Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info: maildrop62 at proton dot me
Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!
Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be more November? I have noticed all y'all seem to be in a great mood lately, must be the Fall weather and return to Standard Time!!
With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?
FUNdamentals
Recovering from a canoeing accident is definitely a fundamental which needs to be part of your focus . Your guns may have been lost, but unless it was a Sig or a vintage Smith & Wesson revolver, you probably still want to live to engage in recreational boating another day!
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Guns of the Horde
Our pal Butch not only shares his collection of Berettas, but takes them to the range!
I have accidentally acquired a collection of Beretta Mouse Guns, ironically named after cats. They all share the same open top slide and beautiful Italian design. Yeah, they're purdy, but how do they shoot? Well they shoot okay, but I suck. Forgive me, Gub Threaders but I have not been to the range in mumble-mumble months. I also confess that the last several mags were rushed. I recently retired, so I have more free time to work on fundamentals.
Beretta 71 (Cougar)
Chambered in .22LR, alloy frame, steel slide, 8-round magazine. Used by Israeli Air Marshals, the Mossad, and Sayeret Matkal. To meet the weight/length restrictions of the 1968 GCA, a fake suppressor was "permanently" pinned to the barrel. Once in CONUS, they can be removed. Mine is an import from Israel.
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Beretta 84F (Cheetah)
Chambered in .380 ACP, 13-round double-stacked magazine. It has a "combat" trigger guard with a squared-off front that allows for a finger hold and a frame-mounted safety/de-cocker.
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Beretta 85F (Cheetah)
It is essentially the same as the 84F, but has an 8-round single stack magazine.
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Browning BDA
Manufactured by Beretta for FN Herstal. It is derived from the Beretta 84 (same 13-round magazines), but does not have an open slide. The safety is slide mounted (up = pew, down = no pew).
Thanks Butch! Nice collection and shooting!
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Highway Patrol
A great episode of this classic, including a gun safety lesson!
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Our Pal the O Ring
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Uranus!
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Target Earth!
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Gertie Settles In
Our newest pack member, Gertrude (Gertie for short), is settling in nicely after two weeks. Here she is snuggled in on top of a cozy cave.
She's a really sweet and gentle girl, and is proving to be a great little sister for FSJ!
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Musical Interlude
Here are the Outlaws with Green Grass And High Tides
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Gun Basics 101
New video from the She Equips Herself gal! This week's video is on gun cleaning basics!
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Cigar of the Week
This week our pal Diogenes scores again with this excellent review of the The Gurkha Ghost
So, for my celebratory cigar, I went bigly. The Gurkha Ghost complete with holographic band which I thought was kinda cool. And I’m glad I did!
It starts with a peppery taste and blends into the surprisingly mild (for a medium bodied cigar) smoke with a layer of flavors that seem to center on cocoa and cinnamon. Made in the Dominican Republic, it looks imposing. Big, dark, earthy and even if it has been in the humidor for a bit, the skin looks lightly oiled from the tobacco. This is something a friend told me to look for. It is a good tip. Such a look is promising and this didn't disappoint.
The smoke has a pleasant tobacco flavor and this stick had an average draw. The ash stayed even and as I got into it, backgrounds of leather and wood floated near my nose. Very pleasant. This cigar would pair well with just about any scotch, a better bourbon, and I'd go Irish with it as well.
And yes, I'd sneak a martini into this as well.
Price ranges from $7.00-$9.00 so affordable.
I am a fan, and will be stocking up on the Ghost soon.
Excellent, Diogenes! Thank you!
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Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.
A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid
Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!
This week's mailbag entry is from our pal Fungus Boy. Great one!
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Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!
That's it for this week - have you been to the range?
Pork ribs! Great stuff, and easy to make. Sure, there are great BBQ joints where people stand on line for hours to get a rack of ribs, but as long as you don't dry them out, the home version is pretty damned good.
But inflation has struck even the lowly pig! Trimmed pork slabs (called St. Louis ribs) used to be less than $2/lb. And now? I saw them for $4/lb at my local supermarket. Even Costco is pushing $3/lb.
But there is a way to get what you want -- a delicious whole slab of porcine goodness -- while still having a bit of cash leftover for beer or bourbon. Buy whole, untrimmed pork ribs! It takes just a few minutes to trim them down to St. Louis perfection, and the upside is that you get the bones and trimmings, which is perfectly delectable meat that is cooked the same way you make the pork slab! Plus, the stuff on the convex side is delicious, and equally easy to cook.
Sure, it takes about five minutes to do with the appropriate knife, but for $2/lb. it is absolutely worth it, and you will get to brag about doing your own butchering (sort of) and lord it over your pompous 2nd cousin who always tries to one-up you in the kitchen.
I often use this space to decry the awful inflation that has eroded our food dollar. I won't bore you with another list of stupidly expensive stuff (eggs are back up around here...with a vengeance ($7.49 for 18?). But I will talk about some good news.
Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of energy independence. If he returns America to a sane energy policy, and that can be done with a few strokes of the pen, we will soon see a decrease in food costs. Not a decrease in the rate of inflation, but a real drop. Why? Because fuel runs our food production...from farmers who use petrochemical fertilizers to diesel to run their tractors to the truckers who move the raw materials to processing plants and distributors to the trucks that move food to the retail markets...it all runs on petroleum. And petroleum is a fortune now!
There are few things more upsetting to a functioning society than inflation, and there is no inflation worse than food price inflation. Donald Trump has the opportunity to change the complexion of the inflation spiral in a matter of months, and it will be an obvious and welcome change.
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I tried a new (to me) slap and fold technique, and while it started out wonderfully, the end result was an incredibly slack dough that made me deeply suspicious of the famous baker whose technique I used. But I was able to form it...sort of, and it actually came out of the Banneton without any trouble. But as I mentioned, it was slack, and I was fearful that it would be a flat, dense mess.
As usual, I was wrong. Breadbaking is f*cking magic, with no connection to the real world of logic. Anyway, that is a 90% white flour/10% rye flour sourdough loaf that was delicious! I backed off on my usual 20% rye, and I think that made the difference.
And I have no idea why.
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I think the secret ingredient isn't a secret, but notice what they use for the sweet component! Go ahead...I dare you to try it!
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Anyone do this? I love it! The next time I make hummus I will grill a lemon and see whether the flavor is noticeable.
It's great on fish and asparagus and steak. What? Steak! Yeah...try it...you'll like it. It's a classic Tuscan preparation, and it's delicious. A drizzle of olive oil and a squirt or two of lemon! Really!
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I call it a Julep Strainer, but I am sure there are other names. It's actually functional, because the usual bar strainer, called a Hawthorne Strainer, gets all messy and clogged with the mint leaves in Juleps. This one is easy to clean out so when you are making Mint Juleps for 30 people at your Kentucky Derby party, your guests won't get restless and trash the place because you are too damned slow at bartending!
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What the hell happened to all the vegetables? And send me garlic that isn't grown in heavy metals and human waste in China, well-marbled hanger steaks and elk chops to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.
Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shake their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.
$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.
The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty of fifty years, but it is worth it!
Obviously my house is infested with candy fairies, because all of a sudden the many pounds of Halloween candy has dwindled to a few sad specimens. I have no idea how that happened, but I need some advice on how to trap these sneaky little beasts that take my candy bars!
By the way, that bowl is from Lasser Ceramics, in Londonderry VT. We saw the shop while driving the back roads many years ago, and stopped to take a look. Fun stuff, and not too touristy.
Anti-immigrant Laws? No...We Have Anti-criminal Laws
—CBD
An "illegal immigrant" is not an immigrant. He is a criminal, and should be treated as a lawbreaker and dealt with by the criminal justice system. The conflation of immigration into America, which used to be of tremendous benefit to us as a nation, with criminals crashing the open border as part of the deeply evil "Great Replacement," is part and parcel of the progressive destruction of our language.
We don't call bank robbers "undocumented withdrawers." We don't call rape "pre-permission intercourse." So calling these wetback criminals anything other than lawbreakers is a manipulation of the truth and an obvious attempt to create acceptance and sympathy for people who broke into our country for only a few reasons, none of which are legal, and all of which are tremendously damaging to our future as a republic.
Among the marchers were illegal migrants from Ecuador and Peru, who held a sign declaring, “No to the anti-immigrant laws, no to deportations,” video from TPUSA’s Frontlines showed. This comes as Trump has repeatedly said that if elected he would carry out a mass deportation program to remove individuals who are in the US illegally.
Of course these criminals are the useful idiots of the hard left, as the signs held by many in that protest signal. "End Fossil Fuels?" "Socialism Beats Fascism?" Oh, that IMA sign? That's the International Migrants Alliance. Here's a quotation from their website:
Migrants refuse to shoulder the economic crisis brought on by imperialism and its neoliberal schemes so we call on migrants to take action, Migrants, PUEDE!
It is nothing more than world socialism's subterfuge to destroy America. Does that sound histrionic? Tough.
If Donald Trump is serious about deportation of these criminals, the process must be multi-faceted...criminalizing the employers who turn a blind eye (meat packing anyone?), and the cities and states that actively interfere with federal law enforcement. If New York state doesn't want to participate in upholding immigration law, that's fine. The federal government can cut funding for all policing in NY. I wonder how much money the various state and city law enforcement agencies get from the federal government?
And a simple law passed by Congress will go a long way toward self-deportation: A $1,000/day/worker fine levied against any business that employs illegals. There are systems in place to verify employment status. If they don't work well, then improve them! I'll bet Elon Musk might be able to help!
Driver's licenses for criminal trespassers in America? I don't think so. Take away highway funds from every state that gives licenses to illegals. Remember how the federal government strong-armed the states over the 55mph speed limit and the drinking age? What goes around comes around!
The point is that forced deportation is not the only way to accomplish the goal. In fact, I'll bet that deportation will be a small part of the effort, and these criminals will rapidly get the message that their free lunch is no longer available.
But all of this is predicated on Donald Trump and his administration forcing the issue. Half measures, like the window dressing of the Obama/Biden junta, is easily avoided, and in fact there are government-funded NGOs that assist in evading the current lax enforcement. If his commitment to border security and the rule of law is not backed up by constant surveillance and political push, then it will fail.
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-10-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
—Open Blogger
Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...
So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?
Sir Isaac Newton's Principia is one of the most revolutionary books ever written, describing laws of motion for planets and stars, among many other topics. It's possible that other natural philosophers during his time would have worked out these same calculations and theorems, as Newton was only one among many working on the challenging problems of motion. Still, he gets credit for compiling his works into the Principia and thus cementing his place in history as a true titan among early scientists. We still use Newtonian mechanics for many problems today, as incorporating relativistic mechanics or quantum mechanical effects are largely impractical for day-to-day calculations in the macro world.
ESCAPISM
One point the YouTuber makes clear in the video above is that escapism is the bane of jailers, fascists, and totalitarians everywhere. Think about all of the dystopian fiction stories that have gripped our minds over the past century or so. Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, We, A Clockwork Orange, and, of course, 1984. A central theme throughout all of these stories is how the totalitarian governments ruling each society ruthlessly suppress the human imagination. The best form of slavery, according to these stories, consists of a populace that does not know they are slaves and that there is a better world out there.
C.S. Lewis, a devout Christian, offers this passage on the power of imagination in The Silver Chair. The heroes (Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Puddleglum the Marsh Wiggle, and the newly freed Prince of Narnia) are trapped in the lair of the Queen of the Underworld. She uses her magic to cloud their minds and tries to convince them that there is no "overworld." It's all a dream that they had and now they are waking up to the truth that the only world is deep under the earth. Ironically, Puddleglum, who lives up to the "glum" part of his name, snaps out of the enchantment first and responds to the Queen's lies with this:
"One word, Ma'am," he [Puddleglum] said, coming back from the fire; limping because of the pain. "One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face on it. So I won't deny anything of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things—trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving yoru court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for the Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull as you say."
Terry Pratchett, a devout atheist and creator of the Discworld, has this to say about humanity's fascination with imagination in Hogfather in a conversation between Death and his adopted granddaughter Susan:
"All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need...fantasies to make life bearable."
AS IF IT WERE SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO, HUMANS NEED FANTASY IN ORDER TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. DUTY. MERCY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY, AND YET— Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MIGHT BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that or what's the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.
She tried to assemble her thoughts.
THERE IS A PLACE WHERE TWO GALAXIES HAVE BEEN COLLIDING FOR A MILLION YEARS, said Death, apropos of nothing. DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT'S RIGHT.
"Yes, but people don't think about that," said Susan. "Somewhere there was a bed..."
CORRECT. STARS EXPLODE, WORLDS COLLIDE, THERE'S HARDLY ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE HUMANS CAN LIVE WITHOUT BEING FROZEN OR FRIED, AND YET YOU BELIEVE THAT A...A BED IS A NORMAL THING. IT IS THE MOST AMAZING TALENT.
"Talent?"
OH, YES. A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF STUPIDITY. YOU THINK THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOUR HEADS.
"You make us sound mad," said Susan. A nice warm bed...
NO. YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?
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THE BOOK OF KELLS
The video above gives a brief overview of The Book of Kells as well as a short tour of the Trinity Library in Dublin where The Book of Kells is currently located.
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans -- was there ever a more wretched hive of scum and villainy? Some were dedicated Nazis to their dying breath, but many were just opportunists.
You'd think I'd read enough about this rogue's gallery, but there is always more to learn.
One cannot but note the number of vegetarians, teetotalers, homeopaths, and Greens among the brown- and blackshirts.
When Ernst Röhm was teased by a reporter about the mannish "hostess" at the Eldorado (later immortalized as the Kit Kat Club) engaging him in flirty chit-chat, Röhm fumed "I'm not his client. I'm his commanding officer! He's one of my stormtroopers!"
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Candy Bomber at November 03, 2024 09:12 AM (kpS4V)
Comment: As the saying goes, history may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. We see ordinary people today caught up in monstrous ideas and beliefs that can be traced back to the Nazi movement and even before then. People can be utter bastards given half a chance and they engage in that behavior convinced that they are morally correct. The Nazis were just awful people.
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In honor of Spooky Season (and because Weak Geek mentioned it in last week's thread) I re-read the first 9 issues of Route 666, a short-lived comic book from the early 2000's. It is ostensively a horror comic, but really it's an action/adventure story that uses the tropes and conventions of 50's horror/monster movies. Sure, the comic has creepy moments, and plenty of death and implied gore, buts it's often too glib (and too willing to play a moment as a joke) to be true 'horror.'
The comic follows a college girl who has the curse/ability to see ghosts. The story kicks off when she sees a ghost get actively dragged to hell by some evil spirits. She soon finds out that the spirits have allies in the world of the living who 'deliver' fresh souls to the spirits; either by seeking out people who are about to die, or actively killing people when it can be done discretely. The allies pass as human, but either are or become some sort of monster (werewolf, vampire, etc) when doing evil. The story is a little vague on that...Anyways, the story is our main character running from the monsters, and slowly figuring out how to fight back against them.
Posted by: Castle Guy at November 03, 2024 09:19 AM (Lhaco)
Comment: I like the premise of this comic book, even if it sounds like the execution is a bit flawed. I don't have much problem imagining evil spirits (i.e., demons) that have found allies among humankind that are willing and eager to provide more souls to those evil spirits in exchange for power and immortality. It's a very old trope.
More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)
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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:
Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 5 - Graveyard of Demons by Larry Correia - This is the next-to-last book in the series, though it was originally going to be the last book. Now I have to wait several months before the final book comes out...*sigh*
THE BOOK: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding Civilization - Although light on details, this book does give a broad overview of what is required for building a civilization from scratch, starting with the discovery of fire and going all the way up through cultural festivals. It also features interesting, surrealistic art. A good coffee table book, if a bit pricy.
WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:
After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife
I'm using this book in my class this week and next week. It's part of an activity I call "The Bestest Science Book in the World!" Students have to write a persuasive review of this book explaining to me why it's the very best science book they've ever read--without actually reading it. It's just one of several books that students use as I divide them up into groups and they pick one of the books. They seem to really enjoy the selection of books I provide once they start investigating them.
Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 1 - Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
Took me a bit longer to read this one than I usually take, but I've been doing other things, so I haven't been reading quite as much lately. There are some interesting parallels between the story of Ashok and the story of Saul/Paul in the Bible...if Saul was a nearly invincible warrior. Like Saul, Ashok was an instrument of the State to ruthlessly suppress any challenges to State authority. He was feared throughout the land for persecuting (and usually killing) people who dared to think for themselves or promote the idea of a "god." Then Ashok found out the truth about his origins and goes through his own "road to Damascus" moment. The idea of baptism is even brought up after he dives into a river, nearly drowns, and is then "reborn" a few days later when he recovers. But Ashok is NOT Saul/Paul, so that's about as far as that analogy goes...
Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 2 - House of Assassins by Larry Correia
The prophet Thera, who speaks for the Forgotten, has been captured by the House of Assassins, a lost House of wizards that seeks to capture Thera's power for their own use. Ashok must find a way to rescue her because the rebels need her gifts to motivate them and provide them with direction. Otherwise, the rebellion of casteless is doomed to failure despite their overwhelming numbers.
Tips, suggestions, recommendations, etc., can all be directed to perfessor -dot- squirrel -at- gmail -dot- com.
Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Coffee is one of the most essential ingredients in rebuilding civilization.
Beata is a virologist so she prepared her own virus culture - a mild strain intended for vaccine production - and had a colleague administer it. She has now been cancer-free for four years.
Naturally she wanted to publish the results of her research - on herself. That's where the real problems started, because scientific journals didn't want to touch it.
On the upside - apart from the whole thing about being alive - she now has funding to repeat this research to try to cure cancer in pets.
All you need is a surface-mount soldering and desoldering station, a set of compatible NAND flash chips - which you can find online but will cost you more than simply buying a complete SSD, and a second set of compatible NAND flash chips for when the first ones don't work.
And a second Mac to do a forced update to the first Mac now that its storage is blank.
A while back, I looked at a case study in modern Hollywood accidentally coming up with a new success and then instantly undermining it in a sequel with The LEGO Movie. Well, companion to that, happening right about the same time at a rival studio, is another case study in such a movement, this time from Disney with its pair of Wreck-It Ralph films.
A brief synopsis: Essentially Toy Story but with video games, the first film tells about the titular Ralph, the bad guy in a classic video game called Fix-It Felix Jr. who, tired of being the bad guy all the time, sets out into other video games to try and be the good guy. He ends up in a candy-themed racing game where he helps the waifish and wayward Venelope Von Schweets to win her rightful place as a real racer and embrace his nature to do good. It's pretty bog-standard anti-hero makes good storytelling, and it's got wit and charm and a solidly good ending. It's about a good-natured guy who learns to use his innate skills to help people and contribute and receive recognition from his peers. It's not great cinema, but it's an entertaining trifle.
The sequel...is not that. The focus turns to Venelope who, now queen of her game, has grown bored with constantly being amazing. She and Ralph go into the Internet to try and win a new wheel for her game that needs replacing, and she decides to abandon everyone for a new place in another racing game that's more dangerous. Also, Ralph is essentially the bad guy because he's clinging to her and wants her to stay.
So, the good guy and main character of the first gets pushed aside for the supporting girl character, she's too awesome and needs to be allowed to grow even more, and he's a baby who's just trying to hold her back because he can't let her go. Do you see how the second film completely and totally undermines the first? Well, with 6 years since the release of the second, there's no official word on a third film, even though the second actually made a bit more money than the first. It's weird.
The development of the first film was actually centered around Fix-It Felix for a very long time. The idea was the Felix would be so tired of winning all the time in his game that he'd "game jump" to try something else. After pursuing this for a while, the writers Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee, decided that the entire conceit made Felix unlikable. Going from top of his own personal world and not finding it enough? That's not the kind of character you build a film around, especially something that's supposed to be easy and crowd-pleasing like Wreck-It Ralph. So, they decided that the underdog was the right place to go, elevating the antagonist of the video game to the protagonist of the movie. Again, it's super standard stuff, but it works in its own little box.
So...remember the short synopsis of the second film, Ralph Breaks the Internet? Remember how Venelope is now the top of her game, gets bored, and decides that she needs more? Do you notice how it is the exact character arc that they rejected for the first film and Fix-It Felix?
Yeah, I noticed it too.
Venelope is deeply unlikeable in Ralph Breaks the Internet. Never mind that she's played by Sarah Silverman who spends every second of her voice performance in both films at this nasally, high register while hyperventilating through every line of dialogue, which is bad enough. No, it's made all the worse that she's this entitled brat in the second film who has the world but it isn't enough, and she has to actively push away the one person who believed in her and even saved her in the previous film to get that extra bit of fun out of life.
You see, Venelope ends up feeling like a mother looking for a second life after too many years looking after her kid (Ralph is extremely child-like in the second film). She's bored with her comfortable middle-class existence where everything's taken care of for her and she doesn't have to struggle for anything, so she abandons her entire set of responsibilities (including to her original game which, we're told, could be shut down if she doesn't come back) for a life of fun in a completely new place, this online game called Slaughter Race. She's a bad person, and she's the main character of the film.
Well, what about Ralph? It's named after him. Isn't he the main character? Really, he's not, but he remains prominent throughout. The plot is them needing to raise tens of thousands of dollars to pay for a special wheel on eBay (that they needlessly and wildly drove the price up on for no reason) for Venelope's game cabinet that they kind of broke through antics while a real person was playing, so Ralph decides to become an internet sensation, starring in a series of demeaning videos, chasing every trend, to get likes and raise the necessary cash. Ralph is working his butt off to help Venelope, degrading himself even to save her game and make sure her home remains. And...he ends up being the bad guy because he's too clingy to the only friend he has, the girl he saved from a life in the wilds of her game and made her freaking princess of it through his actions.
It's a familiar pattern at this point. The strong male character must become a simpleton and his simple-nature becomes antagonistic to the real hero: the female character. Maybe he's not a bad guy, but he needs to learn to be better. You see, instead of the first film which had an actual antagonist in a character named Turbo, the antagonist is...the title character.
Psychological Realism
Looking back through the history of Disney, there's a common approach to storytelling in their animated films from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves through the restoration of the nineties, and that is romantic adventure. The emphasis on princesses from Snow White to Aurora to Cinderella to Ariel to even Esmerelda (Gipsy princess, I guess) did put a heavy emphasis on appealing to girls, but there was always this sense of adventure to things like the ending of Snow White with the dwarves chasing the evil stepmother up in the rain and lightning or Prince Phillip fighting Maleficent in dragon form in Sleeping Beauty. These were adventures in strange lands with romance and a fight between good and evil. They weren't Chekov. They weren't Ibsin. They were musical adventures for children.
That has changed at Disney in recent years. The first Wreck-It Ralph was broadly along those lines, but there was no romance between a prince and princess. It edged more towards buddy comedy, but the adventure aspect with a broadly good vs. evil paradigm was still in place. Ralph Breaks the Internet goes against that with this emphasis on Vanelope's self-actualization and Ralph's dealing with his clinginess. Is this the sort of material for the target audience? I'm also reminded of Encanto, another Disney animated feature film that came out roughly the same time where the central point of the film was that the main character, a girl, wasn't loved enough by her grandmother because she didn't have special powers like the rest of her family. Never mind good or bad in terms of the film's quality (sure, "We Don't Talk about Bruno" is a pretty good song, I'll admit that), but the storytelling focus on not being loved enough and confronting your matriarchal superior about it...doesn't feel like the kind of thing that 5-8 year old girls are going to absorb all that intricately.
The first film felt like it was written by adults for children. The second one feels like it was written by twenty-five year old girls for teenagers. The writing team of the two films aren't the same. The first was written by Johnston and Lee, but the second was written by Johnston and Pamela Ribon (she later went on to write a short film called...My Year of Dicks). I think that might have something to do with the change.
Music and Synergy
The first film has non-diegetic music and nothing else, just the score by Henry Jackman. The second one, though, has a sung song in the tradition of Disney films. Venelope, for plot reasons, ends up wandering the Internet and lands at Disney.com, finding herself in a room with all of the other Disney princesses. There, they tell her that since she herself is a princess, she needs to have a song to tells her what she wants. After more plot, Venelope ends up back in Slaughter Race and does sing her song. It's an ironic piece about how this violent, dank, dark place is her ideal, inverting the whole Disney princess song aesthetic. It's a song designed for adults, the showstopper in a movie for kids. Now, having two kids who have seen the film, I can say that they do laugh through it. They laugh at the random things that happen like a shark popping out of a manhole to eat someone, but the whole point sails over their head. The ironic treatment of the song itself is designed for adults.
So, the first film was filled with video game cameos, but they worked. Why did they work? Because they weren't that important to the actual story. The story itself centered on two games invented by the writers (Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sugar Rush), but we could see characters like Q-bert, Kano from Mortal Kombat, or the ghosts from Pac-Man in scenes. Heck, Kano is prominent in an early scene where we're introduced to Ralph. However, knowing who they are is incidental. It's where that balance between entertaining children and adults gets struck, the bright colors and quick moving of the plot appealing to kids while the "I Know That Guy!" bit applies to adults.
The second film is more...ugh...synergistic with that trip to Disney.com which occupies a solid section of the middle of the film while the princesses get to rescue Ralph in the end (by putting him in Snow White's dress as he falls, of course). It also includes time for stormtroopers from Star Wars and a bit from Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy (don't have to pay anyone for that likeness), and all of this just rubs me the wrong way. The first film's cameos were based on the idea of video games, came from different sources not owned by Disney (ala the cameos in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, also a Disney movie), and were tied to the world created by the film. The cameos in the second all feel like an effort at a corporation keeping its branding fresh. It feels disposable, like all cameos, but it gets so much attention in the later portion of the films that dominate the action while being so brazenly about corporate synergy instead of fun.
Plot and Point
So, I come to the actual plot of the film. I won't recount it, but let me just say that it's a hodgepodge of events. In fact, it almost feels more like a series of television episodes rather than one story. The first film had acts and trips to different parts of the arcade, including a side-adventure into a Call of Duty-like game called Hero's Duty, but it was all centered around Ralph's quest to be a good person despite being a bad guy. The second film is...not nearly as clear.
The film has to start with the assumption that Ralph is the main character, or at least a main character, and then it works to push Venelope to the front. It does that by having them together as best friends in the beginning for the introduction through the beginning of the plot to get the wheel which takes them to eBay on the Internet which they then have to figure out a way to make the money (through following click-bait to farm for items in games...great lesson for the kids), which leads them to Slaughter Race, but it doesn't work for their money purposes, so Ralph tries to become an internet personality which involves Venelope traveling the internet for clicks. All of this gets followed up by a virus infecting Ralph and creating needy copies of him that combine together into a giant Ralph that they must defeat. It's so all over the place without a clear throughline, the throughline that does eventually develop being about how the hero of the first one is actually terrible.
It's so just hard to watch from a storytelling perspective. It's jerky and janky. I don't think it works, which is a marked contrast to the relatively clean storytelling of the first.
In the End
So, it's a familiar pattern. Sudden surprise hit gets reworked in the sequel to undo what the first one did. It's just another case study, and I find it interesting in conjunction with the example of the LEGO franchise that died just as quickly (having a spin-off in between its two main entries). The Wreck It Ralph sequel made a bit more money, but it also cost a bit more money, negating the whole idea of going from one success to a bigger success that has defined the ethos of modern franchise filmmaking since The Empire Strikes Back. There's no news on a sequel at all, and it's been six years since Ralph Breaks the Internet came out, though John C. Reilly, who voiced Ralph, has said that he has great ideas.
Did the unfocused storytelling, unappealing main character, over the head approach to its point for its audience, and its demeaning of the previous film's main character play a part in diminishing potential box office returns? I don't know, but I can say that it did diminish the film artistically. Movies of Today
The Phantom Light (Rating 2.5/4) Full Review "It really would have helped the film overall to have greater clarity around its central narrative. So, it's a mix, not quite successful, but pretty consistently interesting." [Library]
The Edge of the World (Rating 4/4) Full Review "It's about as long as most of his quota quickies, but it is so much more. It's his first great film." [Library]
The Spy in Black (Rating 2/4) Full Review "Helped in no small part by a strong cast, especially Veidt, The Spy in Black is overall a solid spy adventure that ends so much better than it begins." [Library]
The Thief of Bagdad (Rating 3/4) Full Review "So, it's fun. It's thin and nonsensical, but it's fun. It's colorful, has a light tone, and looks good (though those early blue screen effects are rough). Just the sort of thing the world needs as it descends into a war." [The Criterion Channel]
49th Parallel (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It's held back by the needs of the Ministry of Information (my skin crawls writing that for real), but Powell and Pressburger did the most within the strictures given." [Library]
A Canterbury Tale (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "It's really nice. A bit weird. But I think it hides something special that becomes evident once the action actually reaches Canterbury." [The Criterion Channel]
I Know Where I'm Going! (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "This is a nice little story elevated by the talents of everyone involved." [Library]
Contact
Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.
My next post will be on 11/30, and it will be about the directed works of Michael Powell (and Emeric Pressburger).
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.
We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it landed on a theme of collecting money for this week. Apparently the Wheel is interested in history, how people store value, and how they build systems of economic exchange with teach other. For purposes of the Hobby Thread, we are not talking about investing, managing personal finances, or economics. We are talking about collecting tangible items of historical or artistic interest. If your collecting happens to involve money related assets that appreciate in value, you are on topic. If you want to talk about collecting hyperinflated German Wiemar currency, you are on topic.
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. People who are involved are known as numismatists. They are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but also are often interested in the broader study of money and other means of payment used to resolve debts and exchange goods.
Notaphily is the study and collection of paper currency, and banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes or paper money, particularly as a hobby.
Are you a numismatist or a notaphilist? Do you collect coins or paper? Do you have an area of focus? Where do you find your treasures? Any favorite stories of finds or gifts received? Do you ever sell pieces in your collection? Do you collect money from across the globe? Do you collect old coins or currency? Do you remember gathering coins or currency as a child?
This hobby is a good illustration of the difference between rare and valuable. Not everything that is rare is also valuable, but most things that are valuable are also rare. There is irony in the fact that many of the most valuable pieces are rare because of defects in their creation.
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Content below to get the conversation started, but looking for participation from our gray box friends. If meaningful to you, it will be meaningful to the Horde.
As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to collecting money. It can be difficult to separate money with politics but try to keep some tenuous connection to collecting. Politics and current events can reside in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. As usual, wearing pants is optional for thread participation. But you may need pockets for your change.
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US Penny trivia:
The penny was first introduced in 1793. It is the presently the smallest denomination of US currency. It was one of the first coins introduced after the inception of the US mint in 1792.
President Abraham Lincoln has been on the penny since 1909. He was the first president shown on a coin. The event marked his 100th birthday. The Lincoln Memorial was on the reverse from 1958 through 2008. Different bicentennial designs were used in 2009 before being replaced with the current union shield in 2010.
Tiny letters of VDB can be found on Lincolns shoulder. They are initials of Designer Victor D Brenner.
Pennies were originally minted in copper. Zinc was introduced, with different increasing proportions over the years. The modern penny has the least amount of copper with a small 2.5% copper plating and a 97.5% zinc base.
In 1943, pennies were made of zinc-coated steel because copper was needed during World War II.
The formal name of the penny is the cent. Penny comes from British coinage.
I have always been curious. Who buys these sheets? They're not rare. Do people buy them as decoration? As gifts for others?
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Random facts about the British Pound:
The pound sterling is the oldest continually used currency still in use today. It was originally defined as a pound of silver. In Anglo Saxon times around the year 800, a pound was worth about 350 grams of silver. (A pound was measured differently in those days. Today, a pound is about 453 grams.)
As a currency, the British pound depreciated dramatically over the centuries. It lost about two thirds of its value by the 1700s. The trend accelerated after World War I. Today, one British Pound will buy only about 1.7 grams of silver.
Why silver? Gold was treated as a long-term store of value for the wealthy, but silver was used more commonly as a store of value and medium of exchange by most people.
The UK pound was the world's reserve currency until the mid-1900s when the US Dollar took prominence after WWII.
Sir Isaac Newton is best known as a scientist, but also spent 30 years as the Master of the Royal Mint (1699-1727). He actively prosecuted people who produced counterfeit coins.
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Pieces of Eight were Spanish coins. During much of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish Dollar coin served as the unofficial national currency of the American colonies. To make change the dollar was actually cut into eight pieces or bits. That led to the pieces of eight label and the term two bits came from physically separating two pieces of eight.
Silver mined across the Spanish empire was formed into coins for use and transport. They were often minted by hand, resulting in imperfect shapes. Designs changed over time, but the coins showed the shield of the reigning Spanish monarch along with marks showing the date of creation, location, and identify of the maker. This was the age of the pirate, so pirates are often associated with pieces of eight because the ships they pursued carried Spanish coins.
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Notgeld is a form of emergency currency created by small cities, towns, and municipalities under German control during the period following WWI. In the context of postwar currency shortages, these cities supplemented what the government was unable to provide. The notes include a wide range of imagery that represent local identities, traditions, and cultures. Notgeld are often colorful and heavily illustrated, depicting landscapes, cityscapes, historic monuments, people, and local folklore/mythology.
The sheer quantity, variety and relatively low price points makes Notgeld collecting interesting. They are easy to find and there are many resources on the interweb. For example, the Smithsonian has a collection. This website that sells Notgeld notes has a good background webpage with words and photos.
Novel Notgeld:
Have never seen another piece of currency with schwarzbier references.
Translations below from top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right:
So pale so skinny beautiful child. Take a drink of Kostritzer black beer quickly.
Black beer from Kostritz you! Sweet relaxation good rest.
Kostritzer black beer helps the mothers who feed their children into existence.
What could be better than noble black beer from Kostritz
Never seen currency with the Colditz castle elsewhere either.
Professional Coin Grading Services (PCGS) is known for assessing the collector quality of coins and estimated related values. This is not an advertisement for PCGS, but they do have a free grading reference guide on their website that can help with your own eyeball evaluation of commonly requested US coins and also a free price guide. Only the higher grade coins are worth sending to PCGS for a more formal grade, so it is a way to get a sense before going through that effort.
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Virtual tour of the US Mint at the Philadelphia location:
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The Mutilated Currency Division of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing specializes in providing money in exchange for damaged currency. Fire? Flood? Fido? Send it in.
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Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week with a 3D printing theme? The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.
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Notable comments from last week:
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Words of wisdom:
"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).
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If collecting money is not your thing and you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different hobby next time. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. No squirrels were harmed in the preparation of this thread.
This was one of my favourite dahlias this year. As you can see I’ve just dug it out of its container. This was quite difficult as the tuber has got so big. I don’t normally divide tubers but I could see this one would be easy. Now I will have 3 plants next year 🤞💐 pic.twitter.com/6knzeIeB88
Thank goodness 17 out of 20 of the butterfly ranunculus are now showing signs of life (left). This variety are really expensive about £5 per corm, the flowers are wonderful and flower earlier than the other ranunculus but they are quite a risky investment! pic.twitter.com/MnN0U8c961
The formal double dahlias are a marvel of civilization. Though there are many other lovely forms, too.
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Edible Gardening/Putting Things By
Fall and winter garden here on the Texas gulf coast (zone 9A). As long as I plant early enough that the soil is still warm enough to germinate the seeds, cole crops and carrots will over winter just fine. The small bed is underutilized because the house shadow will starve that bed for sunlight in another month as the sun moves south. It has a hopeful tomato, several cabbage, and some just planted cauliflower seeds.
The larger bed has broccoli and cauliflower along the left, some radishes and cabbages in the foreground, sugar snap peas along the back, and three rows of carrots on the right. The radishes and peas will last until the first hard frost, and everything else will grow all winter, albeit slowly. Along with classic cauliflower, we found a Fioretto variety that grows as fingers rather than a head. Tossed with some oil and seasoning, they roast beautifully.
Advo
Wonderful to see and learn about while most gardens are being put to bed. Not sure about timing for the tomato . . . Good luck!
Here's a page on Flowering Cauliflowers like the one you are growing.
I think it's brave to grow cauliflower from seed.
Where did flowering cauliflower come from?
It was first developed by a Japanese seed company, Tokito Seed, and in 2014 they were nominated for an innovation award for it. It is said that a Tokito employee wondered why they couldn’t have a cauliflower with a smaller amount of stem and a better flavor, so the company began trying to develop it. When successful, they named it Fioretto, which means “little flower” in Italian. It is in the brassica family, and is a cauliflower and broccoli hybrid. It is a hybrid cross, not GMO.
Grasshoppers have been a plague, as usual. The only control I have found that works at all is the orb weaver spider. I observed one in my garden wrap up two grasshoppers almost as large as itself in five minutes.
Roundup is no longer Roundup. It used to contain glyphosate, and it was the best chemical solution for most weeds, particularly invasive, difficult-to-dig-out grasses like bermuda.1 However, it’s been reformulated without glyphosate, and it no longer reliably kills weeds. I sprayed the above plant above three weeks before I took the picture. With the old Roundup it would have been completely dead and ready to scrape off the pavement. With the new, disimproved formula, it looks uglier than it did before but is still vigorously growing. I checked every herbicide at Home Despot; not one of them contains glyphosate any more.
Bermuda is an okay lawn grass if all you want is grass. However, it rapidly spreads by underground rhizomes as well as stolons, as insidiously as Marxism. If you have a bermuda lawn and a garden, unless you are vigilant you will soon have have only bermuda. The northern third of my yard is buffalo grass, which has many virtues, not the least being that it is naturally short and doesn’t need mowing. I think the entire yard was once buffalo, but the bermuda growing in the neighbors’ lawns relentlessly invaded the yard from the south.
Any other ideas for weed control?
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Gardens of The Horde
Thinking about next year yet?
Thanksgiving decorations up yet?
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Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
More dahlias, including a single one, from Garden Brocante. With mint. Probably a wild mint.
If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:
ktinthegarden at g mail dot com
Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.
Remember that the French Revolution ended with an emperor
A comfort to those on the left currently in despair over the election of Donald Trump, and a warning to "our side": Things could have been much worse for the Ruling Class. A REAL Hitler could have emerged to lead the people. Especially if Donald Trump had been defeated.
How the country class and ruling class might clash on each item of their contrasting agendas is beyond my scope. Suffice it to say that the ruling class’s greatest difficulty — aside from being outnumbered — will be to argue, against the grain of reality, that the revolution it continues to press upon America is sustainable. For its part, the country class’s greatest difficulty will be to enable a revolution to take place without imposing it. America has been imposed on enough.
The Ruling Class sort of put itself into a bind with the constant narrative that Donald Trump was "destroying democracy" by protesting the results of the 2020 election. The widespread riots that many feared did not seem to take place.
Even though:
Kamala Harris said the word "fight" 20 times in her concessions speech.
20 times. I counted.
She also said "and we will continue to wage the fight . . . in the public square".
I can hardly wait for the establishment left's fighters to get going again:
Here in the San Joaquin Valley, one talk radio guy who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area had a short segment on election day about 4:00 P.M. Pacific Time concerning businesses which were being boarded up most notably (on the West Coast) in Seattle, Portland and Oakland. He noted that the defenses erected in Oakland were especially remarkable.
But no great conflagration seems to have occurred so far. There has been a lot of huffing and puffing in writing, but where are the organized protests?
Was the first organized march by "New Communists" instead of Democrats?
I ran across a couple of photos on November 7 of "Revolutionary Communists" marching "on 5th Avenue heading to Washington Square".
Not a real big group of marchers. I looked up their website so you don't have to risk getting ads on your computer. . They have addresses and/or phone numbers in NYC, Chicago, the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Pretty impressive - giving the dismal quality of their literature. They don't look real scary. But don't underestimate their power. They have endorsements!
These are not ordinary American communists. They are Revolutionary communists who are more scientific than Marx due to some philosophical breakthroughs by their guru, Bob Avakian (B.A.). I was not able to clearly identify these breakthroughs (maybe including feminism and LGBTQ stuff).
Their signs may be a bit misleading. They may give the impression that they are supporting the Democrats, but they say they are exploiting the current moment of division between the leaders of the imperialist USA to accomplish TOTAL REVOLUTION!
Their literature is VERY repetitive and not well-organized, but as far as I can tell, their plan is to overthrow the USA by attracting thousands to be in the Party as the Vanguard of the Proletariat and millions of former "slaves" to be their grateful automatons. THEN they will conquer the whole world and eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons. This will likely be the easy part, because Russia and China don't have nearly the insight into communism that Bob Avakian does. He cites Soviet and Chinese communists of the pasts and goes beyond them!
I can hardly wait for Soviet Man to appear. That terminology is a little sexist for the RevComs, but the concept has not changed. The key to the appearance of Soviet People etc. is in their literature somewhere. I can just feel it. I know that a lot of people have read something like this in school . . .
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The RevComs were brave to choose a well-known part of MAGA Country for their protest like Greenwich Village.
If New York City streets had their own royal court, Broadway would be the old king and Fifth Avenue would be its fabulous queen. Just saying Fifth Avenue evokes glamour, iconic stores, incredible museums, and beautiful parks. Beginning here in Greenwich Village at the entrance of Washington Square Park, Fifth Avenue passes the Flatiron Building, Madison Square Park, the Empire State Building, the New York Public Library Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Central Park, the Met, the Guggenheim, Marcus Garvey Park, through Harlem and ends at 143rd Street. This most New York of streets began its life when its first leg from the park to 13th Street was approved by the city on September 27, 1824.
Its bicentennial was this year!
What is often forgotten from Fifth Avenue’s history, however, is that it used to extend south of Washington Square as well, through the South Village all the way to Lower Manhattan. . .
South Fifth Avenue did witness a redevelopment as the area became home to new burgeoning industries, from printing to communications. Oddly, as new cast iron buildings went up to house these new commercial ventures, the numbering started at the north by Washington Square Park with No. 1 South Fifth Avenue, and worked its way south with the numbers going up, in contradiction to the rest of the city’s south to north numbering system. South Fifth Avenue did have its renowned residents for a period, including Nikola Tesla and his laboratory at 33–35 South Fifth Avenue. But it wasn’t to last. Tweed was out, and by 1895 the businesses along South Fifth Avenue had enough of its bizarre numbering scheme, and so petitioned the city to have the name changed once more.
Fifth Avenue will be different under the joyful guidance of the RevComs' Vanguard of the Proletariat!
UPDATE: November 7 piece by VDH validates his comment to me the day before Halloween that he thought Trump would win: Harris Was Always Doomed.
The presidential race was not unpredictable, as the now once again discredited polls swore to us.
Instead, the great Trump comeback victory was clear by the last weeks of the campaign.
This piece is full of obvious and common sense reasons why Kamala could not win the election (barring some catastrophe in the final days before the election). It is a nice summary to bookmark, just to keep handy in case you know someone half-way reasonable who doesn't understand how she lost.
VDH was also right about things calming down (in the press, etc.) after the election at least for a little while.
Note: I also learned that AoSHQ has a regular lurker on staff at the Blade of Perseus site. Nice.
Comments are closed on last week's thread so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.
The Classical Saturday Morning Coffee Break & Prayer Revival
—Misanthropic Humanitarian
(H/T Sharon, Willow's Apprentice)
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Good Saturday morning Horde. Wasn't Tuesday a wonderful day?!?! The hard work will continue for President Elect Trump and Vice President Elect JD Vance. Please include these men and their families in your prayers. May God's will be done here on earth.
As many of you know I had the incredible task of hosting the ONT for a number of years. I'll be incorporating some of The ONT features into Saturday's Classical Coffee Break & Prayer Revival. I hope you enjoy. If not, please let me know with gift certificates to the St. Croix Rod Store.
Before we enter the Prayer Revival just a few housekeeping matters to go over. (Rulz for those of you in Janesville)
1. This is an open thread. Please feel free to lurk, opine and/or bloviate.
2. Be nice, be kind. Trolls are very fragile at this moment. Moar fragile than a snowflake on a hot tin roof.
3. If you run with sharp objects.........
4. Have a great weekend!
AoSHQ Weekly Prayer List
Please submit any prayer requests to me, “Annie’s Stew” at apaslo atsign hotmail dot com. Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks unless we receive an update.
Prayer Requests:
10/7 – Piper requested prayers for her stepfather, who fell and broke his wrist. He will need surgery to put a plate in. He is in a lot of pain.
11/2 Update – Piper’s stepfather’s surgery went well and he is in PT.
10/12 – Just call me Bill asked for prayers for his 14 year old granddaughter. She is being evaluated by a rheumatologist and her mother is afraid she has lupus. Just call me Bill is asking for prayers for a better diagnosis.
10/16 – FeatherBlade posted a prayer request for his/her stepdad. He was having heart problems, went to the hospital, and they admitted him. He had a stent put in.
10/19 – Jewells said the CT scan showed growth of 3 tumors on her right lung. There are also new bone lesions on her spine, lower back, and ribcage, and fluid around both lungs which will need to be drained. Not great news, but expected after being off chemo since April.
10/26 Update – Jewells had an infusion on 10/17, and all the terrible side effects came back with a vengeance. That’s it. She’s done. NO MORE. She is looking into ivermectin and fenbendazole.
10/19 – mindful webworker asked for prayers for an elderly neighbor’s health, and strength and solace for his wife and family.
10/21 – J proposed a group prayer, on 10/29 at noon (Central) to ask God for an end to the corruption in DC and a return to the American values that made this country great.
10/23 – T gave an update that Vic, who used to do the morning report on Ace, has passed away. He had been in poor health for some time.
10/24 – buzzion asked for prayers for his friend Christina. She is dealing with a lot of struggles right now and could use the positive prayers.
10/24 – B requested prayers for a friend (age 43) who is having heart and lung problems. He had to take “the shot” for work, so B is concerned about what that might mean.
11/6 Update – The friend does have cancer. He was given less than 12 months to live. Prayers for his family (his wife and 4 daughters, ages 6 – 14) are very much appreciated.
10/25 – Mental Block requests prayers as his prostate cancer journey transitions from active surveillance to deciding between two treatment options: a prostatectomy or 6 weeks of radiation combined with hormone therapy. Treatment will begin by mid-December.
10/26 – FenelonSpoke asked for prayers for her son, a recent college graduate who is looking for work. He was recently offered a job, but the hiring supervisor hasn’t yet worked out the funding for the position. If you could pray that rough places are made smooth, they would appreciate it. Thanks very much.
10/26 – Semi-anonymous requested prayers for D, who suffered one or two moderate strokes last month. He is ambulatory but has lost half of his vision and had to fight with his insurance company for weeks to get approved for in-home rehab, and for M, who is going in for surgery for the amputation of her lower leg due to a non-cancerous but highly invasive tumor.
cr
10/26 – W sent the following prayer request, with apologies to General Patton –
“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains election fraud with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle elections. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers American Citizens who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies the swamp, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.”
10/26 – Teresa in Fort Worth asked for prayers. She got some troubling and totally unexpected medical news on 10/25, and is being referred to an oncologist to see where she goes from here. She said she is freaking out because this wasn’t even on the radar. It was found while being tested for something completely unrelated.
10/31 Update – Teresa got confirmation that it is malignant cancer. She will be meeting with doctors this week to start the battle against the cancer.
11/4 Update – Teresa received some good news from the oncologist. He thinks this cancer is treatable, and can be taken care of near her home. She will be doing chemotherapy for 3 months in order to shrink the tumor (no hair loss!), then the doctor will operate to remove the remainder of the tumor. The doctor doesn’t want to talk about long-term survival yet, but he does seem optimistic.
10/27 – Jim Sunk New Dawn posted an update. He was feeling poorly at the TxMoMe. Aviator (a neurosurgeon) and Nurse Ratched visited with him for a while, and the doctor gave him a “look over”. He insisted that Jim visit his local ER first thing on Monday. He did so, and was in the hospital until Thursday. Jim was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). He has a 3-5 year life expectancy. He appreciates a raft of Horde Prayers – y’all is the Best Horde EVER!
10/31 – Nan in AZ is thankful for all the prayers; she got good news from the cardiologist this week that after the heart attack and hospitalization in July, and 3 stents, the ejection fraction is back to normal and the external defibrillator has been discontinued. She has to follow up in 4 months, and will be able to resume full function and work, caring for her 84 year old mom. Good is good!
11/2 – FB asked for prayers for his friend, Jeff, who was just diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He started chemo this week. They’ve been friends for over 30 years; their daughters grew up together, and Jeff is the best fly fisherman FB ever met. Please pray that they can fish the spring steelhead run together.
11/2 - Farmer Bob requested prayers. His older sister is suffering, as her son with autism is hospitalized in a medically induced coma, fighting sepsis from a skin lesion. Her grandson, whom she has raised, has significant medical issues which required a liver transplant. His father has descended into the madness of radical transgenderism. Farmer Bob’ s younger sister is a substance abuser whose behavior has alienated her from the family. Please pray for them, too.
11/2 – J.J. Sefton posted that his latest MRI came back negative. It looks like he has a good shot at beating the odds and stats for glioblastoma. He sends his thanks for the prayers, and he sends prayers, too, for all those who are suffering.
11/2 – Stateless’ 88 year old mother, who had been doing well, has pain in her side after eating. If she lays down, it goes away. She has been treated for diverticulitis using antibiotics, but that has not helped. They are also trying changes to her diet: probiotics, yogurt, etc. They will bring her to ER for a CT scan if needed.
11/6 – Morgan, loyal lurker, is postponing his employment decisions until the new year. He asks that God reveal His will for him, and what direction He wants him to take. He also asks for blessings on Misanthropic Humanitarian for all his efforts on the ONT and his well-deserved retirement.
For submission guidelines and other relevant info, please contact Annie's Stew, who is managing the prayer list. You can contact her at apaslo at-sign hotmail dot com. If you see a prayer request posted in a thread comment, feel free to copy and paste it and e-mail it to Annie's Stew. She tries to keep up with the requests in the threads, but she's not here all of the time, so she may not see it unless you e-mail it to her. Please note: Prayer requests are generally removed after four weeks or so unless we receive an update.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.
Sexual Health Services in Somerset are facing a condom shortage due to supply issues in the Middle East.
Clinics have had to slash the number of condoms given to patients and those who request them on the Somerset-wide integrated Sexual Health Service website.
Clinics from Bridgwater to Taunton have reported shortages, with the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust saying they are ‘confident’ supplies will soon return back to normal.
A spokesperson said in a statement: ‘We are experiencing a short-term supply chain issue that means we are temporarily reducing the quantity of condoms supplied in the safe sex packs that can be requested by people.’
******
The Saturday Joke
*****
Today's Coffee Break has been brought to you by Recipes.
While it is technically a significant upgrade over the base PlayStation 5, with a nearly 50% upgrade to the graphics performance, it still plays PlayStation 5 games, so mostly it doesn't matter.
By which I mean it's reasonably priced and one of the fastest drives around, but does have some performance hiccups under extremely heavy sustained write loads. So not the best choice for enterprise database servers, but it doesn't claim to be.
They claim they took "extreme actions" in response.
Any guesses on what the "extreme actions" were? You have until the end of this post to put in your answers.
A federal disaster relief official ordered workers to bypass the homes of Donald Trump's supporters as they surveyed damage caused by Hurricane Milton in Florida, according to internal correspondence obtained by The Daily Wire and confirmed by multiple federal employees.
A FEMA supervisor told workers in a message to "avoid homes advertising Trump" as they canvassed Lake Placid, Florida to identify residents who could qualify for federal aid, internal messages viewed by The Daily Wire reveal. The supervisor, Marn'i Washington, relayed this message both verbally and in a group chat used by the relief team, multiple government employees told The Daily Wire.
The government employees told The Daily Wire that at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance, meaning they were not given the opportunity to qualify for FEMA assistance. Images shared with The Daily Wire show that houses were skipped over by the workers, who wrote in the government system messages such as: "Trump sign no entry per leadership."
It is unclear whether the same guidance was issued elsewhere in the country. The employees were part of a Department of Homeland Security surge capacity force team, meaning they volunteered from other DHS agencies to help an understaffed FEMA as it dealt with a second major hurricane in a span of just a few weeks.
"I know they're short-staffed, I thought we could go help and make a difference," one of the employees said. "When we got there we were told to discriminate against people. It's almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that's okay."
The employee said it felt wrong to discriminate against Trump supporters when they were at their "most vulnerable."
"I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them," the employee said. "It didn't matter if people were black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help."
The guidance came as the Biden administration was criticized over its sluggish response to Hurricane Helene in rural areas across the country. In Roan Mountain, Tennessee, for example, locals told The Daily Wire it took nearly two weeks for FEMA to show up. The town is located in Carter County, which voted 81% for Trump on Tuesday.
The FEMA agents ordered not to help houses with Trump signs were operating in Highlands County, a deep-red area located in south central Florida that backed Trump by 70% on Tuesday. It was hit with tornadoes, torrential wind and rain, and flooding when Milton hit in October.
In the chat, Washington said that it would be "best practice" to "avoid homes advertising Trump," according to photos of the messages viewed by The Daily Wire. No explanation was given for this guidance, which included other recommendations like telling the workers to "practice de-escalation and preventative measures," and to "avoid high salt diets and coffee."
Photos from the system used by federal relief workers to track what homes they visit showed that relief workers followed Washington's guidance. Several addresses were marked "not able to access property" with listed explanations such as: "Trump sign no entry per leadership," "Per leadership no stop Trump flag," "Trump sign," and "Trump sign, no contact per leadership."
Here's the "extreme actions" FEMA took to discipline this degenerate bitch:
The employees say that Washington has not been punished for the guidance, but has been shifted to another county in Florida.
If there is any evidence that anyone died due to this racist's actions, charge this bitch with Murder.
Update: I know Trump will investigate this after he's sworn in, but let's start the investigation now.
on DeSantis
@GovRonDeSantis
The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days.
At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal government's targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump.
New leadership is on the way in DC, and I'm optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired.
Something for Congress: Examine the hiring process that led to this hire. We can guess that this person's social media must be loaded with extremist messaging -- the kind of messaging that would get any right-leaning person not only barred from federal appointment, but put on DHS's watch list.
How did this pyrsyn get a federal job? Who hired her? Who recommended her? Who interviewed her?
Occam's Razor says that the Qataris could read the tea leaves of the upcoming American presidential election and realized that Donald Trump might not tolerate their cozying up to every terrorist group on earth. And unlike the current administration's mealy-mouthed equivocation about support for terrorism, the incoming administration will be less inclined to look the other way.
Qatar has told the political leaders of the Hamas terror group that they were no longer welcome in the Gulf state, Israeli media reported on Friday.
According to the Hebrew-language Kan outlet, the decision was communicated to the Palestinian jihadists "in recent days."
Qatar, a "major non-NATO ally" of the U.S. "has repeatedly stressed its position as a regional player able to mediate between conflicting players, one of the few parties with a direct line to Hamas leadership. It is also home to a number of the leaders of the U.S. and EU-sanctioned terrorist movement Hamas," analyst Benjamin Weinthal wrote of the Gulf state's role in financing of jihadist terrorism and antisemitic propaganda.
I wonder whether the 7th century goatherds in Yemen will get the message and tone down their attacks on shipping? And will Hezbollah see the light and quietly move north of the Litani River?
And of course the father of all of these terror groups...Iran? I doubt they can be moderated, but an administration that supports internal resistance might be the final push that the Persians need to get rid of their theocratic lunatic rulers!
We live in interesting times, but it seems to be getting better for the good guys!
Will The Penny Manslaughter Trial Be The Last Gasp Of The Left's Stoking Racial Hatred?
—CBD
The media and the prosecutors are busily trying to portray the death of a psychotic, violent bum accosting passengers in the NYC subway as just one more example of America's original sin of slavery coupled with the insane power dynamics of post-modernism, Critical Race Theory, and good old White RacismTM.
The reality is far from that, and the testimony in Daniel Penny's trial suggests that it was just another American who stepped in to protect his fellow passengers. No racial subtext, no class struggle...just a brave man who felt compelled to help those in need.
In the audio, 18-year-old Moriela Sanchez could be heard asking the 911 operator to send police and an ambulance because someone was attacking passengers on the uptown F train subway car. The audio was played during her testimony in the Manhattan Supreme Court.
During the 1 minute recording, Sanchez said about Neely, “He’s trying to attack everybody.” She described the attacker as black and that “There’s one white man holding him down, holding the homeless guy down.” Sanchez added, “Penny put his hands around [Neely’s] neck and then dropped him down so he wouldn’t attack anybody.”
Of course Fox News has already convicted Mr. Penny, as this line from their biased article suggests:
Moments before New York Marine veteran Daniel Penny placed the erratic Jordan Neely in a chokehold that proved fatal, the emotionally disturbed homeless man raised his fists in the middle of a subway car while shouting at passengers, a witness testified Thursday. [bolding mine]
Actually, the trial will determine whether Mr. Penny's chokehold caused the bum's death, but in their usual sleazy and backhanded manner, they are kowtowing to the leftist cant. Of course the mean white man killed the noble black man! How else can it go down in a post-modern society?
But the typical protests haven't occurred, and the gathering on the first day of the trial outside the courthouse by the usual suspects was lightly attended. Is it possible that even NYC is getting tired of rampant crime and chaos, and has a tiny amount of sympathy for the terrified subway riders and the brave young Marine who protected them?
Of course this is a New York City jury, and for all we know they will ask the judge to change the charge to 1st Degree Murder with the option for the death penalty. The racial divisions that the left demands are sadly ingrained in our society, and the reflexive assumption that if a white man is involved he is the criminal is all too common.
But Tuesday's election of a (relatively) tough on crime DA in Los Angeles and the recall of the lunatic Alameda DA suggest that the tide may be turning. If California can recognize the evil of allowing criminals free rein, then perhaps there is hope for the rest of America...even NYC!
A presidential candidate in the United States has not won a mandate since Ronald Reagan in 1984. There have been significant wins by candidates, notably Obama in 2008. But those wins all came with deep divisions within the electorate, and no national consensus on the direction of the country.
While we are enjoying watching TikTok videos of liberals having mental breakdowns, we may lose sight of the fact that Trump didn't just win. He won with a resounding mandate from the electorate. The people have spoken and have given the green light for Republicans to implement HIS agenda, and they expect them to keep that promise.
I want to give credit to Rich Baris and Sean Parnell for many of these thoughts, and the impetus to look into some of these numbers. Sean has an excellent show on Rumble called Battleground Live, and Rich joins him every Wednesday on the show. You should absolutely check it out, it is one of the best hours of my week.
Political coalitions are built with the intent of getting an election to 50%+1 vote. Rarely do campaigns spend a lot of time worrying about broad expansion of their base. I talked about this on the podcast; in 2012 the Obama coalition decided to jettison the white working class, because they believed they could get more votes through racial division. The Harris campaign was a poster child for this philosophy, calling half the country nazis and garbage, just to find a way to eke out that 50+1.
But the Trump victory is different, and do not underestimate it because it is only 52% and only 312 electoral votes. When you dive into the underlying numbers, you see an amazing pattern.
Trump built his coalition by adding votes in EVERY DEMOGRAPHIC.
This is unheard of. When you appeal to the upper middle class with your message, you usually will turn off a different demographic, like lower income working class. Romney was a great example of this with his 47% comment.
But Trump was different.
Trump increased his Jewish vote in Michigan by 20%
Trump ALSO WON Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, the densest Arab American community in the state. He didn't just increase his margin; he outright won the cities.
Trump WON the Hispanic vote in Michigan 60-40.
Trump won working class Monroe County at 64%, but he also increased vote share in wealthy Oakland County by 5%.
There is a video of John King showing a stunned Jake Tapper a map of the nation where they highlighted every county where Harris increased support over Biden. The map was blank. Trump increased or maintained his 2020 levels in every county in the nation in their exit polls.
The follow graphic is from the New York Times, showing the change in voting behavior in every county in the United States. This is the 90% result, since the west coast is still compiling results. While there are a few pockets of blue, it shows that Trump built support in every state in the nation. He cut the Democrat lead to 10 points in New York and 7 points in New Jersey.
We have reached the point where we can no longer call the Great Lakes states the Blue Wall. They are swing states now, like Florida used to be. The new Blue Wall is the Mid Atlantic, and Republicans could very possibly take New Jersey and Virginia in 2028.
Make no mistake, Trump won nationally by building his votes in every demographic. He had coat tails, flipping Senate seats from blue to red, and increased the Republican majority in the House. He won the popular vote in a convincing manner, something no Republican has done in 20 years.
He enters his term with a Mandate. And the voters are expecting the Republicans to follow through.
Want to see what a "dark night of fascism" really looks like? Don't look to Washington DC -- look to Amsterdam instead. After a soccer match between Israeli and Dutch teams, a mob swooped down on fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, waving Palestinian flags and reviving some very, very bad memories in Holland.
This is what a dark night of fascism actually looks like...
Sky News' reporter in Israel notes that this took place on the eve of the anniversary of Krystallnacht in 1938...
ohn Podhoretz
@jpodhoretz
No more easy Hitler analogies, people. Stop amusing yourself with factitous* comparisons. Enough. Hitler is in Amsterdam tonight. That's what it looks like, you fools.
* No, it's not a typo for "fatuous" or "fictitious," as I thought. It's a real word meaning, I see, "artificially created or developed." (Certainly from the Latin verb facere, to make or to do, which survives in English in "factory," "facility," "factotum," etc.)
They must be Sons of Odin gang White Nationalists!
Yeaaaaah, that's it!
Posted by: Lizzy
Reminiscent of the early 20th century progressives.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy
Ace:
Mass-posts on Muslim social media accounts officially titled it "'Jodenjacht," which means "Jew hunt" in Dutch. It was an attempt to exterminate the Jews of Amsterdam, a 21st century Krystallnacht. Only their incompetence and inability to get weapons prevented mass deaths.
Posted by: zombie
Comment from eyewitness in Amsterdam:
"Don't let anyone fool you that this was in any way shape or form 'anti-Israeli' or 'antizionist' or in any way 'called for'. It was antisemitic. Screenshots of Telegram channels on the Dutch blog Geenstijl.nl clearly show they were calling it 'Jew hunt', jodenjacht in Dutch. It was a premeditated city-wide pogrom.
It appears not just Moroccan youths on scooters were doing this, but also Uber and Bolt taxi drivers coordinating with others who of the people on the street were Jews/Israelis and then violently ramming into them GTA style."
Posted by: zombie
Martha Raddatz wants you to know it was "just a handful" of Jews being hunted in the streets.
Large crowds of immigrants are reportedly attempting to attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Current reports indicate individuals armed with knives waiting in alleys, chaotic stampedes, and firecrackers being thrown into hotels. Injuries reported. Wild pic.twitter.com/vuxfVPBk6N
'Action Comics' Writer Mark Waid Considers Retirement Due To Re-Election Donald Trump: "I Don't Believe In The Basic Goodness Of My Fellow Americans Anymore, And Without This, I Cannot Write Superheroes"
Article here This sissy has always been a tantrum-throwing manbaby. He's spiraling downwards. Good.
Riley Gaines
@Riley_Gaines_
[TRUMP:]
"Within hours of my inauguration, I will sign an EO banning any federal dept or agency from colluding with any organization, business, or person to censor, limit, categorize, or impede the lawful speech of American citizens."
Alex Thompson
@AlexThomp
Fetterman to @daveweigel on forcing Biden aside: "For those that decided and moved to break Biden, and then you got the election that you wanted, it’s appropriate to own the outcome and fallout....When you take a reasonable, calculated risk to fuck around, embrace your culpability for what you found out."
Today's Democrats in Disarray Drama is all about Nancy Pelosi attempting to lay the blame on others -- Joe waited too long to drop out, and Kamala was a bad candidate who Joe shouldn't have anointed -- and a lot of Democrats aren't having it, and insisting she's to blame.
I don't care who's right, I'm just rooting for brutality
Our ancestors defeated Nazi tyranny only to see our politicians import theological Islamic fascism to Europe.
Jewish girl Anne Frank spent much of her life hiding in the Netherlands from Nazis that eventually found her and killed her.
Today Jews attending football matches are targeted and attacked by Muslim mobs hunting in packs, waving Palestinian flags, burning Israeli ones and kicking the shit out of anyone that dares to fly it in that same country at a football game.
What on earth have we done? Who gave their consent to this?
Posted by: andycanuck (hovnC)
If the "elites" aren't worried right now, they're even more stupid than I thought they were
So, I don't believe this, but Rogan claims that Elon Musk has some app that told him that Trump won "four hours before the results." I mean, he did have a GOTV campaign, and of course he would then be getting data about how many voters turned out in different areas, so I think that's probably it. I don't think he has some kind of Artificial Super-Intelligence Precognition app.
Or... does he?!?!
Decompressing from walking on eggshells for the past four years.
I have found the last four years to be an almost intolerable period. A very un-American period in that any questioning, any opinions, any likes or dislikes were held up to a very limited list of "permitted positions" in order to assess acceptability. 2/
I've never in my life known that to be an American environment. It's an environment I have encountered in smaller groupings (a church, a private club,a clique), but never before as a national blanket. It has been suffocating. Common sense was discarded, intellectual discussion was demonized. Only "permitted position" behavior and speech was "allowed." Complete intolerance became almost a religion and one's professional and social life was threatened almost constantly. Those that spoke otherwise were ruined as a warning to others.
Their destruction was displayed in the "town square" of social media for all to see. This was the #MeMeMeMeToo moment, where every effort was made to divert attention to oneself, instead of recognizing how one contributes to the whole.This was the era of trying to exercise control over those who did not want to follow the crowd and has their own ideas about what they needed to do. This dampened our culture and innovation, bringing people to even think that generative #AI, a regurgitation of the past, was actually our cultural future.
When you starve a society of those called to be independent thinkers and cultural and intellectual innovators, you rob that society of any forward movement. Those that tried to impose that control maintained a kind of "hall monitor" position by threatening others with damning labels like "Sexist," "racist," "homophobic," etc, when the free-thinking and questioning was nothing of the sort. However, the mob mentality that followed caused these social convictions when there was often no evidence to support them.
She links "Extraordinary Public Delusions and the Madness of Crowds."
I am neither one extreme or the other, but am one of the millions of people who believe in common sense, and that everyone should be free to live their lives however they want, unless that freedom interferes with someone else's freedom to live their own life.
That's it. 10/fin
I hope she's ready for what's coming -- but no one ever is. They are so hateful and so coordinated and calculated in their hatred that it is overwhelming even to strong people. Ethan Van Sciver confesses to having a lot of thoughts about suicide when the cancel mob destroyed his career. He says that his cancellation actually killed him, or killed the man who lived before, and he came back from the dead as an immortal vampire without any heart or feelings left. That's how searing a cancellation can be. Hopefully, this the the beginning of a mass movement to cancel the cancelers and excise them from public life.
Pretty straightforward from here:
Protect Kamala Harris @DisavowTrump20
Want to blow Republicans' minds?
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor retires.
President Biden appoints Kamala Harris to Sotomayor's vacancy with a lame duck Democratic senate majority.
Supreme Court Justice Kamala Harris.
Don't think so...
Posted by: It's me donna
Professor/NYT columnist Tressie McMillian Cottom urges Dems to double down on identity politics "[Trump] tapped into one of the most powerful of American identities, he tapped into white identity...That means you should double down on identities of your base."
LOL
Posted by: Jay in PA at Nov
Ann Seltzer, who turned herself into a laughingstock with her absurd "Kamala is winning Iowa by 3" poll (Spoiler: Trump won by 13.5%) offers up this cope: Maybe my poll was right, but galvanized the GOP into turning out in huge numbers! It's hilarious watching one person after another, one institution after another, burn up all of their prestige and credibility in one great Bonfire of the Vanities
CBD and J.J. Sefton are joined by polling and election data guru Dave in FLA to take a deep dive into the Trump victory, the political realignment it signals, and more!
Thanks to bonhomme. I have to tell you, though, that I bet he's announced this ten times before. All of these guys just keep writing the same articles and x-posts, always saying the same time: "At long last I've decided to quit the GOP." They get to sell the same article 15 times to the leftwing media.
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