What a ride! This past Monday’s “Dumping Trump” post set an all-time record for views, thanks mainly to our good friend and like-minded colleague CA over at WRSA having thrown it some linky-love over at his joint. Usually, the hits/views/whatevs remain firmly in the 120-200 range, which was dwarfed by Monday’s stats:
Wow! Not half bad if you ask me; my most sincere and humble thanks to CA for the boost. Tonight’s Substackery—Costs, benefits, and punishment—features Eric Peters’ musings on the hidden cost of those ever-more-unrealistic and -unreasonable CAFE fuel-mileage mandates, which is quite a bit higher than most of us may realize. Sample ‘graphs:
In a dictatorship such as this one, what The People want is entirely irrelevant, not worthy of consideration—you stupid children don’t have the vaguest clue what’s best for you, see. Which is why this, and every, decision must be left up to your “betters” in the “elite” and “expert” classes. That’s just part and parcel of being “elite” in the first place—although you better not ever let them hear you muttering anything about the “Divine right to rule,” or Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden” concept of “noblesse oblige.” Do that, and you’re REALLY gonna have a problem on your hands, bub.
Better just shut your hole and know your role from here on out then, Prole scum. Y’know, or else—always and forever the implied threat, just the same as with every other dimestore dictator throughout human history, no matter where he may hail from. Nice to know, I suppose, that we feeble, fallible, fragile hoomon-bean types still do have at least some traits in common, right? For certain values of the word “human,” that is.
As alluded to above, the incomparable Rudyard Kipling also puts in an appearance, so go ye and read of it, for It. Is. Good. Paid sub required to comment, as ever.
Oh, and a side note: I’m considering changing the subscription rates from the defaults I left in place when I started this thing; not tonight, and probably not tomorrow, but whenever I get the opratoonitty. Rates for those already signed up won’t change, unless maybe the tariff drops a bit. I’ll let y’all know on that.
Update! Okay, I know I said it wasn’t gonna be tonight, but I went ahead and did the rate-structure changes anyhoo. As of now, an Eyrie sub will set ya back a paltry 10 simoleons per month, and 80 per year. There’s also a Founding Member rate of 150/mo, a default setting which I just left alone for now, seeing as how I have no idea what that even means. I see a “Special offers” tab as well, which is another thing I haven’t dicked around with yet. Lots more Dashboard settings I haven’t looked into at all still, and ain’t gonna bother with right now.
As an income-generating proposition, I have to say that Substack is by no means the cash machine it was sold to me as when the lady emailed me a while back trying to recruit me into it (I got back to her right away, but never heard from her again after that first contact—not exactly a confidence-builder, I must say). But no matter; it’s another outlet for my writing, which gives me something to do and keeps me from running wild in the streets late at night.
Updated update! Those of you who are already paid subscribers, please let me know if the rate changes affect you or not, or whether everything just stays the same for ya. I don’t want any of you to end up having to pay more than you were; if that happens, I’ll need to find a workaround to fix it.
“running wild in the streets late at night”
Better get cracking on that PT rehab pretty soon, in case you get writers cramp, or something.
🙂
Heh. No foolin’. Speaking of, this past week I got one of those standup walker thingies, hoping it will help with my remaining leg, which is all messed up: weak as rainwater, can’t straighten the knee, all muscle-tone gone, skinny as a rail, etc. Got it all assembled yesterday, but I haven’t strapped on the prosthetic one and tried it out yet. Given the mortal terror of falling I now suffer from (a bad fall was what put me in the hospital in the first place), I admit I’m a wee bit nervous about it, frankly.
On the other hand, I DO very much look forward to standing up again, for the first time in a year and a friggin’ half. So I got that going for me, at least.
Hey, I know I’m not here all the time, but if you need me to help anytime just call me. I’ll do what I can. It’s not that far, 45 minutes to an hour maybe.
Thanks for the offer, Barr, it’s much appreciated. I’m thinking what I may do is to wait until my brother or somebody is here to stand by, the “9” and the “1” on his phone already dialed, with his finger on the remaining “1.”
Just kidding, it shouldn’t be that bad, really. My plan is to work up to it verrrrry gradually: stand up for a minute or two, then three or four, and so on, before I ever try actually moving around. The prosthetics people told me from the start it would be a long, slow process.
They have a guy, Bailey, who’s been out to the house to get me fitted for the thing, and he has a fake peg himself–which I never even knew until he pulled his pants leg up and showed me, that’s how good he gets around now on his. He’s former military, a young guy, so I imagine his strength of will and determination is a damned sight more than mine. But still.
I’m not a therapist by any means, but slow and gradual is fine, but you do need to start. And it’s never easy. I watched my late friend go through something like this.
You can do it though. Just start. One step, one day at a time.
I suggest that before you put much time into using the walker, you work on range of motion and strength. Run it past a real physical therapist, but I think what you need is:
Work on straightening your leg a few minutes at a time, every waking hour. Don’t push too hard; the plan is gradual improvement, not causing pain or even ripping tendons. It’ll probably take several weeks to get to where you can straighten the knee without having to force it, depending on how bad it is now and how diligently you work at it.
When the leg can move forward-and-back enough to stretch a rubber band, hook up the surgical rubber strengthener that you probably were given when you got out of the hospital. You’ll mainly need to work the quadriceps, as that’s mostly what holds you up when you’re standing. Work on the other muscles, too, as they’re used for balance and supporting the knee and such. Again, slow, steady progress without making it hurt so that you don’t continue.
Save attempts at using the walker for when you have an adult right there, preferably one strong enough to hold you up. It doesn’t matter how much upper body strength you’ve built up, this’ll be dangerous at first.
Best wishes, get started, and keep at it. And apologies if all of the above is insultingly obvious.
Excellent advice.
Didn’t have time to put this in earlier today because I had to rush out, but keep a goal in mind to keep you going even when it doesn’t seem worth it and to hell with it, the wheelchair is a pain but it’s not that bad:
You want to do the Father-Daughter dance when she’s in high school, right?
You want to walk her down the aisle, not wheel her down the aisle, right?
It’s going to a year or more before you can do even a slow dance without looking clumsy, so get started.
I’m curious how what Brian Kemp, the man who helped Steal The Election in Georgia, by installing Dominion Voting Systems after TX pointedly rejected them as having WAY too many security flaws to be used, has to say about what Trump said on WuFlu.
Once again, let’s get something straight.
The Lockdowns didn’t happen as by magic. Somebody ordered them, and that somebody was Not Trump.
It was Brian Kemp that ordered them. Trump said Reopen By Easter as the “two weeks to flatten the curve” was done and that was the ONLY reason for the lockdowns (which I still dispute was necessary, but that is everyone’s fault, not just Trump).
Brian Kemp CHOSE to listen to FraudXi over Trump and keep Lockdowns for longer.
NOW he claims that when the Little Tyrant Kemp decided he would deem to ALLOW the State to reopen that Trump told him not to do it? Bullshit.
This sentence typifies the whole BS:
By WHOSE Government Decree, Mr. Kemp?
It’s just so stupid to even contemplate the idea that the Guy who ordered the Lockdowns couldn’t simply UNDO them because Trump asked him not to do it.
Trump said Reopen.
Trump pressured RDS to Reopen and pushed him into the execrable Safe. Smart. Step By Step kicking and screaming. RDS didn’t end the Lockdowns for 6 months!
LG-BIZHUB-20200602202427 (flgov.com)
That’s the EO issued by RDS to keep FL partially Locked Down for 5 more months unless he decreed them able to reopen.
A Power he decdedly did not have.
He also get the Emergency in place for over 6 months to Justify his Lockdowns.Once again, never deferring to the Legislature.
If RDS and Kemp were so “Good on Covid” why did they both keep Extending the Emergency and hence Extending Their Emergency Powers?
Simple, they wanted to have their cake (I’m For Freedom) and eat it too (I’m REALLY For Tyranny and My Own Power!)
Bingo. They, DeSantis and Kemp, are both corrupt to the core deep state liars. Both are being paid to help STOP TRUMP.
And they have lots of little handmaidens stopping by the internets to help with the thievery.