07:43 – I built a batch of biology kits yesterday. Today I’ll build a batch of chemistry kits and then get started on a batch of forensic science kits.
Barbara’s last day at work is September 30th, which takes some of the pressure off me. Knowing that we’ll be living in Winston-Salem until at least then means we’ll be through the rush period before we move. I’ll still need to have finished kits in both places and the means to ship them from either place, but at least we’ll be down to shipping a couple kits a day by the time we move rather than shipping anything up to 30 a day during the rush period.
09:35 – Watching the Greece farce has me wondering. At this point, it’s quite possible that Greece will crash out of the euro and end up leaving the European Union. If that happens, I think it’s quite likely that the EU will just let them leave with nothing more than strong verbal protests about the inseparability of the EU. Chances must be so near zero as not to matter that the EU will invade Greece with armed forces to forcibly keep Greece as a member of the EU.
And that’s not because the EU would be secretly relieved to see Greece depart. It’s because civilized countries no longer use armed force against their political sub-divisions to enforce compliance. Imagine the world-wide outrage if German panzers once again rolled into Greece. Even ordinary Germans would be outraged at what their political masters had done.
Small-l libertarianism is on the rise, particularly among younger people, but also in general. That’s why we see increased support across the board for things like same-sex marriage, repealing fireworks laws, legalizing marijuana, and so on. A majority of people now generally believe that other people should be free to do what they want, without government interference.
So, what happens if some US states, parts of states, or regions decide to secede? Perhaps only one or two at first, like Texas, conservative parts of Colorado along with Wyoming, New Hampshire, Vermont, South Carolina, and so on? Would the federal government send in armored divisions to stop the secession? If they did, would those US soldiers even obey those orders, let alone fire on other Americans? I don’t believe they would, or at least very few of them would. Despite the best efforts of the federal government, the US military is still largely made up of men and women who are loyal to America rather than to the federal government. Our military is not the SS, and never will be.
Wow, I think that is a massive overstatement.
I look at those same things, and I see extremely self-focused people who believe that THEY should be free to do what they want, but that OTHER people should be forced by government to act in a manner contrary to their own interests.
It comes from selfishness not libertarianism.
nick
So the large majority that supports same-sex marriage is made up of all gay people?
Here’s a link to the body cam footage from a police shooting. I believe this is the one that turned out to be a BB pistol. It looks pretty real in the video.
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/07/02/police-shooting-pov/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=2015-07-07&utm_campaign=Weekly+Newsletter
The routine and seemingly casual shoplifting interview goes south very quickly. The male cop fires ~9 times, and then the female puts a few in after the guy is down. Hard to be sure with the frame rate of the video, but it looks like even with a laser the male cop misses a few times. Good thing they have the ground to catch the misses.
Pre-attack indicators, not much.
1000 yard stare, maybe.
Hands raised, yes, but he’s had them up since leaving the bathroom, so it looks natural.
No glance around.
Female say “no don’t even” when he draws. He has time to aim at her, and her disbelief would have killed her if he was shooting.
The male doesn’t fire until the guy turns with gun in hand, so good there, and he does stop shooting once the guy is down, but ALL the female’s shots are after the guy is down. I’ve edited this description a couple of times after closer watching. At first I thought he put 13 into the guy, even after he’s down, but watching for muzzle flash, the male does a great job of control. The female, not so much. Given that his pistol is accessorized and hers is not, maybe he practices and cares more?
It also points out the difficulty of eye witness testimony. I misunderstood what the video showed, even after watching a couple of times. As a witness, I’d have been wrong.
nick
oh yeah ‘trigger warning’
I don’t know that a large majority DOES support gay marriage.
I do know that the supporters didn’t take a libertarian, live and let live approach to their beliefs, and get .gov out of the equation, they went to big daddy government to FORCE others to change their behaviors. That’s the opposite of libertarian.
With pot legalization, it looks to me like THEY (supporters) want to smoke dope, so they want the law changed. I don’t see them caring all that much if OTHER people get to smoke dope but I’d be interested in any polls that show how support breaks out in smokers vs. non-smokers (not that I’d trust the poll, who admits to phone callers that they break the law?)
I’m not aware of any movement to repeal fireworks laws, so I can’t contrast supporters vs. others.
I do look around and see constant calls for MORE .gov intervention, MORE laws and regulations, and MORE interference in peoples lives.
If it’s just the last spasm of the dying generation, that would be great. But I don’t think it is.
After all, 20 and 30 somethings in the US have never had individual freedom. They’ve been searched at school since the beginning. They’ve had zero tolerance their whole lives. They’ve had graduated drivers licenses, rules about riding in the back of pickups, legal curfews, and helicopter parents. They grew up with restrictions on their speech and thoughts (the PC generation). They’ve not had jobs or earned their own money. They’ve been medicated whenever their behavior didn’t conform to the group.
I wish it were true, but I don’t see it.
nick
“So the large majority that supports same-sex marriage is made up of all gay people?”
No. They either just don’t care one way or the other, or they blandly and ignorantly “support” whatever “everyone else” is doing and thinks, to wit, the tee-vee shows, the movies, the politicians, etc. They also “support” our troops in all the overseas clusterfucks, without a clue as to what exactly they’re supporting; ditto with a host of other issues over the years. And when they don’t support something that our elites wish them to support, they’ll just have to keep voting until they get it right or the elites will force it through some other way, the courts being the favorite and most successful method. From legal non-discrimination (very briefly) to “civil unions, to homosexual “marriage,” and on to what, exactly? It’s a slippery slope in my view.
“Would the federal government send in armored divisions to stop the secession? If they did, would those US soldiers even obey those orders, let alone fire on other Americans? I don’t believe they would, or at least very few of them would.”
Hard to say. They may not want to tangle with Texas, as that state seems to have its own military and utilities infrastructure, but they’d probably order the governors of other states to activate their Guard and Reserve units and “restore order” in the interests of “national security.” Would those soldiers shoot their fellow Murkans? Again, hard to say at this point; the cops apparently have no problem doing so, and a lot of them are recent veterans bringing their training and experience home to roost on Murkan citizens and Murkan soil. And naturally they’d send Guard units from Georgia to enforce the Union in New Hampshire and the guys from NH to South Carolina.
Things could blow up very rapidly; shots fired by soldiers and/or citizens at each other could escalate unpredictably. It would be very ugly.
Sunny and breezy here today; looks like possible t-storm possibilities. Working on back porch and yard as long as I can and then back to tinkering with inside stuff.
“I do know that the supporters didn’t take a libertarian, live and let live approach to their beliefs, and get .gov out of the equation, they went to big daddy government to FORCE others to change their behaviors. That’s the opposite of libertarian.”
Exactly. Put the finger on it better than I did.
“I wish it were true, but I don’t see it.”
Ditto, and for the same reasons. The Left was successful in its Long March through our culture and now we have at least two generations of yoots who breathe in the PC like the rest of us breathe the air. It’s not libertarianism; it’s sheer ignorance and laziness. Pink lipstick on a pig.
Could it not be said that there are already states that have seceded. California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington are all sanctuary states which is a direct constitutional violation. So they are just like the Confederacy exercising States Rights, their flag could be said to be the LGBT flag. However, all three branches of government ignore this because our government is all about destroying our constitution. It is amazing how much damage can be done by just ignoring our founding documents and selectively enforcing laws. Not a good time to be a straight white constitutional person of European heritage (I’m purposely leaving out my Scandinavian heritage as they have always been Socialist).
I am trying to follow Texas trying to get their gold out of Fort Knox. IMHO it is not going to happen because there is nowhere near the gold in Fort Knox that there should be. Remember all the gold and silver that was in the vaults under the World Trade Center, where is it? And are you going to believe the Government? Not me.
On the question of secession, it seems to me that .gov’s reaction is always going to be FORCE and escalation. NO WAY would they say OK then, give that a try… If you don’t want to control and have power over others, you don’t seek office.
They may not send troops into the areas, but they will certainly try closing the borders, blockading the region. They will try to break it economically at first and physically if they feel like it. They will seize the money of individuals and companies in the areas. They will block food, limit electricity, stop sales, etc. They will ensure that anyone coming into the region is destitute.
All they have to do is demonize the breakaways and MANY people will support the use of force. I can’t speak directly to our military, but historically no one else has had any trouble getting their army to attack and suppress the “other.” I’d like to think our military is different, especially when it comes to acting on US soil, but I’m not betting my life on it. There are plenty of guys who will follow orders, despite the notional illegality. The military doesn’t train them to be constitutional scholars, it trains them to follow orders from the chain of command. Most of our population follows blatantly unconstitutional laws and regulations every day, and despite their oath, I don’t expect the majority of the military to be any different.
There will be a lot of “I don’t like it, but that’s what we’ve been told to do.” It may be accompanied by foot dragging, and less than enthusiastic compliance, but it’s easier to follow orders than not. People almost always take the easy way. And if some don’t, they’ll be dealt with and replace by some that will.
What will it take?
– veneer of legality. It must be technically legal, no matter how tortured the interpretation of the law. Someone will have to be able to say “look, I know it doesn’t look constitutional, but they passed the damn thing, and it’s not our job to judge the law.” That will let most of the cops and armed forces act on the .gov side.
– “othering”/ demonization. We’re seeing some of this already. Dismissiveness like “Flyover country.” Red states and blue states. The meme of the disgruntled and dangerous vet. Denigrating preppers, demonizing ‘survivalists’. Racist rednecks. Bitter clingers. Outlawing the symbols of the culture you want to destroy (look at progroms to deny natives their birth languages, or outlaw groups their symbology. See also ‘native schools.’)
– incrementalism/ escalation. This is how they boil the frog. SO many examples already. When the shooting starts it will be a very small step. And it will be “necessary” by the time it happens. People will be ready for it, and many will welcome it.
nick
Rumors are that tons of gold got shipped to our good pals in Red Chiner; and Germany wants its gold back.
Good luck to Texas getting any.
Good points about the “sanctuary” states; yeah, they’ve already bailed. Why can’t Texas and Vermont? We got neat flags, too.
There have been periodic secession “movements” here in VT and NH but they never amounted to much; too many derps ‘not-from-around-here’ won’t ever get on board, and too many slugs who are nice and comfy with what they think is the eternal status quo. That balance is likely to tip, however, once things get sporty.
“When the shooting starts it will be a very small step. And it will be “necessary” by the time it happens. People will be ready for it, and many will welcome it.”
All good points, Mr. nick; indeed, people will welcome it in terms of “restoring order” and “national security.” One additional point: they’ve already run probable training scenarios in Ferguson, Boston, and more to come with the Jade Helm exercises, ALL directed against Murkan citizens.
And by the time the frog realizes his predicament, it will be too late.
I would love to see Tejas follow through on trying to get it’s gold. Let’s see if there really is enough to give back theirs. I can hear Obola stammering already that “Tejas” gold is the stuff under the WTC carcass and is unrecoverable.
Trump 2016! “The Great White Trump ™”
I think you guys are out of touch with young people.
I’m in touch (and in the know) but this grumpy old man plans to keep those out of touch ignorant young whipper-snappers at more than arms length. Their stupidity could be contagious.
My facebook friends who are for gay marriage are progressives, not libertarians.
Do young people actually use Facebook any more? Those I’ve talked to seem to think of it as their grandfathers’ Oldsmobiles.
“I think you guys are out of touch with young people.”
And I think Mr. Dave B. and Mr. DadCooks and Mr. nick are correct; they’re far more likely to be progs than libertarians. Their whole focus is on having the State take care of everything and using the State and its courts to enforce their wishes, i.e, homosexual “marriage,” ObummerCARE, unlimited and apparently infinite immigration, ‘black lives matter’ even when they’re looting, burning and murdering, and the wealth needs to be redistributed from old white fat cats to the yearning masses struggling to breathe free.
Most of the young people I come into contact with for any length of time simply mouth prog bromides and have little or no clue as to what actual libertarianism means.
Texas should have no trouble getting it’s gold back. It’s owned by the University of Texas endowment fund and is stored at HSBC in NYC. They could have saved almost $1 million/year in storage fees if they had stored it at the Fed in NYC. (BTW, it’s been a mediocre investment, appreciating about 3% since 2010, exclusive of storage fees and transaction fees.)
The state is setting up a gold depository in Texas to store that gold and anyone else’s gold that pays the fees. Smells like a payoff to some local gold bugs that gave to various campaigns.
Do young people actually use Facebook any more?
Define young. Certainly older 20 somethings use it quite a bit. Teens, not so much.
“I think you guys are out of touch with young people.”
While I’ll admit that I don’t have wide exposure, I’ve got my wife’s cousins, my kids’ swim team members, the neighbors and their kids, and the kids I see as I go about my business. It’s been a few years since I was in the corporate office regularly, but I saw the kids there too. For kids, I’m using 17-30yo, since I’m feeling curmudgeonly.
I’m out of the house and interacting with people at least 4 or 5 days a week.
They are selfish and self-absorbed and increasingly isolated, despite their connectivity, for the most part. The exception is the ‘country’ kids I see at the local farm and school events. Those kids, who are actually doing stuff like raising animals, hunting, etc seem to have a better understanding of the world and more engagement with it. The ones who positively get my attention usually turn out the have been homeschooled for at least part of their lives.
What I read from others who are in high schools and colleges, and what I hear from my friends that work in those places does little to make me think my understanding is incorrect. Just reading my alumni magazine confirms most of it.
nick
Nah, FaceBook is old hat, for 30-somethings. WhatsApp and probably other social message platforms are currently in. Kids do usually have FaceBook accounts, but only because older family members do.
I’d love to see secessions. One state has to have the guts to start – if it works, a whole lot will follow suit. However, I do believe that the military will be used, and enough of the military will shoot. It won’t be peaceful, but it might be controllable.
@ech,
Gold isn’t an investment, it’s a store of value. The article I read about the UT gold said specifically that it was purchased and intended as such. At 2.5% of the endowment value, it is small potatoes in the portfolio anyway.
Several entities have discovered that what they really own is a piece of paper claiming they own a pile of metal. Because when they asked for the actual metal, they were told “No.” This happened in China with copper, to Germany with gold, to a whole bunch of people who owned ‘paper gold’ over the years, and it will happen again.
I’m not saying it wasn’t a payoff to local goldbugs. But that’s not relevant. I don’t see any benefit to having it sit in NYC, when it could sit here. If it is gonna sit, it should be somewhere close at hand. ESPECIALLY if you think you might not be able to actually lay hands on it.
It is a broader indicator of the decrease in a general faith that things will continue as they have been.
nick
Socially libertarian? Sure. Fiscally libertarian? Not so much.
RE: Facebook
The “kids” are on Twitter, WhatsApp (it should be noted they’re owned by Facebook), SnapChat, and so forth. They keep a Facebook account because having a Facebook profile is like being listed in the phonebook these days. As soon as the over-40 crowd became the largest growing demo on Facebook it was destined to lose hold of the teenyboppers. They want to be able to interact with their peers without their Great Aunt Ruth reading it.
I quit using FB at all many months ago; can I be a youngster, too? Oh wait–I don’t use any of the other “social” media sites, either. Waste of time and bandwidth and actively monitored all along by the State and its corporate allies. FB, Google, Microsoft, et. al. are totally entwined with the Almighty State.
Be advised there are other options for communications that matter, while ostensibly keeping the standard-issue claptrap open.
“… their Great Aunt Ruth…”
I only had one great-aunt in my life, and she’s long gone; she worked part-time at the old Cherry & Webb department store and the movie theater down in New Bedford and owned a black Studebaker with running boards in mint condition that she kept in a garage a few blocks from their house there, a ‘hood that is now a Beirut-level slag heap.
They want to be able to interact with their peers without their Great Aunt Ruth reading it.They want to be able to post stupid and compromising stuff without considering that Great Aunt Ruth will be able to read it.
Fixed it.
They don’t realize the web is forever. It feels transient. Stuff scrolls off the page. But everything ever posted could be saved, is being saved, is being indexed, tagged, and personally identified. If not now, then later. Picassa already does a good job of facial recognition. Run it in 10 years against everyone who’s ever posted an ex-girlfriend picture, or a naked selfie. No anonymity anymore! Textual analysis is already matching trolls to blog posts. It won’t be long before private companies and individuals have the abilities of governments today.
Society will have to find a way to deal with all those ‘youthful indiscretions.’ Right now, they’ll go back thru years of your posts and tweets and hold stuff up and say “HAH, GOTCHA” but before too long, some mechanism will have to evolve. Maybe the social equivalent of a statute of limitation?
One of the funniest interactions I’ve had with ‘young people’ is when I pointed out to some of them that if they’ve ever sent or allowed anyone to take a naked picture of them, it’s probably available on a website somewhere. I suggested googling “ex-girlfriend pix” or “hacked facebook photos” if they didn’t believe me. The shocked looks on their faces were AWESOME for this (feeling his age) curmudgeon. [do not do either of those searches at work or on a computer someone else will see, definitely NSFW.]
I freely acknowledge that I benefit greatly from having my deeds and misdeeds being forgotten in the mists of time and memory.
How long before it’s illegal to discriminate against someone for their postings on social media? 5, 10, 20 years?
nick
What, you mean stuff that I post could come back to haunt me?
Uh-oh. This stuff could be used against me.
I’m the one who called Homeland Security the Heimatsicherheitshauptamt the day it was formed, and suggested that Tom Ridge be given the rank of Oberst-Gruppenführer.
I wonder if they would hold that against me. Just in case, I won’t get near an airport.
We are out of here aa soon as we get our gold.
http://hotair.com/archives/2015/07/05/texas-wants-to-bring-home-all-its-gold/
Gold isn’t an investment, it’s a store of value. The article I read about the UT gold said specifically that it was purchased and intended as such. At 2.5% of the endowment value, it is small potatoes in the portfolio anyway.
As a “store of value” it’s meaningless for a university endowment portfolio. What use is physical bullion to a university in a crisis? They don’t have a way to use it. Small pieces of gold might be useful in an EOTWAWKT (“but I feel fine”) scenario, but to individuals – not institutions. If they want to invest in commodities, there are better alternatives such as oil fields and the like. As for the amount, it was as high as 5% of the endowment. making 1% per year instead of the nearly 20% the S&P did cost them about a 1% gain in the portfolio. Not small potatoes.
Kind of makes one wonder if Texas is planning to introduce a gold-backed currency. I note that citizens will be able to deposit and withdraw gold bullion, which makes me wonder if Texas plans to issue deposit certificates. Given that gold is currently around $1,170/ounce or $37.62/gram, that’d make the gram a convenient base denomination.
At least Texas money would good. The new IMF reserve currency looks like the biggest boondoggle ever.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-rallies-around-yuan-as-imf-mulls-reserve-currency-inclusion-1434366682
Speaking of Texas, nothing like a nice July graveside funeral in Whitney at high noon. The wife had me bring my large umbrella which was the saving grace for the hour long service. 40 people showed up which was a nice family reunion for the wife.
What Nick said. If you have reason to own something like gold – as a store of value – then you have reason to be able to lay your hands on it if you need it. Otherwise, it’s useless.
Texas apparently owns just under 6000 gold bars. Clearly, you want a safe place, because of the value it represents. However, 6000 bars do not physically occupy all that much space; a very small room will do. So put a vault in the basement of the Capitol building in Austin, with modern alarms, a regular check by security personnel, and maybe an insurance policy with Lloyds. There’s no reason this needs to cost tens of millions.
But no, there’s no idea that can’t be expanded into a bureaucracy, even in Texas. The politicos want to create a full-blown depository, because that will justify an agency to manage it. They pretend that that companies and private people will use it, and that this will somehow make it cheaper than paying New York to store the gold. Let’s be real – this is a government – there’s no way they will run this at anything but a thumping loss. They’d be better off with the basement vault in Austin.
I’m very much a Texan at heart. When I expatriated, I looked around to see if there was any way to formally remain a Texan while handing in the US passport. Unfortunately, there wasn’t.
I would love to see Texas secede, but I don’t think it can happen. Too many people from out of state, who live there but haven’t turned Texan, plus too many Texans (like anyone, anywhere) are too comfortable to risk such a change.
Still, bringing home the gold is a good first step, and it’s good to have secession in the air again. Maybe, someday…
“I wonder if they would hold that against me. Just in case, I won’t get near an airport.”
You can rest assured that what you said is recorded somewhere and what we’re posting here right now, likewise. If the State or merely some bureaucrat we’ve pissed off within the State’s voluminous bowels decides to mess us up, that is one way they can do it. “Hey, look, this guy Thompson ridiculed national security back in the day; plus, wow, look at all this other stuff he said online, in emails, and….ta-da…in private conversations inside his house with Mrs. Thompson.” Where he has a chemical lab. And an arsenal of prohibited firearms and ammunition. Has mentioned explosives as an amusing pastime. Has beaucoups disrespect for Our Nation, etc., etc.
“We’ve got him!”
Avoiding airports won’t save you. We’ve all long since been “made.” They probably have 8-10 million Murkans on lists for future apprehension and internment for reasons of “national security,” and I wouldn’t doubt that you, me, and others here are already included.
And you others here talking about grabbing national resources like gold and seceding from the Nation….
@ech,
The store of value is for AFTER the crisis. Like AFTER the stock market crashes, wiping out all of the “gains” which were just marks on paper. Have they sold out of ANY of their stock positions to actually realize any of those gains? If they have, they’re joining the ‘smart money’ which appears to be exiting stocks and actualizing their gains. If they haven’t, then the ‘gains’ are nothing at all. Literally nothing. They’ve traded their benefactor’s money for promises. After the stocks lose half their value, or all of it if the companies tank, that gold will still be exchangeable for value. The fancy paper will not. The exchange rate might look good or bad, but it will be exchangeable.
You cite the opportunity cost of having the gold, instead of an equivalent value of shares in the stock market. All market valuations are EXTREMELY sensitive to timing. In this case, the opportunity cost looks high, but I wonder if it will look as high next week, or the week after the massive correction in the markets that many many people see coming?
Without the benefit of hindsight, or the luxury of defining the terms of the equation (using today’s market pricing for example) it is very hard to determine opportunity cost. If UT were instead U of Shanghai, and had their money in the chinese market, what would that equation look like 6 weeks ago, and what would it look like today? There is absolutely no reason to think our markets will continue to increase in value, and there are a LOT of reasons to believe that they won’t.
Having ownership of a thing which has intrinsic value, and is readily exchangeable for things with local value (be they groceries, cement, or bank notes) makes a lot of sense to me.
It didn’t always. But twice in the last couple of decades I’ve seen my VERY hard earned retirement savings in the form of stock and bond funds, cut in half or less. I’ve had my retirement savings frozen by .gov decree for 2 years, as a result of banker malfeasance. If you can’t control it, it is not really yours. I’m glad UT is going to have better control over at least some of their assets. It’s likely that my kids will go there, so I have a vested interest in their continued prosperity.
nick
Is the World Becoming Fed Up?
The concluding paragraphs:
“Europe and the United States are seeing glimpses of the ultimate leftist trajectory — a mixture of Greece and Detroit, de facto non-enforcement of the law, the Iranian nuke deal, a new McCarthyism, and race, class, and gender hatred — and are becoming afraid and perhaps appalled. A growing number of people sense that 21st century leftist elites are not pragmatic working people, but a privileged sect that callously experiments with other people’s lives on the understanding that they are insulated and immune from the inevitable disasters that follow from their own ideas.
“A great pushback is awakening here and abroad, but its timing, nature, and future remain mysterious.”
So when are all these young guys with lots of testosterone going to get off their asses and actually do something about it? Are we going to see a widespread plague of deaths of SJWs from unnatural causes?
perhaps off topic, but – –
I will postulate that we are already seeing a 4th generational warfare insurgency getting started, much like the one a bunch of the 3%ers seem to be getting ready for.
We see lone wolf attacks by ‘like minded individuals’. We see attacks on law enforcement. We may even be seeing attacks on the dependents of law enforcement. We are seeing terror, propaganda, social media being used by the insurgents.
The insurgents are black. Funny how some 3pers are getting freaked out by some of the very techniques they were hoping to use themselves, or at least, that they themselves were talking online about using.
It is providing some interesting data. I’m all for letting them trial run this war. What tactics are counterproductive? Which work? What attacks succeed? Who is funding them? Where do they get support (aid and comfort)?
nick
(we will see a bunch of SJW deaths when they are no longer useful to the insurgents, either as a shield or as support, in other words, if they get to the point where they are ‘feeling their oats’ the masks will come off and a bunch of concerned white kids are gonna get their asses kicked.)
” I’m all for letting them trial run this war.”
Exactly. Meanwhile, semper paratus.
“Funny how some 3pers are getting freaked out by some of the very techniques they were hoping to use themselves…”
It will be an interesting series; the current insurgents must figure they don’t have a whole lot to lose; the future insurgents do, but they have superior gear and firepower and technologies.
And in Europe we’re now seeing a collapse of the political center and more left-right radical coalitions; Le Pen & Co. cheering the Greek referendum. Peeps over there are really fed up with the bureaucracy in Brussels and the Germans must be among the biggest moral hypocrites on the subject of unpaid debt in history.
And a very tiny, so far, percentage of the so-called 3% here in North Murka look to a day when secession is rampant and they’ll be able to negotiate with other seceding political entities on geographical/economic territories with the Nation of Islam and La Raza, without as yet finding an equivalent entity among the First Nations, i.e., Lakota Nation. This tiny group envisions European “boat people” of like ethno-racial heritage, fleeing/emigrating to Novacadia and Cascadia.
But peeps in my age bracket won’t live to see any of that stuff, I’m pretty sure. We seem to be in a version of this country as it was in the late 1850s, only not so well-defined geographically now, but more like the Balkans. Instead of red and blue states, they’re often just purple, with enclaves of red and blue. Maffachufetts, for example, true-blue from Boston Hahbuh to Springfield and Amherst; kinda red further west. NYC and environs, Long Island and the Capital District=blue; further north and west, red.
Our military is not the SS, and never will be.
You forget the TSA, BATF, NSA, FBI. CIA, militarized police, etc.
No threat from any of them, right?
Rick in Portland
I said our military. I wasn’t referring to fed alphabet agencies. Remember, I designated DHS as Heimatsichheitshauptamt.
“Despite the best efforts of the federal government, the US military is still largely made up of men and women who are loyal to America rather than to the federal government. Our military is not the SS, and never will be.”
The point is, the members of the Armed Forces don’t swear to obey orders; we swear to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same”, and to obey orders IN SUPPORT of this primary objective. I’m certain that there’s a lot of confusion about where the limits are, but at least a substantial minority of service men and women would hesitate to obey a flatly unconstitutional order.
An order of magnitude, that is all; our alphabet soup of various Fed agencies are still a bit more subtle than the SS and Gestapo and KGB. They’ll be on an equivalent footing when they start rounding up people for boxcar transportation to a real Murkan gulag; all the various building blocks are in place now. Also when they start engaging in regular savage interrogations and tortures and mass executions with mass graves.
I’d also like to believe that regular ol’ Murkan citizens would never do this sort of thing to their fellow Murkans, but the psychological experiments done long ago by Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo give the lie to that fairy tale. As did the contemporary manifestation of the Stasi network in East Germany and the system of informers in the old Soviet Union, Cuber, and Red Chiner.
I see now; we’re differentiating between the military and the alphabet soup people; I think the boundary is increasingly murky these days, and there’s a lot of back-and-forth. The Wehrmacht certainly provided backup support for SS and Gestapo operations when not actively conducting them on their own in eastern Europe and Russia.
If somebody from one of the alphabet agencies comes after me, will the military protect me or help the “legitimate” authority. I wouldn’t bet on the former.
Anyone want to see how it happens that your young idealistic cop/soldier becomes the oppressor?
http://chrishernandezauthor.com/2013/01/15/my-life-as-a-tyrant/
I’ve read this guy’s blog posts. I’ve read his fiction. I’ve talked to him on the phone. He’s a retired veteran cop, and a retired soldier. He’s pretty level headed. I don’t agree with everything he’s ever said, but it’s all worth reading. And this is how it starts.
“If you think our police are no threat to your freedom, you’re living in a fantasy world. ”
…
“Later that day I argued my way up the chain of command that the operation had been wrong, we shouldn’t have done it and should never do it again. An Irish officer agreed with me. But a senior American officer listened to me with a disinterested expression and said, “Look man, it’s legal here. So I don’t have a problem with it.””
…
” But we ALWAYS have a worry about government tyranny. Don’t tell me, “it can’t happen here.” I know better. I was there when Officer Joe stole people’s property, because he had a personal vendetta and knew he could get away with it. Don’t tell me police officers won’t engage in tyranny. I’ve seen it.”
RTWT
nick
added- it starts with this, add in an attack on family, a couple of kids caught in the cross fire, and you get a ‘f#ck these suns-o-b!tches’ scorched earth policy.
Re sanctuary States, I can’t get too bent out of shape about it, when the federal govt itself is violating federal immigration law and preventing States from enforcing it themselves.
Re Milgram, the reported results are great exaggerations of actual results. Milgram and his assistants pushed the subjects a lot harder than was at first admitted.
“…you get a ‘f#ck these suns-o-b!tches’ scorched earth policy.”
Which is EXACTLY what will ensue when peeps begin fighting and shooting back at the cops and military here; and a shit-ton of young cops now are vets of the Sandbox and the Suck, where such tactics are de rigeur on a daily, if not hourly, basis. I’m old enough to remember the nightly tee-vee reports of the rioting and rooftop snipers in the cities; the cops were very quickly backed up by army paratroopers, many of them ‘Nam vets, with machine guns and tanks. Pretty similar to Red Army troops rolling into Budapest in 1956 and Prague in 1968. They don’t have to be the SS; they just have to man the Ma Deuce and howitzers.
“Milgram and his assistants pushed the subjects a lot harder than was at first admitted.”
Understood; I’ve seen video clips; nevertheless, it’s not a great stretch to imagine, considering the plethora of citizens willing to do surveillance and design cop and soldier robots here, or with the East German Stasi previously. Rest assured that if your neighbors want a bigger food ration and/or their innernet service restored, they’ll dime your ass out in a heartbeat.
Threatened with loss of job, property or a child’s safety, they’ll happily jolt you until the cows come home.
Hillary! says:
“I didn’t have to turn over any emails but did…people should and do trust me”
lol! No!
Her brain has gone the way of Dirty Harry Reid’s. Maybe her concussion took place on Harry’s treadmill. That thing is dangerous. Call OSHA stat. Why doesn’t she just come out and say “elect me the first woman President.” Please Biden, please run.
Trump 2016! “The Great White Trump ™ “
Some of them learned some lessons.
They’ve engineered it so they don’t even NEED a Stazi. The huge sprawling regulatory apparatus makes it impossible to be innocent of breaking a rule or reg without even knowing it. Then they’ve conditioned everyone to be a whining little b!tch. Your neighbors and the code enforcement parasites have become their own stazi.
Someone, of their own free will, called the CPS on the kids that were 4 blocks from home at the park. Someone is peering out a window RIGHT THIS MINUTE to see if you’ve put your trashcans out early. Someone is driving around with license plate scanners running background checks on ever person and car they see looking to generate some revenue from a broken reg.
But is any of the whiny b!tches calling the cops on the group of young black males harassing everyone who walks by the McDonalds? Are they calling the cops on the heavily tatted young hispanic men dressed identically standing on the corner, approaching every car that slows as it passes? Are they calling CPS or ICE for the apartment with 4 little girls in it, and a line of men outside who visit for 15 minutes at a time? NO THEY ARE NOT. They are so scared and cowed by PC that they take their impotence and go after someone else, who doesn’t scare them.
Imagine a police force made up entirely of people with the attitude of parking enforcement. Fining you for not paying enough RENT on a street YOUR TAXES paid for. Stealing your property. Imprisoning you, where you can be beaten, raped, and infected with deadly diseases. And then you are blocked from a whole range of occupations, further limiting your ability to simply live your life. Now imagine that writ large across the whole book of Federal Regulations.
Imagine that everyone who gets caught up by one of these enforcers gets the choice- gimme two others or I’ll call in my buddies and we’ll crawl so far up your @ss you won’t see daylight for years, and while you’re locked up, we’ll keep coming back until we get your wife too. Then who’ll take care of your pretty daughter? Think she’s never broken a rule? Whadda ya think she’d be willing to do to keep her daddy out of jail?
That’s where this sort of thing always ends up, if it’s not shut down right away. To avoid this, the founding fathers thought long and hard and put down in plain english rules to LIMIT what government could do. With every step away from those founding rules, we’re closer to the end.
If you think it can’t happen here, you’re wrong. It already happens to the poor, the illegal, the vulnerable. And once the guys doing it get used to doing it to the marginal, it won’t take much to do it to you. They just have to find a way to see you as marginal.
nick
“Maybe her concussion took place on Harry’s treadmill.”
More likely both of them got connected up close and personal with Mr. Fist and Mr. Hand. Told not to stray off the res again and STFU, ditto Justice Roberts. These people ain’t playing. They also found ways to dump the only two decent generals from the Sandbox and the Suck.
“They just have to find a way to see you as marginal.”
They already do; we’re just data to them now. It’s gonna be an interesting next few years here. Let’s see what happens when they keep pushing tens of millions of non-marginals until they explode. They may find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Or maybe not; maybe everyone will just keep stuffing their gobs with lousy Murkan pizza and washing it down with shitty Murkan lager in front of the tee-vee and who cares about the beat-downs out in the street or the racket of gunfire a few blocks away–just crank up the volume.
Junior’s in the basement with his headphones on playing World of Warcraft while keeping an eye on the meth pot; Sissy’s whoring at the mall and showing off her new tatts; and Mom’s chasing mother’s little helper down with a nice glass of gin and shopping on the net.
What the heck is a three percenter? Wow, readily googlable in many places.
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-three-percenter.html
“During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King’s tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists. They were in turn actively supported by perhaps 10% of the population. In addition to these revolutionaries were perhaps another 20% who favored their cause but did little or nothing to support it. Another one-third of the population sided with the King (by the end of the war there were actually more Americans fighting FOR the King than there were in the field against him) and the final third took no side, blew with the wind and took what came.”
“Three Percenters today do not claim that we represent 3% of the American people, although we might. That theory has not yet been tested. We DO claim that we represent at least 3% of American gun owners, which is still a healthy number somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million people. History, for good or ill, is made by determined minorities. We are one such minority. So too are the current enemies of the Founders’ Republic. What remains, then, is the test of will and skill to determine who shall shape the future of our nation.”
“The Three Percent today are gun owners who will not disarm, will not compromise and will no longer back up at the passage of the next gun control act. Three Percenters say quite explicitly that we will not obey any further circumscription of our traditional liberties and will defend ourselves if attacked. We intend to maintain our God-given natural rights to liberty and property, and that means most especially the right to keep and bear arms. Thus, we are committed to the restoration of the Founders’ Republic, and are willing to fight, die and, if forced by any would-be oppressor, to kill in the defense of ourselves and the Constitution that we all took an oath to uphold against enemies foreign and domestic.”
“We are the people that the collectivists who now control the government should leave alone if they wish to continue unfettered oxygen consumption. We are the Three Percent. Attempt to further oppress us at your peril.”
“To put it bluntly, leave us the hell alone.”
“Or, if you feel froggy, go ahead AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.”
Oh my.
Have driven 700+ miles out to near west Texas (Whitney) and up to North Dallas over the last three days. Where did all these people come from and why are they ALL out on the roads driving around? I-35 through Dallas was undrivable so we drove 20 miles east to drive north on the new tollway to Carrollton yesterday.
Lots and lots of people everywhere in Texas. Lots and lots of new pickups. I hope that they are all ready to use their savings for payments when crude oil goes to $25/bbl next week.
We need all of the interstates widened in Texas. We also need at least two new Interstates going out to west Texas. Even with all of the talk about infrastructure, I highly doubt anything will happen.
One very curious item. Dallas – Fort Worth had a area speed limit from the EPA of 60 mph (from a pollution agreement about 20 years ago). All of a sudden, the speed limits on all of the highways in Dallas are now 65 or 70 mph. What happened?
“Oh my.”
More here:
http://www.iiipercent.blogspot.com/
Like I said, they’re gonna keep pushing and pushing, and sooner or later somebody’s gonna push back. Hard. Then we’ll see.
“We need all of the interstates widened in Texas. We also need at least two new Interstates going out to west Texas.”
That’s right. We need to pave the whole country with eight-lane highways ASAP, because the days of Happy Motoring will NEVER end!
And we’re on track to zoom right up to 400-million peeps pretty soon, and every last swinging you-know-what ought to have at least three vehicles. Now triple that for China and India. Each.
Pretty soon we’ll have the whole West looking like Mexico City and environs, and the Southeast looking like Nigeria.
Where’s the gold???
https://www.bullionstar.com/blogs/koos-jansen/former-us-mint-director-clueless-on-gold-in-fort-knox/
as expected, US tells to Greece and Germany to fix the issue, so, in the end, Greece receives US dollars instead of euros.
No cheap islands to buy
Is a shame we do not have Turkey and Russia near in 2001, well, next time perhaps we could use China
Lots and lots of new pickups
I gots me one of dem dare shiney new cowboy cadillacs.
use their savings for payments
No thanks, mine was paid off 30 days after I purchased.
Based on the cost of my vehicle I have to wonder where they get their money for those vehicles as they are not cheap. Many are north of 50K with some going over the 70K (F-250, dually, diesel, crew cab, 4WD) mark.
We need to pave the whole country with eight-lane highways ASAP
South of the Atlanta city center on I-75 there is a stretch of highway that is eight lanes in both directions. Generally jammed in the morning and evening.
I have heard Atlanta has the worst commute in the country. Some people in the suburbs on the edge of the metro area have to be on the road at 5:30 AM just to be at work by 8.
“South of the Atlanta city center on I-75 there is a stretch of highway that is eight lanes in both directions. Generally jammed in the morning and evening.”
Oh? Well then, double it to sixteen lanes forthwith! Yes! Sixteen lanes, nationwide! Happy Motoring forever!
Commuting stories from the ancient past: When I was stacking time with the first wife in New Jersey twenty years ago, peeps were commuting to their jobs in NYC from their homes in the Poconos to the west, and from way out on Long Island to the east, typically taking four or more hours EACH WAY, whether by car or train.
When I moved back to MA after the divorce, my commute from Hopkinton, MA (start of the Boston Marathon and the Charles River) to my job in Waltham (on America’s Technology Highway, Route 128), just 35 miles, took anywhere from a half-hour to two hours, depending on traffic, accidents and/or construction.
Life in Megalopolis, and like I say, this was twenty years ago. Must be really special now.
just 35 miles, took anywhere from a half-hour to two hours
My current commute is 29.7 miles (approximately) and I generally make the trip to work in 35 minutes, going home in about 45 minutes. Takes longer getting home because all the geriatrics in Oak Ridge are on the road heading to or from Walmart.
In 359 days my commute will consist of 0.0 miles (approximately).
“…all the geriatrics in Oak Ridge are on the road heading to or from Walmart.”
I wonder what they’ll do to pass the time when they can’t head to Wall-Mutt for everything or shop online.
Where did they all come from?
Well Lynn, down there in Tejas and out here in California I’d say a good share from south of here. If not directly, well I’d say from multiplication. I’m just noting the propensity for large familia units among certain groups. (micro-aggression?) Something about reconquista.
I wonder what they’ll do to pass the time when they can’t head to Wall-Mutt for everything or shop online.
Go to Hardees each morning for their coffee and biscuits with their friends.
Or wander aimlessly as so many geriatrics do when driving anywhere in Oak Ridge.
I figured out what the “DD” on many of the handicap plates Oak Ridge designates. (Hint: twice ignorant posterior).
“Something about reconquista.”
You got it. Nuevo Aztlan. Just as the demographics are working in Israel/Palestine. What can’t be conquered by force of arms can be via babies.
“Go to Hardees each morning for their coffee and biscuits with their friends.”
Not without gas in their tanks, and not through hordes of dancing, howling revenants, all teed off ’cause they ATM and EBT cards ain’t workin’ no mo.
OFD recommends curling up at home with a good book. And not necessarily The Good Book, either.
That’s right. We need to pave the whole country with eight-lane highways ASAP, because the days of Happy Motoring will NEVER end!
We’ve got most of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala moving here apparently. And then there are the Michiganites, Upper State NYers, Californians, etc, etc etc. All moving here to Texas. They are predicting that the Houston regional population will jump to 25 million by 2050 (8 million presently). I’ll be long by then, thank goodness.
Really? I plan to still be around. In 2050, I’ll be only 97. Come to that, in 3050 I’ll be only 1,097.
“I plan to still be around.”
I’d only wanna still be around if the meat package and nervous/brain system is still up to snuff (though many might opine that it’s not up to snuff now).
“We’ve got most of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala moving here apparently.”
Habla Espanol, hombre? Listen, they come there out of love.