This is a must-watch video discussion on world events

 

I generally don't like watching videos to get news and/or background information.  They're usually far too long, with too few facts stuck between a lot of verbiage that's of no interest at all.  I prefer to read the transcript, so I can pick out the nuggets and ignore the dross.

However, some videos are an exception to that rule.  This one, featuring Peter Ziehan, is particularly good.  In an hour-long discussion, he examines the Ukraine war and its fallout as far as global geopolitics are concerned.  He's got a very extensive background in the field, and I subscribe to his (free) daily newsletter about world events (I highly recommend them, if the field interests you).  He's about to release his latest book, "The End of the World is Just the Beginning" (which I've already pre-ordered), and discusses parts of it in this video.

Here's the video.  Enjoy - and listen carefully.  There's an awful lot of meat on the bone in this one, and it repays attention.

Food for thought, indeed!

Peter

PLEASE tell me this person will never be licensed to practice medicine???

 

This report makes my blood boil with anger.

A North Carolina medical student and trans rights activist seemingly bragged on Twitter about intentionally injuring a patient who mocked her for wearing a pronoun pin saying she/her.

Kychelle Del Rosario, a fourth-year student at Wake Forest University's School of Medicine, claimed to have purposefully missed the patient's vein during a blood draw so she would have to jab him twice in a since-deleted tweet.

'I had a patient I was doing a blood draw on see my pronoun pin and loudly laugh to the staff 'She/Her? Well of course it is! What other pronouns even are there? It?' I missed his vein so he had to get stuck twice.' Del Rosario tweeted Tuesday. 

The medical school acknowledged online that it was aware of the incident, saying: 'This student's tweet does not reflect how Wake Forest University School of Medicine treats patients and provides patient care. We are taking measures to address this with the student.'

Since the tweet, Del Rosario has scrubbed her social media accounts.

There's more at the link, including a screenshot of the tweet in question.

Del Rosario has clearly either never heard of, or doesn't regard as important, any considerations of moral or ethical norms and standards in health care.  I can only hope he/she/it will never, ever be granted the right to practice in any form of medicine.  What's more, if Wake Forest University allows Del Rosario to continue studying there, the university should be shunned by all right-thinking people.  Do you really want your children studying alongside someone so clearly and disgustingly self-centered and morally degenerate as to act like that?

If I lived nearer to North Carolina, I'd be tempted to offer free horsewhips to anyone who wanted to administer condign correction to this idiot.  As it is, I can only hope that others do so on my behalf.

Peter

If you needed a reason to boycott Disney, here it is

 

Sundance points out:

During a conference call to explain the corporate intents of the company, Disney entertainment president Karey Burke says, “As the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child,” she supports having “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories” and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities.

There have always been rumors, suspicions and concerns about the deviant intents of the Disney company surrounding the sexuality and exploitation of children.  It is now safe to say those suspicions and concerns are officially verified as fact.  Ms. Karey Burke has raised two children into a life of confusion and conflict surrounding their sexuality.  Ms. Burke did not do this to her own children accidentally; it is an outcome of a process.

Now that she has advanced into a position of influence within the corporation; an advancement in profession seemingly enhanced by her own skills exploiting the sexuality of her own children; Ms. Burke announces the open intent of the company under her stewardship to groom, influence and steer your children into the same twisted sexual lifestyle.

Disney has come out of the closet, not only as a corporation intent on the advancement of sexual identity, but also with a corporate mission to influence the sexualization of our children.

Sundance is spot on.  Never forget that the percentage of LGBTetc oriented people in our society is in the low single digits (often cited as plus-or-minus 3%, according to many objective authorities and measurements).  Propaganda to the contrary is precisely that - propaganda, not fact.  To have a major entertainment corporation talk about a vastly greater proportion of its characters falling into that classification is in defiance of reality - and is just as much propaganda as anything else.  It fails the fact test.

However, I'm grateful to Disney for being so open about its agenda.  I now know where my entertainment dollars will not be going.  I hope and trust that all rational Americans - indeed, all rational people everywhere, including China, Disney's biggest market - will come to the same conclusion.

Peter

EDITED TO ADD:  As if to confirm our worst fears, another Disney television executive has admitted to "adding queerness" to the company's animated shows.

A Disney executive producer admitted she has been pushing a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” for children’s animation, even as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law this week.

During a Disney staff meeting about the law — which bars Florida teachers from discussing topics like sexual orientation or gender identity with students unless they’re in the fourth grade or higher — executive producer for Disney Television Animation Latoya Raveneau touted Disney’s efforts to feature LGBTQ storylines.

“In my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the showrunners were super welcoming . . . to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda,” Raveneau said in a leaked video obtained by journalist Christopher Rufo. “Maybe it was that way in the past, but I guess something must have happened . . . and then like all that momentum that I felt, that sense of ‘I don’t have to be afraid to have these two characters kiss in the background.’”

“I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness,” Raveneau added. “No one would stop me, and no one was trying to stop me.”

There's more at the link, including a video clip of Ms. Raveneau speaking at the meeting.

This report merely reinforces my existing conviction that Disney has become, in a moral sense, actively evil.  It's promoting an anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-traditional-morality agenda.

The joys of juggling contractors

 

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Miss D. and I were recently paid a sum of money that's been due to us for a long time.  We're putting it to work, rather than leaving it in the bank to lose double-digit percentages of its value every year to the ravages of inflation.  So far, we've installed a new HVAC system to replace our old, faltering one;  bought a new dual-fuel inverter generator for emergency use (something that's likely to become more important as our aging regional and national power infrastructure begins to break down more often - a very real probability);  ordered and half-paid-for a new garage door;  paid off debt;  and re-established a small emergency fund.  Still in progress are a patio and utility shed for the back yard, a new and larger rear gate to allow vehicle access, an upgrade to our electricity main board, and a couple of other minor matters.

One problem I'm finding is that many contractors are either reluctant, or actually unable, to be specific on dates and costs.  I've been trying to nail down quotes for the patio and shed, only to find that potential suppliers are vague on costs, uncertain about the date(s) on which they'll be available, and (I think) deliberately vague on specifics.  It's been very frustrating.  In the end, I decided to use it as a sorting and selection device.  Contractors who couldn't or wouldn't be specific on the details of what they proposed to provide, and/or who couldn't supply drawings of structures that could be used by an insurer to assess damage and/or rebuild in the event of damage, were dropped from my short-list.  I finalized the bidding on both projects yesterday, using two contractors rather than one because of cost and other factors.  I hope both projects will be complete by mid-year.

I learned two very interesting things in the process of getting a building permit from our local municipality.  The first was that, for an uninsulated, unplumbed, unpowered utility shed, I didn't really need a building permit:  but if I expected an insurance company to pay for any damage, I needed one, because without it they'd deem it an illegal structure and refuse to cover any loss.  This has apparently happened in the past.  Allied to that, insurers apparently expect to be able to examine construction drawings, done to professional standards, that show what type of building it was/is, the materials used, specifications, measurements, etc.  Without them, they may deem it an "informal" owner-built structure and pay out only for the cost of generic materials, without labor or any other considerations.  If any of you plan small projects like ours, you might want to keep that in mind.  It pays to "go by the book" if you plan to cover the work under your insurance policy.

I now have four contractors lined up to do five separate projects over the next few months, with an electrician still to be selected to upgrade our main board.  (Interestingly, some electricians refuse to install a generator cut-over switch, apparently due to liability issues if anything goes wrong during a power outage.  I don't get that - why be a professional electrician if you won't do the job? - but lawyers have apparently added a complicating factor.)  The fun part is going to be to keep the contractors' noses to the grindstone, making sure they honor their commitments and arrive on the specified dates.  Sadly, I may end up having to pay more for materials, depending on what happens to the economy over the next few months.  They've all inserted clauses in their contracts that until they actually receive the material from their suppliers, their prices may be subject to change.  Frustrating, but I suppose it's inevitable.

So far, so good.  Onward!

Peter

An alternative view on the transgender dilemma

 

On Monday I published an article in my intermittent "Doofus Of The Day" series, highlighting a trans woman (i.e. a man "transitioning" to "become" a woman) who complained of period pains, despite having none of the plumbing, body parts or nerves necessary to experience them.  I also made it clear that in general, I don't regard "trans" as a genuine phenomenon.

That said, I've mentioned before in these pages that I know several people who've "transitioned" from one sex to another who appear to be very genuine in their desire to switch, and who've demonstrated for many years that their decision was positive for them.  I don't think the vast majority of those following the current trans fad can say that, but nevertheless, the phenomenon is real for some, and always has been.  Among my friends and acquaintances right now, I number several such people, and I think they're as genuine as it's possible to get.  I appreciate them as such.  I don't feel contempt for them, or reject them;  rather, I'm saddened to think about the very difficult lives they've had to lead and how it led to their decisions, and the burdens that those decisions have imposed upon them.

Another person in that position took the time and trouble to write to me at length about that "Doofus Of The Day" article.  I'm grateful for their feedback.  Here's the e-mail in full, so you can read it for yourself and think about it.

This commentary is on the Doofus Of The Day #1,090 post that I already made a short comment on.

BobNC suggested it was to get attention and affirmation ‘anyone who is mentally ill enough to undergo the surgery’.  I underwent surgery 29 years ago.  I have had a long and successful life post surgically.  My partner and I have raised an outstanding, successful young woman.  (My partner passed away 11 yrs ago).  Let me deal with Bob’s comment first.

Maybe the person did need attention – attention that was not happening at home, or in their life from family, friends, or community while dealing with a significant psychological issue.  Maybe they needed affirmation to deal with the abuse commonly meted out by parents, family members or community members that drives many in the trans community to commit suicide.  It isn’t their ‘trans-ness’ that is usually the cause, but the significant abuse by others, the loss of family, jobs, friends, and community that drives them into isolation.  I recommend this post I did on Trans Suicide:

http://moderatemainstream.blogspot.com/2021/03/trans-suicide-not-whole-story-this-is.html

Bullying is endemic amongst trans kids.  Often even before they understand what ‘trans’ means.  I was first beat up at 6 years old.  And spent most of 7th and 8th grade getting beat up weekly.  My home life was a refuge from the abuse, which other parents and teachers suggested would ‘make a man of me’ or give me a thicker skin.  When it started again in my sophomore year of high school, I ended up going to summer school for two years for ‘fighting back’.  My tormentors got no punishment.  Most of us dealt with bullying in school, but it often followed us into adulthood.  I am sure you know of many ‘good ole boys’ that worked over weaker kids… make a man out of them.  Or worse.  “Can’t have those f….ts around here” or “need to protect the women from those perverts".  Yea, we do this for fun.  Not.

“It would be interesting to see some data on how many of these poor loonies regret their surgery. Funny how we don’t hear anything about that in the media; though given the level of their trustworthiness, I wouldn’t believe any “data” they had anyway.”

I participated in a study, part of a dissertation I believe, that followed up with patients five years after surgery that was done by the University of Chicago Medical Center Gender Clinic back in the late 1990s.  I didn’t receive the results so do don’t know the conclusions.  Six of us were on an in-person panel held before graduate students of the Psychiatry Department, the Department with overall responsibility of the Clinic.  I knew one other participant.  I am sure there were difficulties getting participants.  The vast majority of us, once we have completed our transition, prefer to blend back into “normal” society and get on with our lives.  What is called, passing, or stealth.  Most of us accomplish that.  Do others fail to do so?  Yes.  I knew two.

In the last 30 years I have met, in person, more than 50 others that have transitioned and have talked online or via phone with more than 100 others.  Most of us know someone that failed, or detransitioned.  The failures almost without exception fall into one category: they did not follow the Standards of Care (SoC) that existed in the Medical Community for decades.

If you wanted surgery, “sex reassignment” or what is now titled “Gender Confirmation Surgery”, you needed to follow the SoC.  You needed to spend at least one year living in your target gender.  That means appearing as a woman (male-to-female) or as a man (female-to-male) basically 24/7.  Working, going to school, involved in social circles, successfully for a year.  During which time you need to be meeting with a psychologist or psychiatrist with specific skills in gender issues.  Back in the 70s and into the 80s, this needed to be done before you were given hormones.  So, you had to ‘pass’, and survive without any medical (surgical or hormonal) assistance for that year.  In the late 80s, hormones were given to help during the ‘real life test’. My surgery didn’t happen until 5 YEARS after I started transition because of the cost.  That was common, for those that could work and support themselves. For those that couldn’t find work, well, the street was the end for most of them.  There was no insurance, no programs to pay for anything.  Hormones, therapy, and surgery were all out of pocket expenses.  Any wonder there were fewer of ‘us’ back then?  And why there are many people in their 40s, 50s and even 60s transitioning now?

Here is how you ‘prove’ medically that transsexualism is a real thing:  take 50 million women in pregnancy and take blood tests of her and her fetus at 12, 24, 34 weeks and post-partum, and bloodwork of the child at 5, 10 and the beginning of puberty.  Of course, such blood tests on the fetus are VERY risky, but you need the number of pregnancies to get a sample of sufficient size to get good results.  After all, we are only 1 of between 10,000 and 35,000 depending on the ‘best guess’.  Yea, such a study isn’t going to happen.  The risk to such a large population to find such a small population will not be allowed.  So, we are left with smaller studies and here is a short 6 minutes of a longer 90 minute lecture given by a Stanford neurobiologist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QScpDGqwsQ

Back to the two I knew that ‘failed’, and most of the others the rest knew of: they didn’t follow the SoC and despite being told by therapists they were NOT good candidates for transition and surgery, they went overseas and got the surgery.  And came back with gender dysphoria because NOW they were really trapped in the ‘wrong body’.  Both committed suicide within six months.  SoC kept many from failing, but it did happen.  The ‘trans suicide’ situation makes the effort to transition difficult.  I call the first year of transition Hell Year because of the stress and difficulties.  For people already dealing with physical abuse, addiction caused by abuse or other mental issues, and financial difficulties, Hell Year is just too much. The turning out onto the streets, by ‘good Christian fathers’ that don’t want perverts or f*gs in their house…even when their child is 16 or 17 (I have three I know personally right now), is disgusting.

The attitude of people on the Right plays into the needs of the activist Left (people cast adrift by their families, friends and communities because of their “perversions” are accepted by different kinds of abusers). 

What has changed in the last decade?  Historically, 70-80% of those transitioning were male-to-female.  In the last decade that has flipped to female-to-male.  Abigail Shearer was right to point out the problem, but her conclusions were/are the usual tropes found amongst the Right but limited by the sample set of teen female-to-males.  SoC has been replaced by ‘informed consent’ and the risk to people transitioning has grown exponentially.  Detransitioners, largely female-to-males, are almost always the recipients of the “benefits” of just getting what they want, as long as they, or their parents, are INFORMED of the risks. The medical community has abdicated its responsibilities.  The recent ‘authority’ promulgated by the Texas Attorney General blows right past the ‘informed consent’ problem and demands intrusion into the medical choices of patients and their parents and their doctors. Killing the child while tossing out the bathwater.

I am of the Right.  I believe in individual rights, AND responsibilities.  But this issue seems to be used by the Left to destroy our dimorphic society and the Right to destroy trans people. 

Anyway, if you got to here, thanks for reading.  Feel free to publish this or not, with my real name if you do.  I am not ‘out’ in my day-to-day life, but most people that know me, know my history.  My partner and my daughter included.  Yes, we adopted from China.  A little girl thrown away by her ‘mother’ (and father?).   Imagine that.

Respectfully,

Tracy Coyle

PS:  Many of us 'long-timers' do not consider ourselves, or any transsexuals, part of the transgender community.  Our gender is immutable, we were born with it, it just wasn't congruent with our physical sex.  So, we transitioned from one sex to another, always retaining the gender we were born with.  Transgender now encompasses such a broad category of gender non-conforming that it threatens transsexuals (called transphobic because we believe you need gender dysphoria to be trans and because you need medical transitioning to deal with the issue) and natal women.  Don't even get us started on 'neopronouns'.  Why are we not more outspoken?  Because the Left cancels us as fast as we can voice an opinion.

Food for thought, and well presented.  It hasn't changed my fundamental opinions any, and I still regard the vast majority of "trans" people as mentally rather than physically ill or challenged or . . . whatever.  However, let me say once again that there are some people who appear to be anything but.  I guess they're the exceptions that prove the rule.  As for the implications of religious faith and/or teachings for the subject . . . all I can say is, I'm not God, and I'm very glad I'm not, and you should be even more grateful that I'm not!  I guess we'll find out the eternal truth of the matter when we stand before the Creator and give account for our own lives, with all their sins, faults and failings.  I have more than enough of the latter to worry about, and I'm going to need God's mercy at least as much (if not more than) anyone else;  so I'm certainly not going to condemn others out of hand.  May God have mercy on all of us, whatever our shortcomings.

Thanks, Tracy, particularly for your courage in being willing to expose yourself to possible (probable?) criticism by standing up for your beliefs and lifestyle.  You have my respect for that.

Peter

Fake "refugees" take advantage of the Ukraine crisis

 

We've discussed in these pages on several occasions how many so-called "refugees" crossing international borders, and demanding asylum and all sorts of social services and support (at the expense of the taxpayers of their host nations, of course), are not refugees at all - they're economic migrants.  The preponderance of young men of military age from most of the world's conflict zones demonstrates that conclusively.  They're not families fleeing to protect their children - they're taking advantage of the gullibility of Western governments and the "refugee industry" that's grown up around them, making money out of their presence in the form of government grants and fund-raising efforts.

That's happening again with alleged "refugees" from Ukraine - who are clearly, obviously, not Ukrainian and not born in or originally from that country.  An Irish independent citizen investigator has just demonstrated that.  The video below is only a few minutes long, but it's worth watching.  (A tip o' the hat to IOTWReport for locating the video.)

I wonder how many thousands - possibly hundreds of thousands - of fake "refugees" are currently fanning out all across Europe, claiming to be from (or affected by) the crisis in Ukraine?  I note that President Biden has offered to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.  Will they be any better vetted for fraud and false pretenses than those Ireland-bound "refugees"?  I very much doubt that . . .

Peter

Woof!

 

From Stephan Pastis yesterday.  Click the image to be taken to a larger view at the comic's Web page.

Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, had a lot to say about dogs, among them these two aphorisms.

Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit,

you would stay out and your dog would go in.

The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's.

I think he'd pass Pig in a heartbeat.  So would most of us who've owned, known and loved dogs.

Peter

Big Brother's going to love this, but it scares the hell out of me

 

An ominous article in National Geographic is titled "The controversial quest to make a 'contagious' vaccine".

Imagine a cure that’s as contagious as the disease it fights—a vaccine that could replicate in a host’s body and spread to others nearby, quickly and easily protecting a whole population from microbial attacks. That’s the goal of several teams around the world who are reviving controversial research to develop self-spreading vaccines.

Their hope is to reduce infectious disease transmission among wild animals, thereby lowering the risk that harmful viruses and bacteria can jump from wildlife to humans as many experts believe happened with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

. . .

Advocates for self-spreading vaccines say they could revolutionise public health by disrupting infectious disease spread among animals before a zoonotic spillover could occur—potentially preventing the next pandemic.

But others argue that the viruses used in these vaccines could themselves mutate, jump species, or set off a chain reaction with devastating effects across entire ecosystems.

“Once you set something engineered and self-transmissible out into nature, you don't know what happens to it and where it will go,” says Jonas Sandbrink, a biosecurity researcher at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute. “Even if you just start by setting it out into animal populations, part of the genetic elements might find their way back into humans.”

. . .

Filippa Lentzos, a science and international security expert at King’s College London, points out that viruses are genetically unstable and prone to frequent mutations; therefore, a self-spreading vaccine virus could evolve to jump species or cause other unknown consequences in wild and domestic animal populations and, perhaps, even in humans.

. . .

Most researchers agree that self-spreading vaccines could never be applied to human populations, because universal informed consent would never be achieved.

“We can't even get people to take a vaccine in a global pandemic. The idea that you would be able to surreptitiously vaccinate the population with a virus without causing riots is just, you know, it's stuff of fantasy. It will never be used in humans,” Redwood says ... “You don't need to be a Rhodes scholar to work out that people will be nervous about a disseminating viral vector. It's a concept that will scare people ... The way that I like to think about it is that it may never be used, but it's better to have something in the cupboard that can be used and is mature if we need it. And to say, ‘Let's just not do this research because it's too dangerous,’ to me, that makes no sense at all.”

There's more at the link.

The researchers are emphatic that this concept is for use only to treat diseases in animals, not human beings:  but if it can be made to work in animals, do you really think control freaks like Dr. Fauci won't seize on it as a way to vaccinate anybody and everybody against any and every disease they can think of?  "You may not want to be vaccinated, but we have ways and means of giving you the shot, whether you want it or not!"  We'd end up infecting each other with the vaccine, as well as the disease.

That's a truly frightening prospect to me . . . but based on the history of science and medicine, I'd say there's a real likelihood that it'll become reality.  Researchers mostly seem to ask whether something can be done, but seldom (if ever) whether it should be done.  Imagine if everyone on the planet were subject to the same appallingly high rate of post-vaccine complications and reactions that we've seen with COVID-19.  Even if we knew the vaccine was potentially dangerous, we'd have no way to opt out of it.  The powers that be would absolutely love that.

Even worse, think of it in the context of bacteriological warfare, or even extremist ideology.  What if a radical environmentalist, who believes it would be better for Earth if the human race were extinct, was able to develop a "vaccine" that caused sterility?  What if one racial group were to develop a "vaccine" that sterilized one race, but not another - or all races except their own?  (Don't think that's a pipe dream.  There were serious efforts along those lines in South Africa under the apartheid government, back in the 1980's, and I won't be surprised to hear that similar research has been conducted elsewhere since then - Wuhan, perhaps, or similar laboratories?)  If such "vaccines" could be circulated through mutual contagion, rather than direct application, think of the consequences.

This scares the hell out of me.

Peter

I hate this article... because I believe it's correct

 

There are times when one doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of a problem, because it's so overwhelmingly threatening that it's too ghastly to contemplate.  The terminal illness of a loved one is a good example.  To be told that one's spouse or partner is going to die, and there's nothing that can be done to save them;  to contemplate the utter destruction of the intimacy and solidarity that two people have built up between themselves for years, perhaps decades;  this is so dire, so disastrous, that some people simply refuse to accept reality, and deny that it's going to happen.  "No matter what, we'll find a cure!"  Sometimes there is no cure . . . but we cannot bring ourselves to admit or accept that.  I've seen it on a number of occasions as a pastor and chaplain.

We've looked at our current parlous situation, in America and around the world, on many occasions in these pages.  I've tried to warn of what I see bearing down on us, and some readers have come to see it the same way.  Others have rejected my warnings, considering me an alarmist.  Events over the past couple of years have reduced the latter number considerably, as more and more people observe what's going on around them, put two and two together, and get four:  but the naysayers are still out there.

Well, one article has wrapped into a single document all the fears I've expressed, and all the evidence we've all seen growing all around us, and taken them to their logical (and, I fear, by now inescapable) conclusion.  I hate that article.  I loathe it . . . but that's because it's almost certainly correct.  I don't want to admit the reality it forces us to face, even though I've been saying many similar things on this blog for years now.  Unfortunately, the foundations on which it's based are so clear to see that in my opinion, they're undeniable.

Here are a few excerpts from a very long discussion.  Text highlighted in orange is my emphasis.

Hemingway’s famous quote about going bankrupt connects with so many because it is true on a personal basis and a civilization basis. It applies to individuals and empires in decline – like the American democracy ... Now we approach the existential financial crisis which could initiate the “going bankrupt suddenly” phase of our empire of debt. Larry Kotlikoff, Harvard, and Wharton educated economic professor at Boston University, estimates the unfunded welfare liabilities of the United States exceeds $210 trillion ... There is no conceivable way this debt can ever be repaid, therefore it will not. It’s just pure math ... The only unknown now is whether the debt is defaulted upon, it is hyperinflated away, or some sort of debt jubilee and currency collapse makes it mute.

No matter the solution, the people will bear the brunt of the pain and drastic diminishment of their standard of living. Those in control will position themselves to benefit from whatever scheme is implemented to eliminate the debt. The current trend of running trillions in deficits per year is unsustainable and already resulting in raging inflation, declining GDP, and pushing the world towards a global depression.

There is no disputing the facts I have presented ... Those controlling the levers of power know this ****show can’t go on. They have fully exhausted their propaganda tools, financial derivative schemes, and monetary machinations, leaving them nothing but crashing the system and implementing a Great Reset, which would keep them in control and the rest of us in squalor and subservience.

. . .

Destroying the finances of hundreds of millions, creating global energy and food shortages, and instigating World War 3 as a consequence of their actions is just a minor irritation for the global elite ... Once you wrap your head around how vile, evil, and demented those who are pulling the strings behind this Great Reset are, your eyes are open to how far they are willing to go to institute their plan. It appears they will stop at nothing, kill as many people as necessary, create maximum chaos and pain, wreck any civic cohesiveness left, and destroy all moral and legitimate norms of society, in order to increase their control, power and wealth on this earth.

They hold all the cards. They control the governments, corporations, banks, legacy media, social media, entertainment industries, military industrial complex, sickcare Big Pharma complex, and the mental processes of the masses through their mind control/propaganda technology. Their hubris and arrogance have reached peak altitude and exuberance. They believe they are invincible. That will be their fatal weakness ... there are no good guys running any country on this earth. Only bad guys, willing to sell their souls, are ever elevated to positions of power. They are selected by oligarchs, not elected by the people. The western propaganda spewing media machine specializes in demonizing those they are paid to demonize (Putin, Trump, non-vaxxers), while glorifying anyone the ruling elite have chosen to use to further their agenda (Zelensky, Fauci, vaxxers).

. . .

The key financial arrangement sustaining the American Empire, even as it internally crumbles from cultural rot, institutionalized corruption, and glorified ignorance of reality, is the global dominance of the U.S. dollar in trade. This is why the empire’s bankruptcy has been gradual and to many, unnoticeable. But Dementia Joe has accidentally, or purposefully as part of the Great Reset agenda, set in motion the rapid spiral into bankruptcy and collapse of the short-lived America Empire (1946 – 2022).

By creating a global energy crisis over a border dispute 6,000 miles from our shores, with no strategic interest to our country, Biden has initiated the final countdown of the petrodollar as the global settlement currency for all energy transactions.

. . .

Zelensky and his handlers, Biden and his handlers, along with the other EU/NATO jokers and fools, have chosen to provoke Putin into war, and are now ratcheting up the rhetoric and sanctions to the point where a wider conflict is all but ensured. These reckless psychopaths clearly have not studied history or human nature when it comes to how wars can escalate rapidly with unanticipated outcomes and death on a massive scale ... I am convinced this engineered conflict in Ukraine is part of the bigger Great Reset plan of the global elites.

. . .

This is the point in history when the Great Reset acolytes have decided they can accomplish multiple goals by turning Ukraine into a nightmarish quagmire of death and destruction, fueled by a never ending flow of armaments into this war zone, as a means to overthrow Putin, create food shortages, raise the cost of fossil fuels to astronomical heights, implement further restrictions on civil rights, increase technological controls over the populace, and institute a Chinese like social credit scoring system to enforce obedience and compliance with government demands ... After two years of demanding submission from the peasants regarding lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates, the ruling elite believe they will be able to enforce food and energy restrictions with the same ease upon the American people.

This is where I believe their master plan goes awry. Putin will not be cowed by Biden’s toothless sanctions, empty threats, and pathetic tough guy rhetoric ... NATO and the U.S. are one miscalculation away from starting WW3.

. . .

The underlying anger in the [USA] is bubbling to the surface. The raging inflation is crushing poor and middle-class families. Food and energy are the two largest monthly expenditures for families struggling to survive in this Federal Reserve induced billionaire boom society. When diesel fuel supplies dwindle to nothing, destroying our just in time, truck dependent supply chain, and real food shortages start inflicting real pain, civil disobedience and rioting will occur which will make the BLM riots looks like child’s play.

When people no longer have anything to lose, they will lose it and start looking for the culprits who stole their livelihoods and future ... Pugnacious Putin has unwittingly, or possibly purposefully, initiated the “sudden” phase of the demise of the crumbling American Empire ... Biden lit the fuse, and it is just a matter of when it blows ... We are one rash arrogant choice by a low IQ psychopath politician from the final scene in the Planet of the Apes.

. . .

Our republic has degenerated into despotism, we’ve willingly relinquished our freedoms and liberties for the supposed safety and security of a Big Brother surveillance state, and now we will suffer the consequences of these cowardly actions. Life in America is about to become far harder than our generations of snowflakes ever anticipated.

There's much more at the link.  I strongly recommend that you take the time to click over there and read it in full.  Towards the end, it includes several suggestions as to how to prepare for what's coming.  We've discussed most of them in these pages, too, but they bear repeating.

For further reading on the subject:

How The Ukraine War Starts The Great Reset

Nothing Has Changed, Except For Everything

Are we Following the Path of Pearl Harbor?

In my life, working in much of sub-Saharan Africa, I've watched and experienced three nations - three sovereign states - descend into anarchy, chaos and civil struggle so great as to be far worse than a civil war.  It was individual against individual, family against family, tribe against tribe, town against town, region against region, faith against faith.  In much of Africa, it still is.  None of those three nations has ever fully recovered from their decline - not even close.

I never thought I might see the same in the United States . . . but I fear greatly that in parts of it at least, that's now more than just a possibility.

Peter

Er... what does one say?

 

I was left a bit mind-boggled by this snipped article, in a tweet referenced on MeWe.

A false leg for a horse?

Kidnapped a Mormon missionary to serve as her sex slave?  (Boy, talk about faith in action!)

One can't help but wonder what makes her tick.  Any suggestions, readers?  (Reasonably family-friendly ones, please!)

Peter

Doofus Of The Day #1,090

 

For your edification (?), here's a tweet sent out last week.  Clickit to biggit.

Er . . . um . . . ah . . .

Would someone please explain to me how a man male human being, lacking a uterus, uterine muscles and a uterine nervous system, can POSSIBLY feel period cramps?

Anyone? . . . Bueller? . . .

I've heard of sympathetic pregnancy, but this is just too ridiculous for words!

Oh, well.  I'm sure he/she/it can write an article about it, and make some money out of it.  Dare I say it could be published in . . . wait for it . . . a periodical?

Peter

(Edited to add:  In case you were wondering where I stand on the issue, I entirely agree with Brandon Smith's views on the transgender brouhaha.)

Memes that made me laugh 102

 

Gathered around the Internet over the past week.  Click any image for a larger view.

Sunday morning music

 

Back in 2018, I introduced readers to the German medieval/folk rock/pagan music group Faun.  They've been around since the late 1990's, and have grown into popular performers in their native Germany and in the folk rock and medieval music scene.

They're about to release a new album, and to prepare the way have been releasing a new music video every month for the past few months.  I thought you might enjoy a few of their new tracks.  For more information about them, visit the videos' YouTube pages, although there's often not much detail provided.

First, here's their take on the legend of Tam Lin.

Next, here's a piece named for the Germanic-Norse god Baldur.

And finally, a song in Hungarian titled "Ne Aludj El" which, translated, means "Do not fall asleep".

You'll find more of their music at their YouTube channel, and at their Web site.

Peter

Saturday Snippet: The legacy of a Roman legion transported to a strange world

 

Marc Alan Edelheit has become a well-known fantasy author, basing much of his work on the history of the legions of Rome, but in a fantasy setting that incorporates much traditional mythology such as orcs, dwarfs, elves and dragons.  He does it better than most such attempts, and I've found myself reading and re-reading his work for several years now.

For today's snippet, I've chosen a chapter from his novel "Stiger's Tigers", first in the series "Chronicles of An Imperial Legionary Officer" (which currently stands at 6 books, with more to come).  Thankfully for those on limited budgets, they're all available on Kindle Unlimited, as well as in paper and e-book editions.

In this excerpt, the protagonist and his men must confront a rogue officer who's been possessed by a minion of an evil god.  They've just fought their way into his castle to get at him.

One of Aveeno’s men appeared suddenly, attempting to swing the door to the keep shut. Stiger’s men slammed into it, forcing the door and the man back. He was quickly cut down and lay bleeding in an expanding pool of blood.

Stepping over the body, Stiger and his men were in the keep. Oil lanterns and lamps lit the interior with an eerie, soft, flickering yellow glow. A hallway stretched out before them, along with two staircases leading upward in opposite directions. A shout rang out down the hallway as someone turned and ran in fright.

“Hurry!” Boral called, starting up a staircase. The men followed the sergeant. They charged up the stairs and through the keep, with Boral leading the way. At several points they encountered a number of the garrison. Any who resisted were rapidly cut down. If not, they were thrown down the stairs or simply disarmed and roughly pushed aside, to be collected later.

Moving rapidly, they passed through several doors, which, had they been shut, would have proved a significant obstacle. The doors were made of a stout, heavy oak, framed and reinforced with metal supports. Castle servants fled screaming before them as they advanced through the keep. A few cowered in corners as Stiger and his men stormed by.

The group burst out onto a landing, with Boral pointing the way forward through a large doorway. Stiger’s men exploded through it, with the captain only a few feet behind. They found themselves in the keep’s great hall, which was filled with people. Most appeared to be not of the garrison, but civilians from the valley. They looked in shock at Stiger and his men. Several of the women screamed, with most everyone backing away.

Stiger and his men found themselves confronted by their first real, organized resistance. Seven of Captain Aveeno’s legionaries rushed forward, swords swinging as they pushed their way through the civilians. None were wearing armor or carrying shields. They wore only their service tunics.

Stiger’s men met the charge, shields forward, swords jabbing and slashing efficiently. Stiger stepped forward and caught a sword thrust that had been aimed at one of his legionaries. He deftly turned the stroke aside before jabbing it into the man’s belly. The man screamed and fell backward. Eli’s sword flashed out, lightning fast, catching a stroke meant for the captain. Stiger ducked back and to the side, striking at another sword. Sergeant Blake and several other legionaries appeared, having been delayed by disarming a man they had encountered on the landing. They pushed the captain back and stepped forward, hacking at the enemy.

It was all over in seconds, with all seven of Aveeno’s men dead or dying at their feet. Weapons were kicked away from the wounded. Blake finished one off with a quick stab to the throat. The man had had a vicious belly wound and Blake had meant it to be a mercy killing, but the act had the effect of badly frightening the civilians even further.

Stiger took a good look around the room. Perhaps thirty or forty civilians and servants were cowering along the sides of the great hall, which was nearly empty of furniture. A fire burned in a large central fire pit in the middle of the room. Smoke curled lazily upward toward a chimney set in the ceiling above. Along the back wall, a row of windows looked out over the valley. Near these windows sat a great big throne, with a tiger’s pelt draped over the back.

A man in an officer’s tunic sat upon the throne. In front of him stood two legionary lieutenants, both with their swords drawn. Pure malice was written across their faces.

“Silence!” the man on the throne thundered at the screaming and moaning of the wounded legionaries and frightened civilians. A moment of silence settled upon the great hall.

“Captain Aveeno, I presume?” Stiger pushed himself through his line of legionaries. Rage burned in his heart. There were several things that Stiger wanted to personally do to this man. At the very least, Aveeno would pay for the deaths of Eli’s scouts, not to mention the betrayal of his oath. Eli and Father Thomas moved with him as he advanced across the room and past the fire pit. Oddly, Stiger’s men seemed frozen in place.

“Finally. I thought you would never come!” Captain Aveeno issued a wicked laugh.

“I am Captain Stiger,” Stiger growled. “You will answer for the murder of my people.”

“You care about your revolting men?” Aveeno laughed, spittle flying. “An officer who cares about those beneath his feet … how touching and enlightening!”

Stiger said nothing, but continued forward with Eli and Father Thomas flanking him.

“Since you care, you should know your scouts died screaming, and that I did the deed myself,” Aveeno snarled, standing up from his throne. He pulled forth a wicked-looking sword that had been resting against the throne. It had been hidden from view. The sword was black as night, and seemed to absorb light as Aveeno waved it before their eyes. Hate and malice radiated forth, almost wavelike.

“They sold you out,” Aveeno laughed. “You and your pet elf. A Stiger! Ha! I could not believe my luck! A spoiled, noble brat living off the legend of your dying family name.”

“They told you nothing,” Stiger snarled.

“They told me everything!” Aveeno laughed cruelly. “Your blood will honor my master, but first you will die begging for mercy at my feet as your scouts did!”

Father Thomas, who had been moving with Stiger, took one look at the commandant’s sword and pulled Stiger up short. Stiger shot the paladin a look of pure rage, furious at having been interrupted from unloading his anger on Aveeno. Stiger jerked his shoulder in an attempt to pull away, but Father Thomas’s grasp was ironclad. The captain’s rage turned from Aveeno to the paladin. Stiger raised his sword to strike.

Time stopped, with everyone other than Stiger and Father Thomas seemingly frozen. An ice-cold feeling exploded through the captain. The cold surged forth from where the paladin’s vice-like hand gripped his shoulder. Stiger cried out in agony, his vision going white as the paladin’s power hammered through him. The pain lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a moment. Almost as quickly as the agony had begun, it was replaced by a cooling and calming sensation that flowed throughout his entire body. A sense of calm and serenity with the world settled in his soul. The captain’s rage melted away. Stiger blinked in surprise at the paladin, who offered an understanding look in return.

“Your soul was under assault,” the paladin explained quietly. “No longer. The High Father has freed you.”

Stiger was at a loss for words. The paladin’s power continued to surge through him, relaxing and calming. So incredible was the feeling, he was almost unable to comprehend Father Thomas’s words. Nothing seemed to matter, other than the feeling of peace and serenity.

“This fight is mine and mine alone, my son,” the paladin said softly, barely loud enough for the captain to hear. He released Stiger.

Time started once again as the paladin stepped forward to confront Aveeno. It had all happened so fast, and yet to Stiger it seemed like an age had passed. The surge in power faded, but the feeling of peace and wellbeing remained, though diminished somewhat. Stiger glanced over at Eli, who also had a look of astonishment on his face. Had he been touched by the paladin’s power as well?

“Are you going to let a traveling priest fight your battles for you?” Aveeno seethed, having witnessed the exchange but clearly not understanding it. “I don’t know why I expected better from a Stiger!”

What would have normally stung his pride failed to pierce him. At this very moment, nothing could have upset or provoked Stiger to anger. He felt at peace with the world.

“Your fight is with me, filth,” Father Thomas said in a voice that echoed across the great hall. Ignoring the large sabre belted to his side, the paladin held forth his hand, and abruptly a great golden war hammer shimmered into existence. It was so large Stiger was amazed the paladin could even hold it. “I believe it is time for you to reveal your true form,” the paladin said.

The war hammer emitted a flash of white light that was so blindingly intense Stiger and everyone else in the great hall was forced to shield their eyes. When the flash had passed, Stiger saw the crumpled form of Aveeno’s body lying before the throne. Shockingly, the body was shrunken like an old grape, with steam rising upward from the remains. The two lieutenants were also down, their bodies smoking as well, but whole in form.

Where a moment before there had been nothing, a shadowy figure coalesced from Aveeno’s remains, as if pulling itself together into a coherent whole. It slowly stood, terribly hunched and impossibly twisted, facing Father Thomas. It was so ugly and misshapen that Stiger’s mind could not seem to focus on its features. Abstractly, Stiger understood he was looking upon the face of pure evil, and yet he still felt calm, relaxed, and untroubled.

Father Thomas and the thing were just feet apart.

“Priest … you think to challenge my powers?” The shadowy figure hissed a terrible laugh, almost serpent-like. “A holy relic alone is no match for my power!”

“I intend to banish you, filth … vile servant of Castor,” the paladin answered, calmly but firmly.

The hunched, shadowy figure raised the wicked black blade that Aveeno had been holding moments before. “You are no simple priest!” the figure sneered, stepping from the steaming remains of Aveeno. It hissed in malice, which seemed to radiate forth like heat on a hot summer’s day. “I shall be rewarded for taking your head!”

“You will take nothing but the High Father’s greetings to your master,” Father Thomas countered. “I will send you back from whence you came!”

With an incredible shrieking scream of rage, dripping with hate and pure loathing, the shadowy, twisted figure lunged forward with an inhuman speed that was shocking to witness, and struck at Father Thomas. The paladin reacted with similar speed. Both the black sword and the golden war hammer crashed together with the sound of thunder.

Two powers, well beyond mortal comprehension, came together in a titanic moment. Black and white lightning exploded throughout the great hall. The world stopped, ended, and then began again all in the same moment as a sound too terrible to comprehend ripped through the room. It sounded as if all of the tormented souls from the underworld cried out as one.

A concussive blast knocked everyone off their feet.

WAKE! a voice hissed, crying out in desperation. GET UP!

Stiger’s eyes snapped open. He was lying on a hard stone floor and every part of his body ached terribly. He had no idea how long he had been out. The feeling of serenity had been taken cruelly away. He slowly picked himself up and looked around in confusion. He was still in the great hall and his sword was still in his hand. Besides himself, only Father Thomas and the misshapen figure were on their feet. They were fighting furiously, midnight blade against golden hammer. Stiger stood there dumbly for a moment, his brain refusing to believe what he was seeing.

Whenever the two weapons made contact with the other, the building shook with the impact. The sound was very much like a smith pounding on his anvil. Dust and loose mortar fell in a shower from the ceiling. Sparks and multicolored light exploded outward in a cascade from the point of each contact.

Father Thomas was bleeding from multiple wounds. He was being pressed hard by the misshapen figure, who was also wounded. Blood darker than a moonless night dripped and splashed onto the floor, hissing and smoking where it made contact with the stone.

Wield me! the voice spoke once again, and Stiger somehow knew it was coming from his sword. The voice was becoming louder, more insistent. He looked down upon the blade in his hand and was startled to see it glowing a soft pale blue. Forged for a purpose, forged for a reason, forged for a will! Your will is my will and mine is yours! Together we are one! WIELD ME!

Looking on the battle raging before him, Stiger honestly did not know what he could do. The weapons the paladin and the figure wielded were beyond his ability to comprehend. They were supernatural. How could he battle this evil without such a weapon?

The room abruptly faded from view and Stiger found himself on a field of battle. Two armies fought bitterly against one another in a blur of motion and color. Stiger could not see the action clearly, but he somehow knew intuitively that they were fighting. It was as if the two armies were shrouded in fog.

Stiger abruptly found himself at the center, where the two armies met. He saw a man who looked like himself, wearing a legionary general’s armor, blue cloak fluttering in the wind. The general was wielding the sword Stiger held in his hand, of that he was sure, though he knew not how. The general faced an abomination, twisted and misshapen like the figure Father Thomas now fought. The general was wounded, a hand held to his side, in an attempt to staunch the flow of his life blood.

Stiger sensed it was a mortal wound.

Watch, the voice hissed from nowhere and everywhere at once and Stiger realized with alarm it was in his head.

The twisted figure approached the general, carrying an impossibly large dark sword, black as night. The figure radiated hate. Stiger could sense its feeling of triumph as it took a last step forward to finish what it had started and strike down the general. Lightning fast, it struck. The general brought his sword up to block the killing blow. Stiger thought nothing could withstand the power of such a strike. Surely the general’s blade would break!

The black sword hammered down onto the general’s sword and then shockingly shattered into smoke with an audible hiss, much like steam escaping a tea kettle. The general seemed stunned that he still lived and stood there staring in surprise as the smoke rapidly curled about his sword before dissipating. The figure looked just as shocked, its moment of triumph rudely torn from its grasp.

The moment passed, and with a look of great determination, the general stabbed his sword forward into the evil figure’s chest. The creature screamed horribly, the sound of tormented souls crying out from the great beyond. There was a thunderclap, and the evil figure was no more.

The general stood for a moment, then swayed and fell to his knees. He dropped his sword as his final moments of life ticked away.

The vision of the battlefield faded before his eyes and Stiger found himself returned.

The voice had shown him how to defeat the creature.

Now! the voice hissed desperately. STRIKE NOW!

Stiger took a step forward, his muscles crying out in agony. His entire body ached terribly. Moving forward toward the mystical melee between the paladin and the creature of evil was an incredible struggle. Stiger felt as if the air was somehow thicker. He took another step and suddenly it became easier to move.

Father Thomas threw out a hand at the figure and the room exploded with blinding light. The figure cringed for a fraction of a second and then countered. The room descended into absolute darkness. Stiger blinked. His sword flared brilliantly and the darkness faded, though Father Thomas still appeared to be affected and staggered backward, blindly waving his great hammer back and forth where he thought the creature was.

The figure, oblivious of Stiger, moved to the paladin’s side in the captain’s direction and raised the wicked-looking blade in preparation to strike. Stiger lunged forward and blocked the blow.

Upon contact, the figure’s sword evaporated into smoke. It turned in shock toward Stiger and snarled viciously.

Stiger swung down and stabbed the creature. It cried out in rage and fell back, Stiger’s blade coming free and hissing foully as the black blood boiled off the steel. He had expected the strike to kill or send it back from whence it came as it had done in the vision. He stabbed again and the creature dodged.

Father Thomas blinked and suddenly it became apparent to Stiger the paladin once more had use of his eyes. A savage blow knocked Stiger aside as the figure lashed out with a powerful fist, screaming with rage as it focused its anger on Stiger. He staggered backward, his vision swimming.

The paladin took advantage of the distraction and swung his great golden hammer forward.

It connected. With the sound of a bell tolling, the room shook as a brilliant light exploded from the point of contact, completely blinding Stiger.

The creature exploded into smoke.

A fraction of a second later, a tremendous concussion knocked him down. Stiger’s head connected with the floor and he knew no more.

If you enjoyed that combat scene, I'm sure you'll enjoy the rest of the book, and the series too.  Recommended.

Peter

If true, this is an explosive revelation about the 2020 elections

 

A report on Substack claims that evidence has been found to show how the 2020 elections were stolen in one county - without election officials being aware that it was happening.

A new report from two cybersecurity experts who have reviewed all the election data from Mesa County, Colorado shows that a second and illegal database was secretly installed and used to manipulate votes in the 2020 election.

The report — officially called Mesa County Colorado Voting Systems Report #3 — was written by experts who analyzed all the data from Mesa County’s election server, which was saved before the Colorado Secretary of State and the electronic voting machine company “overwrote” and wiped away the contents of the server’s hard drive.

The report describes exactly how the electronic voting machines were used to change votes in the 2020 election — without election officials being aware of any fraud.

. . .

The Mesa County voting system server should have had three databases in its election project for each election. But in Mesa County’s system, two additional databases were found for two separate elections. The existence of those additional databases, and the movement of ballot records between them, breaking the chain of evidence needed for ballot and vote authentication is proof of voting system non-compliance with Federal Voting System Standards mandatory under Colorado law, and proof of manipulation. This is akin to having two sets of accounting records in a business, to hide fraudulent and illegal financial transactions.

. . .

Once ballot images and records were moved, deleted, manipulated, and re-copied, the chain of evidence was broken. Digital files required to verify ballot image authenticity simply did not exist in the new databases. It makes it impossible to verify the authenticity of so many ballot records. Now election results cannot be determined from the voting system records.

There's more at the link.

I think the most important aspect of this incident may not be confined to Mesa County, or even to Colorado.  If this pattern can be established for all Dominion voting machines, it means they can all be investigated before and after any election - provided they're secured against unauthorized access - and the results they provide can be checked against the additional databases.  If all of them display the same patterns as observed in Mesa County, it'll be the clearest possible proof of electoral fraud.

In that light, I was intrigued to read about a possible new voting technology - or, rather, the application of outside technology - that might render almost all electoral fraud impractical.

Redo Voting is a hybrid of existing secure document technology used by state lotteries, combined with government-level encryption. The result is a voting system that is paper-based, but uses a web browser for data entry. A great example of this is your state’s lottery program. 45 states currently have a state-wide lottery, and because of the massive amounts of money that pass through that system the security is the best available this side of military encryption. If that were “hackable,” billions would be stolen on a regular basis; but it does not happen. We use the same technology and processes.

Again, more at the link, and well worth reading.  If this technology is as foolproof as its developers claim, it might make our elections a great deal more secure and trustworthy.  It would certainly bypass voting tabulation machines and systems that might be "hacked".

I'll be interested to see who's in favor of this new technology, and who's opposed to it.  The latter may potentially be the beneficiaries of electoral fraud under the present system, and presumably won't want to lose that advantage.

Peter

Special Snowflakes are offended - again...

 

I had to laugh at a report on Boredpanda.  It seems a 16-year-old girl started work at her first job, and her boss gave her a list of "rules" that offended her (and her father) mightily.  I can't for the life of me imagine why.  My own parents taught me those rules, in so many words, by the time I was in my early teens - and, in my younger years, clobbered me when I thought I could get away with ignoring them.  Yes, corporal punishment was a thing in those days, and rigorously applied.

Here are the rules concerned.  Click the image for a larger view.

Some readers of the report were deeply offended at a young girl being given such rules, and said so.  Others had clearly been brought up as I was, and said so as well.  The different views were amusing to read, albeit making me shake my head at the "offended" bits.  I'm afraid my late parents' views on the subject - conditioned as they were by growing up during the Great Depression and going through World War 2 in Britain (mom) and on the war fronts (dad) - would have been pungent, very direct, and anything but politically correct!

Click over to Boredpanda to read the responses for yourself - and if you have special snowflakes in your circle of acquaintances, you might invite them to do the same.  They might learn something.

Peter

In Britain, the triple vaccinated may be "just weeks away from developing AIDS"

 

That has to be one of the most horrifying headlines I've ever read - but it comes from a source that's been shown to be right, AFAIK, every time it's made a claim about an aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic.  I have no idea whether this claim is correct;  but the source offers a lot of supporting evidence.

The latest official figures from the UK Health Security Agency show that triple vaccinated people aged 30-70 have now lost at least 70% of their immune system capability compared to the natural immune system of unvaccinated people.

Their immune systems are deteriorating between 10 and 30% per week on average, with the deterioration much larger and quicker among the younger age groups.

If this continues at the current rate then all triple vaccinated 18 to 39-year-olds will have 100% immune system degradation by the middle of April 2022, with all other triple vaccinated age-groups following suit not long after.

In other words, official UK Government data strongly suggests the triple vaccinated population are rapidly developing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

. . .

All triple vaccinated adults will have lost 100% of their entire immune capability (for viruses and certain cancers) within 5 months, but 18 to 39-year-olds will have lost it by the middle of April 2022, followed by 40-49-year-olds who will have lost it by the middle of May. These people will then effectively have full blown acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

There's more at the link, including exhaustive documentation of their claim.

Does anyone know whether similar data is available concerning US triple-vaccinated individuals and groups?  I presume, if the British authorities are gathering it for their own population, someone over here is gathering it for ours.  I'd really like to know whether there's any transatlantic correlation.

It's interesting that this form of AIDS is not caused by infection with HIV, but exposes the patient to the same risk of catching potentially fatal diseases as the latter.  Will HIV itself make a comeback through this new channel of infection?  That remains to be seen.

If this report is true, even though it may involve only "viruses and certain cancers" rather than every potential illness, then one can only recoil in horror at the prospect for the future health and well-being of entire nations, not just individuals.  I hope and pray the report is wrong . . . but that may be no more than wishful thinking.  If it's true, then food shortages are about to become the least of our worries.

Peter

Risky people to have around in a crisis

 

I'm obliged to Herschel Smith for embedding this video on his blog a couple of days ago.  I'll put it up first (it's less than 5 minutes long), then talk a little about it.

Herschel comments:

I wouldn’t embed this video except that I have actually talked to people like this.  Yes, to someone who told me he was arming himself (and even minimizing ammunition purchases) but planned to take what ammunition he had and steal ammo and food from other people.

Like him, I've also met people who openly talk in such terms.  They've spent thousands of dollars on their guns, accessories, ammo and the like, but very little on everyday necessities that will be in short supply if (when) trouble comes.  They consider themselves well prepared for emergencies, but in reality they're only prepared to rob those who have prepared well for emergencies.

Bear in mind, too, that this is a very likely official response in an emergency.  I've seen it time and time again in real life in the Third World, and there's plenty of history of it in the First World too.  In a crisis, the authorities mostly won't have reserve supplies to feed people, but they'll be under pressure by a huge number of folks demanding that they "do something!"  There's not much they can do, except take whatever supplies they can find from those who have them, under cover of a proclamation of a state of emergency.  If you check your state's and town's laws and statutes, you'll almost certainly find legal authorization for such proclamations, including the right for the authorities to take whatever they need from anywhere or anyone to deal with the emergency.  It's standard legal boilerplate, and it's ubiquitous.  (Look at the official seizure of firearms in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and how the authorities confiscated whatever they needed from those who had it - including cops looting stores right alongside "regular" looters.  Learn from that example.  If it happened there, it can happen where you are, too.)

If things go to hell in a handbasket, expect official proclamations forbidding "hoarding", and demanding that those who have, share with those who have not.  When the nice policemen come door to door, demanding to search your property (without a warrant) and confiscate half or more of your supplies to feed those who don't have them, they won't take "No" for an answer.  They'll have their orders.  They'll also have their own families that need food;  and their bosses (political and/or law enforcement) will have made it clear to them that if they don't produce the goods from the community, they and their families won't eat either.  If you try to stop them, you'll be lucky to escape with an arrest and a beating.  In a Third World nation, you'll likely eat a bullet or three if you're so stupid.

That's why it's best not to tell strangers or casual acquaintances that you have an emergency reserve stash of food and other necessities.  That's also why it's best to break up your stash into an "on hand" supply, and another somewhere else, that you can access if your primary stash is raided by the authorities or stolen by those who haven't prepared themselves.  I wouldn't keep large quantities in a storage unit, though - that's going to be on the authorities' list of places to raid, and a primary target for looters.  Rather find a friend who lives some distance away, and leave some supplies with them.  Work together to help each other, and conceal what you have.  If you can't find a suitable remote location, conceal some of your supplies in a different location in your home or yard.

At the very least, pack some emergency supplies in boxes or totes that don't have any indication what's inside.  If the supplies are heavy - e.g. canned food - use smaller boxes or totes, so you can still lift them when they're full.  Number them, and have a list (kept well away from prying eyes) that tells you what's in Box 3 or Tote 7.  If they're underneath other boxes filled with regular stuff, or stuck on a garage shelf behind a half-used can or two of motor oil, those searching in a hurry likely won't waste too much time on them, particularly if they've already taken some of your stash from your ready-use pantry.  Be willing to lose some to keep some, if you follow me.  (I caution against storing heavy boxes on the rafters in your attic, where they might crack or even fall through the [usually not very strong] ceiling if they're dislodged or dropped.  Others have learned this the hard way.)

There are those who say you should bury a cache outside town, where only you will find it.  That'll work, if you can bury (and later retrieve) it without being seen.  If others see you burying something, those with curious minds might just dig it up to see what it is.  Also, remember you'll need fuel and transport to get there and back in an emergency.  If a curfew is declared, or you can't find gas for your car, or the roads are blocked with rubble and wreckage (e.g. after a tornado), fuggetaboutit.  Also, while driving back with your vehicle visibly filled with interesting-looking supplies, those who don't have any are likely to take an unhealthy interest in you, and possibly the authorities too.  Just sayin'...

Don't let that deter you from preparing;  but keep it discreet, be prepared to defend what you have in an emergency, and give some thought to how you're going to use it when things go pear-shaped.  Running a (noisy) generator to power lights and air-conditioning in your home when everyone else is in the dark and sweating or freezing, or grilling steaks over coals in your yard when everyone else is hungry and can smell the cooking meat . . . that's not a real good idea.

If grasshoppers think that an ant has food, they'll come a-running.  If some of those grasshoppers are well-armed individuals who think they can take what they need from you, as discussed in the video above, you'd best have some means on hand to deter them - or stop them the hard way.

Peter