Category: Current Events

Hat Tip to Vox Day on an Article About Virtue Signaling Gone Terribly Wrong

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Vox Day links and quotes a very funny article about an outdoor apparel company, North Face, that disdained to treat an oil and gas company with just reasonable courtesy and in turn was exposed for its absurd hypocrisy.  I guess North Face wasn’t aware that polymers are almost 100% manufactured out of oil.  In fact without petrochemicals we’d all be looking and living like relics from the early 19th century.  But woke dolts think all these things they enjoy are made magically from unicorn farts and rainbow penumbras.  Sucks being stupid.

 

 

 

The ZMan’s Monday Morning Double Header Hit Two Home Runs

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On Mondays the ZMan has his usual post and also puts up a post on Taki’s Magazine.  Today both of them are very worthwhile.  On his site he discourses on the analogy of prison life to our current environment and how freedom of choice has been banished from the public square by a pseudo-religion.

On Taki’s he compare the current American political regime with the Soviet era and likens trying to figure out what the Left will do next with how Kremlinologists in the West of that era tried to read the tea leaves by the Brezhnev’s expression during filmed ceremonies and pontificating on what it meant.

I enjoyed both posts quite a bit.  The ZMan is on his game this morning.  A good start to the week.

https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=23223

https://www.takimag.com/article/a-wilderness-of-lies/

Who Would Follow Joe Biden unto the Breach?

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Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead.

…

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:

Follow your spirit, and upon this charge

Cry ‘God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’

I was trying to imagine anyone yelling ‘Cry Gaia for Dementia Joe, Washington D.C. and George Soros!’  I mean exactly who would charge into battle and throw their lives into the meat grinder for either this President or this government.  After the way they’ve been treating the National guardsmen in the Capitol farce I wouldn’t be surprised if the re-enlistment quotas remain unfilled from now on.  As it is, it’s bad enough that the FBI is acting like our own version of the KGB and harasses and imprisons Americans because of their political party.  I don’t even want to imagine what kind of wars a Joe Biden administration would throw our men into.

Of course, I would support the idea of sending the “tranny brigade” into action.  I think that the trannies are our most valuable weapon in the war against radical Islam.  I can only imagine how terrified the Al Qaeda boys would be if a vast ocean of fabulous drag queens, a platoon of Chers here and a company of Madonnas there, charged across the desert in their stiletto heels brandishing coordinated weapons and khaki designer handbags.  Well, they might die laughing anyway.

And we know that Dopey Joe wants to put pregnant women into maternity flight suits and send them into dog fights.  I wonder if he knows what happens when a pilot has to eject out of the cockpit of a fighter jet?  Is he aware of the stress that will put on an unborn child?  Well of course he does and he also knows that no woman other than an imbecile would put her unborn child in that position.  But the virtue signaling and posturing inherent in even bringing it up was too much to resist for the creepiest administration since Obama’s.

It should be interesting to see what Biden does in Afghanistan and the rest of the Middle East.  The public has had enough of the forever wars.  If the military loses patience with all this and stop re-enlisting the progressives may find they no longer have anyone left but the girls and the trannies and that may sound like a diversity dream come true but it wouldn’t even deter the Mexican Cartels, never mind the Russians and the Chinese.

But the larger question is how long will it take for even the Democrats to realize that the military and more specifically the nuclear arsenal is the reason that this country has lived in virtual peace since 1945.  Even things like Korea and Vietnam didn’t threaten to plunge this country into fighting on our soil.

But the obvious incompetence of more and more of the military caused by the prioritizing of diversity promotions instead of based on job competence will eventually reach a point where other nuclear powers like China and Russia may decide that they no longer have to fear retaliation.  And even the regional powers like Iran and Turkey may stop fearing our military capability and thumb their noses at our orders.  That’s going to be a dangerous day for us.

21MAR2021 – OCF Update – Spring. Rejuvenation. Rebirth. Everything’s Blooming. All That Crap – 2021 Edition

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This time of the year with plants shoosting(!) out of the ground it’s hard to be downcast.  Today was so warm and sunny I couldn’t resist walking the grounds of the estate and performing baronial oversight of all my tenants.  There were the fruit flies that were buzzing around some decaying plants in the garden from last fall.  There was a small jumping spider moving rapidly through the dead grass.  I saw a blue jay searching for seeds and a chipmunk running in and out of holes in a rock wall.  All these tenants loyally genuflected to their lord and swore fealty once again.

I examined the eastern glacier and measured its retreat.

The daffodil and tulip shoots were hardly more advanced in their growth from what I saw a couple of weeks ago before the last snowstorm.

I noted the various places where the woodwork had rotted during the winter and winced as I contemplated the cost and work needed to repair these ravages of winter.  I shook my fist at the eastern glacier and laughed as the warm weather assaulted and wasted my foe.

Last night I spoke with an old friend on the phone and we discussed macrophotography.  He had sent me some links to a European macro-photographer who had a series of YouTube videos on the subject.  This fellow usually employed one or the other of Laowa’s manual focus macro lenses.  There were 60mm and 100mm lenses that reached 2X magnification and a 25mm lens that went from 2.5X all the way to 5X.  Rather unbelievably he claimed to be comfortable free handing the 5X magnification in the field.  That seemed very unlikely and based on the video he produced I think he was overstating the ease.  But it did make me think about trying some new things while shooting macro this spring and summer.

I said that I was thinking of trying my Sony 200-600mm zoom lens on butterflies and other larger insects this year.  I had pretty good success using it on hummingbirds last fall and I thought it was well worth trying it out on other wildlife including larger insects.  And my friend also said maybe I should try using a technique where I hold the camera still and move the branch on which the insect is landed toward me while using a multiple exposure burst to machine gun a good focus.  After all the nonsense of the political world in the last few weeks it was good to be thinking of something cheerful.

And I was also finally able to get my COVID vaccine appointment for tomorrow morning.  Based on the schedule for the second shot and the two-week period following it that provides me with the magic resistance so fervently desired by all good citizens I should be able to see my grandchildren in perfect safety (to whom?) in thirty-six more days.  Ah, the COVID gods are so kind.  Well, progress is progress.  Onward and upward.  Life returns once more to all creatures great and small.

Buckaroo Biden and the White Supremacist Space Pirates – Chapter 1 – The Haunted Staircase

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I guess the consolation prize I get for living in a banana republic is watching “El Presidente” swagger his way around in front of the peasants.  Well, apparently el jefe hasn’t had a lot of practice swaggering lately because of the COVID lockdown.  Swaggering has turned into staggering and Dopey Joe almost did himself in on the staircase for Air Force One.   Watch this.

He fell down three times.  Of course, he didn’t roll down the entire staircase like some Inspector Clouseau or Groucho Marx routine,  but hopefully that will come later.  I’m waiting for Jen Psaki to explain to us that the cause of the stairs mishap was white supremacists.  Hopefully the FBI is on the case and will soon round up the saboteurs and wreckers who were responsible for the assassination attempt.  Obviously, the steps were booby trapped.  I expect in the future President Biden will be loaded onto Air Force One in a cargo net.  Of course, he’ll need to be bubble wrapped and packed in foam peanuts but if they only pack him up to his armpits with his arms out, he can still salute the military guards and maintain his dignity.

So, at this point we have a commander in chief who cannot remember words like Department of Defense or the names of the major cabinet secretaries.  He can’t speak coherently and now he can’t walk up a flight of stairs.  It’s kind of exciting trying to guess what will be next.  Crude jokes about various bodily functions should be avoided but honestly, I know everyone is thinking exactly that.

I guess it’s possible if they want him to be able to keep this masquerade going for more than a few months that they will restrict all his appearances to scripted speeches using a teleprompter and avoiding any direct question and answer periods.  Or they could replace Meat Biden with an Animatronic Biden.  I’m sure if Google and Elon Musk worked together, they could have Biden 2.0 ready for use within a year or so.  It might look and sound a little different from Meat Biden, a little too coherent and gaffe free but it would serve its purpose.  After all nobody really believes Dementia Joe is either the legitimate president or even a minimally competent one.  They just need him to last for a little over two years so they can bring in Kamalarris the Blubbering Hysteric to rule us by conniption.

Well, let’s at least enjoy the show for however long Joe can keep this Curley Howard routine going.  Why not?  Hopefully no one is seriously thinking that Washington is a real government anymore, right?

Results and Conclusions From the Poll in Fold, Flee or Fight

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So here is what people said in the poll.

What's Your Guess For the Future of the United States?

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Almost a third of people said that more than twenty million people will flee the blue states for the red states.  That seems reasonable to me.  Another quarter of people said the Republicans will do absolutely nothing.  And about 40% of people said the red states will do something about the federal government’s unconstitutional overreach.  And among that 40%, 15% thought it would include secession.

Somewhat comfortingly, more people thought the red states would take action than thought that nothing at all will be done.

It’s very difficult to make any hard and fast conclusions from this poll other than that there seems to be a sense that the red states are where we hope to see some pushback against the Dems.  What it says to me personally is I should be looking for a new place to live in red state America as soon as its possible.  And if I’m smart, I should start lining something up even before I think I’m ready to go.  Things might change quickly at some point and “want” could turn to “need” really fast.

My own votes were for Flee (2) and Fight (2).  I guess I’m more pessimistic than some folks out there.  And actually, seeing that there are plenty of people more hopeful than myself makes me feel more hopeful than I was before the poll.

Thanks to everyone who participated.  This poll has clarified some of my thinking.  I am now convinced that the nothing good will happen at the national level.  I see the federal government going after our freedoms and punishing us every way they can.  The best hope we have of improving our lives in this country is finding a state or states that are willing to defy Washington and make their own policy on everything from social welfare to the Bill of Rights.

There is something very liberating about making a decision.  Concluding that the Right will not be able to pry the United States loose from the Woke Cult is a depressing realization.  But eliminating the indecision from my thinking makes the whole situation a net positive.  It is much worse to waste time and resources on a lost cause.

So, farewell Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.  Hello Brave New World that has such people in it.  Many horrible things await me and much sorrow but at least I’m heading in the right direction.  And as the Chinese Philosopher Lao Tse said, “A journey of a thousand li starts with a single step.”  Knowing which way to go is the beginning of that journey.

From now on I will give less attention to what the likes of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and John Roberts are doing and saying and more attention to what Ron DeSantis and Kristi Noem are doing and saying.  Of course, there’s bound to be overlap but I won’t agonize about threats to the filibuster or Supreme Court packing or unconstitutional laws.  I assume that all that stuff will happen.  I’ll be more interested in how the free states react to those kinds of things.  Will someone stand up to this abuse.  That’s what I’m interested in.

 

Update – 20MAR2021

Looks like fight is almost at 50% now.

 

 

What Should We Call the Democrat Party?

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The old joke is that the Democrats are the Evil Party and the Republicans are the Stupid Party.  Well, thank goodness we can continue to depend on the Republicans to be the stupid party but now we can be much more specific about the kind of evil the Democrats represent.  Some will now go with the Woke Party to describe them but that’s too polite.  My first guess would be to call them the Anti-White Party.  Some people might be outraged by the title.  After all, there are millions of white voters in the Democrat Party.  And that is clearly true although not as many as formerly.  But regardless of the color of the Democrat voters their party has clearly and vocally espoused as one of its party platforms that white people are evil.

All that is needed to prove this statement is to read the press releases by Democrat lawmakers and by looking at the policy stances that both the executive branch of the federal government and its allies in industry, media and education adopt.  Unanimously they all agree that white people are guilty of bigotry, hate-crimes and hate speech.  And they all advocate that reparations must be extracted from them to even the score.  These reparations include but are not limited to monetary transfers from the white population to the black population.  They include elimination of any cultural or historical entities that make black people or their surrogates in the “woke” community unhappy, like Dr. Seuss or George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.  They include reverse discrimination through accelerated affirmative action in all arenas that government can interfere, such as education, health care, government jobs, the military and much more.  They include judicial bias in only one direction whenever an incident occurs involving black people.  If they commit a crime they are excused.  If a white person gets into a dispute with blacks he is automatically at fault and will be prosecuted to whatever extent the prosecutor and judge can manage to extend it to.  These reparations also extend to re-education programming for adults and propaganda in the curriculum of white children.  This has been going on at a low level for decades but now it will be amplified to a level that is truly despicable.

Of course, places like New York and California have moved these programs along first but Joe Biden’s administration has brought in the Justice Department, the Department of Defense and the Department of Education into the action with a show of strength that leaves no question as to the level of viciousness that they will employ.  The FBI is currently hunting down white people who dared protest in the capitol on January 6th.  And Biden is pushing to have the legislature create a basis to redistribute the wealth of this country as “reparations.”    After that seizure of savings will probably next.

So, what is the correct name for the Democrats?  If we are trying to be subtle, we could call it the Anti-America Party.  People already call it the Globalist Party but that is equally apt for the establishment Republicans too.  I think the Most honest and accurate name for the Democrat Party is the Anti-White Party.  And congratulations to them for earning the name.  Hopefully more white people will recognize the reality soon.

American Greatness Post of the Day – Until Lambs Become Lions by Max Morton

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Reading this I thought I was reading something I might write.  Colonel Morton seems to be thinking about the same things I am.  Maybe he’s a bit more optimistic than I am at this point but I found it to be a good read.  He goes through all the obstacles that we face in trying to extricate ourselves from the death grip that the Elites have got on our country.

Colonel Morton has gone to the trouble of thinking of the details of how you build a functional opposition.  I think this essay is well worth the trouble of reading.  I’m going to re-read it to see where I disagree with it and where his suggestions add something to what I’ve already thought about.  Then maybe I’ll write a more detailed review of it.

 

 

 

 

17MAR2021 – OCF Update – Camera Girl’s Birthday

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The great religious holiday is upon us again.  Once a year to celebrate her birthday Camera Girl makes that traditional Barese meal, Corned Beef and Cabbage.  Now, I won’t pretend that I’ve always enjoyed it.  I confess that until I discovered the power of really strong brown mustard I didn’t always care for the cabbage.  And even today I do require that the cabbage is extremely well drained.  But with the availability of better grades of corned beef I’ve seen the light and now relish this once a year treat.

And as a special bonus this year, Camera Girl will be going for her first dose of COVID vaccine today.  She is approaching this treat with a bit of trepidation.  She has always been a little more aware of her mortality than I.  And who can blame her?  Any chance that her privilege of spending time with me could be curtailed would seem like an unacceptable risk.  But honestly, if I can manage to snag a shot too this long imprisonment away from family will finally be over.

But to all those out there of Irish extraction and to anyone who lived in a place that celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, enjoy the day in your traditional manner while I get out the mustard jar.

Begorra!!!

 

Post Script: Well, Camera Girl arrived back from her shot alive so I guess she can relax.  Although now she claims she’s really afraid of the second shot.  I give up.

Fold, Flee or Fight – What’s Your Guess?

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One of my acquaintances has recently told me that no red state governor or legislature will ever push back against the federal government and nullify unconstitutional laws.  I told him we’d see soon enough.  Dopey Joe and the Democrat machine have been grinding out laws and executive orders at a blinding clip.  It’s only a matter of time before they rescind the first and second amendments in their entirety.  At that point we’ll have the usual dance around the Supreme Court reviewing and throwing the laws back to a lower court to re-review.  If at that point no state takes action on the laws then my acquaintance will have been shown to be correct.

Now this acquaintance’s opinion centers on the idea that all of the unconstitutional outrages are all a smokescreen meant to distract us from the power and money grab that the Left is engaged in.  And because the federal government has a stranglehold on the federal funding no state will do anything that threatens that funding.

This argument is supposed to be a comfort to me.  The fact that the Democrats don’t really believe in systemic racism and tranny bathroom rights is supposed to make me feel better.  I guess I’m supposed to be comforted that since I’m an intelligent person I can just ignore the madness that has descended on the world because the perpetrators don’t actually believe in it.  I pointed out that he would soon be fleeing his current city because the descending madness had rendered the schools that his children attended useless and dangerous and neutralized the police’s ability to provide safety for him and his family.

Alright, so he’s had his say.  I want to ask the folks out there what their heads and guts tell them is going to happen.  I’ll provide a list of possible scenarios for you to choose from.  If I miss one leave it in the comments or as an e-mail.  I’ll allow that you can choose two items because the Flee choices can occur along with either fold or fight options in place.

 

  • Fold – The Right will do nothing at all. Red states will talk and do nothing else.  Democrats will gut the Constitution and raid our 401 K money to pay for slavery reparations.  Freedom ends.
  • Fight (1) – Red states will declare sanctuary areas where 1st and 2nd amendment rights will trump federal law. State courts will challenge federal laws and push back within the tradition of state actions against federal overreach.  But there will not be open nullification of unconstitutional laws.
  • Fight (2) – All of the actions in Fight (1) but also some red states will nullify some federal laws openly. They’ll pick a fight over something blatant and dig in their heels.
  • Fight (3) – All of the actions in Fight (1) and Fight (2) but also a group of red states will coordinate their efforts to form a united front. They will pass identical legislation and share information and even coordinate on strategies that resist the efforts of the federal government.
  • Fight (4) – Some number of states secede. This leads to a cold civil war where monetary, commercial and even military incidents occur but open combat does not become continuous.  This is followed by a treaty that brings the seceding states back under their terms.
  • Fight (5) – Same as fight (4) but the states return without gaining the terms they wanted.
  • Fight (6) – Same as Fight (4) but the states gain permanent independence.
  • Flee (1) – This is actually an additional action that can occur during many of the choices above. In this choice a significant population of Americans (> 10 million) emigrates to other countries to escape the conditions here.
  • Flee (2) – This is actually an additional action that can occur during many of the choices above. In this choice a significant population of Americans (> 20 million ) leave the blue states and end up in the red states.

 

What's Your Guess For the Future of the United States?

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