day.  We’ll talk about inflation and education costs and whatever else is on their minds.  Maybe we’ll watch some old kids’ movies.  Maybe not.  Maybe I’ll just put on some music.  Should be a lot of fun.

What else can I ask for.  Healthy kids, productive adults and functional families.  That’s as good as it gets.  So at least for this year I’m still king of my castle and the secret police aren’t supposed to make an appearance at the castle gate.  I can make believe that Memorial Day still means we live in the United States of America.  Enjoy your holiday.

29MAY2021 – Good Morning Gulag Archipelago!

photog Current Events, OCF ,

Our fake President is a leering, gibbering, creepy mental patient and the “intelligence” agencies have perfected their imitation of the KGB and the leaders of all the richest companies have decided to replace us with illiterate third world peons and our children believe that men in sundresses are women.

Well, dammit, it sounds like it’s time for Memorial Day Weekend Barbecue.

Good morning folks.  It’s forty degrees and raining and windy but for whatever reason I’m in a great mood.  Tomorrow’s the family barbecue and granted we’ll be moving the meal inside and the pool won’t be needed, but we’ll have a great time.

So, we’re in a bad place and it may get a lot worse but you know what?  It’s still pretty great to be alive.  Your lungs are giving you air and your blood is racing through your body and the dimwits around here have even admitted that the cops can’t beat me into submission for walking into a grocery store without a towel wrapped around my face.  Despite the cold snap the grass is growing and the birds are singing and other than cleaning the grill and buying some propane I don’t have to do anything but enjoy the day.  I put my country music thumb drive in the music system and let it play and I’ll write some more of my new story and I’ll look around at what’s going on in this sad world and maybe I’ll figure out why the Briggs and Stratton engine on my push mower died last week.  I took apart the carburetor and it looked clean as a whistle.  I’ll get a spark plug wrench today and take a look at that.  If that doesn’t work, I’ll probably buy a manual mower and start getting exercise that way.  Cutting the grass is an amazing ritual.  Sure, if you’re too busy it’s an impossible time sink to cut your lawn without an engine but it’s a pretty zen way of communing with the summer world.  Ray Bradbury has a chapter in his book “Dandelion Wine” that extols the virtues of a weekly jaunt around the yard behind a reel mower.  Of course he was living in LA at the time and there probably wasn’t any grass in his life at that point but he was hearkening back to his life as a kid in Waukegan, Illinois.  Anyway I’ve spent the last week cutting down thorn shrubs and weed trees like Russian Olive and Ailanthus and digging up their roots.  I finish up drenched in sweat and weary with aching muscles and covered in cuts and scrapes and I’ve been sleeping like a log and wake up hungry and with a clear head.

Sure it’s still a cesspool out in our culture and we are being led down the path to serfdom by evil men and our women and children are deluded but it’s not over yet.  Sanity has a way of breaking through once insanity is allowed to run amok for too long.  And when it does we need to seize our chance and look out for ourselves.  No more alliances with the middle, no more seeing their side of the argument.  Look for good people and form your own community and support each other.  The rest can and will go to hell.  That’s just the way it is.

But have a good holiday and enjoy your own damn life.  That’s what it’s about.

28MAY2021 – OCF Update

photog Current Events, My Fiction, OCF, Science Fiction / Fantasy

The weather turned cold and wet just in time to make my Sunday barbecue into an indoor event.  I’m guessing the swimming pool will be empty but we’ll have fun anyway.  All the grandkids will be there and I’ll regale them with stories from my days as a doughboy in WW I.  Wait, that can’t be right.  Well, they’re kids they may believe it.

I’ve started a new story.  I’m writing an alternative present/future with a revolt against the Left.  It will have some touches of techno-thriller and some sci-fi and I’ll be in it too.  So that’s scary.

It’s got my interest.  We’ll see how this goes.  I may throw some scraps of it up on the site and ask for feedback.

Stay tuned.

22MAY2021 – OCF Update

photog Current Events, OCF

My apologies, today is going to be a busy day in the real world.  I don’t know if I’ll be doing much writing until this evening but on such a beautiful day as today everyone should be out in the real world, at play in the fields of the Lord.  So I’ll see you soon.

House Rock Valley Road, Sony A7S and Voigtlander 10mm lens

Yalta – 2021 (Sorta)

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Toward the end of World War II the “Big Three,” Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin got together for a conference in the Black Sea resort of Yalta.  Here they discussed the fate of the post-war world and possibly drank vodka.  Today a similar event will occur.

I’m trying to decide which one I am.  Based on my bloody-mindedness I guess Stalin might be the closest analogy.  But if politics is the measure, I’ll be Churchill.

I guess the analogy breaks down along the lines of world domination.  The issues that will dominate this conference will be the need to wash down sandwiches and potato salad with lemonade and beer.  I am donating the aforementioned potato salad and Camera Girl’s world-famous ricotta cheese cake.  There is talk of penny ante poker and Russian roulette but we’ll see about that.  I expect points of disagreement but also wide areas of concurrence.  My only unbreakable rule will be that I must be addressed as “Your Grand High Celestial Irritableness.”  That is like iron!

This conference occurs at a distinct juncture.  The Southern New England states are surreptitiously admitting that even their spineless inhabitants have stopped believing in the mask farce.  So, the authorities are grasping the miracle of the vaccine as the excuse for this retreat from mask idiocy and will officially allow us to return to near normalcy.  So, we are not expecting Karen to report us to the boys in blue.  But if they do show up, we intend to don black-face and stand on our George Floydian right to do whatever the hell we feel like and resist arrest by any and all means up to and including overdosing on fentanyl.  Or cheesecake.  That’s my preference.

Seriously, it’s pretty great finally getting together with good friends and celebrate summer appropriately.  This will be the first major reassembly of the Morning Coffee Walk in over a year.  We’ll probably keep the political discussion to a minimum only because it won’t facilitate good digestion.  But we will at the very least discuss Joe Biden’s squint.

And of course, because of this celebration there will be a noticeable lag in content today.  I’m sure all will agree that this kind of conference is worth the cost.  The proximity of such high caliber minds is sure to spark some amazing consequences.  We may discover anti-gravity or even lo-cal pizza.  So let the good times roll.  Boy, look at that cape FDR is wearing.  Maybe I need one of those.

Separating Our Problems into Actionable Buckets – Part 1

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One of the problems with our present situation is that it’s not just one problem.  And worse than that, it’s not as if all of these problems we have are arranged in such a way that any single action undermines all of them like some kind of keystone that once removed destabilizes the whole structure that is arrayed against us.  And maybe there is such a thing that can neutralize the Left’s hold on our country but if it does exist it probably involves the use of brute force.

So, putting that aside let’s talk about how we can act on separate aspects of our problems with the Left to minimize the damage that it does to us and allows us to maximize the quality of our lives.

To do that we might look at the different impacts that the Left has on us and order them from worst to least damaging.  For instance, recently the well known beauty pageants like Miss America and Miss World have begun allowing “transwomen” to compete.  As horrendous as the idea of this is, the actual damage to my life is relatively limited.  I don’t think I’ve ever watched more than the clips of the winner crying and hugging the other contestants as if she didn’t hate all their guts.  So even though it is an abomination I’m not losing any sleep over it.  And that’s good because my chances of stopping castrati (I assume) from participating in the swimsuit competition are decidedly closer to none rather than slim.

On the other hand, if I had children in a school that announced that they were going to indoctrinate them in critical race theory in general and transgenderism in particular, I’d be extremely upset about the damage that would do and I would be looking for a way to avert this situation.  I would look into protesting to the school board and failing action from this, I would look for a private school that would preclude this sort of propaganda.

So notice the difference.  If a minor problem for which no real solution exists can be detached from a major problem for which a real solution does exist, I can stop moaning and groaning about the transgender nightmare and do something about the problem.

So that’s the approach, look for how a general problem impacts me and mine and concentrate on solutions that address that specific impact.  Sure, if a general solution appears that would be great.  If Bruce Jenner gets his sanity back and denounces the Kardashians and declares himself a castrated man and stops wearing dresses and high heels and begs America to force all “trans-people” to undergo electroconvulsive treatment until they snap out of their insanity then maybe we won’t have to worry about psychos indoctrinating our children.  But I think it would be wise not to wait for that.

So that’s the approach I want to take with this idea.  Find the particular critical problem and look for an actionable and effective solution.  Feel free in the comments to provide any examples of these kinds of problems and the practical solutions you can think of.  It would also be useful to list which critically important problems currently lack effective solutions altogether.

18MAY2021 – OCF Update – Quiet News Day

photog Current Events, OCF

Israel and Hamas lobbing missiles at each other?  Check

Gas and food prices soaring across US?  Check.

COVID lunatics warning of a surge if we don’t keep our kids masked in school?  Check.

Joe Biden spouting nonsense about vaccination?  Check.

Federal Gestapo searching for white supremacists in Red States and the military?  Check.

Yep, situation normal all Biden-ed up.

Sort of a slow news day.  But a nice day for swinging a grandchild in a swing.

I received some pushback on my statement that “Treasure Island” was the finest boys’ adventure story.  A dissenting opinion was raised in favor of Jules Verne’s “In Search of the Castaways.”  I have to confess I’ve never read it.  I’ll correct that situation soon and report back my opinion.

On my regular Tuesday morning zoom with “the boys” I was told that even in Boston, the very Hub of the Woke Universe, people were attending a Red Sox game without masks!  And this is in advance of the official end of the mask mandate scheduled in a few weeks.  Could it be that even here in the heart of Blue America the captives have grown weary of wearing their shackles?  Shocking.  What will all the millions of Karens do?

Miracle of miracles, by a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court agreed that the police can’t confiscate a man’s guns without a warrant to do so.  I hear that a major abortion law in the South will be reviewed by SCOTUS soon.  I’m not very hopeful based on what I know of the Roberts court.

My favorite Biden-ism of the week was Dementia Joe warning those refusing vaccines by saying ”  Ultimately, Those Who Are Not Vaccinated Will “End Up Paying The Price.”  What a dope.  I was looking at the mortality rate for Sweden that rejected masks and the rest of the nonsense and comparing it to the United States.  It currently is 1,807 deaths per million population for the US versus 1,408 for Sweden.  Apparently if we had done nothing our numbers might actually be better.  But certainly no worse.  Fauci should be put in stocks and pelted with garbage by anyone who has the notion to do so.  And so should Cuomo, Biden and the rest of the idiots.

Well, that’s enough for now.

Max Boot REPAIRman

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(Wide shot of Max Boot in his “REPAIR” blue overalls and hat.)

Max Boot (MB) – Hi, everyone out there in TV land, I’m Max Boot and you probably remember me from such zany adventures as Fallujah Redux, Green Zone Follies and Libya for the Win.  We’ve had such good times over the years patrolling all the sandy areas of the middle east and bringing democracy and transgender rights to every corner of the Muslim world.  Why, I just can’t imagine where the time has gone.  But now I’m here on a much more serious subject.  White supremacists and anti-war fanatics have struck at the most sacred symbol of our nation, Dick Cheney.  Not directly of course.  They wouldn’t dare come after the Deadeye Dick.  He’d give them a face full of buckshot like he did that guy at the quail shoot.  But the cowards have attacked his daughter, Liz, the delicate flower of our movement.

Because of this I’m here today to rally all of you to our cause.  We are building a new party.  I wanted to call it the Party of War but you know how these babies can be.  “Oooh!  War is scary,” the say.  So, we’ve named it the “REPAIR” party which stands for “Stand Up Republic & The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform.”  Wow, that’s a mouthful.  And really the letters don’t line up to the acronym.  War would be so much easier.  Well, whatever.

So, we’re here to repair the Conservative movement.  We will lead them back to the sanity of military transgenderism.  That’s right.  I’m here to say that once we’ve transgendered everyone in the US military we’ll be ready to clean up the world.  Well, maybe not immediately.  That surgery hurts like a bastard, I’ve been told.  But shortly after we’ll be bringing our new rainbow brigade to a Red State near you where we’ll smoke those white supremacists out of their hiding places and fix their wagons.

But first we’ve got to win this war, I mean, campaign.  We’ll be launching our own slate of candidates and telling the country about our platform.  We’ll start with Liz Cheney.  She’ll join our party and we’ll invade Wyoming with our campaign army and we won’t leave until victory is declared.

You might be asking yourselves, “Why is old Max Boot wearing a mechanic’s uniform.  Well, that’s easy to explain.  REPAIR is the acronym for our party and this uniform reminds you that I’m here to repair the United States.  And whenever you see one of our commercials or go to our rallies, we’ll all be wearing the uniform.  Of course, if you see Evan McMullin, his uniform will say Evan or Ev maybe.  If Tom Ridge is there it’ll say Tom or Tommy maybe.  If Anthony Scaramucci is there it’ll say Anthony or maybe Tony.  He’s Italian you know and they shorten it that way you know.  If Liz Cheney joins us, I mean when she joins us, we’ll give her the gender appropriate sizing version of the uniform.  A little looser here and tighter there.  Well, maybe not tighter anywhere.  It’s hard to get enough exercise in Congress.  Even Deadeye put on a pound or two.  In fact, you know if Dick was wearing a wig, he’d look a lot like Liz.  And there’s nothing wrong with that.  One day he may wake up and say, “I’ve changed my mind.  Call me Erica.”  Boy that would be something.  Really something.

Well, that’s neither here nor there.  First things first.  If you send us a check for a thousand dollars, we’ll send you a REPAIR ball cap in your very own size.  If you send us ten thousand dollars, we’ll personalize the cap with your name on it (four letters or less).  And if you send us one hundred thousand dollars, we’ll send you the entire uniform with your name on the pocket (no limit on letters!).  So that’s the deal.  Operators are standing by for your order.  So, join the REPAIR crew and help us fix the mess we’re in.

Max Boot out!

13MAY2021 – OCF Update – Morale Boost

photog Current Events, OCF ,

After reading Max Morton’s essay, “Semper Tyrannis – Always a Tyrant,” I was so disgusted with this country that I decided I needed to do something life affirming.  So, I was “at play in the fields of the Lord.”  I set up my granddaughter’s outside gymnasium, prepped the lawn tractor for the season, cut the grass and opened up the pool for the season.  It was great.  Not once did I think of the KGB in Washington, not the FBI, not the CIA, not Google, Facebook or Twitter.  And that has restored my faith in reality.

After all, if Hungary and Poland could go from repressive communist regimes to bastions of anti-woke sanity then anything is possible.  Maybe Americans will find their spines and flip Washington the bird.  And if they don’t then this isn’t the only game in town.  It’s a big world and someone somewhere will be willing to take a stand against the madness that has infected our society.

I was talking about this with a friend.  He mentioned Singapore and then listed the negatives.  It’s on the Equator and has a climate like a sauna.  It is ruled by a benevolent despot who will have you caned for chewing gum in the subway.  It has a high cost of living and cultures that are pretty alien to westerners.

I told him, “I’m willing to forego gum chewing if it means that the subways are actually safe and a mob won’t show up at my door to burn me out because I’m the wrong color.  And as far as an alien culture, our culture feels pretty alien to me right now so what am I losing?”

Don’t misunderstand me, I would love to be here when America comes to its senses and drives our woke overlords into the sea.  I would give five years of my life to see my family living in the land of the free and the home of the brave.  But let’s be real.  We don’t live in that place anymore.  And we may never be able to win it back.  If someone defies the tyrants and restarts the republic I’ll follow in a heartbeat.  But every day that passes makes me think the chances are slimmer and slimmer.

But as I said there are options.  None will ever be as good as what we had in the past but if this country is willing to wallow in madness and slavery then those who can’t stomach that life will leave and make a life somewhere else.  It’s sad but it’s sadder still to sink into depraved servitude.

So, it’s been a good day and I think I’ll send a sympathetic e-mail to Liz Cheney and suggest that if this whole political thing hasn’t worked out for her maybe she can take off a few pounds and join the Marines and find out what combat is like from the front lines.  After all she has always enjoyed the idea of other people dying for her country maybe she can take a turn.  She looks like special forces material to me.