Blogs & Bloggers

Wherein Ye Olde Blogge Hoste shamelessly swipes another good idea

Posted on May 1, 2023May 1, 2023 by Mike

Just went over for the daily look-in at Bill’s place, and I note he’s had an idea I think well worth the stealing: putting the link to his own Substack column at the top of the main page, making it more noticeable and immediate. Since our Daily Donnybrook open-thread post is already made “sticky” when I put each new one up, what I think I’m a-gonna do is append an “Eyrie” notification to it as well; should serve the same promotional function as Bill’s notice, without impinging on the main page of the blog any more than I just absolutely have to.

Update! Done, and done. I removed the Eyrie image from the sidebar and stuck it into the DD post, which I think looks great, and modified the DD title slightly too. What say y’all, CF Lifers? Like it, or no?

Updated update! So again I got to thinking (a VERY dangerous thing), and began asking myself whether, with the sticky Eyrie notification up top, I should carry on with the “Eyrie up” biweekly notification posts also. What I’m thinking is that I should, and will; they don’t do any real harm, don’t eat much, and are doable at a relatively affordable price, namely free, so why the hell not?

Do you Kipple?

Posted on April 22, 2023 by Mike

Our friend KT—she of the much-beloved AoSHQ Saturday Pet and Gardening threads, among other fine and notable things—posts an excellent deep-dive analysis into one of the great Bard’s very best pomes.

Rudyard Kipling first published The Gods of the Copybook Headings in 1919, soon after the War To End All Wars. And it has been a decade since Bill Whittle slightly revised Kipling’s poem “for modern ears”, replacing “The Gods of the Copybook Headings” in the poem with The Gods of Wisdom and Virtue. He also replaced “The Gods of the Market Place” with The Gods of the Here and the Now.

The word choice of “The Gods of the Here and the Now” seems to me to be especially relevant to our culture and politics at the present moment. Some gods, especially the human ones, seem to fall out of favor in just a news cycle or two. Sometimes the descriptions of the non-human gods will be transformed in a news cycle or two.

So, what and who are the Gods of the Here and the Now, at this moment?

Safe to say that answering that question will automagickally provide the answers to a whole lot of other ones into the bargain. Read all of it. Then, from there, browse through my “Kipling” section, linked in Ye Olde CF Menuebarre up top yonder. There’s bound to be something in there that will be new to you, I’d bet. If you’re not a Kipling fan yet, then it’s high time you became one.

Gee, some wisdom, it turns out, truly IS eternal. Whodathunkit?

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3

Posted on March 1, 2023March 1, 2023 by Mike

First post after finally getting around to purchasing a license for the completely wonderful MarsEdit (what can I say, I’ve been a terrible procrastinator my whole damned life, so much so I even got called down for it in a note to my parents from my 1st-grade teacher, bless her heart), which I can’t possibly say enough good things about. Got used to limping along with that irksome WP posting interface for a goodish while there, but now I’m back, baby! Now if I can just remember all my custom macros and shortcuts…

Sincerest and most humble thanks to Barry for the boost. Yippeeeeee!!!

A path is being cleared

Posted on February 6, 2023February 6, 2023 by Mike

For…well, now, let’s see, whom?

The Democrat Long Knives Come Out for Kamala Harris; Democrats Tell Their Newsletter The New York Times That They Have to Ditch Harris To Have Any Chance of Winning in 2024

My italics at the end, to underscore where I must beg to differ with Ace’s take. The D卐M☭CRATs know perfectly well who has and does not have “any chance of winning” in 2024, or any other year going forward. This bit from the NYT’s article I thought was amusing.

Now that Biden has insinuated that he intends to run again, the NYT reported many Democrats worry that Harris’ name on the ticket as his running mate will deter voters. Their worries came after a FiveThirtyEight poll showed Harris’ approval rating at 39%.

“I can’t think of one thing she’s done except stay out of the way and stand beside him at certain ceremonies,” Morgan told the NYT.

Umm, s’cuse me for saying so and all, but that’s pretty much the Veep’s entire job description: travel the world to attend state funerals, otherwise just stand around quietly in the background waiting for somebody to assassinate your boss. It’s why “Cactus Jack” Garner, the VP for FDR’s first two terms as POTUS, famously noted that the job was “not worth a bucket of warm piss.” In fact, the one occasion in recent memory that a Veep was called upon to actually do something important was in January 2021, when “Deep State Mike” Pence declined to do his duty and went ahead and certified the results of a manifestly fraudulent election, despite a veritable ziggurat of credible evidence refuting its legitimacy.

It was truly a day that will live in infamy, to quote somebody other.

But yeah, it does indeed appear that a path is being cleared for somebody, sure enough. The only question is who that somebody might be, and it’s a real head-scratcher.

Okay, okay, I admit: no, it is NOT.

The party certainly doesn’t have a deep bench of candidates. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s miserable performance shows he’s incapable of running the country. Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) would be 83 years old on his Inauguration Day. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) likely lacks the charisma to gain national support.

These are desperate times indeed for Democrats when California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Warren are the best the party has to offer.

But there’s another candidate who just might save the day. As abhorrent as the thought may be, former first lady Michelle Obama’s name is increasingly being bandied about as a potential nominee.

As we know, Big Mike repeatedly expressed her disdain for being First “Lady” while her “husband” Bathhouse Barry served his two terms as the Left’s designated weapon of mass destruction in Mordor On The Potomac, which personal disgruntlement would seem to militate against her campaigning for a White House encore. But Toni Williams knows the score on that.

Michelle Obama may say she doesn’t want to be President, but if her country needs her, she will swallow the bile she feels for this country and step up to be our First Authentically Black and Female President. Who could resist. Joel Gilbert definitely thinks she is running and copying Barack (you know the drill) Obama’s formula. She introduced Joe Biden at the 2020 Democrat Convention, she has a book, and she has a voter registration group.

Who could blame Michelle? She would go down in history. She would be the Mother of the Rebirth of Our Country Without Original Sin. You can hear it now, can’t you? She will finish the “fundamental transformation” of our country begun under her husband. Joe can’t do it. Eight years of Michelle Obama will do the job. Our country will be finished.

And my dear friends, I don’t think we will get a choice. If our Lizard Overlords choose Michelle, she will be the Chosen One. The scowling America Hater will be the next President of the United States. She will be installed just as creepy Joe was installed. The Deep State is like a Marvel Cinematic Universe Villain. It cannot be destroyed. Trump tried and look what they are still doing to him. You may think Donald Trump is too damaged to run again. When the Lizard Overlords run Michelle, Donald (Obi-Wan Kenobi) Trump will be our only hope. File this away under predictions and then thank me when I am right. May the force be with you.

Donal Trump isn’t too damaged to run again, but he IS too damaged to win, even if he could find a way to circumvent the D卐M☭CRATs’ now solidly-secured lock on national “elections.” Toni may have gotten that part wrong, but she’s right on the money when she says We The People don’t get to have any say about who the next President will be. Not this time, not the next time, nor any other time.

Yes, there’s something we can do about that, but it will be neither easy, nor pleasant, nor guaranteed to turn out the way we’d like it to. One way or another, though, rest assured that the Deep State not only can but WILL be destroyed. As history tells us, it’s not a matter of if, but of when.

(Victory Girls link via Sarah Hoyt)

Substackin’

Posted on January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 by Mike

There’s a brand new post up over at The Eyrie, which I initially put here by accident. Sorry ‘bout that, gang; my bad. I’m beginning to make some real headway on getting this whole Substack business sussed out, or so I’m telling myself. It’s available for all to read, but in order to comment you have to be a paid subscriber. I think.

Inexpressibly sad

Posted on January 26, 2023January 26, 2023 by Mike

Boy, ain’t THAT the mot juste.

For Gerard

I know that most of you have gotten the news that Gerard Vanderleun is in hospice care now. It is inexpressibly sad.

I’ve been wrestling with this for a while. And by “this” I mean: how to say what I’m about to say. Anyone who reads this blog knows I’m a very private person and don’t go in for much disclosure, dramatic or otherwise. But I’m about to write something very personal because detachment doesn’t work right now.

And it’s something Gerard wanted me to write, too, and so I’m doing this at least in part for him as well.

Gerard and I met through our blogging nearly eighteen years ago, became a couple about a year later and stayed that way for many years, and for the past ten or so years have been extremely close friends. We never lived together but would visit each other for lengthy periods, travel together, and have talked on the phone almost every day for most of the time we’ve been apart. He deferred to my need for privacy by not writing about our relationship, although I appear in some of his writings as the mysterious woman who was there for this or that occasion.

We’ve been in touch every day right through this illness, which came on so quickly and was diagnosed so recently – only this past Wednesday – that it took everyone by surprise. I am the “updater” at American Digest, too.

I’m very distraught, I’m on my way out west to see him, and this will be my only post for today. I’m not planning on giving a running account, but at some point I probably will write more about this.

Thank God for your presence in Gerard’s life, Neo, and may He bless you for being there in this good and gentle man’s hour of greatest need. She does indeed have a brief followup post.

I saw Gerard yesterday and I believe he’s quite close to death, perhaps days to a week. I’m not going to go into details except to say that meaningful conversation seems to have ceased, and he has also stopped drinking water. He’s being cared for attentively at a good place.

It is very hard to face losing his enormous presence in my life.

I’m sure it is. We’ll all lose something unique and wonderful when GVDL finally departs this vale of tears.

Publick Notice

Posted on January 17, 2023January 17, 2023 by Mike

Since the native WP posting editor has begun to suck so horribly, and my reliable third-party standby for years, Ecto, doesn’t work at all with the new/old iMac’s decrepit operating system, I’ve been casting desperately about for months now in search of another blog-posting alternative that will run on this infernal machine. This casting about led me to download MarsEdit for a test run to see how it might suit.

I’m thrilled to find that it does indeed support custom macros, which is one of the primary things I loved about Ecto and have been missing most. Unfortunately, after a 14 day trial run I’m required to buy the damned software at a hefty 60 bucks, which after having shelled out 39.99 for Ecto already sticks in my craw pretty badly. If I understand things correctly, I can still use ME to write posts and store them locally, I just can’t actually upload ’em to the ol’ websty without purchasing a license first.

We’ll see what transpires on all that hoo-ha, I reckon, but for the moment I gotta say I’m thoroughly loving MarsEdit. In addition to downloading all my posts, categories, and pages from WP on CF’s server, it also grabbed all the media files I’ve embedded in past posts as well, something Ecto didn’t do. That means I’ll have a complete archive of everything but the actual database files ready to hand in case those Russian hackers get frisky and make another run at Ye Humble Blogge again.

Lots of new-to-me features with this ME thing too, some of which look likely to be right handy. Maybe I need to consider holding another fundraiser hereabouts when my 14-day trial period is about to expire…

Update! Aw yeah, this thing rocks for sure. SOOOO much better than that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned WP posting editor. Need to find some kind of YT embed next, see how that goes. Stand by…

KNOCKED OUT update! Man oh MAN, is this MarsEdit software amazing! Had I known about it before tonight, I woulda switched off from Ecto years ago.

See, in both the Ecto and ME main window, the main window shows a list of previous posts up top, below which is a preview of whatever post you click on and highlight. Well sir, I just learned that, with ME, you can download your blog’s theme template to be used for the preview. With Ecto, you could customize your preview template, but it was a right pain in the arse to do, so I never did bother with it.

This handy-dandy feature could well mitigate the need for me to hold off doing all the proofreading and editing until after the post has gone live, which is a good thing. Screen grab:

CF ME grab

Brilliant, no? Turns out, MarsEdit’s built-in Upload Utility allows you to resize the image, reformat it, &c before you even upload it, bypassing the need to further fool around as is required by the infernal WP editor. Yeah, it’s definitely looking more and more as if I need to come up with the sixty simoleons for this little gem.

So close, and yet so far

Posted on January 16, 2023January 16, 2023 by Mike

As y’all no doubt know by now, I find myself increasingly frustrated with James Kunstler. He is indeed a wonderfully skilled, insightful writer, no doubt about it. But his recent penchant for constructing an impeccable argument on a given issue, only to shy away in the last paragraph or two from the obvious conclusion that there really is no political solution to be found has become downright wearisome, at least to me.

That said, though, the opening ‘graph of today’s piece is a real gem.

So many calamities, quandaries, and mysteries swirl in the zeitgeist these days that life in the USA feels like swimming against a rising tide of poisoned guacamole. Nothing has been able to stop that green spewage from the political Left, especially as it desecrates our very language to turn everything up, down, and everything inside, outside. You end up drowning the consensus about reality under the muck. Now, finally, there are political forces gathering to oppose all this deliberate malice and deceit and they will need something like a fire-hose to clean the joint up.

Heh. “Green spewage,” poisoned guacamole, and firehoses? Now, THAT is gooooood squishy right there. Makes me kinda reluctant to read the rest of it, knowing the piffle about “investigations” and “Congressional inquiries” and other such rot that surely awaits towards the end of it.

Update! And sure enough.

Obviously, there are many other channels of inquiry waiting to be explored in the government’s war against the people, especially the lingering questions about election interference and the official censorship of news. The excellent writer who goes by Sundance at The Last Refuge website made some capital suggestions for going forward with these inquiries: one is to rely primarily on witness testimony rather than on documents that federal officials will surely do everything possible to hide. Don’t turn this into a futile battle over the docs. Let’s just hear what the people-in-charge have to say. Secondly — and this may be hard for many angry, injured people to swallow — immunize witnesses against prosecution, to give them no incentive to hide what they know, what actions they carried out, and who told them to do it. Give them this immunity, Sundance wrote, in the interest of maximum transparency — because punishment of these characters is less important than showing the people of this country how far off the rails we have gone, and how to get back on. It may not be optimally satisfying, but it’s an argument worth pondering.

No, it assuredly is NOT—seeing as how the argument from the very git-go relies entirely on a fatally-flawed premise: that the best way to “get to the bottom” of all this knavery and deception is via the selfsame government that is indeed waging war against its people. It’s pure self-deception, and it’s pathetic.

Hitting the books

Posted on January 2, 2023January 2, 2023 by Mike

I am thrilled as all git-out to report that, after my having contacted him a day or two ago about the possibility of getting my greasy hands on one, the esteemed and estimable Oleg Atbashian of the wholly brilliant People’s Cube satire site has most graciously provided me with an ePub copy of his latest autobiographical book, Hotel USSR, for review purposes. I have two other books with pending reviews on my to-do list—Jonathan Fesmire’s unconventional, wild, and rollicking ~~Bodacious Creed and the San Francisco Syndicate~~ (done, and done—M), and our good friend TL Davis’s uncompromising, bare-knuckled Rogue, the sequel to his paean to freedom, REBEL: The Last American Novel. I’ll be catching up on this happy backlog of reading and reviewing in a trice, folks.

A very worthy cause

Posted on December 7, 2022 by Mike

Was chatting over the teleomaphone with my brother-from-another-mother Billy earlier and he made a request I’m only too happy to grant: a rerun of the link to the Saving Adriana Grace fundraiser page. I know times are tough out there these days thanks to the usual bitch’s brew of DemonRat fuckery and misgovernance, and Christmas is nigh upon us also. But having met Adriana myself and knowing her to be the sweet, lovely little girl she definitely is, I can’t think of a finer place for y’all to donate any extra dough you might have lying around, in whatever amount you can manage.

Billy and Gretch are fighting the good fight here, and that ain’t never cheap nor easy. There have been some positive developments of late, so let’s see if we can’t put some truly good people and a most deserving child into the win column here.

Best wishes to all

Posted on November 24, 2022 by Mike

The very happiest of T-days to all CF Lifers wherever they may be, along with a heartfelt happy birthday to my brother-in-arms-and-everything-else Big Country as well. May your days be merry, and bright.

Publick Notice UPDATE

Posted on October 27, 2022October 27, 2022 by Mike

Many, many thanks to all the CF Lifers who showed up to register at Claire’s Freedomista forums today, from both myself and Claire. She told me earlier that she was absolutely stunned at the response to yesterday’s mention, saying, and I quote:

Not only am I going to be busy this morning, but it’s possible you’ve just single-handedly — and very generously, I must add — altered the nature of the forums forever.

I am proud to know you, my friend.

…I have never been very good at promoting myself or my creations. You just did more for the forums than I’ve managed in the last year.

“Proud to know me”? Right back atcha, Claire, tenfold. And the same goes for the CF Lifers as well, also WRSA for so kindly linking the original post. Thanks again, everyone.

Publick Notice

Posted on October 26, 2022October 27, 2022 by Mike

The more attentive—or anal retentive, perhaps—among you have doubtless noted a new addition to the right sidebar, apart from the recently installed Gab Pay donation button. Nestled just under my friend Claire Wolfe’s deathless words of wisdom kicking off the “Notable Quotes” whoopjamboreehoo is a spanking-new link to Claire’s Cabal, a web forum in the classic style wherein the focus is homed in, laser-like, on discussion of the verymost fundamental issue today in America That Was: freedom. How we lost it, where it went, how we might go about getting it back are all welcome topics at Claire’s joint, which is chock-a-block with erudite, witty, and friendly freedom lovers. It’s a discussion I’m perfectly confident that readers here will be interested in, and are well-equipped to advance. Check it out, you’ll be glad you did. A sample of the multifarious topics:

Administrivia
Announcements, rulz, all the dull necessities
1112 Posts
77 Topics

Let’s Talk
A place for general discussion. BE AWARE: This is the one section of Living Freedom Forums that can be read by the public, even though only members can post.
14477 Posts
2325 Topics

Outlawry
As Mike Vanderboegh used to say, “Defy, resist, evade, smuggle.” Talk about it discreetly, even here. But talk about it if you are so inclined. The place for Freedom Outlaw Moles, Agitators, and Ghosts. Monkeywrenchers, too!
2225 Posts
247 Topics

Freedomista Safe Space
A place to rant, rave, and let your hair down
8686 Posts
1184 Topics

Silver’s Corner
Money, free-market economics, and political threats to them
7497 Posts
570 Topics

Intel & OPSEC
For anybody seeking to increase personal or organizational security. For becoming more wise in action and communication.
3240 Posts
448 Topics

Our Minds, Ourselves
Forget for the moment what “they” are doing to destroy freedom. This board is about changing our own minds and lives to better create freedom for ourselves and our loved ones
2116 Posts
190 Topics

Fire When Ready
Guns, gear and self defense
8932 Posts
1362 Topics

Gimme Shelter
All about land, housing, and shelters for yourself and your possessions.
788 Posts
101 Topics

Food, Family, and Life on Ye Olde Homestead
Food: Growing it, raising it, cooking it, storing it, choosing it. For both emergency and non-emergency use. Family: Kids, pets, elders. And general domesticity and life.
4067 Posts
401 Topics

Take Care of Yourself Out There
All about health and well-being
4441 Posts
470 Topics

As you can readily discern from those impressive Posts/Topics tallies, Claire’s Cabal is a lively, humming internet hangout, covering a variety of well-chosen, interesting, and important subjects. Which, to repeat, is a mere sampling of what’s over there. The esteemed and estimable Ms Wolfe has done one hell of a job putting this thing together, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

OUTLAW!

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Mike

Welcome back to our brother from another mother BCE, who sneaked in the back door over at Blawgsplat to set himself up a temporary alternate site until Divemedic can resolve a few serious issues and get the new Big Country Expat v2.0 up and running.

A bleg

Posted on October 11, 2022October 12, 2022 by Mike

For reasons which are abundantly obvious, I’ve been looking into a PayPal replacement of late. I’m going to try AlignPay for a while, I think. Launched by Dan Bongino and a couple other folks, it’s touted as the “free speech,” “Cancel Culture Free” PayPal alternative, one that will never suspend, deplatform, or otherwise hassle anybody on Our Side based solely on their political leanings. So far, Wise also looks pretty good also, being a hell of a lot cheaper on their transfer fees than PayPal is. Overall, Amazon Pay may well come out on top in the PayPal substitute sweepstakes, if for no reasons other than the ubiquitousness of the parent company, and everyone’s familiarity with its interface.

I dunno, we’ll see. Definitely going to get to work implementing AlignPay here for the nonce, on the principle of lending support for the side of Truth, Justice, and the American Way alone. If anybody out there has any suggestions on all this, please do drop ’em in the comments section, aiiight? Thanks in advance, y’all.

Update! Okay, several of you have suggested Gab Pay, which I’m trying to figure out now. And yes, BCE’s site got nuked, but I haven’t spoken with him in a cpl-three days and so have no new news to impart as to what’s going on, other than that he does have a backup site which he’s working on getting up and running. Soon as I gots more to tell ya, and I’ve verified that he’s okay with me telling it, I will do so. Thanks for asking…

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