Category: Current Events

Tax Time and Other Painful Realities

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Today is the day.  This afternoon I’ll bundle up my wretched documentary evidence and head off to the tax accountant for another government mandated pummeling.  It’s like heading for the dentist with a toothache.  You know there will be pain and annoyance.  But what choice do you have?  Well painful realities seem to be the order of the day.

This morning I was listening to an interview Tucker Carlson had with a farmer about what the cost increases on fertilizers will do to the price of food.  The numbers were staggering.  He said that fertilizer prices had skyrocketed already and that natural gas prices were driving it.  Part of this increase in natural gas prices stem from the Biden administration’s shutting down of coal powered electrical plants.  Add to this the decision by the Europeans to shut down their nuclear power plants and you see the perfect storm that is driving energy and food prices to unsustainable levels.

You know, I’m starting to believe there is a chance that Biden will be forced to make an about face on his stupid “green energy” policies.  When people start suffering extreme hardship, actual hunger, that amount of anger might drive a revolt on both sides of the political street.  November might be more than just a “bloodbath.”  If we see blue states flipping their congressional delegations, I have no doubt that Dopey Joe will flip his script and discover his inner conservative.

I know this sounds far fetched but there is currently a perfect storm of economic conditions that will hammer home how delusional green energy really is.  Wind and solar power generators provide single digit percentages of our electrical capacity and even these low percentages are of low quality and necessitate additional gas turbine capacity to jump in when these green utilities inevitably peter out.

And as much as this is hammering the American people, I think it could be an even bigger catastrophe for the Germans.  They’ve buckled under the pressure from the Biden administration and agreed to the sanctions against the Russians and cancelling the start up of the Nord Stream 2.  What happens if the Russians stop sending them gas?  They’ll be buying it from the Saudis.  And it will not be cheap.  Add in the likelihood of a recession associated with all of this sticker shock for energy and food and you’ll see a manufacturing country like Germany experiencing extreme economic pain.

Of course, there won’t be any joy in my heart as I too suffer the consequences of Biden’s madness.  We’ll all be reeling from the effects of inflation on our lives.  But if any good can come from this it should be the realization by young people that idealistic and simplistic approaches to complex and deadly serious aspects of life are disastrous.  Powering an industrial economy can’t be achieved by wishful thinking and good intentions.  It’s the work of engineers and industrialists who have to work within the constraints of available resources and real-world tradeoffs between costs, environmental damage and reliability.

Maybe it will take an actual economic depression to pound home to these idiots the real world we live in.  We never seem to make any permanent progress.  Why are they called progressives anyway?  Because they grow progressively more stupid?

 

Update:

Chemist – “The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us… Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business.” -Ronald Reagan

 

 

Curtis Yarvin Talking to Alex Jones, a Sign of the Apocalypse?

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Yesterday I said the Right has to start getting organized and eliminate divisions.  Almost on cue my e-mail sends me Curtis Yarvin’s newsletter and I see a link to his appearance on Alex Jones’ show.  Watching this was almost surreal.  Two more dissimilar individuals existing on the same political “side” is hard to imagine.

Of course, the question could be asked whether this is a positive or negative sign.  Could it be that the ravages of cancel culture have thrown these polar opposites into each other’s arms out of desperation I guess it’s possible.  But if so, it seems to be happening quite a bit.

I’ve watched several conversations between Yarvin and Michael Anton.  And then one between Anton and two infotainment guys called the “Good Ol Boyz.”

On the more dissident end of the spectrum paleoconservative Paul Gottfried serves as a bridge between the more hard-edged thinkers like ZMan and the more civic nationalist crowds at American Greatness and the Claremont Institute.  And reading these two mainstream outlets I notice edgier material gaining on more mainstream essays.  And this is happening on many mainstream publications like the Federalist and American Conservative.

Maybe my post was just resonance with a process already occurring.  Either way, I see all of this as movement in a positive direction.  The Left has gone so far into radicalism that it has alienated a wide swath of people from the far-right to moderate progressives.  Our side can use this reaction to take back territory and prove ourselves rational and competent.  And that will make it harder for the Left to demonize us when the inevitable pendulum swing heads the other way.

What it doesn’t mean is that we should “reach across the aisle” to adopt the status quo.  The current state of American culture and governance is already a leftist nightmare.  We must aim to reverse the current shape of things and restore the things that made the United States a healthy and sane society.  Just because the voters of San Francisco recalled three of their school board officials doesn’t mean I would want to get the advice or approval of Left Coast weirdos before picking a presidential candidate.

I’ll be watching for further signs of a loosening of the gatekeeping on the right.  If a lot of the Trump approved primary candidates displace the RINO’s I expect that after the Republicans take control of Congress there will be investigations and scrutiny of the more outrageous excesses of the Biden Justice Department with respect to the January 6th witch hunts.  And we might see more emphasis on legislative topics that align with the agenda that goes beyond the weak priorities approved by the Republican establishment.

But even if we have to wait for 2024 to see any large changes in government actions, I am very interested in seeing Republicans of all stripes communicating with each other honestly.  We’re each different.  We represent a continuum of beliefs and priorities.  And it will take negotiations and compromise to find a platform that a solid majority will stand behind.  But if we don’t talk it will never happen.

Dementia Joe Wants to Find Out What Comes After Trillion

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So, Joe wants to cure cancer.  He couldn’t even face up to COVID but he wants to cure cancer.  And amazingly he ended by declaring that “the state of our nation, I mean our union, is strong.”

It was as expected, long, boring, and dishonest.  He went over all the crap he wanted to spend money on and told us all about the courageous Ukrainians (or Iranians as he called them at one point).  I counted about ten verbal gaffes but he didn’t fall off the podium so it was a big win for him.  But let’s do a quick review.  He lied about the border, he lied about crime, he lied about off-shoring jobs, he lied about energy, he lied about inflation, he lied about COVID and he lied about everything else I can’t remember.  And Pelosi and Kamala spent most of the speech clapping like seals to protect their finger nails.

I wish I could get the hour back.

The Governor of Iowa. Kim Reynolds, did a pretty good job.  She was coherent, didn’t say anything obviously untrue and was able to lay out a case for why the real leadership in this country on COVID was provided by Republican governors.  All in all, she was a hundred times more believable than Dopey Joe and much easier to listen to.

Well, that’s my report.  It wasn’t fun because he didn’t seize up and tumble off the podium.  I guess there’s always next year.

Zuckerberg Accused of Bribery in WI Vote Investigation

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Wisconsin special counsel to the State Legislature found illegalities in the Zuckerberg financing of the 2020 election.

“According to the report, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg providing financing that allowed the Center for Tech and Civic Life to offer nearly $9 million in “Zuck Bucks” to Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay counties. In exchange, the “Zuckerberg 5,” as the report called the counties, in effect, operated Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts. Those grant funds then paid for illegal drop boxes to be placed in Democratic voting strongholds.

The illegal use of drop boxes represented a second area of concern to the special counsel’s office. The report notes state election code limits the manner in which ballots may be cast, providing that an elector must personally mail or deliver his or her ballot to the municipal clerk, except where the law authorizes an agent to act on the behalf of the voter.”

So now the Wisconsin legislature has to address the results of the report but this will be in the face of obstruction from the Democrat Governor and Attorney General.  This should make the 2022 Wisconsin elections even harder for the Democrats.  I believe the Governor is already behind in the polls.

 

We Gotta Get Organized

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I read the reports of Marjorie Taylor Greene being denounced for speaking at Nick Fuentes’ AFPAC convention.  And while she was careful to say that she doesn’t know all his views and therefore doesn’t go on record as supporting them she went to the convention to speak to the thousand of attendees there who are fans of the MAGA movement that she does support.

Fuentes is called a white supremacist even though he’s Hispanic.  I guess he must be one of those dangerous “white Hispanics” we hear about.  He is a white nationalist and he is on the dissident right.  He’s also being persecuted by the January 6th investigation and all of his assets have been seized and his life turned upside down.  He’s on a no-fly list and I’m sure other lists equally debilitating.  But what Greene did was important.  She connected with the untouchables and thereby lessened their isolation.  We need more of that.  Much more.

What’s especially needed is some legitimate organization to start bridging the gaps between the deplorables and the untouchables.  Fuentes isn’t some hatemonger raving against non-white people.  He is a conservative, America first type who isn’t mealy-mouthed about the anti-white bigotry he sees all around him.  I don’t doubt that he could sit down at the same table as conservatives of various ethnicities and look for common ground and a coalitional agenda.

To be totally honest I think what the right needs to do is start being honest about identifying the specific pain points that various identity groups express under the Democrat regime and forge that into an agenda that can strip some of these ethnic groups away from the Democrat coalition.  The obvious 600-lb gorilla is the Hispanic or Latino population.  This is the largest non-white population in the United States and is also relatively conservative compared to the rest of the country.  Finding common ground with them should be relatively easy.  Some of the Asian populations are also quite upset about Democrat moves to eliminate test-based admissions to gifted school programs.  There’s a natural entre into bringing them aboard the Right.

So, there are opportunities to build a coalition.  What is needed is leadership that can smooth over the trouble that the media causes when it characterizes pro-white advocacy as white supremacy.  And it will be important for the dissident right to start thinking in terms of how to open lines of communication with these other groups.  What Marjorie Taylor Greene did was a first step.  What Donald Trump did at CPAC acknowledging her presence there was a second step.  That’s the first shaky steps toward bridging the gap.  When the dissident right starts sharing a stage with Latinos and Asians and even Blacks and can find something to talk about, that will be the point at which we can cut out the Democrats and start directly negotiating the future.

So, there’s my mad dream.  My kumbaya moment.  I’d like to see the various communities in America honestly addressing their differing agendas and hammering out a modus vivendi.  They don’t have to all love each other; they just have to find the best deal available.  Without the Democrats to inflame hatreds and demonize Whites, chances are, there would be enough common ground to live in relative harmony.  Once again all it takes is an organization that can deal with people, as opposed to the Republican Party which is basically the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

The Neocons Step Through the Looking Glass

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I saw a title of an article from the “Bulwark.”  It read, “The West Is Winning, Russia Is Losing, and Biden Is Doing a Good Job.”  The genius who wrote this article attempts to list the likely outcomes of the current crisis.  This is what he comes up with:

(1) Putin seeks a ceasefire.

(2) Putin is deposed.

(3) Putin uses a nuclear weapon.

(4) NATO winds up actively engaged with Russian forces. 

I didn’t link to the article because it’s worthless.  It’s almost as if this guy had to post something and lacking any information or insight he just put down things that make him feel good; West winning, Russia losing, Biden good.  I’m surprised he didn’t include some obligatory rainbow flag waving like, “Ukrainian trans-militia unit defeats Russian tank column with dance routine.”

Well, I’m officially boycotting the Ukraine war until they have some data with numbers involved.  I don’t follow a war that has no casualty reports.  If armies are fighting, men die.  If they aren’t dying then this is a prelude, a fake war.

When something actually happens I’ll pay attention.

28FEB2022 – OCF Update – February 28th, That Unusual Day

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February 28th must have a complex.  It’s the only day that doesn’t know from year to year whether it will be followed by February or March.  But you say to yourself, “Why doesn’t it just consult the calendar?”  Don’t be ridiculous.  Days of the year don’t have calendars or even hands to turn pages.  Ridiculous.

I’ve always resented the fact that they add an extra day to February.  No one wants more days in February.  If you want to add a day add it to August.  Every school child in the world would bow down and worship you for postponing September an extra day.

But here we are, a Non-Leap Year, March waiting in the wings and even the COVID maniacs in New England facing up to the obvious that everyone hates them and they’ll have to give up the mask madness.  I found a classic car event in mid-March and I’m already looking forward to getting some good shots for the site.  Ah spring is in the air.

So, I looked at the news today; Ukraine, SOTU, KBJ, Ukraine, SOTU, KBJ, Ukraine, SOTU, KBJ as far as the eye could see.  Well, I need a break from this stuff.

So today I introduced Princess Sack of Potatoes to the mysteries of the visible electromagnetic spectrum.  I intended to get her a nice high quality glass prism for the class but Camera Girl explained to me that pre-school children and glass aren’t a good mix.  So, I bought some plastic prisms and we had to make do with some pretty sorry looking spectrums.  But it did the trick.  She was very interested in trying to make the colors herself.

I began a lecture on the wave/particle duality of the photon and was preparing to discuss the quantum aspects when she dropped the prism on the floor and walked away to play hide and seek with Camera Girl.  Well, I’m sure Isaac Newton didn’t really hit his scientific stride until at least four so there may still be time.

Today was another bright, sunny but cold day.  I decided to take a walk around the property in my tee shirt just to assert my dominance over the decrepit winter season.  After the first seven minutes it seemed less and less of a good idea so I beat a slow, dignified retreat back to the comfort of central heating.  But a defiant pose was struck.  A tone was established in my relationship to 2022.  I definitely have the upper hand.  From here on in I reestablish my direct control over the whole of my domain.

What this actually means is pretty soon I won’t have any meaningful excuse for not doing the outdoor repairs and other chores that I neglected back in November.  But that’s acceptable.  This will be a normal year.  No COVID crap delaying implementation of normal activities.  Even that supply chain nonsense is fading in the rear-view mirror.  Sure, everything will be twice as expensive; lumber, hardware, paint.  But do-it-yourself is an inherently frugal strategy.  Even in my mechanical ineptitude I foresee great progress on the Master Punchlist that every homeowner maintains (if only in his heart).

So welcome March, that changeable and blustery month with its St. Patrick’s Day (Camera Girl’s birthday) tradition of Corned Beef and Cabbage and, despite the inevitable New England Nor’easter snow storms, the beginning of garden work.   This year I hope to add a vegetable garden closer to the house.  All this carrying around of hoses seems very inefficient and possibly if the garden is closer to the house the rabbits and the other varmints might leave us some of the produce.

The calendar doesn’t reflect it.  Nor does the six inches of snow on the grass but in my heart, spring has sprung!

Suicide of a January Sixth Defendant

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Reading this article is sickening.  The Justice Department is made up of evil men.  At this point I believe we’d be better off with warlords running our country.  Then at least we wouldn’t have the hypocrisy of claiming equal protection under some kind of fair legal system.  We’d know right upfront that the powerful destroy the weak whenever it suits them.

Sickening.

SOTU Speech 2022

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Next Tuesday, March 1st is currently the date scheduled for Dementia Joe’s first State of the Union speech.  Normally I would avoid this bit of kabuki theater like the plague.  But I must confess I’m intrigued by the idea that something unplanned and unscripted might happen.  My favorite fantasy is that some subset of Republican lawmakers starts up a,” Let’s go Brandon” chant and Scranton Joe leaps from the podium and lays a smackdown on the first really small woman he gets his hands on.

Sure, I know nothing like that will happen but something equally absurd is possible.  Joe might get booed and let loose with some truly foul language.  That would be fun!  Or maybe he’ll really botch some particularly difficult two or three syllable words and completely lose track of his teleprompter and have to start over at a very noticeable point in his speech.  Or maybe he’ll tell such outrageous lies about his accomplishments that the crowd just breaks out into laughter.  Or maybe it’ll be just the usual boring speech, full of self-congratulatory lies and hyperbole.

One interesting innovation will be the rebuttal by congress critter Tlaib.  Apparently, Joe will be rebutted from both the left and the right of his position.  Tlaib will espouse the position that we need more inflation, more urban violence and more COVID lockdowns.  I assume that instead of wearing one of the matching white pants suits that the “Squad” usually wear for these events she’ll be more fittingly attired in a strait jacket along with a Hannibal Lector bite mask.

If Joe’s performance turns out to be entertaining, I’ll try to put up a post on it right away.  If it’s really good I might live blog it to get the blow-by-blow account on-line as soon as possible.

I’m trying to imagine if Joe will dare to claim that the “state of our union is strong.”  If they decide to eliminate the masks in the audience that will have a slightly less hollow ring.  But from what I’ve read the lefties would be shocked to learn that all that street theater they endured over the virtue of masking was just that.  So, it’s a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation.

A different tack has recently been tried by some leftist pundits.  They’ve decided that inflation is the result of the Ukraine.  “It’s not Joe’s fault, it’s Putin.  Again!”  Apparently, time travel will be a part of that defense.  But I guess he’s desperate for any plausible or implausible rationale that will permit him to escape the blame for sabotaging almost every facet of American life over the course of his year in office.  Maybe he hopes to benefit from a war that he has managed to start with a country that won’t allow itself to be bullied or cajoled into toeing the globalist talking points.

So, yeah, I’ll tune in on Tuesday.  I’ll have something to eat and drink and a barf bag just in case Joe really lays it on thick.  I guess it’s too much to hope he’ll mention Corn Pop.  I really miss Corn Pop and the leg hair story.  Good times.