Tuesday, 27 October 2015

By on October 27th, 2015 in personal, prepping

07:54 – Maybe it’s just me, but in the last few months it seems that the world has been slowing down. It’s like kicking over an ant hill or opening a beehive and finding that the insect activity has dropped to nearly nothing. Even my email and comment spam has fallen way off. It seems that no one is actually doing much of anything any more. What new news there is is almost always bad, and it seems that the economy has slowed almost to a stop. I feel as though I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and things to come to a complete stop. Have the progressives actually won the war and brought all useful activity to a halt?

If that’s the case, we’re in a situation that will require only a tiny spark to set off an inferno. I dread reading the first news reports of an incident that will turn out in retrospect to be that spark. Or maybe it’s just me. Unlike many of my readers, who are expecting an incident that spreads and causes a rapid devolution into chaos, I’m still expecting a gradual slide into dystopia. But I freely admit that I might be wrong about that. The entire country is balanced precariously on the edge of a precipice, and it wouldn’t take much to tip us over.

The consensus seems to be serious concern about the state of things currently and where we’re heading. Many people have left concern behind and now live in outright fear of what’s coming. Not surprising, considering that an outright majority of employed people now earn $30,000/year or less, and that tens of millions not only have no jobs, but no prospects of ever having a job again. Not that long ago, living paycheck-to-paycheck was considered a sign of economic hardship. Nowadays, you’re doing well if you can live paycheck-to-paycheck without going further into debt. Millions of recent college graduates are unemployed or working at menial jobs, crushed under the weight of student loan payments. The vast majority of them will probably never hold a “real” job.

The main reason we’re focusing on relocating is to get away from the city and the underclass before things break down completely and the cities erupt in flames and violence. If we end up stranded here when things really go pear-shaped, we’ll still manage to get by, or so I hope. The disadvantages of being in a suburban setting when TSHFT are obvious; we’re surrounded by the underclass. The advantages are less obvious, but nonetheless real; if there’s a long-term grid-down event or a breakdown in transportation, more heavily-populated areas will have power restored and continuing food shipments before rural areas see any relief efforts.

So, is it just me, or are we really nearing the breaking point?


73 Comments and discussion on "Tuesday, 27 October 2015"

  1. nick says:

    You are not the only one to notice the slowdown. Several other gun and prepper blogs have posted the same, and I’ve seen it in the comments (as an observation, and as fewer comments.)

    It really is the pause before the storm, I think. We’ve all been watching the build up, and it has gone way beyond where we thought it could go, so we’re holding our breath, hoping it doesn’t actually happen.

    Which is a mix of things. It has gone on longer than I thought possible, so maybe I’m wrong and it won’t happen. I’m tired of the unrelenting push to get ready and taking a break. I’m frustrated with it all.

    I think the Arch Duke has already been shot, we just don’t know it yet. There will be some other event, and some ups and downs, but long hindsight will identify something that has already happened.

    Heck, just look at the media and the changes from 2 years ago. There is always the split personality- serving the narrative, but at the same time, finding a way to report truth. You see it in bloomberg articles all the time, headline and opening say one thing, tossed off sentence near the end tells the opposite truth. They just never draw attention or offer an explanation of the truth or why it’s significant. So what do we see now? Articles about prepping. Gone is the lunatic fringe tone, replaced by a vague unease, and only slightly mocking tone. Articles about how the RICH prep- safe rooms, security systems, yachts with escape subs, getaway homes. Articles about people saying “it can’t keep on like this.” Articles about market gurus selling off and getting out.

    The water has been getting hotter for a long time. More and more people are looking around and thinking, ‘damn this water is boiling, when did all this hot water get here?’

    Will they hop out? Don’t think so. No where to hop anymore……

    nick

  2. nick says:

    Hmm. the helicopter FLIR system I posted to sold for about $7k. Interesting that 7 people bid on it, and it basically came down to 2 guys bidding it up from $800 to $7k. I wonder what that system cost the taxpayers initially and if it was worth it.

    nick

  3. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Yes, it does get wearing, but I’ll keep at it.

    One change I’m noticing is that ordinary people are shifting from “it can’t happen here” to “it could happen here” to, increasingly, “it will happen here if something big doesn’t change”. People seem to be hoping that things will get better, but expecting them to get worse.

  4. Rod Schaffter says:

    Hi Bob,

    On the”News” that the half of workers make less than $30,000, this is actually an improvement. Data for years back to 1989 are here…

    http://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/netcomp.cgi?year=2014

    Note that this includes part-time workers.

    Looking at the chart for 2006, which was among the highest years for average household income ever, 50% made less than $25,000, which is $29,500 in today’s Dollars. For 1990, it was $15,000, which is $27,300 in Today’s Dollars, so this figure has actually improved over the past 25 years….

  5. Miles_Teg says:

    Here in Oz I haven’t noticed anything like that. The last of our car manafacturers (Ford and GM Holden are moving manafacturing completely offshore, and parts of Adelaide are economically dead, but it doesn’t seem as bad as the US. A local union wants Easter Sunday declared a public holiday so they can get a 250% overtime loading, so some people have no sense of reality.

    SPAM seems about the same, that is: not much. About 3-5 SPAM e-mails a day for me.

  6. nick says:

    What is the intersection of that group with the 50% that get paid in some fashion by the govt?

    nick

  7. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Government “workers” are paid much more than private-sector workers.

  8. nick says:

    I was referring to previous articles that assert that we’ve reached a tipping point where over 50% of the population rely on .gov for a check, not necessarily a paycheck…

    n

  9. brad says:

    In the US, everything I read is about job losses, and an economy that totally sucks for most people. The hollow middle class.

    Still, the world has been “near the breaking point” for decades. I remember reading stuff written in the 1960s, about how the US just couldn’t withstand the cultural strains, and would surely break apart at the seams. It’s hard to tell just how resilient something is…at least, until it ain’t anymore. I’ll still bet on the long slide into dystopia for the US, unless the 1% finally get hit with a cluebat.

    Not sure where Europe is headed. The migrant crisis here is going to explode, but there are various ways that could go. Typical: the politicians are pointing fingers and arguing, rather than actually doing anything. However, the populations are waking up, getting scared, and beginning to force some action. However it goes, it’s going to be ugly, but if most of the ugliness can be kept at the borders, Europe may get through this.

    My younger son has just started his basic training in the Swiss militia. The Swiss military is widely derided as a joke. To some extent, that is well-deserved: their priorities are pretty screwed up. Example: what the devil does tiny Switzerland need with a wing of F-18 fighters? For the kinds of problems we are likely to face, a fleet of attack helicopters would make a lot more sense.

    In any case, if this enormous flood of refugees turns our way, the Swiss militia may just get called up, and have to prove its worth.

  10. Dave says:

    In the US, everything I read is about job losses, and an economy that totally sucks for most people. The hollow middle class.

    When is the middle class going to learn that every idea that the Democrats have to stick it to the rich always misfires and hits the upper middle class? Wait, it’s not a misfire.

  11. nick says:

    @brad, the migrants invaders seem to already be away from the borders, and the Powers That Be are looking at facilitating their movement (FLY them so they don’t get sick from cold and damp?????) rather than shutting off the taps, so to speak.

    That tells me it’s intentional. Where are the navies? The armies? Where are the called up police reserves? NO WHERE TO BE SEEN. We know where they start out, we know where they end up, yet all we see are delays, calls for action, formation of committees and other delaying tactics.

    If it could be stopped NOW, it might be recoverable. If it continues for even a few more weeks, it will be too late for european culture. Borders gone, economies wrecked, culture destroyed, and a whole lot of dhimmies.

    Tom Kratman’s Caliphate is looking prophetic.

    nick

  12. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Ultimately, the problem is that we have fewer and fewer productive people supporting more and more unproductive ones, most of whom demand more and more freebies. Very few people are both smart enough and hard-working enough to be the winners in this new reality. The concept of “middle-class jobs” is becoming a quaint memory of times gone by. If you exclude government “jobs”, there are almost no remaining types of jobs that can support a middle-class lifestyle. If you also exclude the financial sector “jobs”, which really aren’t jobs at all, the outlook is even dimmer.

  13. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Atlas Shrugged is looking more and more prophetic.

  14. nick says:

    Forget counting calories, just cut out sugar: Those who ditched it saw their blood pressure and cholesterol fall in NINE DAYS

    Study asked children to replace sugar with bagels, crisps and cereals
    They did not cut calories and were still allowed pizza and hot dogs
    Cutting sugar lowered blood pressure and cholesterol in just 9 days
    Experts: ‘Sugar is metabolically harmful because of its sugar – not calories’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3291570/Forget-counting-calories-just-cut-sugar-ditched-saw-blood-pressure-cholesterol-fall-just-NINE-DAYS.html

    So basically what Dr Atkins was hounded about….

    FWIW, this is my personal experience as well. Karl at market-ticker.org has an ongoing series of posts that get way deeper into it.

    nick

  15. nick says:

    @brad

    More than 700,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean during 2015, UN reveals… as Czech Republic agrees to take in group from Iraq because they are Christian

    The United Nations refugee agency reports 705,200 migrants have crossed Mediterranean into Europe so far in 2015
    More than 560,000 refugees arrived on the shores of Greece with a further 140,000 came via the Italian coast
    A further 9,500 asylum seekers, mainly from Syria, also arrived on Greek shores on Saturday and Sunday alone
    The Czech Republic have agreed to take a group of refugees in a camp in Iraq because they are Christians
    For more of the latest news and updates on Europe’s refugee crisis visit http://www.dailymail.co.uk/refugeecrisis

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3291604/More-700-000-migrants-crossed-Mediterranean-2015-reveals-Czech-Republic-agrees-group-Iraq-Christian.html

  16. dkreck says:

    Hot Dogs! Bad.

  17. nick says:

    And one last one for the morning…

    Germany’s secret service warns the country ‘is importing Islamic extremism, anti-Semitism, other people’s ethnic conflicts and a different understanding of society’

    “Germany’s intelligence agencies have expressed serious concerns over the huge influx of migrants harbouring extremist views, it has been reported.

    A security document has warned of the damaging consequences of Berlin’s open-door policy which is expected to see around one million refugees enter the country this year alone.

    It read: ‘We are importing Islamic extremism, Arab anti-Semitism, national and ethnic conflicts of other peoples as well as a different societal and legal understanding.’

    Security sources also fear the integration of migrants ‘is no longer possible’ because so many already live in isolated communities.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3290092/Germany-s-secret-service-warns-country-importing-Islamic-extremism-anti-Semitism-people-s-ethnic-conflicts-different-understanding-society.html

    bold added

    nick

  18. Miles_Teg says:

    ‘Government “workers” are paid much more than private-sector workers.’

    Sometimes they are, sometimes not. And perks are often better in the private sector. Two guys I know were told explicitly by their private sector employers that frequent flyer points earned on work related travel could be used for private travel, including by family members. If I’d tried that I would have ended up in jail.

  19. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Maybe in Australia. Not here. Government salaries are typically 50% or more higher than they’d be for a similar private-sector job, and their benefits are even more out of line with what they’d be in a private sector job. In many cases, there are no comparable private sector jobs, because the private sector wouldn’t pay anyone to do these so-called jobs.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    Here in Austin, the local computer company famous for the “Dude …” campaign is busy … replacing their US workforce with H1B/L1 visa labor.

    There is a bright side, however. The foreign workers, increasingly disenchanted with their lot as part of the modern indentured servitude enabled by US Government immigration policy, are filing ADA forms to get decent office chairs and ergonomically correct desks. They learn fast!

  21. Miles_Teg says:

    Down here the government is shrinking, as far as I can tell. Partly through outsourcing, partly through selling off government enterprises, such as the phone company, Telstra.

    My sister has been a teacher for 45 years in the state government education system. Two of her kids, and both their spouses, are teachers for private schools and have shown no inclination to join the public system.

    I wouldn’t recomend the public service here to a job seeker, the PS is run by narks.

    Oh, and recently a group of Mooslim primary school kids were excused from singing the Australian National Anthem by the PC school administration in Victoria…

    http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/muslim-children-walk-out-when-national-anthem-is-sung/news-story/840eddf907389ee812cd32351f023dd8

  22. Chad says:

    The IT force where I work was predominantly over-40 white males. The company hired new IT leadership (one SVP of South American descent and two VPs of Indian descent) and over the last 18 months the IT department has noticeably shifted to mostly Indian H1Bs. They’ll work 80 hour weeks and still think they have it way better than their friends and family in India and a typical US citizen trying to maintain a work/life balance just cannot compete with that. Toss into the mix the super traditional role their wives quite willingly take on to support them working 16 hour days and it’s hopeless for most modern American families to compete with an immigrant work force.

  23. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    They better get used to it. It’s the new normal.

  24. DadCooks says:

    I’ll just add that IMHO the Doomsday Clock is at 23:59:58.

    To tick off a list would be way to long. The folks that hang out here would have no trouble coming up with a list. However, the vast majority of the populace doesn’t care. They have their sports on the big screen and their heads down playing with their smartphones. Never has the phrase “where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise.” (Thomas Gray) been more appropriate.

    Too bad most people have never read the words of Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) or even understand how it applies today:

    First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Socialist.

    Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
    Because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

    “Keep your powder dry…” (Oliver Cromwell)

  25. OFD says:

    Could be the calm before the giant shitstorm or just an ordinary lull just before the Holidays. You know, when Black Friday kicks off and the Nayshun holds its collective breath that our mega-corporate storekeepers will reap in record sales from the millions of Murkan derps and Save the Country!

    And I note that the cover story for Chronicles magazine, the flagship of the paleoconservatives for the past thirty years is on Chumpster as “A Man for Middle America?” I haven’t read it yet but will come back to it later here, maybe.

    Nose to the grindstone here; Honey-Do List while she’s out in sunny Kalifornia, my own ongoing five-page to-do list, generating revenue, and preparing for as many months as we can of a bitter cold and dark and snowy northern Vermont winter with no power. As comfortably as possible for two sixty-plus Murkan derps.

    I figure we have, once we get the next load of firewood and top off the oil tank, about two months worth so fah, January and February, say. My next goal is to have us also covered for November, December, March and April. If the Grid goes down for a while, peeps up here will be reverting to the sun-and-moon calendar PDQ; work from cain’t see to cain’t see, peasant grunt labor just to keep our heads above wotta. While fending off crazed and panicky goblins.

    Welcome to Medieval Times.

  26. MrAtoz says:

    I wonder when the sh*t REALLY hits the fan, if I can just go back in the Army. They’ll be hurting for chopper pilots to keep the PRCs in line. Somebody’s got to air assault the troops in to keep the low life scum in line. Three MRE’s and a cot. Life will be good!

  27. MrAtoz says:

    Wouldn’t it be easier to just shoot the kid?  Is this the first signs of the the apocalypse when a cop has to go into a classroom to eject a student?  I say arm the teachers and give them a license to kill. My guess the student is a douche and wouldn’t be missed.

    A second cell phone video has surfaced showing the moment a high school officer in South Carolina overturned a chair with a student in it and yanked it across the classroom floor in front of her stunned classmates.

  28. OFD says:

    “They’ll be hurting for chopper pilots to keep the PRCs in line.”

    And gunners. Sign me up!

  29. Lynn says:

    “Islamic invasion pulls trigger: Europe now scrambles for guns”
    http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/islamic-invasion-pulls-trigger-europeans-scramble-for-guns/#hLymilEJQzmvPHc5.99

    “Austrians are arming themselves at record rates in an effort to defend their households against feared attacks from Muslim invaders.”

    “Tens of thousands of Muslim “refugees” have poured into Austria from Hungary and Slovenia in recent months on their way to Germany and Sweden, two wealthy European countries that have laid out the welcome mat for migrants. More than a million will end up in Germany alone by the end of this year, according to estimates from the German government.”

    “Obtaining a working firearm and ammunition in Germany, Britain, Denmark and the Netherlands is practically impossible for the average citizen. Germany, for instance, requires a psychological evaluation, the purchase of liability insurance and verifiable compliance with strict firearms storage and safety rules. And self-defense is not even a valid reason to purchase a gun in these countries.”

    Not good. Not good at all.

    I still expect the Goths to rise up. They may look tame but underneath, they are one of the most warrior tribes in the world.

  30. Ray Thompson says:

    Is this the first signs of the the apocalypse when a cop has to go into a classroom to eject a student?

    My wife subs at the local school, generally high school but some times at the elementary when they are desperate.

    She was subbing in the 2nd grade and had a student that refused to cooperate and was being disruptive. She told the student to go to the office and the student said “you can’t make me and you can’t touch me”. My wife replied, true and walked to the intercomm. She called the office and had the school resource officer come to the classroom and remove the student.

    That night we got a call from a livid parent, threatened to sue. I told them to go ahead. Then the call got threatening. I hung up. They called back and threatened again and I hung up and immediately called the police and gave them the phone number of the person from the caller ID. Never heard another word from the people.

    I suspect the police had a little chat with the parents and the little brat. Apparently the acorn did not fall the from the red neck tree. I doubt the kid will make it to fourth grade until he is juvenile detention. When he gets out and becomes an adult he will shortly be incarcerated. His parents must be real idiots. Low class scum.

  31. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Is it time yet?

    I find myself thinking of Claire Wolfe, yet another atheist anarchist-libertarian.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2412352/posts

    Claire blogs at

    http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/

  32. JLP says:

    My mother and two sisters returned from Austria on Saturday. My niece is doing a semester at Salzburg. According to them there are huge refugee camps outside the various cities they visited. Very few refugees coming into the cities at this time. The tour guides and others they spoke to were very vocal that the refugees are not welcome. There is the hope that they are just passing through but fear many will stay if the government starts offering too many benefits.

    As for here in the US, the number of people I know that have just given up working and decided to go on the dole (usually for “disability”) grows every month.

    Eventually there has to be a tipping point. We live in scary times.

  33. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I do hope that North Carolina gets around to declaring independence from the US.

  34. Chad says:

    Perhaps we should let them leave the refugee camp if they can pass the following test:

    1. Read/Write/Speak, at an adult level, the Native Language of the country their camp is in.
    2. Do basic arithmetic.
    3. Demonstrate proficiency in a skillset that is in demand in the local economy.
    4. Take directions from a woman.
    5. Urinate on the Koran
    6. Eat some pork.

  35. Clayton W. says:

    I was with you, Chad, until 5 and 6. But maybe we can just go with:
    5. Following ALL local laws, especially with respect to women and children.
    6. Renounce Shariah Law (and any other religious law, like beating children to death in a church).

  36. Lynn says:

    Maybe it’s just me, but in the last few months it seems that the world has been slowing down. It’s like kicking over an ant hill or opening a beehive and finding that the insect activity has dropped to nearly nothing. Even my email and comment spam has fallen way off. It seems that no one is actually doing much of anything any more. What new news there is is almost always bad, and it seems that the economy has slowed almost to a stop. I feel as though I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and things to come to a complete stop. Have the progressives actually won the war and brought all useful activity to a halt?

    Three items that I have noted:
    1. We are in an presidential election year and everyone is delaying projects until after the election to see how bad the winner will be.
    2. New Obolacare taxes and rules are still cranking up. The people in the accounting business refer to this as the gift that keeps on giving. People is medium sized businesses (50 to 500 people) are referring to this as the season from hell.
    3. Over a million people in high paying blue collar and white collar jobs have been laid off now in the last two years. These were people making over $100K per year. The remaining blue collar workers have had their pay slashed by 50 to 60%. This is roaring through the economy and more than mitigating the 50% in the price of gasoline.

    Have you been in a Walmarts lately on the day after the EBT cards fund? The lines are horrible.

  37. dkreck says:

    Never go to WalMart after 9am. It’s bearable only before then. Better to go by 8 so you can be out by 9.

  38. medium wave says:

    Thursday afternoons are also good.

  39. Lynn says:

    “Dear Microsoft: Please stop breaking my perfectly good Windows 7”
    http://www.zdnet.com/article/dear-microsoft-please-stop-breaking-my-perfectly-good-windows-7/

    Amen!

  40. H. Combs says:

    Well, one data point I’ve noticed. My sister-in-law who gets ALL her news from CNN and thinks that Obama is wonderful (just that the republicans block his every attempt to improve our lives) lives in Royal Oak, a nicer suburb of Detroit. She has told me for years how much she HATES guns and the people who feel a need to own one. This month she confided that she had bought a rifle because previously “safe” Royal Oak was starting to report home invasions, murders, and muggings. She is also “stocking up” on food and supplies over the objections of her husband. To me, this is the canary in the coal mine.

  41. MrAtoz says:

    So much for no boots on the ground lying douche-nozzle Obola.

    Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the U.S. will begin “direct action on the ground” against ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress against them remains elusive.

    I guess this is Obuttwad’s way of depleting our forces. Sort of like trickle down economics except a soldier killed here and there. Who will care?  DumboNoobusAmericanus won’t even notice. Give me more free stuff, dammit! Where’s my EBT funds! Walfart is open! I want ciggies and beer for the game as I watch on my new flat screen!

  42. Lynn says:

    Unlike many of my readers, who are expecting an incident that spreads and causes a rapid devolution into chaos, I’m still expecting a gradual slide into dystopia. But I freely admit that I might be wrong about that. The entire country is balanced precariously on the edge of a precipice, and it wouldn’t take much to tip us over.

    I’ve gotta disagree. The USA is strong and somewhat united. Now. Another ten years down the road and that inner strength / common goals might go away. Maybe another twenty years. Then I expect to see a financial apocalypse causing a civil war. Flyover country against the coasts.

    However, if Trump gets elected, I wonder if he will be able to deport any of the illegal aliens. Plus the Muslims being brought over in large quantities. Just the action of implementing that might bring a larger police state in the USA.

    See an illegal, report an illegal.

  43. MrAtoz says:

    Trump 2016!

  44. MrAtoz says:

    Geez. It never ends with the cops “feared for my life” lie. Another kid dead.

    Cop claims the kid backed out with his car “and tried to hit me.” Surprised he didn’t empty the mag in the kid to be sure. He feared for his life, after all. I wonder if a cop comes to my door, and I fear for my life since he is armed, I can shoot first and plead “fear” second and get off.

  45. OFD says:

    “To me, this is the canary in the coal mine.”

    Yet another liberal who’s been mugged, or at least she thinks she could be mugged. lol.

    Mrs. OFD has been a librul Irish-Catholic dem her whole life like her whole clans for the past century but is becoming disturbed more often by the ongoing shit. I make sure she gets the local PD blotter tidbits, too. More B&E’s, thefts, larcenies, stabbings, drug busts, etc. In a rural northern VT small town. 99% Caucasian. Our coal mine canary is when shit that used to only happen in the underclass inner city is now starting to happen up here. Thus, less flack for old man OFD on the stocking up and alleged firearms collection.

    I also heard from a longtime email correspondent in Chicago that she, a liberal Jewish prog type, is becoming disturbed, along with hubby, about the inner city stuff expanding. Badly disappointed in Obummer and dislikes Cankles and would hope for Bernie, lol. She’ll end up voting for Cankles, of course, and thus helping to exacerbate the continuing disintegration.

    “DumboNoobusAmericanus won’t even notice.”

    They dig watching the drone and bomb blasts on alleged hadji targets, though. Who cares that it only makes things far worse and we seem to have a shit-load of “collateral damage.” I’d like to walk some of these chickenhawk war lovers through a VA ward sometime, and then show them pics and vids of ordinary citizen schmucks we’ve mangled, burned and blown up for nothing except undying hatred and burning need for vengeance. Why not just GTFO out of that part of the world, once and for all, and let them slaughter each other, which they will joyfully and ecstatically do without our intervention?

    “The USA is strong and somewhat united.”

    Please define “united.” And “somewhat.” It looks pretty darn polarized to me, just as you describe; flyover country vs. the coastal cities. Or any cities.

    “Maybe another twenty years.”

    I’m just gonna go ahead and cut your timing estimates in half. Thus, five to ten years, max. And any “perfect storm” or detonators, or triggers, can make things happen a lot faster.

    “I wonder if he will be able to deport any of the illegal aliens.”

    Just a little less difficult, probably, than going door to door and confiscating all the guns. It would take a major Nazi or Soviet level totalitarian police state to accomplish either. Illegals are scattered throughout the pop, just like guns are. The State would also need a full-blown Stasi. Even with all our vaunted new technologies. Still need boots on the ground to do stuff like that. While they use technology to silence dissent.

    OFD being a pain in the ass on various online boards? Seize his bank accounts and freeze his credit cards. Get him fired. Foreclose on his house. Seize his car. Get him accused of child molestation and arrested. Or stick a guy out in the woods with a scoped rifle and blow his cranky old ass away. Who would give a shit?

  46. OFD says:

    ” I wonder if a cop comes to my door, and I fear for my life since he is armed, I can shoot first and plead “fear” second and get off.”

    No.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU44W5W9lqg

    Boston’ Bad Boyz. The Toxic Twins.

    Joe Perry, the guitarist, raises fancy friggin’ hosses on his farm/estate south of us here in beeyooteeful Vermont.

  47. Lynn says:

    Well, one data point I’ve noticed. My sister-in-law who gets ALL her news from CNN and thinks that Obama is wonderful (just that the republicans block his every attempt to improve our lives) lives in Royal Oak, a nicer suburb of Detroit. She has told me for years how much she HATES guns and the people who feel a need to own one. This month she confided that she had bought a rifle because previously “safe” Royal Oak was starting to report home invasions, murders, and muggings. She is also “stocking up” on food and supplies over the objections of her husband. To me, this is the canary in the coal mine.

    Don’t live in a PRC. Don’t live next to a PRC.

    The entire city of Detroit is a PRC. One of these days they will formalize that.

    PRC = Public Residential Complex = warehouse

  48. Lynn says:

    “The USA is strong and somewhat united.”

    Please define “united.” And “somewhat.” It looks pretty darn polarized to me, just as you describe; flyover country vs. the coastal cities. Or any cities.

    South Africa is not united. You can replace SA with Kenya. Yemen. Israel. Greece.

    A polarizing event is when something really, really, really bad happens and half the country does not care. Worse, half of the country demonstrates for the event. 9/11 was a polarizing event and 90% of the people in the USA cared. The number is down to 85% now, maybe. The day when that number hits 50%, head for the hills. Or, flyover country.

  49. Ray Thompson says:

    OFD being a pain in the ass on various online boards?

    Easier to just get a couple of teenage girls to claim that you fondled their privates. Easy to find a couple of drug heads, pay them $500, and poof, OFD is in the slammer and marked for life. Evidence to the contrary not admissible.

  50. Lynn says:

    “I wonder if he will be able to deport any of the illegal aliens.”

    Just a little less difficult, probably, than going door to door and confiscating all the guns. It would take a major Nazi or Soviet level totalitarian police state to accomplish either. Illegals are scattered throughout the pop, just like guns are. The State would also need a full-blown Stasi. Even with all our vaunted new technologies. Still need boots on the ground to do stuff like that. While they use technology to silence dissent.

    See an illegal, report an illegal.

  51. OFD says:

    “Easier to just get a couple of teenage girls to claim that you fondled their privates.”

    And we have today’s world now: never be caught behind any closed doors with any females not your wife. Period.

    “Easy to find a couple of drug heads, pay them $500…”

    Up here no problem finding any. It would be trivially easy for State actors to screw any of us like that.

    “See an illegal, report an illegal.”

    And? What do you think would happen?

  52. MrAtoz says:

    And? What do you think would happen?

    Racist! Hate Crime! Down with Whitey! Prosecute to the fullest!

    Viva La Raza!

  53. Lynn says:

    I figure the old 80 / 20 rule will happen. 80% illegals and 20% citizens will be deported.

    At some point, I also expect said deportees to be chipped for future extermination rules.

  54. OFD says:

    “I figure the old 80 / 20 rule will happen. 80% illegals and 20% citizens will be deported.”

    You have clearly not been following the government’s record of success or its opposite over the years. Speaking of opposite, simply reverse those percentages and you will have the correct split. They’ll deport you and me and another six people on this board and two illegals.

  55. nick says:

    They will self deport if we stop feeding them, housing them, educating them, medicating them, etc.

    They have done it in the past.

    Even if it only got half that would be a noble thing.

    nick

  56. OFD says:

    I just finished four or so articles in the current Chronicles magazine, the paleo flagship publication per the Rockford Institute, me being a paleo since the 1980s. They are enjoying the Trump candidacy and wish him well. In short. He also seems to have a fairly comprehensive plan for the illegals on multiple fronts.

    Head to head against Cankles it’s a crapshoot, but I figure the Repub nabobs and potentates, as they are wont to do repeatedly, will sandbag him from the rear somehow, and if that fails, they’ll vote for Cankles themselves.

  57. nick says:

    Well, that has been the pattern in the last few races.

    n

  58. brad says:

    The US sending troops to fight ISIS, wow, what could go wrong? I mean, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya all worked out so wonderfully well. I suppose the military contractors need another round of business, or they won’t cough up those campaign donations.

    Even more fun is the fact that Russia already has “military advisers” on the ground in Syria. The US wants to support “good” rebels to topple Assad, and Russia is there explicitly to support Assad.

  59. nick flandrey says:

    Not the only ones thinking it’s quiet:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-27/calm-storm

    Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

    Have you noticed that things have gotten eerily quiet in the month of October? After the chaos of late August and early September, many had anticipated that we would be dealing with a full-blown financial collapse by now, but instead we have entered a period of “dead calm” in which things have become exceedingly quiet in almost every way that you can possibly imagine. Other “watchmen” that I highly respect have made the exact same observation.

    Even though the economic numbers are screaming that we have entered a global recession, they aren’t really making any headline news. A whole host of major financial institutions around the planet are currently in danger of collapsing and creating the next “Lehman Brothers moment”, but none of them has imploded just yet. And of course Barack Obama seems bound and determined to start World War III. On Monday, it was announced that he is sending a guided missile destroyer into Chinese waters in the South China Sea. The Chinese have already stated that they might just start shooting if this happens, but Barack Obama doesn’t seem to care. But until the shooting actually begins, that is not likely to upset the current tranquility that we are enjoying either.

    To me, what we are experiencing at the moment would best be described as “the calm before the storm”.

    nick

  60. MrAtoz says:

    I wonder what Obola would do if the Chinese actually fired on the destroyer? Tuck tail and run, duke it out, probably hide under his bed and let the ship’s Captain figure it out. Then take credit or place blame. Weakest leader evah!

  61. OFD says:

    “The US wants to support “good” rebels to topple Assad, and Russia is there explicitly to support Assad.”

    Yeah, another proxies war, like back in the 60s-80s in SEA, Africa, South America, etc.

    The rulers seem determined to gin up another big war, since that has allegedly worked in the past to buoy sagging economic situations. Great, we can have another world war, a depression at home, and a police state, all rolled into one. The usual suspects will make out like fat rats at a cheese factory and the rest of us will eat shit.

  62. DadCooks says:

    @MrAtoz: back when the U.S. Navy was really something to be feared (up until the mid-1980s), there would be a Fast Attack lurking close to our Destroyer. One provocative move by any unfriendly ship and the provocateur would get an unpleasant surprise. There is a lot that went on in the “Cold War” that the public never heard about (made for some excitement in our normally boring routine).

    Sadly, today that Destroyer is on its own.

    There are only two types of navel vessels, submarines and targets.

    Primus Audax Custos (Unofficial motto of SSN 688)

  63. Lynn says:

    Primus Audax Custos

    Chief of the bold guardians?

  64. Dave says:

    I note that after the Great Depression and World War II brought us our only 4 term (actually 3+ term) President, that the People of the United States wasted very little time in amending the Constitution to make sure that we never had a President serve more than two terms.

  65. nick says:

    As Pritzi says in Pritzi’s Honor, “We loin as we go.”

    n

  66. DadCooks says:

    @Lynn: “Primus Audax Custos — Chief of the bold guardians?”

    First Bold Defender was the simple translation provided by the patch’s designer.

    On this page http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08688.htm the top of the page shows the official boat’s patch on the right which was selected from designs submitted by Los Angeles school students. The second from right is the unofficial patch designed by a crew member to celebrate Commissioning and only given to Plank Owners (I am one) and select people who rode with us.

  67. Lynn says:

    I note that after the Great Depression and World War II brought us our only 4 term (actually 3+ term) President, that the People of the United States wasted very little time in amending the Constitution to make sure that we never had a President serve more than two terms.

    Too bad we have not done that for congress varmints and senators also. I think that 6 years would be more than enough in these jobs. 50+ years, give me a break!

  68. OFD says:

    I’m in favor of standing just about all of the current Congress, most of SCOTUS, the Incumbent in the WH, and most of the current candidates for that office against a firing squad wall. Then start over, with fewer damn lawyers and hacks and con artists, parasites and thieves and more ordinary working- and middle-class citizens. Limit terms to four years, with one four-year re-election and then that’s it. Just like the Prez.

    Weed through the Fed and state bureaucracies with a very fine-toothed comb and jettison all the dead wood.

    Eliminate half the Cabinet posts and departments and start hacking government down to the bone marrow. I could be persuaded to eliminating it entirely, I suppose.

    A good start would be a return to the original Articles of Confederation but that dream is so…1777….

  69. MrAtoz says:

    I’d say Presidential candidates must have served a full term as any enlisted, but we would never have a President. Hey, not a bad idea after all!

  70. OFD says:

    I agree with your designation of former enlisted scum as a criteria rather than officers, esp. any above O-3 or O-4; once they’re past that level they usually become careerist brass-polishers and political hacks. As a former sergeant I should run, of course, but I got too much stuff to do around the house here. And I don’t wanna end up like former sergeants ended up after they became presidents in certain Afrikan countries…

  71. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I’m still considering whether or not to run for Dictator for Life in 2016.

  72. OFD says:

    “I’m still considering whether or not to run for Dictator for Life in 2016.”

    Wasn’t that Baby Doc Duvalier’s title?

    Nope, my bad; he was “President for Life,” which was also the deal for our very own Pharaoh Roosevelt II.

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