WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
The Remus Files
byVanderleunonJuly 8, 2020
Since June Ol’ Remus of the Woodpile Report has gone radio silent. That means what it means and no more or no less. Some speculate that Remus is “End of Shift” but there is no information one way or ‘tother.Remus reader Paul Scott has made a tribute page with many of Remus’ essays and observations from the past. I pray he gets more from the future. The page is at Woodpile Reports a tribute to Remus | Woodpile reports where Scott notes: Ol Remus of the Woodpile Report is a legend.
As of June 2020 our legend Ol Remus has gone off air so to speak.
We do not know his identity in real life.
These are the Vintage and recent Articles and Woodpile Reports from Ol’Remus.
I started these legacy files in September 2018 but left off because I could not reliably bring across links. and because to a large extent vintage files were no longer available.
However, luckily Remus has such a reputation that many of his vintage reports are available still on other web sites. I bring them across regularly, as I find them. .
If you knocked on a door somewhere in North Carolina Ol’ Remus would have answered. . He would look something like the man in the photo here.
Unless you coaxed him, or as we say down here> twisted his arm <, you would leave not knowing you had met a legend.
I will refine this writing until that legend is read about by many people. His archetype is as a hero father figure to good men. That is some accomplishment.
He is a father figure to grown men. Read Remus anywhere, you will not find embittered antagonism to the insane socialism and totalitarians of the left, but an acerbic wry commentary on the state of his country.
Miss this guy a lot. Always looked forward to Tuesday.
John the RiverJuly 8, 2020, 8:37 PM
I don’t know, and I mean that most seriously. I don’t know.
But I had stopped rushing to catch his latest Tuesday offering for more than month now. And it was because it just seemed that the worst of his doom and gloom predictions were coming true. It was becoming all too depressing.
I wonder if Ol’ Remus either despaired of the State of the Nation and the current insanity met some set of trigger points he had set for himself and said “Bug out time”.
No one knows who he really is or where he really lives, that’s deliberate. All I can say is, I pity the census taker that tries to breach his perimeter.
Go Silent, Go Deep.
ImonnitJuly 8, 2020, 10:07 PM
I was wondering where he’s been the last few weeks. I know that sometimes when spouse of many years, passes sometimes so goes the other. I’m truly hoping this isn’t the case as Mr. Remus has been know to take a break now and then. I appreciate you gathering what you can, it’s a treasure trove. He is an Oak. Fingers crossed that he’ll pop back up with some art, some vintage ads, celestial happenings, and a witty preamble to this weeks chaos. Stay away from crowds.
ghostsniperJuly 9, 2020, 4:38 AM
Our late Chasmatic knew Remus well, visited him in person a few times, they emailed frequently. Chas and I emailed frequently, were going to hook up once when he was tentatively taking a road trip to Chicago that didn’t happen.
A few years ago Remus shut down his site and after a month or so of withdrawals I pleaded with him to bring it back and he said he’d consider it, then he did. He updated his site late on Monday nights and that was when I’d visit. I say visit, rather than read, because visiting his site was more than a read, to me. Less is more.
His site was clean, easy to work, inviting to certain types of people, and some how made me feel like I was in a different, more comfortable place. He rejected all the distracting, irritating, nonsense most other sites employ, keeping it simple.
The format was always the same, dependable. His commentary’s were always simple, straight forward, informative, contemplative. There was a sense of truth in all the things he said.
He goaded me into looking deeper at traditional paintings and artists, revealing a hidden attraction to them and appreciation thereof. The old magazine ad was a nice resting spot after his harrowing introduction. Usually from the 30’s, 40’s or 50’s. Then a series of easy captions with supporting links. Ending with a war related picture and that dreaded monitor adjustment color line at the bottom.
Hanging out at Remus’s place, for me, a grown up a little younger than he, his place, his home, was mostly a place that he caused to conjure in my mind. He used the Hitchcock technique, give the viewer/reader just enough information then let his own mind fill in the rest. I could imagine Remus’s living place in detail, seeded by his own words, and fueled by my own mind. I was there, with him, sitting at a small table on the front porch, in the woods at the end of a long dirt road with a cat or 3 laying lazily about while the smell of hot, fresh bread wafted from inside.
My weekly visit to Remus’s little place on the web was THE highlight of my internet week. Most of the stuff I am exposed to on the web sort of all blends together in time but some how the magic of Remus’s little place in the world always stood out from the crowd as a beacon for certain types of people and his words were pondered long after. I hope he is well.
Snakepit KansasJuly 9, 2020, 5:48 AM
Nicely said, Ghost.
MichaelJuly 9, 2020, 5:50 AM
Ole Remus is very missed as he was my every Tuesday reading. His wry wit and often scary accurate commentary is something I will treasure.
Someone NEEDS to Save his side bars. Too much very useful information on how radicals think and ways to defend from those tactics. I’m not techie enough to copy them for my own files.
If Ole Remus ever ends up in NH drop by for a little BBQ, would be a small thank you for so much wisdom and enjoyment of the Woodpile Report.
NoriJuly 9, 2020, 7:26 AM
Indeed,very nicely said,Ghost.
Thanks to Mr V for this update. We’re all hoping and praying Remus is simply taking a revitalizing break.
Interesting that the writer of the above page is a New Zealander. Remus has a great gift for reaching kindred souls.
It’s hard to add anything to what has already been said. ghostsniper pretty much sums it up. I forwarded links of Woodpile Report to a few people over the years but it was over most peoples heads. Too much information to process. It’s not for those with a short attention span or limited vocabulary. I hope Remus is just taking an extended unannounced vacation. If not we will be poorer for it. Godspeed Remus.
Woodpile Report has been my most special place to savor. I’ve written Remus on occasion, never exploited his willingness to reply, and we’ve written back and forth several times. He divulges very little. He told me he lives out in the woods of West Virginia. His dad was a judge and so was his brother. Remus has been a civil engineer, and architect, and is keenly inspired by architecture, fine art and advertising. He has complimented me on my sign making and graphic design abilities. I was thrilled whenever I sent him a link to an article or a a link to an art trove and he’d post that article or painting into his next post. I get the same thrill when Gerard posts some ingredient I found compelling. The first time Remus bailed off the Woodpile Report I wrote him something that must have read like a card of the deepest heartbreaking sympathy. He wrote back instantly saying he’s just taking a break but he didn’t hint for how long. When he finally returned once again, after a couple of years, I wrote to say, “I.READ.EVERY.WORD.” He replied, “That’s the best compliment I can ever receive.” Remus links to Survival Blog and describes it as “the gold standard of survival blogs.” I wrote those folks about a week ago asking if they’ve heard anything at all. So far I’ve not received a reply. I am positive and hopeful. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Remus.
ghostsniperJuly 9, 2020, 9:31 AM
Remus said:
With all the recent troubles we’re again being invited to an honest and open conversation about race, or said differently, the browbeatings will be resumed. Try this for honest and open: many of us, probably most of us, are tired of your whining, your so-called grievances, your violence and crime, your insults and threats, your witless blather and pornographic demeanor—all of it. You’re not quite 13% of the population yet everything has to be about you, all day, every day. With you, facts aren’t facts, everything’s a kozmik krisis, and abusive confrontations are your go-to.
Here’s the thing: some of us despise you, although fewer than you believe, but most of us plain don’t care about you or your doings. There was a time when we did care, but you betrayed our good will and played us for fools. We laugh about it now, but we actually believed you wanted equal opportunity and mutual respect and to live in harmony—all that stuff. Ain’t it a hoot? Imagine our embarrassment.
We talk among ourselves just like you do. It’s true, we have “frank and open discussions” when you’re not around. Why? Partly because it’s exhausting to tippy-toe around you. Partly because you think it’s your celestial right to tell us what we can say. And partly because you’re alarmingly aggressive or painfully dim-witted by turns. We never know which “you” will pop out of the box, or when. But mainly because you’ve revealed yourself as grasping opportunists without honor or principle. There’s your deal-breaker. There’s more.
During the recent riots you expected us to believe heisting snack food then torching the place was “standing up for justice”. When we didn’t buy it, you told us the looting and arson wasn’t done by the rioters after all, no, all the bad stuff was done by rioters from out of town. Apparently you think it makes a difference to us. And if we don’t fall for that one, you tell us you’re the real victims, you’re the ones “hit hardest” because the neighborhoods you looted and burned are, um, looted and burned.
We’ve never stood in your way but we don’t really care if you have good neighborhoods or not. The evidence says you don’t care either, unless we build and maintain them for you, what your enablers call “investments in urban communities.” They don’t mention the return on our past “investments”. Our former neighborhoods weren’t improved by your arrival. Your contempt for ordinary civility tells us no level of “investment” would make a difference. Listen up. It’s simple. Just like our neighborhoods are our responsibility, so are your neighborhoods your responsibility, not ours. Your clownish leaders will tell you otherwise but they’ve always been your responsibility and they always will be your responsibility. Accept it or don’t, you’re the ones who live in them. There’s more.
Your air conditioned, smart phone equipped, EBT-financed “poverty” doesn’t wash to begin with, yet you’d have us believe poverty causes crime. There’s no payday for assault and rape and random killing. Police say 20% of your criminal violence is related to dope-dealing, okay, business disputes of a sort, but it says the rest of it is largely pro bono. We also notice you have a working knowledge of jury nullification and take pride in not “snitching”, typical gang behavior.
We say “what you think, you do. What you do, you are.” We know what you think—we hear it every waking minute. We know what you do. How could we not know what you are? Just so it gets said, crime causes poverty. It drives away productive people, their businesses and the opportunities you said you wanted. More bad news: you’re free to accuse them of anything you wish but they’re not coming back.
Schools haven’t been educating our kids for a long time. They’re too busy conjuring up new ways to teach yours, in fact, we’re beginning to think yours are the only ones who matter. There’s always some new scheme claiming dazzling success which, in the end, amounts to handing out the answers with the tests, or taking the annoying hard stuff out of the coursework, or entering unearned grades by hand. Whatever they’re doing they’re doing it wrong. Your kids are telling us, in every way they know how, they have neither the interest nor the inclination for academics. Perhaps we should listen. If what they want is “out” it’s worth considering and probably worth encouraging.
You tell us the schools have “failed to meet their needs.” And what are their needs, pray tell? Higher standards and tougher tests? Stricter rules and a dress code? Or some alternate universe where credit is earned for putting teachers in the ER, or for a string of abortions before the tenth grade? If you’d tell us what their needs are we’d at least know what needs we’re failing to meet. Until then we’ll mark it down for what it is, another lame excuse. They’re supposed to be schools, not day care or orphanages or theme parks.
You pester us with the “civil rights movement” of fifty years ago as though it happened last week, with tedious 1960s footage and cloying voice-overs, in an endless loop, like Groundhog Day, decade after decade. It’s understandable, you haven’t met any real resistance since those days. Breaking news: none of it matters any more, it all devolved into just another swindle, an extortion racket, “pay up or we’ll make a stink—and the bad optics are on you”.
Schools now teach something called White Privilege, which claims no overt act is necessary for us to be racist, in fact, absence of such acts is said to be direct evidence. It’s the “original sin” concept in a different wrapper, meaning our putative racism is bone deep and can’t be discharged by good works. Even so, they say we must atone in perpetuity for being white. They suggest we devote our lives in selfless service to you. No. Sorry. Whatever white privilege there may be, it isn’t enough. In fact, being subjected to White Privilege prattle is worth a couple of privileges.
Speaking of privilege, 60% of your college grads—and 20% of all of you—are employed by government. The intent is to create an artificial middle class of course, hence the trivial positions with imaginative titles and weighty salaries. In the lower reaches it’s the quota hires, typically unqualified. It’s a great offer. You pretend you’re doing something useful and we pretend to believe you. The rest of your grads are largely diversity directors, window dressing, teachers of dubious “studies” and improbable “histories”, and similar warehousing schemes for the otherwise unemployable. It’s as good as it’s ever going to get, except for those on the skinny end of the bell curve—for whom we have genuine, i.e., earned respect. You’d be a fool to leave it on the table, for as long as it lasts.
So here’s the deal. If you want to know what we really think of you, the answer is we don’t, unless you’re making yourself unavoidable or we’re cleaning up your latest mess. We can safely rely on you to make astonishingly irresponsible choices and blame us for the consequences. And you’ll demand we make good on them for you. We won’t take a chance on your sincerity ever again. Take it somewhere else, you have no credibility left with us. You’re a net liability, predictable to the point of surety. So we attend to our own lives and our own problems. It’s as it should be. We recommend it. As for you, frankly my dear, we don’t give a damn.
Teri PittmanJuly 9, 2020, 10:11 AM
No, you’ve forgotten that his wife died recently. That’s what worries me because I know how tough that is to deal with. I’ve emailed him a few times in the past, and have been tempted to send him a short note since things have gone dark. I suspect he’s spending a lot of time in his beloved woods, thinking things over.
In response to ghost reposting one of Remus’ most eloquent of scoldings to the 13% hellbent on marching the rest of us into the underworld with them… I am keeping in my file forever one of the greatest memes of all time. Remus found an old 50’s era Western Electric telephone ad of an adorable little girl holding the telephone and proclaiming, “Grandma says it’s okay to be white!” I’ll send this to Gerard because we need to be reminded of this deep wisdom from time to time. And just to drive the message home… here’s a recent abomination from a little town in Oregon. The Jussie virus is spiking. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/08/hate-hoax-oregon-politico-jonathan-lopez-admits-he-wrote-racist-letter-to-himself/
CallmelennieJuly 9, 2020, 12:31 PM
Ghostsniper types for me. You should give that rant more prominence, Gerard
CallmelennieJuly 9, 2020, 12:45 PM
As for Remus, the combination of advanced age (must be in his eighties), no response whatsoever to ANYBODY, and recent death of a beloved wife of many years makes me fear that he’s gone. I thought the same thing about Gerard, and I wasn’t too far off the mark that time
As for bugging out, as suggested by the Ghost, I think he’s too old for it. His body couldn’t take it. And then there’s his wife. Long time spouses pass almost simultaneously all the time
LinJuly 9, 2020, 1:49 PM
I miss him deeply. I hope he is well.
ghostsniperJuly 9, 2020, 2:24 PM
I didn’t say that Lennie.
I said he may have pulled back into his bolt hole.
Out here in deep ruralville we’re already bugged out.
We ain’t goin’ nowhere, we’re already here.
Also, I don’t know Remus’s age, but I would guess he’s in his 70’s, possibly 80’s, and he has mentioned numerous times how he walks the woods around his place frequently and carries a small pack and a .22 rifle. He’s spry.
CascadianJuly 9, 2020, 2:25 PM
Gentle-men and women, I would have you re-read Remus recent post:
“As I said here two weeks ago:
July will tell the truth about the economy. I’ve chosen November as the month of general truth, whether the years following will be of manageable coping, of unexampled disaster, or something in between.
We’re closing in on July. Here’s what’s developing:
National and world economies are collapsing into a 1930s-like Depression. Well regarded experts disagree on whether we’re facing runaway inflation or deflation but certain it will be one or the other. There are food shortages with famines in some parts of the world. In the US there is ongoing racial and political terrorism with scattered homicides. Politically motivated shutdowns of web sites are ongoing. There are rising threats of war in the western Pacific.
November is six months away. Unless something changes for the better, it appears we will be deeply into the dark consequences of this growing catastrophe. This means we’ll be heavily reliant on personal preparations being made now.
From Zero Hedge: Food-Banks Warn They’ll Soon Run Out Of Food As Economic Suffering Explodes All Over America
Remus is about the most informed and calm correspondent I have come across, do you not think he is making preparations against the very likely oncoming economic collapse and resultant tumult? And just maybe that we should take heed? Even if an economic collapse is avoided , given the recent street antics of a large cross section of the uninformed public, how do you think another term of President Trump will be received? We seem to be headed towards a very good reason “to avoid crowds” as the sage advised.
CallmelennieJuly 11, 2020, 1:44 PM
OK, bug out might not be the right word, GS … but wouldnt he have left some sort notice to his readers about the hiatud
In this case, there was his post on June 8, which was more truncated than normal, and then nothing
And I think he’s in his Eighties due to his endless pictures of the most minute details of WWII, as if he has childhood memories of that time
I’ve been intrigued by that era since I was a kid. I answer questions about WWII on Quora all the time. But I certainly wouldnt finish every blog post with a WWII era pic
Fred HaferJuly 20, 2020, 1:47 PM
They updated the site today announcing the death of Ol’ Remus.
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
Since June Ol’ Remus of the Woodpile Report has gone radio silent. That means what it means and no more or no less. Some speculate that Remus is “End of Shift” but there is no information one way or ‘tother.Remus reader Paul Scott has made a tribute page with many of Remus’ essays and observations from the past. I pray he gets more from the future. The page is at Woodpile Reports a tribute to Remus | Woodpile reports where Scott notes: Ol Remus of the Woodpile Report is a legend.
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Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Miss this guy a lot. Always looked forward to Tuesday.
I don’t know, and I mean that most seriously. I don’t know.
But I had stopped rushing to catch his latest Tuesday offering for more than month now. And it was because it just seemed that the worst of his doom and gloom predictions were coming true. It was becoming all too depressing.
I wonder if Ol’ Remus either despaired of the State of the Nation and the current insanity met some set of trigger points he had set for himself and said “Bug out time”.
No one knows who he really is or where he really lives, that’s deliberate. All I can say is, I pity the census taker that tries to breach his perimeter.
Go Silent, Go Deep.
I was wondering where he’s been the last few weeks. I know that sometimes when spouse of many years, passes sometimes so goes the other. I’m truly hoping this isn’t the case as Mr. Remus has been know to take a break now and then. I appreciate you gathering what you can, it’s a treasure trove. He is an Oak. Fingers crossed that he’ll pop back up with some art, some vintage ads, celestial happenings, and a witty preamble to this weeks chaos. Stay away from crowds.
Our late Chasmatic knew Remus well, visited him in person a few times, they emailed frequently. Chas and I emailed frequently, were going to hook up once when he was tentatively taking a road trip to Chicago that didn’t happen.
A few years ago Remus shut down his site and after a month or so of withdrawals I pleaded with him to bring it back and he said he’d consider it, then he did. He updated his site late on Monday nights and that was when I’d visit. I say visit, rather than read, because visiting his site was more than a read, to me. Less is more.
His site was clean, easy to work, inviting to certain types of people, and some how made me feel like I was in a different, more comfortable place. He rejected all the distracting, irritating, nonsense most other sites employ, keeping it simple.
The format was always the same, dependable. His commentary’s were always simple, straight forward, informative, contemplative. There was a sense of truth in all the things he said.
He goaded me into looking deeper at traditional paintings and artists, revealing a hidden attraction to them and appreciation thereof. The old magazine ad was a nice resting spot after his harrowing introduction. Usually from the 30’s, 40’s or 50’s. Then a series of easy captions with supporting links. Ending with a war related picture and that dreaded monitor adjustment color line at the bottom.
Hanging out at Remus’s place, for me, a grown up a little younger than he, his place, his home, was mostly a place that he caused to conjure in my mind. He used the Hitchcock technique, give the viewer/reader just enough information then let his own mind fill in the rest. I could imagine Remus’s living place in detail, seeded by his own words, and fueled by my own mind. I was there, with him, sitting at a small table on the front porch, in the woods at the end of a long dirt road with a cat or 3 laying lazily about while the smell of hot, fresh bread wafted from inside.
My weekly visit to Remus’s little place on the web was THE highlight of my internet week. Most of the stuff I am exposed to on the web sort of all blends together in time but some how the magic of Remus’s little place in the world always stood out from the crowd as a beacon for certain types of people and his words were pondered long after. I hope he is well.
Nicely said, Ghost.
Ole Remus is very missed as he was my every Tuesday reading. His wry wit and often scary accurate commentary is something I will treasure.
Someone NEEDS to Save his side bars. Too much very useful information on how radicals think and ways to defend from those tactics. I’m not techie enough to copy them for my own files.
If Ole Remus ever ends up in NH drop by for a little BBQ, would be a small thank you for so much wisdom and enjoyment of the Woodpile Report.
Indeed,very nicely said,Ghost.
Thanks to Mr V for this update. We’re all hoping and praying Remus is simply taking a revitalizing break.
Interesting that the writer of the above page is a New Zealander. Remus has a great gift for reaching kindred souls.
It’s hard to add anything to what has already been said. ghostsniper pretty much sums it up. I forwarded links of Woodpile Report to a few people over the years but it was over most peoples heads. Too much information to process. It’s not for those with a short attention span or limited vocabulary. I hope Remus is just taking an extended unannounced vacation. If not we will be poorer for it. Godspeed Remus.
Woodpile Report has been my most special place to savor. I’ve written Remus on occasion, never exploited his willingness to reply, and we’ve written back and forth several times. He divulges very little. He told me he lives out in the woods of West Virginia. His dad was a judge and so was his brother. Remus has been a civil engineer, and architect, and is keenly inspired by architecture, fine art and advertising. He has complimented me on my sign making and graphic design abilities. I was thrilled whenever I sent him a link to an article or a a link to an art trove and he’d post that article or painting into his next post. I get the same thrill when Gerard posts some ingredient I found compelling. The first time Remus bailed off the Woodpile Report I wrote him something that must have read like a card of the deepest heartbreaking sympathy. He wrote back instantly saying he’s just taking a break but he didn’t hint for how long. When he finally returned once again, after a couple of years, I wrote to say, “I.READ.EVERY.WORD.” He replied, “That’s the best compliment I can ever receive.” Remus links to Survival Blog and describes it as “the gold standard of survival blogs.” I wrote those folks about a week ago asking if they’ve heard anything at all. So far I’ve not received a reply. I am positive and hopeful. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Remus.
Remus said:
With all the recent troubles we’re again being invited to an honest and open conversation about race, or said differently, the browbeatings will be resumed. Try this for honest and open: many of us, probably most of us, are tired of your whining, your so-called grievances, your violence and crime, your insults and threats, your witless blather and pornographic demeanor—all of it. You’re not quite 13% of the population yet everything has to be about you, all day, every day. With you, facts aren’t facts, everything’s a kozmik krisis, and abusive confrontations are your go-to.
Here’s the thing: some of us despise you, although fewer than you believe, but most of us plain don’t care about you or your doings. There was a time when we did care, but you betrayed our good will and played us for fools. We laugh about it now, but we actually believed you wanted equal opportunity and mutual respect and to live in harmony—all that stuff. Ain’t it a hoot? Imagine our embarrassment.
We talk among ourselves just like you do. It’s true, we have “frank and open discussions” when you’re not around. Why? Partly because it’s exhausting to tippy-toe around you. Partly because you think it’s your celestial right to tell us what we can say. And partly because you’re alarmingly aggressive or painfully dim-witted by turns. We never know which “you” will pop out of the box, or when. But mainly because you’ve revealed yourself as grasping opportunists without honor or principle. There’s your deal-breaker. There’s more.
During the recent riots you expected us to believe heisting snack food then torching the place was “standing up for justice”. When we didn’t buy it, you told us the looting and arson wasn’t done by the rioters after all, no, all the bad stuff was done by rioters from out of town. Apparently you think it makes a difference to us. And if we don’t fall for that one, you tell us you’re the real victims, you’re the ones “hit hardest” because the neighborhoods you looted and burned are, um, looted and burned.
We’ve never stood in your way but we don’t really care if you have good neighborhoods or not. The evidence says you don’t care either, unless we build and maintain them for you, what your enablers call “investments in urban communities.” They don’t mention the return on our past “investments”. Our former neighborhoods weren’t improved by your arrival. Your contempt for ordinary civility tells us no level of “investment” would make a difference. Listen up. It’s simple. Just like our neighborhoods are our responsibility, so are your neighborhoods your responsibility, not ours. Your clownish leaders will tell you otherwise but they’ve always been your responsibility and they always will be your responsibility. Accept it or don’t, you’re the ones who live in them. There’s more.
Your air conditioned, smart phone equipped, EBT-financed “poverty” doesn’t wash to begin with, yet you’d have us believe poverty causes crime. There’s no payday for assault and rape and random killing. Police say 20% of your criminal violence is related to dope-dealing, okay, business disputes of a sort, but it says the rest of it is largely pro bono. We also notice you have a working knowledge of jury nullification and take pride in not “snitching”, typical gang behavior.
We say “what you think, you do. What you do, you are.” We know what you think—we hear it every waking minute. We know what you do. How could we not know what you are? Just so it gets said, crime causes poverty. It drives away productive people, their businesses and the opportunities you said you wanted. More bad news: you’re free to accuse them of anything you wish but they’re not coming back.
Schools haven’t been educating our kids for a long time. They’re too busy conjuring up new ways to teach yours, in fact, we’re beginning to think yours are the only ones who matter. There’s always some new scheme claiming dazzling success which, in the end, amounts to handing out the answers with the tests, or taking the annoying hard stuff out of the coursework, or entering unearned grades by hand. Whatever they’re doing they’re doing it wrong. Your kids are telling us, in every way they know how, they have neither the interest nor the inclination for academics. Perhaps we should listen. If what they want is “out” it’s worth considering and probably worth encouraging.
You tell us the schools have “failed to meet their needs.” And what are their needs, pray tell? Higher standards and tougher tests? Stricter rules and a dress code? Or some alternate universe where credit is earned for putting teachers in the ER, or for a string of abortions before the tenth grade? If you’d tell us what their needs are we’d at least know what needs we’re failing to meet. Until then we’ll mark it down for what it is, another lame excuse. They’re supposed to be schools, not day care or orphanages or theme parks.
You pester us with the “civil rights movement” of fifty years ago as though it happened last week, with tedious 1960s footage and cloying voice-overs, in an endless loop, like Groundhog Day, decade after decade. It’s understandable, you haven’t met any real resistance since those days. Breaking news: none of it matters any more, it all devolved into just another swindle, an extortion racket, “pay up or we’ll make a stink—and the bad optics are on you”.
Schools now teach something called White Privilege, which claims no overt act is necessary for us to be racist, in fact, absence of such acts is said to be direct evidence. It’s the “original sin” concept in a different wrapper, meaning our putative racism is bone deep and can’t be discharged by good works. Even so, they say we must atone in perpetuity for being white. They suggest we devote our lives in selfless service to you. No. Sorry. Whatever white privilege there may be, it isn’t enough. In fact, being subjected to White Privilege prattle is worth a couple of privileges.
Speaking of privilege, 60% of your college grads—and 20% of all of you—are employed by government. The intent is to create an artificial middle class of course, hence the trivial positions with imaginative titles and weighty salaries. In the lower reaches it’s the quota hires, typically unqualified. It’s a great offer. You pretend you’re doing something useful and we pretend to believe you. The rest of your grads are largely diversity directors, window dressing, teachers of dubious “studies” and improbable “histories”, and similar warehousing schemes for the otherwise unemployable. It’s as good as it’s ever going to get, except for those on the skinny end of the bell curve—for whom we have genuine, i.e., earned respect. You’d be a fool to leave it on the table, for as long as it lasts.
So here’s the deal. If you want to know what we really think of you, the answer is we don’t, unless you’re making yourself unavoidable or we’re cleaning up your latest mess. We can safely rely on you to make astonishingly irresponsible choices and blame us for the consequences. And you’ll demand we make good on them for you. We won’t take a chance on your sincerity ever again. Take it somewhere else, you have no credibility left with us. You’re a net liability, predictable to the point of surety. So we attend to our own lives and our own problems. It’s as it should be. We recommend it. As for you, frankly my dear, we don’t give a damn.
No, you’ve forgotten that his wife died recently. That’s what worries me because I know how tough that is to deal with. I’ve emailed him a few times in the past, and have been tempted to send him a short note since things have gone dark. I suspect he’s spending a lot of time in his beloved woods, thinking things over.
Remus is the best friend I never met.
In response to ghost reposting one of Remus’ most eloquent of scoldings to the 13% hellbent on marching the rest of us into the underworld with them… I am keeping in my file forever one of the greatest memes of all time. Remus found an old 50’s era Western Electric telephone ad of an adorable little girl holding the telephone and proclaiming, “Grandma says it’s okay to be white!” I’ll send this to Gerard because we need to be reminded of this deep wisdom from time to time. And just to drive the message home… here’s a recent abomination from a little town in Oregon. The Jussie virus is spiking. https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/08/hate-hoax-oregon-politico-jonathan-lopez-admits-he-wrote-racist-letter-to-himself/
Ghostsniper types for me. You should give that rant more prominence, Gerard
As for Remus, the combination of advanced age (must be in his eighties), no response whatsoever to ANYBODY, and recent death of a beloved wife of many years makes me fear that he’s gone. I thought the same thing about Gerard, and I wasn’t too far off the mark that time
As for bugging out, as suggested by the Ghost, I think he’s too old for it. His body couldn’t take it. And then there’s his wife. Long time spouses pass almost simultaneously all the time
I miss him deeply. I hope he is well.
I didn’t say that Lennie.
I said he may have pulled back into his bolt hole.
Out here in deep ruralville we’re already bugged out.
We ain’t goin’ nowhere, we’re already here.
Also, I don’t know Remus’s age, but I would guess he’s in his 70’s, possibly 80’s, and he has mentioned numerous times how he walks the woods around his place frequently and carries a small pack and a .22 rifle. He’s spry.
Gentle-men and women, I would have you re-read Remus recent post:
“As I said here two weeks ago:
July will tell the truth about the economy. I’ve chosen November as the month of general truth, whether the years following will be of manageable coping, of unexampled disaster, or something in between.
We’re closing in on July. Here’s what’s developing:
National and world economies are collapsing into a 1930s-like Depression. Well regarded experts disagree on whether we’re facing runaway inflation or deflation but certain it will be one or the other. There are food shortages with famines in some parts of the world. In the US there is ongoing racial and political terrorism with scattered homicides. Politically motivated shutdowns of web sites are ongoing. There are rising threats of war in the western Pacific.
November is six months away. Unless something changes for the better, it appears we will be deeply into the dark consequences of this growing catastrophe. This means we’ll be heavily reliant on personal preparations being made now.
From Zero Hedge: Food-Banks Warn They’ll Soon Run Out Of Food As Economic Suffering Explodes All Over America
Remus is about the most informed and calm correspondent I have come across, do you not think he is making preparations against the very likely oncoming economic collapse and resultant tumult? And just maybe that we should take heed? Even if an economic collapse is avoided , given the recent street antics of a large cross section of the uninformed public, how do you think another term of President Trump will be received? We seem to be headed towards a very good reason “to avoid crowds” as the sage advised.
OK, bug out might not be the right word, GS … but wouldnt he have left some sort notice to his readers about the hiatud
In this case, there was his post on June 8, which was more truncated than normal, and then nothing
And I think he’s in his Eighties due to his endless pictures of the most minute details of WWII, as if he has childhood memories of that time
I’ve been intrigued by that era since I was a kid. I answer questions about WWII on Quora all the time. But I certainly wouldnt finish every blog post with a WWII era pic
They updated the site today announcing the death of Ol’ Remus.