The War Duck
============
If you think we can make America Great Again without killing a whole bunch of “journalists” I’ll listen but I’m not optimistic.
ghostsniperMay 20, 2024, 8:12 AM
Their Time Is Gonna Come
===================
And I wouldn’t want to be them.
The public inquiry into the infected blood scandal, known as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history, is due to publish its findings.
More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions.
About 3,000 of them have since died – many haemophiliacs given infected blood products as part of their treatment.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to issue an apology on Monday.
Chairman Sir Brian Langstaff will deliver his findings after the Infected Blood Inquiry took evidence between 2019 and 2023.
Two main groups of people were caught up in the scandal.
One was people with haemophilia, and those with similar disorders, who have a rare genetic condition which means their blood does not clot properly.
In the 1970s, a new treatment was developed to replace the missing clotting agents, made from donated human blood plasma.
But whole batches of the treatments – Factor VIII and Factor IX – were contaminated with deadly viruses.
Some of the treatments were imported from the US where blood was bought from high-risk donors such as prison inmates and drug-users.
The second group affected include people who had a blood transfusion after childbirth, accidents and during medical treatment.
Blood used for these patients was not imported, but some of it was also contaminated, mainly with hepatitis C.
One victim said any potential apology from the government “won’t bring back the dead”.
Ros Cooper, who was infected with hepatitis C after treatment for a bleeding disorder as a child, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “words don’t mean a lot”.
“To a lot of people who’ve lost loved ones, what are words going to do? It’s not going to bring back the dead, it’s not going to wash away crimes that have been committed,” she said.
“Lives were effectively ruined because of those decisions. Any kind of apology, to be worth anything to the victims, needs to come from somebody who truly understands that.”
The key issues addressed by the inquiry include:
whether the victims have been supported enough
whether there were attempts by the government or NHS to conceal what happened
what more should have been done to prevent people becoming infected, including whether screening could have been introduced sooner.
Sir Brian’s two interim reports, published in July 2022 and April 2023, made recommendations about compensation for victims and their families.
The government has said it accepts the “moral case” for compensation, and interim payouts of £100,000 each have already been made to about 4,000 survivors and bereaved partners.
Ministers have promised to address the issue of final compensation once the inquiry’s report is published. The total cost is likely to run into billions.
On Sunday, the Conservatives and Labour both committed to compensation for victims, no matter the outcome of the general election expected later this year.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told Laura Kuenssberg there was a “rare moment of consensus”, as Defence Secretary Grant Shapps agreed families had been let down “over decades”.
The Tainted Blood campaign group chairman, Andy Evans, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C as a child through his haemophilia treatment, said publication of the report would be a “defining” moment after decades of campaigning.
“This is where we pin our hopes, really – we don’t have anywhere else to go after this,” he said.
“From the very beginning, victims have been gas-lit by government saying that the treatment was the best available and every decision was made with the best intention and with the best information they had available at the time.
“Through the course of the inquiry, that’s proven to be false. The testimony that we’ve heard, both from victims and from people in office and the NHS, has shown that that wasn’t true.”
During the four-year inquiry, victims and their families have given evidence alongside former and current ministers, including Lord Clarke, who was health minister in the 1980s, and the current chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, who also gave evidence in his former role as health minister.
Speaking to the BBC’s Westminster Hour on Radio 4, Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson, the leading MP campaigning in parliament for the victims of the scandal, said many of the victims and their families were “apprehensive” and “worried” ahead of the report’s publication, as “so many times before they’ve been let down”.
She said those affected by the scandal had had to “battle and battle” against successive governments who had denied any wrongdoing since the 1980s, and that compensation for them would be “an acknowledgment of what the state did to those individuals and their families”.
She said there was hope that their main questions – “Why was this allowed to happen and why was it covered up for so many years?” – would be answered by Sir Brian.
Speaking on the same programme, former Business Secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said, “If the state has killed people it has got to pay the price”, and that the government “should not shy away from it being expensive”.
He added that the scandal demonstrated a “defence mechanism within the institutions of the state which we need to break down”.
“For some reason there is a desire to cover up the mistakes made by long since passed government to no benefit of anybody who is currently in government…I do not understand why the state is not more open to saying yes mistakes were made.”
On the issue of compensation for victims and their families, the Conservative MP said: “People deserve this compensation. This is one of the most important bills the government will pay.”
Campaigners have also been critical of how long it has taken to get a public inquiry.
In other countries that faced contaminated blood scandals, including France and Japan, investigations into the medical disasters were completed many years ago.
In some cases, criminal charges were brought against doctors, politicians and other officials.
In the UK, a private inquiry in 2009 – funded entirely by donations – lacked any real powers, while a separate Scottish investigation in 2015 was branded a “whitewash” by victims and their families.
In 2017, following political pressure, then-Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a UK-wide public inquiry.
The findings are set to be presented at 12:30 BST.
ghostsniperMay 20, 2024, 2:30 PM
…if we change the way we look at something, then what we look at changes…
John A. FlemingMay 20, 2024, 6:41 PM
Otherwise known as “If a performance measure of a thing becomes a target to be achieved, then it no longer is useful as a performance measure”.
ghostsniperMay 20, 2024, 2:37 PM
Tighten Your Circle
=============
Place your concern locally cause that’s where you will live for the foreseeable future and where you may still have some semblance of control. Things at a great distance are far beyond your effect, don’t let them distract you.
I don’t hold much optimism. I’ve read a lot of articles about how the shit is going to hit the fan one day but it doesn’t happen. The can keeps getting kicked down the road and nothing big ever really happens.
Now, I believe we are witnessing a controlled demolition of America. Slow and deliberate. So much so that the average person doesn’t really notice.
The brain cells of most Americans are addled by drugs and brainwashed by fake news as the reason most Americans don’t give a rat’s ass about any of this. Although I don’t disagree that many Americans are dumber than a box or rocks, I do argue that there are still many Americans, who, like me, want to do something but we don’t know what to do about it. I’m just one guy with no voice.
Do I take up my guns and bum rush the State Capitol? I end up in prison with out a trial or charges like the J6 people.
Contacting our representatives does no good.
The voting system is corrupted and everyone knows it.
I think many Americans have incorporated a state of despair and are doing the only thing they know how to do. Keep their heads down and try to live out their lives in peace, unnoticed.
What else can we do? What do we do when our Constitution is nothing more than ass fodder to the people who swore an oath to uphold and defend it from the President down to the janitors at the FBI? When the whole system is rotten but powerful, what recourse do we the people have?
I don’t know.
DTMay 20, 2024, 5:08 PM
You live the life you have. Ignore authority as much as possible, avoid crowds and “events”. Not that you can escape notice … even by being not noticed (“This person doesn’t have a FB account”). Not really being fatalist but what will happen will do so with or without our input or concern. How much of this crap actually affects your day-to-day life (in the short run)? (Easy for me to say; I no longer have to live in the corporate world)
What’s “America” anyway? Not this mess – so it must be no more than a collective memory only available to people born at a similar time long ago. A fairy tale for the far future: “Once upon a time long ago and far away, there lived a people who did this, that, and many other wondrous things …”
“No way, grandpa!”
Inertia will keep this wreck going until the wheels completely fall off … headed that way but not yet … or some physical action – say some major military action including on North American soil. A war is a handy way for governments to absolve treaties and cure financial problems.
So I’m not saying our world is collapsing – it’s there’s nothing we can do about it except enjoy what we have left while it’s left.
Preparing for what is likely to happen is far different than preparing for what might happen. I bring to mind “Eve of Destruction”. It was a big hit a couple of years ago. It’s been a long eve coming … The news exists to stir you up. There’s less and less “news to use” and more “news to amuse” … or annoy.
(I prepare for blizzards and wildfires. I don’t worry much about floods or tornadoes. Or The Apocalypse)
Yesterday didn’t happen, tomorrow is a fiction in our minds.
“I may be going to hell in a bucket, but at least I’m enjoying the ride”
Today … it was a beautiful mid-May day with food, shelter, and all my petty needs in fine shape for this day.
ghostsniperMay 20, 2024, 6:19 PM
“Today … it was a beautiful mid-May day with food, shelter, and all my petty needs in fine shape for this day.”
Indeed it was. Got some stuff done. Did some stuff I wish I hadn’t. Mowed the yard with my rider, hit a protruding root, bent a blade. Wunderful. It’ll go up on the floor jack tomorrow and I’ll see what’s up. Been down this road before.
Did FAT spam planks on the grill, american cheese, mustard-ketchup, toasted onion rolls. DAWG! Chased em down the pipe with 4 slammed Hamm’s. Turned the AC on in my office today for the first time since last Oct. Yeah, today was decent.
ghostsniperMay 20, 2024, 2:43 PM
The Rumor is:
==========
Today I swung my front door wide open and placed my Remington 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun right in the doorway. I put 9 shells beside it, then left it alone and went about my business.
“While I was gone, the mailman delivered our mail, the neighbor dood across the road mowed the yard, a girl walked her dog down the road, and quite a few cars drove past our house.
“After a few hours I checked on the gun. It was still sitting there right where I had left it. It hadn’t moved itself. It certainly hadn’t killed anyone, even with the numerous opportunities it had presented to do so. In fact, it hadn’t even loaded itself.
“Well you can imagine my surprise, with all the hype by the Left and the Media about how dangerous guns are and how they kill people.
“I must be in possession of the laziest gun in the world.”
“The United States is third in Murders throughout the World. But if you take out just four cities: Chicago, Detroit, Washington, DC and New Orleans, the United States is fourth from the bottom, in the entire world, for Murders! These four Cities also have the toughest Gun Control Laws in the U. S. All four of these cities are controlled by Democrats. It would be absurd to draw any conclusions from this data – right?
“Well, I’m off to check on my spoons. I hear they’re making people fat.”
DTMay 20, 2024, 4:40 PM
If I recall what Casey told us of his home country, this looks like it … or at least reminds me of it. Up in the Palouse, aren’t you?
John A. FlemingMay 20, 2024, 7:10 PM
On the one hand:
Everything still seems normal. We have made plans for and are preparing for a normal and eventful summer. Places to go, things to see, stuff to do. Work seems normal, same as it ever was, stressful, too much to do, not enough time and people, gotta manage the “get done what can be”. A person could think that it will go on just as it has been, the “uniformitarianism” view of history.
On the other hand:
Change is creeping in. The effect of importing millions of non-productive (so far) people into our midst will cause changes for years. They are not educated, and it’s not clear that they are productive, it’s going to be a drag on all the rest of us. The Pax Americana is no more. The US$ as reserve currency is fading. The *paths that think they are and should be in charge are all scrambling for power. Smart as hyenas, they are. We all hear the rumors of rise in crime. But this new crime has not yet reached our enclave, so we are calm. Still, it’s time to practice being less conspicuous. When the asylum payments for the newcomers stops, civil unrest and crime will explode. This is the “catastrophism” view of history.
One thing I’m not sure about is how to safeguard our money. They’ve done it before, they will do it again. Bank holidays, precious metal confiscation. 401K’s will be “nationalized” with federal IOUs and merged with SocSec. The new one is an attempt to “discourage” cash. They are close. All transactions over $600 are now reported. Some banks are refusing to dispense. The government central banks are all wanting “digital” currency. Plenty of countries have done it before, new cash is issued and old cash is … worthless paper and metal. I’m concluding that money can’t be safeguarded.
Gotta stop getting lulled by the alluring “uniformitarianism”. But it’s so nice, so addictive.
Snakepit KansasMay 21, 2024, 4:24 AM
Mr. Fleming,
Certainly, one day, the bullets will start flying. The deplorables, at some point, will push back. There may be a half a nation full of socialists, but there is still the other half that is armed and has an internal red line. Most are not simply going to stand by if someone comes by to round up your grandfather’s old .22.
You may decide to diversify your future dollars to not just 401K and silver, but to ammunition. 9mm might be good to stock up on. Add some .223REM, 12gauge 6 shot and some .45acp. It may be good trading fodder if it is not eventually expended at the field or range. Palmetto has some good deals going.
Make yourself well trained with the firearms you have. Know that if someone is kicking in your door it is not the Welcome Wagon and be ready to call someone with a wet/dry shop vac later. Be willing to defend the way of life the Good Lord gave us.
You already know all of this so I shut up now.
Ammo is heavy, be aware of shipping costs.
I’ve found deals with free shipping.
chuckieMay 20, 2024, 7:42 PM
i’m not liking this movie……
i’ve read lots of sci-fi/fantasy books where there is a lost civilization that accomplished WONDERS….
never understood how that could happen….watching it in real time is kinda depressing…..
ghostsniperMay 21, 2024, 6:46 AM
This could open a floodgate, as it should.
============================
Gym Owner Who Defied Lockdowns Wins Victory after Court Dismisses 80 Charges
By Bradley Greer 05/20/2024
The co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, who fiercely defied tyrannical lockdowns in 2020, has won a monumental victory after a court dismissed all 80 charges against him.
Ian Smith famoulsy reopened his gym in the middle of lockdown, defying Democrat Governor Phil Murphy’s draconian COVID-19 lockdown orders.
At the time, Smith challenged the Murphy administration’s mandates, arguing they were unconstitutional and detrimental to small businesses.
The Gateway Pundit reports: The confrontation escalated in July 2020 when police officers forcefully arrested Smith after he continually violated the State’s shutdown orders.
A swarm of police officers burst through the door of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey arrested the owners for violating Governor Murphy’s authoritarian shutdown order.
The State’s aggressive response did not end with the arrest. In a controversial move, Governor Murphy and his administration seized $165,000 from the gym’s accounts—funds that Smith claims were amassed through donations and apparel sales to support the gym’s legal battles. This act was a punitive strike meant to cripple the gym financially and serve as a stern warning to others who might consider similar defiance.
“Governor Phil Murphy seized 100% of our assets today – $165k, all of which came from donations and apparel sales. This is done in the middle of ongoing litigation defending ourselves against these fines, our 80 charges, the revocation of our business license, and the unconstitutional health department shutdown. This was never about protection, it was always about control,” said Smith in a video statement in January 2021.
On Saturday, Smith announced that the court dropped all charges with prejudice. This means the State is utterly barred from refiling these charges against Smith and Atilis Gym, signaling a definitive victory for the small business owner and a stinging rebuke of Gov. Murphy’s authoritarian tactics.
Smith did not mince words, directly challenging Governor Murphy with a phrase that has since gone viral: “Suck my d—k Phil Murphy.”
Smith released the following statement on X:
4 years ago today, we reopened Atilis Gym in direct violation of an unconstitutional order by Governor Philip Murphy to close small businesses in New Jersey.
The support we received locally, nationally, and internationally for our stand is something I will be forever grateful for.
With that being said, I am thrilled to announce that we have achieved a major victory in the long, hard fight against the State.
ALL OF THE 80+ municipal citations of violations of a governor’s order, public nuisance, disturbing the peace, and operating without a license against us have been dropped by the courts WITH prejudice. This means the State has NO ability to revist or refile these charges.
This victory opens the battlefield again and gives us options to continue to push back and bring justice to the treasonous actions of Phil Murphy and his lackies.
Again, thank you to all who supported us. We could not have done it without you.
Special thanks to our fearless attorneys – John McCann and Giancarlo Ghione. Some of the most high profile attorneys around the country ran from our case – knowing it would be a long, hard road and would make them a target of the stare. These two gentlemen stood with us through the darkest days of the storm, have not flinched, and never once cared about being in front of cameras to gain notoriety from their work.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
The War Duck
============
If you think we can make America Great Again without killing a whole bunch of “journalists” I’ll listen but I’m not optimistic.
Their Time Is Gonna Come
===================
And I wouldn’t want to be them.
Infected blood scandal: Inquiry into NHS disaster to publish findings
==========================
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-69022726
The public inquiry into the infected blood scandal, known as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history, is due to publish its findings.
More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions.
About 3,000 of them have since died – many haemophiliacs given infected blood products as part of their treatment.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to issue an apology on Monday.
Chairman Sir Brian Langstaff will deliver his findings after the Infected Blood Inquiry took evidence between 2019 and 2023.
Two main groups of people were caught up in the scandal.
One was people with haemophilia, and those with similar disorders, who have a rare genetic condition which means their blood does not clot properly.
In the 1970s, a new treatment was developed to replace the missing clotting agents, made from donated human blood plasma.
But whole batches of the treatments – Factor VIII and Factor IX – were contaminated with deadly viruses.
Some of the treatments were imported from the US where blood was bought from high-risk donors such as prison inmates and drug-users.
The second group affected include people who had a blood transfusion after childbirth, accidents and during medical treatment.
Blood used for these patients was not imported, but some of it was also contaminated, mainly with hepatitis C.
One victim said any potential apology from the government “won’t bring back the dead”.
Ros Cooper, who was infected with hepatitis C after treatment for a bleeding disorder as a child, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “words don’t mean a lot”.
“To a lot of people who’ve lost loved ones, what are words going to do? It’s not going to bring back the dead, it’s not going to wash away crimes that have been committed,” she said.
“Lives were effectively ruined because of those decisions. Any kind of apology, to be worth anything to the victims, needs to come from somebody who truly understands that.”
The key issues addressed by the inquiry include:
whether the victims have been supported enough
whether there were attempts by the government or NHS to conceal what happened
what more should have been done to prevent people becoming infected, including whether screening could have been introduced sooner.
Sir Brian’s two interim reports, published in July 2022 and April 2023, made recommendations about compensation for victims and their families.
The government has said it accepts the “moral case” for compensation, and interim payouts of £100,000 each have already been made to about 4,000 survivors and bereaved partners.
Ministers have promised to address the issue of final compensation once the inquiry’s report is published. The total cost is likely to run into billions.
On Sunday, the Conservatives and Labour both committed to compensation for victims, no matter the outcome of the general election expected later this year.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting told Laura Kuenssberg there was a “rare moment of consensus”, as Defence Secretary Grant Shapps agreed families had been let down “over decades”.
The Tainted Blood campaign group chairman, Andy Evans, who was infected with HIV and hepatitis C as a child through his haemophilia treatment, said publication of the report would be a “defining” moment after decades of campaigning.
“This is where we pin our hopes, really – we don’t have anywhere else to go after this,” he said.
“From the very beginning, victims have been gas-lit by government saying that the treatment was the best available and every decision was made with the best intention and with the best information they had available at the time.
“Through the course of the inquiry, that’s proven to be false. The testimony that we’ve heard, both from victims and from people in office and the NHS, has shown that that wasn’t true.”
During the four-year inquiry, victims and their families have given evidence alongside former and current ministers, including Lord Clarke, who was health minister in the 1980s, and the current chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, who also gave evidence in his former role as health minister.
Speaking to the BBC’s Westminster Hour on Radio 4, Labour’s Dame Diana Johnson, the leading MP campaigning in parliament for the victims of the scandal, said many of the victims and their families were “apprehensive” and “worried” ahead of the report’s publication, as “so many times before they’ve been let down”.
She said those affected by the scandal had had to “battle and battle” against successive governments who had denied any wrongdoing since the 1980s, and that compensation for them would be “an acknowledgment of what the state did to those individuals and their families”.
She said there was hope that their main questions – “Why was this allowed to happen and why was it covered up for so many years?” – would be answered by Sir Brian.
Speaking on the same programme, former Business Secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said, “If the state has killed people it has got to pay the price”, and that the government “should not shy away from it being expensive”.
He added that the scandal demonstrated a “defence mechanism within the institutions of the state which we need to break down”.
“For some reason there is a desire to cover up the mistakes made by long since passed government to no benefit of anybody who is currently in government…I do not understand why the state is not more open to saying yes mistakes were made.”
On the issue of compensation for victims and their families, the Conservative MP said: “People deserve this compensation. This is one of the most important bills the government will pay.”
Campaigners have also been critical of how long it has taken to get a public inquiry.
In other countries that faced contaminated blood scandals, including France and Japan, investigations into the medical disasters were completed many years ago.
In some cases, criminal charges were brought against doctors, politicians and other officials.
In the UK, a private inquiry in 2009 – funded entirely by donations – lacked any real powers, while a separate Scottish investigation in 2015 was branded a “whitewash” by victims and their families.
In 2017, following political pressure, then-Prime Minister Theresa May ordered a UK-wide public inquiry.
The findings are set to be presented at 12:30 BST.
…if we change the way we look at something, then what we look at changes…
Otherwise known as “If a performance measure of a thing becomes a target to be achieved, then it no longer is useful as a performance measure”.
Tighten Your Circle
=============
Place your concern locally cause that’s where you will live for the foreseeable future and where you may still have some semblance of control. Things at a great distance are far beyond your effect, don’t let them distract you.
I don’t hold much optimism. I’ve read a lot of articles about how the shit is going to hit the fan one day but it doesn’t happen. The can keeps getting kicked down the road and nothing big ever really happens.
Now, I believe we are witnessing a controlled demolition of America. Slow and deliberate. So much so that the average person doesn’t really notice.
The brain cells of most Americans are addled by drugs and brainwashed by fake news as the reason most Americans don’t give a rat’s ass about any of this. Although I don’t disagree that many Americans are dumber than a box or rocks, I do argue that there are still many Americans, who, like me, want to do something but we don’t know what to do about it. I’m just one guy with no voice.
Do I take up my guns and bum rush the State Capitol? I end up in prison with out a trial or charges like the J6 people.
Contacting our representatives does no good.
The voting system is corrupted and everyone knows it.
I think many Americans have incorporated a state of despair and are doing the only thing they know how to do. Keep their heads down and try to live out their lives in peace, unnoticed.
What else can we do? What do we do when our Constitution is nothing more than ass fodder to the people who swore an oath to uphold and defend it from the President down to the janitors at the FBI? When the whole system is rotten but powerful, what recourse do we the people have?
I don’t know.
You live the life you have. Ignore authority as much as possible, avoid crowds and “events”. Not that you can escape notice … even by being not noticed (“This person doesn’t have a FB account”). Not really being fatalist but what will happen will do so with or without our input or concern. How much of this crap actually affects your day-to-day life (in the short run)? (Easy for me to say; I no longer have to live in the corporate world)
What’s “America” anyway? Not this mess – so it must be no more than a collective memory only available to people born at a similar time long ago. A fairy tale for the far future: “Once upon a time long ago and far away, there lived a people who did this, that, and many other wondrous things …”
“No way, grandpa!”
Inertia will keep this wreck going until the wheels completely fall off … headed that way but not yet … or some physical action – say some major military action including on North American soil. A war is a handy way for governments to absolve treaties and cure financial problems.
So I’m not saying our world is collapsing – it’s there’s nothing we can do about it except enjoy what we have left while it’s left.
Preparing for what is likely to happen is far different than preparing for what might happen. I bring to mind “Eve of Destruction”. It was a big hit a couple of years ago. It’s been a long eve coming … The news exists to stir you up. There’s less and less “news to use” and more “news to amuse” … or annoy.
(I prepare for blizzards and wildfires. I don’t worry much about floods or tornadoes. Or The Apocalypse)
Yesterday didn’t happen, tomorrow is a fiction in our minds.
“I may be going to hell in a bucket, but at least I’m enjoying the ride”
Today … it was a beautiful mid-May day with food, shelter, and all my petty needs in fine shape for this day.
“Today … it was a beautiful mid-May day with food, shelter, and all my petty needs in fine shape for this day.”
Indeed it was. Got some stuff done. Did some stuff I wish I hadn’t. Mowed the yard with my rider, hit a protruding root, bent a blade. Wunderful. It’ll go up on the floor jack tomorrow and I’ll see what’s up. Been down this road before.
Did FAT spam planks on the grill, american cheese, mustard-ketchup, toasted onion rolls. DAWG! Chased em down the pipe with 4 slammed Hamm’s. Turned the AC on in my office today for the first time since last Oct. Yeah, today was decent.
The Rumor is:
==========
Today I swung my front door wide open and placed my Remington 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun right in the doorway. I put 9 shells beside it, then left it alone and went about my business.
“While I was gone, the mailman delivered our mail, the neighbor dood across the road mowed the yard, a girl walked her dog down the road, and quite a few cars drove past our house.
“After a few hours I checked on the gun. It was still sitting there right where I had left it. It hadn’t moved itself. It certainly hadn’t killed anyone, even with the numerous opportunities it had presented to do so. In fact, it hadn’t even loaded itself.
“Well you can imagine my surprise, with all the hype by the Left and the Media about how dangerous guns are and how they kill people.
“I must be in possession of the laziest gun in the world.”
“The United States is third in Murders throughout the World. But if you take out just four cities: Chicago, Detroit, Washington, DC and New Orleans, the United States is fourth from the bottom, in the entire world, for Murders! These four Cities also have the toughest Gun Control Laws in the U. S. All four of these cities are controlled by Democrats. It would be absurd to draw any conclusions from this data – right?
“Well, I’m off to check on my spoons. I hear they’re making people fat.”
If I recall what Casey told us of his home country, this looks like it … or at least reminds me of it. Up in the Palouse, aren’t you?
On the one hand:
Everything still seems normal. We have made plans for and are preparing for a normal and eventful summer. Places to go, things to see, stuff to do. Work seems normal, same as it ever was, stressful, too much to do, not enough time and people, gotta manage the “get done what can be”. A person could think that it will go on just as it has been, the “uniformitarianism” view of history.
On the other hand:
Change is creeping in. The effect of importing millions of non-productive (so far) people into our midst will cause changes for years. They are not educated, and it’s not clear that they are productive, it’s going to be a drag on all the rest of us. The Pax Americana is no more. The US$ as reserve currency is fading. The *paths that think they are and should be in charge are all scrambling for power. Smart as hyenas, they are. We all hear the rumors of rise in crime. But this new crime has not yet reached our enclave, so we are calm. Still, it’s time to practice being less conspicuous. When the asylum payments for the newcomers stops, civil unrest and crime will explode. This is the “catastrophism” view of history.
One thing I’m not sure about is how to safeguard our money. They’ve done it before, they will do it again. Bank holidays, precious metal confiscation. 401K’s will be “nationalized” with federal IOUs and merged with SocSec. The new one is an attempt to “discourage” cash. They are close. All transactions over $600 are now reported. Some banks are refusing to dispense. The government central banks are all wanting “digital” currency. Plenty of countries have done it before, new cash is issued and old cash is … worthless paper and metal. I’m concluding that money can’t be safeguarded.
Gotta stop getting lulled by the alluring “uniformitarianism”. But it’s so nice, so addictive.
Mr. Fleming,
Certainly, one day, the bullets will start flying. The deplorables, at some point, will push back. There may be a half a nation full of socialists, but there is still the other half that is armed and has an internal red line. Most are not simply going to stand by if someone comes by to round up your grandfather’s old .22.
You may decide to diversify your future dollars to not just 401K and silver, but to ammunition. 9mm might be good to stock up on. Add some .223REM, 12gauge 6 shot and some .45acp. It may be good trading fodder if it is not eventually expended at the field or range. Palmetto has some good deals going.
Make yourself well trained with the firearms you have. Know that if someone is kicking in your door it is not the Welcome Wagon and be ready to call someone with a wet/dry shop vac later. Be willing to defend the way of life the Good Lord gave us.
You already know all of this so I shut up now.
And 7.62 – .308
https://ammoseek.com/
Ammo is heavy, be aware of shipping costs.
I’ve found deals with free shipping.
i’m not liking this movie……
i’ve read lots of sci-fi/fantasy books where there is a lost civilization that accomplished WONDERS….
never understood how that could happen….watching it in real time is kinda depressing…..
This could open a floodgate, as it should.
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Gym Owner Who Defied Lockdowns Wins Victory after Court Dismisses 80 Charges
By Bradley Greer 05/20/2024
The co-owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey, who fiercely defied tyrannical lockdowns in 2020, has won a monumental victory after a court dismissed all 80 charges against him.
Ian Smith famoulsy reopened his gym in the middle of lockdown, defying Democrat Governor Phil Murphy’s draconian COVID-19 lockdown orders.
At the time, Smith challenged the Murphy administration’s mandates, arguing they were unconstitutional and detrimental to small businesses.
The Gateway Pundit reports: The confrontation escalated in July 2020 when police officers forcefully arrested Smith after he continually violated the State’s shutdown orders.
A swarm of police officers burst through the door of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey arrested the owners for violating Governor Murphy’s authoritarian shutdown order.
The State’s aggressive response did not end with the arrest. In a controversial move, Governor Murphy and his administration seized $165,000 from the gym’s accounts—funds that Smith claims were amassed through donations and apparel sales to support the gym’s legal battles. This act was a punitive strike meant to cripple the gym financially and serve as a stern warning to others who might consider similar defiance.
“Governor Phil Murphy seized 100% of our assets today – $165k, all of which came from donations and apparel sales. This is done in the middle of ongoing litigation defending ourselves against these fines, our 80 charges, the revocation of our business license, and the unconstitutional health department shutdown. This was never about protection, it was always about control,” said Smith in a video statement in January 2021.
On Saturday, Smith announced that the court dropped all charges with prejudice. This means the State is utterly barred from refiling these charges against Smith and Atilis Gym, signaling a definitive victory for the small business owner and a stinging rebuke of Gov. Murphy’s authoritarian tactics.
Smith did not mince words, directly challenging Governor Murphy with a phrase that has since gone viral: “Suck my d—k Phil Murphy.”
Smith released the following statement on X:
4 years ago today, we reopened Atilis Gym in direct violation of an unconstitutional order by Governor Philip Murphy to close small businesses in New Jersey.
The support we received locally, nationally, and internationally for our stand is something I will be forever grateful for.
With that being said, I am thrilled to announce that we have achieved a major victory in the long, hard fight against the State.
ALL OF THE 80+ municipal citations of violations of a governor’s order, public nuisance, disturbing the peace, and operating without a license against us have been dropped by the courts WITH prejudice. This means the State has NO ability to revist or refile these charges.
This victory opens the battlefield again and gives us options to continue to push back and bring justice to the treasonous actions of Phil Murphy and his lackies.
Again, thank you to all who supported us. We could not have done it without you.
Special thanks to our fearless attorneys – John McCann and Giancarlo Ghione. Some of the most high profile attorneys around the country ran from our case – knowing it would be a long, hard road and would make them a target of the stare. These two gentlemen stood with us through the darkest days of the storm, have not flinched, and never once cared about being in front of cameras to gain notoriety from their work.
https://disswire.com/gym-owner-who-defied-lockdowns-wins-victory-after-court-dismisses-80-charges/
Tuesday the 28th of May is National Burger Day!