Category: OCF

05OCT2020 – OCF Update – photog Bound

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Regular readers of OCF will have been dismayed at the low output for the last couple of days.  Shameful as it is to admit, the day job is interfering with my work here on the site.  As tragic as it is it will be short lived.  After Wednesday I will have a very long break that will allow me to bloviate to my heart’s content.

In the meantime, I’ll produce as much content in the next couple of days as is humanly possible while simultaneously being beaten like a red-headed stepchild or whipped like an army mule.  Working where I do is akin to being an orc.  But not one of the really cool orcs like the Uruk Hai, more like the morgul rat types that grumble and complain and are constantly whipped by the non-commissioned officer orcs that always overhear them grumbling.

The President has once again befuddled his critics and seems to have dodged the COVID bullet and now claims he’s feeling better than he has in twenty years.  What the hell!  Where’s my dose of dexamethasone?  I could really use a dose of “twenty-years-younger” right about now.  Oh well, he is the leader of the free world, if there is a free world anymore.

As an aside ShatnerKhan III will occur this Saturday and as a major change of pace, there will not be any pastrami or corned beef.  There was a decision to go with homemade sausage.  There will apparently be both regular Italian sweet sausage and a specialty thin Italian sausage called cervellata that was much in demand in Brooklyn back when there were Italian neighborhoods in Brooklyn.  Of course it isn’t pronounced anything like it’s spelled thanks to the magic of southern dialectical Italian.  It sounds more like shivrelod.  But if you told that to one of the guys from the old country they’d claim you weren’t hearing it correctly.  Yeah right!

It has been speculated that ShatnerKhan has degenerated into an excuse for eating fattening foods.  I would argue that is actually an upgrade.  Be that as it may, we will be breaking new ground exploring a little known gem from Shatner’s middle period called The Devil’s Rain (1975).  Just listen to this summary and look at the cast.

A satanist cult leader is burnt alive by the local church. He vows to come back to hunt down and enslave every descendant of his congregation, by the power of the book of blood contracts, in which they sold their souls to the devil.

Starring Ernest Borgnine, Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino

You might think this could be a good horror movie.  You might be wrong.  To round out the program we’ll be watching a favorite Star Trek episode to be decided by popular acclaim, listening to some of Shatner’s latest spoken word songs and watching a particularly disturbing interview that includes Shatner and Mike Tyson threatening each other with death.

In addition to sausage and peppers sandwiches there will be  pumpkin, coconut custard and apple pies a la mode, various sweets and coffee.  Camera girl offered a fruit salad as a healthy choice but we’re going with mounds bars and M&Ms.  Considering the age and weight profile of the audience there may be casualties.

There was a discussion about live streaming our comments on The Devil’s Rain but in order to maintain anonymity I purchased multiple copies of the mask that Michael Myers wore in Halloween.  This mask is supposedly based on a mold of William Shatner’s face.

After wearing one for thirty seconds I don’t think this will work out.  I also have my doubts about our technical ability to perform a live stream.  But some enthusiasm still exists.

Strange and stranger things are happening wherever you look but I contend we need to have some fun in the midst of this so bear with me.  I’ll be back to share some serious thoughts soon but right now chaos reigns here at the compound.

02OCT2020 – OCF Update – President’s COVID Diagnosis & Site Info

photog Current Events, OCF, Trump , ,

Here’s good wishes for the President and First Lady to have an uneventful recovery from their COVID infections.  President Trump, like you, I could stand to lose twenty or more pounds.  Here’s a good reason for both of us to start eating healthier and exercising more.  Camera Girl and the First Lady, being thinner and healthier are sure to nag us to do these things but we should do them on our own to ensure that the world will have long term access to such magnificent men as ourselves.

The site will be quieter than usual this morning as I attend to important matters.  I’ve been put in charge of my 2-year-old granddaughter and that is a full time job!  Camera Girl, hurry back.  I don’t have your stamina.

29SEP2020 – OCF Update

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Well, where are we?

Tonight, is the first Presidential Debate.  The level of insanity that will be on display should be breathtaking.  I remember Biden in his debates against Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan.  He never lets truth or even common-sense stand in the way of saying something Biden.  His creepiness should be on full display.  But the big mystery is whether he is coherent or not.  Apparently, there are some drugs that can be used to lift a dementia patient up out of the fog.  If Joe seems sharp, not intelligent but sharp, then we’ll have to assume they’ve got him doped up.  Either that or he dogged it during the whole earlier part of his campaign.  Either way watching the debate should be interesting.

A month or so before Election Day and indications are that voter fraud through mail in ballots is going to be a wholesale business.  It’s going to be interesting to see if the adjudication of this election ends at the Supreme Court or goes way beyond that.  From the things I’m hearing this may turn into a freak show where voting levels go to unheard of levels and the whole process goes off the rails.  That sounds like something that could cause a very serious reaction from both sides.  The Left is already occupying the street in many blue locales.  If unrest occurs in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin then armed conflict cannot be ruled out.

Florida has ended the COVID precautions and raised the all clear signal for its citizens.  This should be an interesting moment.  If two or three weeks down the road the daily death rate remains the same it will be an indicator that the other rational areas can do the same.  And it’s none too soon as far as I’m concerned.  The holidays are coming soon and I’d like to think this lockdown will end before Christmas.  New England will be the last to relent but at least if there are some early examples it will build impatience among the sane to pressure the authorities to wake up and smell the coffee.

I keep threatening to do some of my photo retrospectives but the day job has been keeping me busy.  But in about a week, things will definitely improve and I’ll keep some of my promises.  Insects are the first subject.  But hopefully I’ll have a foliage group and some other things too.  And I haven’t forgotten my promise to do a report on what I learned about photographing hummingbirds.

I still have another Olivier Shakespeare play (Othello) to review and I will continue on through the Star Trek series no matter how painful it becomes.  The powers that be are threatening to inflict ShatnerKhan III on an unsuspecting world.  I have been trying to figure out a way to live blog or make a podcast out of it.  Because of this I have purchased multiple copies of the Shatner mask that the Michael Myers character wore during the Halloween movies to allow for anonymity during the video.  This is an indication that ShatnerKhan has now descended into the madness that we knew it eventually would.  But since the food is well worth it, we expect to continue the series well into double figures.

And as promised I’m recruiting some other writers for the site.  And I like the change.  Not only because it takes some of the pressure off me to write but also because other voices make the site more interesting and generally better.  And I’m still looking for more writers.  If you or someone you know has some content to share leave a comment here or send an e-mail to orionscoldfire “at” charter.net and let me know.  And don’t restrict yourself to politics.  Anything interesting will be considered.

Plans for November 3rd and the Days Following

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Nota Bene: This is a frivolous post about how I intend to celebrate Election Day this year.  I will provide myself a fig leaf to justify this childishness by also discussing the serious topic of safety from mob violence during these dangerous times.  Fair warning has been served.

If President Trump is declared the winner on Election Day or shortly thereafter, I think it is reasonable for people to anticipate that there could be some serious safety issues in certain areas of the country.  And this is not idle or far-fetched reasoning.  The Left has already mobilized small guerilla bands to lead riots and arson attacks on all the major cities that they control politically.  It is only common sense that they might unleash a spasm of violence and destruction to protest the ultimate repudiation of their political stance.

If you live or work near one of these cities, I think it would be prudent to take certain precautions that week.  First of all be sure to listen to the local news and avoid any areas that have become habitual protest locales.  Figure out what work-arounds you can use to give them a wide berth.  Make sure you don’t have any Trump or Republican messages on your car or your person.  If you work in town but live outside leave early on election night and don’t stick around for any reason.  Postpone any activities in the city until the election madness wears off.

If I were planning ahead for this situation, I would consider calling in sick if you have any doubts at all about the chance of being caught up in a riot or other form of unrest.  Basically, it’s just not worth the risk.  With the whole COVID thing going on and remote work becoming so prevalent, it wouldn’t be difficult to get a day or two out of the office.

As for myself, I’m going to camp out and watch the whole nightmare from start to finish.  It’s become something of a tradition to watch the late state returns into the morning hours and listen to the clueless talking heads trying to justify whatever surprises emerge in the results.  I’m anticipating a Republican wave for the President, the House and the Senate so I’m hoping to end the evening by listening to lefty reporters and celebrities wailing and gnashing their teeth as YouTube fills up with blue haired women screaming and hyperventilating over their rage and despair in a replay of 2016.  In fact, in a couple of weeks I intend to start working on the menu to go with the Election Night party.  I’m thinking earlier on we can go with deli sandwiches, corned beef, pastrami and roast beef.  This will of course require potato salad and some kind of soup, maybe a sausage and bean.  Later on, we’ll go with smaller items, maybe pigs in a blanket with brown mustard.  And at the end of the night I’d say some kind of ice cream course.

And this plan will be in effect regardless of how the election returns or the write-in ballots or the judicial shenanigans play out.  The days when I hung on the edge of my seat worrying how Ohio or Florida or Pennsylvania votes is long gone.  This is all in-the-moment skirmishing that doesn’t settle anything.  We no longer have one nation making up its mind on what it wants its future to be.  We’re just watching two diametrically opposed nations wrestling with each other in a mostly bloodless conflict.  It’s like two men fighting for control of the steering wheel of a moving vehicle.  There’s no clear way for one or the other to take control and at all times the possibility of a fatal crash is highly likely.  We seem to be waiting for one side or the other to declare an end to the charade.

But that doesn’t mean we have to wallow in misery.  Life is to be enjoyed and even in the midst of hatred and insanity we must not miss out on all the things that make it good.  Election Day is in between Halloween and Thanksgiving and I intend to celebrate both those things and even have a little fun on Election Day too.  Live blogging the event is a given.  If we win and can celebrate the despair of our enemies all the better.  If not, then splendiferous foods will have to make up for it.

So, as you can see, I like to turn a negative into an opportunity to enjoy the catastrophe that is heading our way.  But whether you celebrate the election or head to bed early to avoid the stress and strain I am completely serious about taking precautions against some kind of insurrection by the Left.  These people are very angry and a little bit desperate.  They are trying to frighten us and apparently no longer worry about niceties like the law and human decency.  So, stay way out of their way and live to see the better day that we expect to dawn on November 4th when President Trump is re-elected and his new Republican House joins the enlarged Republican Majority in actually doing some legislating for a change.  Like maybe funding the rest of the Wall and ending trade with China.

My Thoughts on the Various Possible Outcomes of the Upcoming Election

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First item, full disclosure, I believe President Trump will win the election decisively enough that even the massive fraud the Democrats plan won’t be enough to change the result.  So that’s my prediction.  But I am realistic enough to know that I don’t have all the answers.

Second item, full disclosure, there is almost no result that could occur that will plunge me into despair.  When Barack Obama was elected, I was devastated to think that the American people would allow cultural Marxism to take over the government voluntarily.  Since then I have become a lot less naive about how this country is broken up politically.  I’ve also come to terms with how unreliable even “conservative Republicans” are at respecting the agenda of their constituency.  So even outcomes that put the Democrats fully in charge of all branches of government at both the state and national level will not drive me to desperation.  So here are some thought experiments on possible outcomes and their effects on the country and my reaction to them.

What are the possible outcomes, broadly speaking? There are five categories that the results break down into.  I’ll start with the easiest cases and work my way up from there.  The two most common outcomes are either the Democrat clearly wins or the Republican clearly wins.  Those are the outcomes that will have the least chance for irregular actions by the candidates or their proxies.  Nothing much needs to be said about how those successions are performed because they are the routine occurrences that we see every four or eight years in our country.

The next pair of outcomes is one or the other of the two candidates wins but by a very small margin in one or more states and the two parties litigate the results in the state and federal courts.  This is the outcome we saw in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore over the Florida count.  That time it went to the Supreme Court which decided that allowing local jurisdictions to tamper with the ballots was an unacceptable process.  Twenty years ago, this was a much less polarized country and the appearance of propriety was important even to the Democrats back then.  If this election gets hauled into the courts and ballots are counted by political hacks no one is going to be satisfied that an honest count is being performed.  This will surely increase the level of polarization to positively stratospheric heights and surely will push us into uglier and uglier collisions for the foreseeable future.  In these two cases whichever party wins the election the new president will effectively have half the country dead set against him.

And then there is the fifth outcome.  In this scenario a close election results in a breakdown of the system.  Both sides contend that they won and the impasse moves into an insurrection in which both sides use extra-legal actions to seize power in Washington and begin some level of armed conflict.  This one is a complete mystery.  We’ve never seen this happen and it could be as bad as it gets.  Let’s not forget that the nuclear arsenal is out there and our enemies would take advantage of a civil conflict to damage us in any way they think they can.

Now let’s look at my reaction to each of these outcomes.

In outcome one President Trump wins a clear victory.  I celebrate by spending the holidays listening endlessly to leftists crying and screaming that the world has come to an end.  Life goes on and there is hope for improvement.

In outcome two Biden wins a clear victory.  I start living life as independently of the established governmental controls as I am able.

In outcome three President Trump wins a bitterly contested victory.  I celebrate by spending the holidays listening endlessly to leftists crying and screaming that the world has come to an end.  I anticipate a future breach between the red and blue states and begin making plans to find a safe haven.

In outcome four Biden wins a bitterly contested victory.  I anticipate a future breach between the red and blue states and begin making plans to find a safe haven.

In outcome five I try to figure out the safest place in the country to avoid my family being overrun by a war.

As you can see, I think the only outcome that lets me continue a normal life is a decisive victory by President Trump.  Anything else indicates a country that will no longer operate the way it was supposed to.  And because a virtual insurrection is already occurring, I can anticipate that things will get much worse after any of the other scenarios mentioned.

But I don’t see any reason to despair.  Resolution of the present impasse is the inevitable end of this struggle.  Trying to avoid it will simply allow the Left to take the initiative to settle it on their own terms.  This has to happen so let it happen.

Just use your head.  Don’t paint a target on yourself and be aware of the people around you and of their loyalties.  Be prepared to help and protect your family and friends during times of unrest and actual danger.  If something very serious is anticipated be prepared to get away to a safe haven on very short notice.  Don’t disbelieve your own eyes and ears.  When normal patterns break down anomalous behavior is to be expected.  Have emergency supplies and plans.

And relax, don’t panic, you’ll get through this.  We are not opposed by geniuses.  Just dishonest men.  Know your enemy and you can avoid the harm they intend you.

Additional Voices at Orion’s Cold Fire

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Recently I was able to add posts from War Pig and Charlemagne Really on the blog at the same time.  And this reminded me of how refreshing it is to get other voices up on the site.  It also attracts different readers based on the topics and points of view.

And that has made me more determined to get more guest contributors.  What I’m interested in is finding people to write about different interests like hunting, fishing, camping, sports, gaming, different music, and even people of different ages and (gasp) maybe even a woman or two.  And I am even interested in people whose politics may even be a click left or right of mine.  Now one thing I’m not looking for is the woke folk.  They need not apply.  I don’t want anyone who thinks America needs to confess its sins and grovel to the BLM crowd, no interest in that stuff at all.  But I am aware that the kids are way to the left of me and I think it’s worthwhile to have a dialog with someone moderate but who isn’t screaming fascist at anyone wearing a MAGA hat.

I am trying to find some of the folks who have hobbies that I think people are interested in.  One fellow is a gun enthusiast and I know that will spark a lot of interest because it’s fun and it’s also practical.  And there are some others out there that might be willing.  There’s no big commitment and the writers of course own their material and can even pull it from the site if they so desire at a later date.

So if you or somebody you know wants to share some interesting information or has an essay on why Joe Biden may very well be one of the beasts from Revelations then by all means have him leave a comment on this post or send an e-mail to orionscoldfire@charter.net

Now, of course, I will review the post first to make sure there isn’t anything in it that I can’t allow.  I keep the site at the PG-13 level and I’m careful to keep sacrilegious and really offensive stuff off the site.  And I’m not interested in discussing anyone’s theories on who the smartest or the stupidest people in the world are.  While aware that no two people are exactly equal in anything, I don’t see the advantage in telling anyone that he is smarter or dumber than me.  What I do want is for the government to stop telling me who I have to hire, rent to or live next to based on their latest intersectional guilt trip.  I think the laws we’ve always had allowed a dramatically wide range of people to live and work together on a level playing field and in my mind that is a just society.  So, while I admit that identity politics may currently be the only way for white people in America to protect themselves from the Marxists, I don’t think that people of various races and ethnicities are incapable of cooperating in a place like the United States.

Okay, enough preaching.  Send the writers to me and I’ll provide them with a friendly place to speak.

A Word of Thanks to Our Boosters

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Orion’s Cold Fire has been linked by a number of sites over the years.  I can’t see the links from Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites other than that they are there but thanks to those who do link from there.  If you want me to mention you leave a comment on this post with your link.

 

Also I receive links from the following sites:

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/

https://www.whatfinger.com/

https://theportlypolitico.com/

https://disturbeddeputy.wordpress.com/

https://maddmedic.wordpress.com/

https://captaincapitalism.blogspot.com/

I appreciate the publicity and the kind words that guide the readers to this site.  Thank you all.

02SEP2020 – OCF Update

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Shocking events everywhere we look.  But maybe we’re not as easily shocked anymore.  Running street battles with Americans shooting at each other used to be a shocking concept.  Not anymore.  It’s the status quo.  So I better get used to all this so as not to seem behind the times.  But when I see something interesting I’ll be sure to write down my comments.

And I’ll be sure to provide some entertaining stuff too that will help us enjoy our bumpy ride.  For instance the next two Star Trek episodes are “The Trouble With Tribbles” and “The Gamesters of Triskelion.”  I haven’t watched either episode in decades but I know they are of the highest entertainment value and I’ll exploit them to the fullest extent.

At the Daily Quote its Sun Tzu week.  The wisdom of war and never a more fitting time for it.

On the photo side I plan on doing a couple of summer retrospectives.  This summer hasn’t been very productive for either flowers or butterflies but I want to do an insect review and maybe a flower one too.  I also think I’ve now got enough experience with shooting hummingbirds with both the 90mm macro and the 200-600 zoom to put together some kind of an essay on what I’ve learned and some explanatory photos for emphasis and interest.

As we head into the fall it’s time to start looking for horror movies for the Halloween season.  Having already reviewed all the 1930s and 1940s classic monster movies I guess it’s time to look at some of the more up to date candidates.  This will be a more ticklish business.  Realistic horror came into its own in the last thirty years with stories like the Silence of the Lambs.  But there is also some stuff that has crossed so far over the line into sadism that watching it is just an exercise in degradation.  I will tread carefully.

And of course the election will be a circus that even P.T. Barnum would envy.  We will have a spectacle that would make Nero sit up and take notice.

So stay tuned.

29AUG2020 – OCF Update – Hacked By Putin

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Well it finally happened.  They got me.  Hacked by Putin, just like the DNC.  I knew I shouldn’t have clicked on that Biden ad.  It only took six and a half hours of fumbling around with hosting sites and security companies and threatening the Kremlin but once I got President Trump on the line he straightened the whole thing out in five minutes.

If anyone got spam from me you have my humblest apologies.  I’ll work with the experts to make sure those commies can’t attack again.  By tomorrow I’ll have the photos and quotes up to date and I’ll work on some new pearls of wisdom besides.

{a much humbled and chastened} photog

In Praise of Civic Nationalism (At Least My Version Any Way)

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Among the Dissident Right, the CivNats (as they call them) are almost an epithet.  Maybe not as despised as the NeoCons or the Libertarians but close behind.  And in a way I see their point.  The Civic Nationalists have allowed themselves to be gaslit by the Uniparty for the last fifty years.  For pointing this out to me I will always be indebted to these merchants of hate.  But as incisive as their thoughts are regarding the details of how the Uniparty uses identity politics against the white people of America I can’t come around to their idea that every ethnic and racial group is bound to face off against each other over the carcass of the United States of America.  To my way of thinking, that would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I am not a descendant of the Mayflower pilgrims.  And my people weren’t born within a thousand miles of England.  Other than possible sentry duty on Hadrian’s Wall during the early centuries of the Christian era all of my people had spent their time in southern Italy for as far back as our family tree can show.  But I don’t think any Standishes or Bradfords were ever brought up more patriotically American than my family was.  And having grown up in New York City I met many immigrants who came to this country with the sole object of making their children as proudly American as was humanly possible.  And this was in a city where the various ethnic groups treated each other with all the fondness that the various groups in Beirut currently do (well, short of RPG fire anyway).

I once met a man on the subway who had fled from China by swimming across the bay to Hong Kong.  He and his two brothers attempted it together.  One brother was dragged back, the other brother drowned.  But this man made it.  When he found out that Hong Kong would revert to China one day he decided to come to America.  He was a lower working-class fellow but he invited me to his apartment for dinner.  When he told me how he taught his children to revere America as the greatest country in the world because of its freedom and justice he sounded like a Frank Capra movie.  I was amazed.  This was back in the mid-eighties and New York had become a crime ridden hellhole with racial animosity at the boiling point.  But here was this man who could barely speak English and struggling to make ends meet speaking with an almost religious fervor about his adopted country.  It was kind of inspiring.  To me it was a kindred spirit to how my family was raised. We believed that myth.

Now here we are in 2020.  Antifa are the children of the Mayflower descendants, the top of the heap, and they don’t believe the myth.  To them America is a hate filled racist death camp.  Then you have BLM.  They are the descendants of the black slaves, the bottom of the heap, and they believe the same thing.  So that just leaves us, the middle of the heap.  Some of us still believe.  And I know the myth can work because I’ve seen it.  But it only works for those who don’t want to destroy what’s here.  My grandparents didn’t have a dream of turning America into Naples or anywhere else in Italy.  That Chinese fellow didn’t want to resurrect Canton here.  He wanted his children to speak English and watch the Mets play baseball on channel 9.  My ancestors didn’t get here until long after the Civil War but I have no desire to pull down statues of confederate soldiers or Founding Fathers.  That’s as bad as the Nazis burning books on relativistic physics just because Einstein was Jewish.  This country has a history.  It includes acts of great bravery and acts of down right cowardice.  There has been burning hatred and great compassion.  But that history is real.  Revisionists are retelling it from one point of view and want nothing else to remain.  But I’ll have none of that.

So, here’s my version of civic nationalism.  If your idea of America is that it is a terrible place founded by evil white people who need to expiate the sins of their fathers copiously and endlessly, then you’re not an American.  Even if you are Thomas Jefferson’s multi-great-grandson, you aren’t an American.  You’re nothing.  But if you believe that with all its warts and all its mistakes that the United States of America is the single greatest experiment in human governance since Adam and Eve were given the Garden then you are an American and my brother.  I don’t particularly care if you are white, black, red, brown, yellow or even green.  As long as you stand for the Star-Spangled Banner, Pledge Allegiance with your hand over your heart and love this country for what it has always been, then you’re an American.  The main thing is you believe in the Bill of Rights and the rule of law.  Don’t try to take away our guns just because your old country didn’t have them.  Don’t try to stop people from speaking their minds just because it might hurt someone’s feelings.  Don’t expect us to suspend our immigration laws just so a few more of your cousins can jump the border.  Don’t try to erase our history or inflict guilt on us for being successful.  Speak English and bring your children up to love this country and its history.  And whatever you do don’t have anything to do with antifa, BLM or the Democrat party.  They’re all Marxists.  It would help if you like baseball instead of soccer or cricket but that is a minor thing.

So that is the coalition I want, true believers.  But I won’t include anyone in who kowtows to the thugs who hate America.  You’re either proud of this country or you’re just a freeloader looking to tear off a piece of its wealth.  I’m guessing there are still millions of us.  And having a common point of view gives us an identity and orients us politically and culturally.  And that’s the only use of the words identity and orientation I’ll ever need.