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Sarah “Shut ‘Em Down” Sanders

Posted on February 8, 2023 by Mike

Sarah Huckabee Sanders—for whom, it seems, I’m gonna have to start appending “The Great” as a prefix to her first name, like I’ve been doing with Ron DeSantis; Lord knows she’s earned it—tore China Joe a new one in her HOTU response.

‘Crazy’ and ‘Wrong’: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Destroys Biden Narrative in SOTU Response

Despite being in office for just a few weeks, Arkansas GOP Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is no stranger to the limelight and her rising star shined bright on Tuesday night during her Republican rebuttal to President Biden’s second State of the Union address.

The youngest governor in America, Sanders began her speech talking about her experiences as a mother that left her “not believing much of anything I heard tonight from President Biden.”

Reiterating that America is the “greatest country the world has known” because it is the “freest” ever known, Sanders affirmed the belief that “government exists not to rule the people, but to serve the people.”

Contrasting herself with Biden, Sanders said “At 40, I’m the youngest governor in the country. At 80, he’s the oldest president in American history. I’m the first woman to lead my state, he’s the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is,” the governor said, rightly turning up the heat on Democrats.

Blasting Biden and the “radical left” for its vision for Americans that “taxes you and lights your hard-earned money on fire” while “you get crushed with high gas prices, empty grocery shelves, and our children are taught to hate one another on account of their race, but not to love one another or our great country,” Sanders didn’t let those across the aisle off the hook for anything.

Saying “the Biden administration seems more interested in woke fantasies than the hard reality Americans face every day,” Sanders explained that “most Americans simply want to live their lives in freedom and peace, but we are under attack in a left-wing culture war we didn’t start and never wanted to fight.”

“That’s not normal,” Sanders said speaking for Republicans and countless Americans. “It’s crazy, and it’s wrong.”

Incredible as it may seem, there’s more yet, every bit of it meeting the same high standard for quality as the above. As I mentioned the other day, Sanders was the best Presidential press secretary ever under Trump, and she’s on track to be the best governor Arkansas ever had now. You go, girl.

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Acts of war

Posted on February 8, 2023February 8, 2023 by Mike

Remember back when some of us, based on the cui bono standard if nothing else, postulated that Russia’s Nordstream I pipeline had been intentionally, actively sabotaged, almost certainly by the US and/or other cat’s-paw nations acting at its behest, and some folks—up to and including various Biden junta hacks, rumpswabs, and flunkies—puffed up indignantly over the patent “impossibility” of pulling off such an operation clandestinely?

Yeah, about all that.

How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline

The New York Times called it a “mystery,” but the United States executed a covert sea operation that was kept secret—until now

The U.S. Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center can be found in a location as obscure as its name—down what was once a country lane in rural Panama City, a now-booming resort city in the southwestern panhandle of Florida, 70 miles south of the Alabama border. The center’s complex is as nondescript as its location—a drab concrete post-World War II structure that has the look of a vocational high school on the west side of Chicago. A coin-operated laundromat and a dance school are across what is now a four-lane road.

The center has been training highly skilled deep-water divers for decades who, once assigned to American military units worldwide, are capable of technical diving to do the good—using C4 explosives to clear harbors and beaches of debris and unexploded ordinance—as well as the bad, like blowing up foreign oil rigs, fouling intake valves for undersea power plants, destroying locks on crucial shipping canals. The Panama City center, which boasts the second largest indoor pool in America, was the perfect place to recruit the best, and most taciturn, graduates of the diving school who successfully did last summer what they had been authorized to do 260 feet under the surface of the Baltic Sea.

Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning.

Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade. A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational. Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.

Asked for comment, Adrienne Watson, a White House spokesperson, said in an email, “This is false and complete fiction.” Tammy Thorp, a spokesperson for the Central Intelligence Agency, similarly wrote: “This claim is completely and utterly false.”

Biden’s decision to sabotage the pipelines came after more than nine months of highly secret back and forth debate inside Washington’s national security community about how to best achieve that goal. For much of that time, the issue was not whether to do the mission, but how to get it done with no overt clue as to who was responsible.

There was a vital bureaucratic reason for relying on the graduates of the center’s hardcore diving school in Panama City. The divers were Navy only, and not members of America’s Special Operations Command, whose covert operations must be reported to Congress and briefed in advance to the Senate and House leadership—the so-called Gang of Eight. The Biden Administration was doing everything possible to avoid leaks as the planning took place late in 2021 and into the first months of 2022.

President Biden and his foreign policy team—National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Victoria Nuland, the Undersecretary of State for Policy—had been vocal and consistent in their hostility to the two pipelines, which ran side by side for 750 miles under the Baltic Sea from two different ports in northeastern Russia near the Estonian border, passing close to the Danish island of Bornholm before ending in northern Germany.

The direct route, which bypassed any need to transit Ukraine, had been a boon for the German economy, which enjoyed an abundance of cheap Russian natural gas—enough to run its factories and heat its homes while enabling German distributors to sell excess gas, at a profit, throughout Western Europe. Action that could be traced to the administration would violate US promises to minimize direct conflict with Russia. Secrecy was essential.

Imagine my surprise at being proven right yet again. Ahem.

Literally so, at that.

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Schisming

Posted on February 7, 2023February 8, 2023 by Mike

Remember the other night when I mentioned my upbringing in the First United Methodist Church in Mt Holly? Well, my cousin (BPs drummer Mark) called me up Sunday with some welcome news: FUMC-Mt Holly had voted overwhelmingly that day to disaffiliate with the FUMC convocation, either to join the Global Methodist Church or go fully independent. This coming Sunday, Mt Holly Methodists will be holding a vote to decide on which way to jump.

Given events over the last several years, I had been waiting to see whether they’d make the leap or not, and hoping that they would. The FUMC has always been a fairly liberal-oriented denomination—even as far back as about 1978 or so, my dad went to our pastor to demand that his tithing money stay strictly with our local church, that he didn’t want one thin dime of it going to the national organization because of its ever-farther and faster Leftward drift—but things have gotten bad enough over the last ten years or so that a breakaway movement has begun to find its feet.

United Methodists Lose 1,800 Churches in Split Over LGBT Stance

The initial departures, mostly concentrated in the South, represent around 6 percent of the denomination—not as dramatic as the “schism” some feared.

Nearly four years ago, the United Methodist Church approved an exit plan for churches wishing to break away from the global denomination over differing beliefs about sexuality, setting in motion what many believed would be a modern-day schism.

Since then, a new analysis has found, it’s fallen well short of that.

That analysis of data collected by the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration shows 6.1 percent of United Methodist churches in the US—1,831 congregations out of 30,000 nationwide—have been granted permission to disaffiliate since 2019. There are no good figures for international departures among the estimated 12,000 United Methodist churches abroad.

The denomination’s disaffiliation plan gives churches until December 31 to cut ties, and many have already made known their desire to leave. Those churches can take their properties with them after paying apportionments and pension liabilities. Others are forcing the issue through civil courts.

The 1,831 church departures come as United Methodist bishops say they’re battling misinformation from conservative groups that encourage churches to leave the denomination for the newly formed Global Methodist Church, which has declared it will never ordain or marry LGBTQ people—the crux of the conflict.

In turn, the Global Methodist Church and groups like the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a network of theologically conservative churches, argue that the denomination’s regional conferences are making it prohibitively hard for churches to leave.

The FUMC’ers in Mt Holly, being of a more conservative bent, had long been dismayed over the parent organization’s dismal shift towards godless-Left libertinism, which has resulted in this sort of abomination:

Drag queen pastor delivers a sermon at a Methodist church. What in the world? pic.twitter.com/NXJJl9cq3T

— Catch Up (@CatchUpNetwork)

February 6, 2023

Yeah, small-town Christian folk in the South are really gonna go for that. Heartfelt kudos for the Methodists who have shown the gumption to finally tell TPTB, “Enough, no more, we’re out.” It’s about damned time, and I hope to see a lot more of it.

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Another FederalGovCo cash grab

Posted on February 7, 2023February 7, 2023 by Mike

The goobermint is your enemy.

Those 87,000 new IRS agents that you were promised would only target the rich…

They’re coming after waitresses’ tips now: “monitoring of employer compliance based on actual annual tip revenue and charge tip data from an employer’s point-of-sale system.”https://t.co/WAvh0t2cNN

— Mike Palicz (@Mike_Palicz)

February 7, 2023

Hey, no need to fret, it’s a purely “voluntary” program. For now.

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Hate Of The Union

Posted on February 7, 2023February 8, 2023 by Mike

Once again, I didn’t bother with China Joe’s annual Hate Of The Union meat-beat, and you shouldn’t have either. Ace links to a good article laying out the jaw-slackening lies and distortions, if you’re into that sort of thing at all. But I ain’t, so I’ll limit my own editorial response to the following classic:

I think that about says all that really needs to be said, don’t you?

Update! The great Catturd says it for me.

I’d rather strip naked, dip my balls in Tupelo honey, and sit on a fire ant hill – than to watch that creepy demented balloon buffoon mumble through The State Of Confusion.

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2)

February 8, 2023

You and me both, brother. You and me both. Via Dave Renegade.

Updated update! Perfect one-liner from the best Presidential press secretary of all time’s HOTU response: “The choice is between normal and crazy.” You really said a mouthful there, girl.

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Long may she wave

Posted on February 7, 2023 by Mike

A win for sanity, freedom, and property rights.

Victory in Prince Edward County! Just getting out of court. More details to follow, but the judge ruled in our favor, DENYING Prince Edward County’s appeal of the decision of their own Board of Zoning Appeals, and stating that we did everything in good faith and are not responsible for the County issuing us a building permit “in error”.

This is a huge win for us, for the citizens of Prince Edward County, for our Confederate veterans, and for ALL landowners in the Commonwealth and beyond. All glory to God. All honor to our Confederate ancestors.

Baron Bodissey celebrates.

It’s a moment worth celebrating, but the fight is probably not over yet. The Virginia Flaggers took in money from donations (I was one of the donors) to fight their case, but Prince Edward County is using taxpayers’ money to wage their battles, which means their lawyers can continue with their appeals at higher levels, presumably all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court. The Virginia Flaggers will then have to ask the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy to dig deeper into their pockets to pay the additional legal expenses.

I don’t understand how the supervisors can justify all this to their constituents. Outside of Farmville itself — where the Longwood University community is a reliable source of wokeness — there can’t be a whole lot of support for fighting to remove the Battle Flag. Even black people are largely indifferent to the issue.

If blacks are indeed “largely indifferent to the issue,” which statistics seem to indicate they are, well, good on them for that. At this late date, the battle is NOT over the flag per se, nor blacks neither. What it’s about now is rewriting history, to suit the Left’s present-day agenda. No more, no less.

Which means that the fight will NEVER be over, as long as one shitlib still draws breath. And on the historical-accuracy note, nice to see Bodissey refer to it, correctly, as the Confederate Battle Flag, which it is, instead of just the “Confederate Flag,” which it never was. A feel-good story all the way around.

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Grey matters

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

Nee-grows are low-IQ, prone to violence, primitive, and have poor impulse control. Yes, it’s all YOUR fault, Kemosabe.

Black children living in poverty face increased instances of stress and trauma that can alter their brain development, a new study found.

Researchers found that increased stressors like economic hardship and systemic racism play a significant role for Black children and can lead to the development of mental health issues as they age, the study said.

The stressors contribute to Black children having less gray matter in their brains, a byproduct of absorbing “toxic stress.” The study defines the stressors as “prolonged exposure to adverse experiences” that lead to excessive stress hormones and “disrupt the immune and metabolic regulatory systems.”

In the study, researchers found that Black children often developed behavioral problems later in life such as PTSD, anxiety and depression. These children also were susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse and suicide attempts and were likely to commit violence, the study said.

Black children showed lower amygdala, hippocampus, and PFC gray matter volumes compared with White children.

Bold mine, to highlight the way CNN just might be reversing cause and effect here, because reasons.

The hippocampus plays a number of crucial roles, including regulating emotions, motivation, hormonal activity, autonomic activity, and memory formation.

Probably the most well recognized function of the hippocampus is its role in learning and memory. Although the exact mechanisms remain somewhat mysterious, it is believed that the hippocampus receives and consolidates information, allowing for establishment of long-term memories in a process known as long-term potentiation (LTP). It also plays a role in spatial memory, allowing us to keep track of where things are, as well as where they are in relation to each other; as such, it is instrumental in the formation of cognitive maps.

There have been numerous reports linking tumors, lesions, and epileptogenic activity in humans within the hippocampus to aggressive reactions, ranging from minor hostility to explosive acts of violence. The hippocampus’ role in mediating aggression and rage appears to be dependant on the region of the structure that is stimulated: activation of the temporal pole, i.e. the region closest to the amygdala, stimulates predatory or fight behavior; while activation of the region closest to the septal pole instead suppresses those impulses.

If any of that behavior sounds at all familiar to you, then you are definitely a RAYCISS™ for sure. Divemedic finds CNN’s conclusions a tad sketchy.

I was with them on the other evidence. Yes, there is evidence that black children are likely to be poor, have incarcerated parents, and lower intelligence. I agree. What they are essentially saying is that blacks are poor, less intelligent, and more likely to be criminals than are whites, and that there is a biological and physiological basis for this. That’s exactly what I have been saying for years. What I have a problem with is the conclusion that is unsupported by any evidence presented by this so-called study- that it’s white people’s fault.

This seems like junk science with no control group and little in the way of actual, well, science. When I was a teacher, had one of my students turned in an unsupported conclusion like that one, it likely would have received a poor grade.

Hey, if it wasn’t for junk science, shitlibs would have no science at all to back up their politically-motivated arguments.

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“Ace” Biden saves America!

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

I haven’t been able to verify it as of presstime, but rumor has it that this is the very aircraft flown by China Joe Bribem himself to shoot down that Gook spy balloon.

FlyingTigerP40

For his part, Bitter Centurion reminds us that, ultimately, this was about a heckuva lot more than some overinflated old gasbag.

ALL A BUNCH OF HOT AIR?

I didn’t go too far in depth in one of my last posts on the Chinese ‘spy’ balloon debacle, mainly because I didn’t have enough information available to me to make a definitive call on whether or not it actually was what the media is telling us it was. I more or less wanted to address the fact that, regardless of whether the story was legit or not, China DOES have the west by the balls in many different ways and we have largely been paying lip service to the whole entire issue.

My own thoughts are that it’s certainly possible that the media is telling the truth this time *COUGH, COUGH* BULLSHIT *COUGH, COUGH*….whew, excuse me. Yeah, anyway, the balloon may well be a device that is Chinese in origin used to conduct aerial espionage or perhaps reconnaissance. I mean, it isn’t like they don’t already have several spy satellites in orbit that can obtain this same information far less conspicuously, right?

Actually, there are plenty of perfectly good reasons for using balloons rather than satellites, for one that it’s orders of magnitude less expensive to just float a balloon overhead than to lob a satellite into LEO (Low Earth Orbit). For another, you get a much more clear and detailed view of whatever you want to look at from angels 60 than you can from orbit. Loiter time also factors in to the equation, with balloons winning out there too.

The US uses balloons for these very reasons, as do many of not most other players on the multinational stage.

Aesop points out another aspect of this kerfuffle that most probably haven’t taken into consideration.

As I noted elsewhere, and as anyone from SAC Norad or the Silent Service from 1946-1990 can tell you, don’t tell your enemy how early you can detect him, and you frequently just sit back and watch what they’re doing, because it gives you more intel on what they can do and what they’re interested in, than any intel they think they’re getting from you.

We did that with Russian subs and aircraft for decades at the height of the Cold War, with far more at stake.

Similarly, the whole point of China’s gambit may well have been not to glean intel on the missile silos in Montana, but to test US capabilities and reaction time to such an incursion, which would be highly valuable intel in its own right. Back to BC for what I still believe to be the bottom-line issue.

So, no. I absolutely don’t think that communist China is going to launch an attack on mainland North America, or anything to do with North America. No ‘Chinese blue helmets’. No bio weapons (I mean, no worse than the ‘Coronapocalypse’, but I’m starting to wonder if that was a massive screwup judging by how things played out). They’re not gonna launch chemical weapons, or ‘nuke’ us, or fry our grid with an EMP or cyberattack. And IF they do this, it probably won’t be anything large scale and it wouldn’t be for any other purpose than to harass us and keep us occupied, while they do other things. If the Chicoms are gonna attack anyone anytime soon, it’ll be Taiwan. That could go either way, really.

China is more than content to watch us tear each other apart over manufactured ‘social’ bullshit like gender and racial equity or reparitions, or whatever ’cause du jour’ we conjure up (with some prods and nudges from certain influential folks getting bennies from the CCP) due to our society’s massive inferiority complex, developed because we haven’t actually accomplished anything worthwhile in a few generations because we’re lazy and spoiled. China is quite content to watch us squander our wealth and our children’s futures away in never ending, massive conflicts that further tear our social fabric and destroy our faith in the institutions that our forefathers initially granted permission and responsibility to in order to take care of everything. China is quite pleased to see scores of migrants and ‘refugees’ pouring over the southern border, and in some cases be flown or bused, right into the United States, causing massive issues domestically from rising crime rates and homelessness to stretching taxpayer funded government and social services – everything from nurses, to cops, to teachers – to the point where they’re almost ineffective. On that last point, I still strongly believe China has funded and driven much of that, as I believed they did during the massive migrant surge in Europe back in 2015.

The thing to keep in mind here is that China doesn’t need to hit us with anything in terms of conventional warfare. We’re far too busy kicking our own asses and we’re actually doing a pretty fucking bang up job on that. All the Chicoms have to do is fry up the jiffy pop, enjoy the show, and wait.

Pretty much, yep.

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New at the Eyrie

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Mike

The Monday Substack post is now up.

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)

Peace through strength

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

Or chaos through senility.

It is worth remembering that during Donald Trump’s first term as president (note that I say “first term”), America and indeed the world was a more pacific place. Russia did not invade Ukraine. Iran was bottled up. The Abraham Accords brought peace to the Middle East. Amazing.

How did he do it? By taking a page from Ronald Reagan’s playbook. Next to “Make America Great Again” (and perhaps laments about “fake news”) the phrase that one heard most often from the Trump campaign and, then, the Trump Administration was “peace through strength.” It was born of Trump’s understanding that weakness is provocative and destabilizing while recognized strength encourages peace and social order.

Biden has depleted our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, shuttered the Keystone Pipeline, and put the kibosh on fracking. He has gone a long way towards transforming the United States military into a gender fluid sensitivity camp while also undermining the U.S. economy by incontinent spending and by pursuing other inflationary policies. Biden and his puppet masters tried to stymie Trump by turning his catchphrase “MAGA” into a negative epithet (and if “MAGA” is bad, how much worse is “Ultra MAGA”?). As Julie Kelly remarked, “if the balloon was an unarmed female veteran, the government would have shot it by now.”

But it didn’t work. So-called MAGA policies really did “make America great again”—richer, more secure, more confident and patriotic.

Which is precisely why they so desperately, fanatically hated it. And him, and us.

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Happy birthday to meeeee!

Posted on February 5, 2023February 6, 2023 by Mike

Yep, today’s my birthday. Nope, I ain’t gonna say how old I am, but it’s plenty old, I assure you. I squeaked through and made it by the skin of my teeth this year; it was a near-run thing, no doubt about it. But here I am nonetheless, and here I shall remain, at least for a little while longer yet. For that, I’m truly thankful.

I was also fortunate enough to have my daughter with me yesterday and today, and on the way back to drop her off at her mom’s place we heard a more modern update to one her favorite songs on the radio—an update she just absolutely despises, which naturally meant Daddy had to crank it way the hell up, just to annoy her. And now I’m pleased as punch to pass the source of her irritation along to the rest of y’all.

Seriously, though, thanks to all you CF Lifers for being here for me, and for making my days a little brighter with all you do.

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All you’ll ever need to know about those spy balloons

Posted on February 4, 2023February 4, 2023 by Mike

As an aside, it appears that Jao Bai-Ding, in accordance with the wishes of his ChiCom owners, has fulfilled the Bee’s prophecy: Biden Says He’ll Shoot Down Chinese Spy Balloon As Soon As He’s Done Letting It Spy. Brandon Smith has a look into it.

There are numerous theories as to why such a surveillance platform would be used by the CCP and what it is designed to look for, and I thought I would offer a couple theories based on my years of study into similar projects pursued by the US Department of Defense and DARPA.

Lidar Observation From A Balloon Platform

The Chinese have been messing with lidar technology a lot lately. Lidar uses pulsed lasers to measure small variations in terrain to uncover hidden shapes and structures. It also has a knack for cutting through forest canopy and other obstructions. The problem with lidar is that the platforms commonly used to carry the apparatus are faster moving and only capture a snapshot in time. Also, it cannot see through thick clouds, dust, rain, snow or fog.

NASA and DARPA have both been testing lidar from balloons as a means to keep the lasers in the sky longer above a specific area. The Chinese balloon also looks somewhat similar to the equipment used on European lidar balloon experiments.

A lidar based spy balloon would explain Chinese interest in Eastern Montana, where there are numerous known nuclear missile silos as well as suspected hidden silos. The Chinese balloon did in fact come near at least one known nuclear missile base near Billings. Lidar could be exploited to find hidden bases in the region.

Weapons Delivery Platform

High altitude balloons are cheap and relatively effective surveillance platforms that can be used much like satellites but, with the right equipment, could become far more maneuverable. With the CCP’s limited resources it makes sense that they would be utilizing low-cost and low visibility measures instead of expensive and easier to target long range drones or spy planes.

However, these systems are not just useful for observation – They can also be used to deliver weapons packages, including EMP weapons, nuclear weapons and biological agents. The US has been testing balloons for nuclear delivery ever since Operation Yucca in 1956.

In the event of war between China and the US, the CCP may be looking for a way to strike with weapons of mass destruction with a passive delivery system that’s hard to defend against.

The EMP business is worrisome, sure. But war—actual, literal, armies-marching-as-to-no-shit war? Sorry, but despite the recent alarums raised in various quarters about a Chinese attack and/or invasion of the FUSA, I still can’t find it in myself to fret overmuch about the possibility. I mean, why on earth would they bother? They already OWN us lock, stock, and barrel, in both political and economic terms. Given their real-estate acquisitions here over the last several years, a hot war with us would only mean willfully and needlessly ruining the return on their investment.

Then again, though, they’re fucking Commies, so what would they know about maximizing return on investment anyway?

In the end, it all comes down to this: Who really needs military conquest and the attendant hassle, aggravation, and expense, when they de facto defeated us years ago—with the full and witting cooperation of America’s greedy, traitorous Ruling Class—without ever actually having to fire a shot?

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Kavanaugh disappoints again

Posted on February 4, 2023February 5, 2023 by Mike

Divemedic offers the misguided fool a primer course on what the Constitution actually says, and how it’s supposed to work.

This past week saw a huge win for gun rights, in that SCOTUS struck down a part of the GCA that was added during the Clinton administration- making prohibited persons out of people who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders. AWA over at GunFreeZone did an excellent post on the ruling, and I won’t attempt to recreate that here.

My opinion on these DV orders is that they are bullshit aimed at men in an attempt to give women another arrow in their lawfare quiver. About ten years ago, I was the subject of one of those orders. It was sought and granted without me even being present, with the initial order not even having my correct name on it, by a woman that I hadn’t even seen in months, and in that order she alleged that I did things in stalking her that were impossible because I was not even in the country when they were alleged to have happened.

David Letterman was once subject to a DV order that was obtained by a woman who lived thousands of miles away, after the woman alleged that they were in a secret affair and that Letterman was sending her secret messages using his top 10 lists as a code. Using accusations of domestic violence has become a common tactic for women who wish to win divorce and child custody cases, as well as angry girlfriends who wish to get back at former boyfriends. Men have no legal recourse against women who are proven to be lying.

The decision that is the subject of this post fixes some of that. That isn’t how the left, or apparently Brett Kavanaugh, sees it. Kavanaugh wrote a concurring opinion, making the case that sometimes we have to weigh in on whether or not a law is a good idea.

That’s where he is wrong.

The Amendment says “shall not be infringed.” It doesn’t say “…unless you have a really good reason to do so.” The Supreme Court isn’t there to decide whether or not a law is a good idea. The court is there to decide whether or not a particular law comports with the Constitution. All of the authority of the government derives from the Constitution. Any power or authority that the government takes upon itself that is outside of that authority is nothing more than tyranny, an unconstitutional power grab that is based upon the principle of “might makes right” that flies in the face of the principles upon which the “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” was built upon.

There are those who would try and make the case that there is some balancing act to be done, but that isn’t how our government is supposed to work. Thomas sees that. Scalia, although a pragmatic sort of man, saw that as well. Kavanaugh does not.

So it would seem. With “conservative” Justices like Kavanaugh and Roberts for (putative) friends, the Constitution will never want for enemies. Sadly, it ain’t as if it doesn’t have enough of those already.

Update! Just read it myself, and DM is right: the above-cited Gun Free Zone post is indeed well worth a look. The Salon one he also linked, on the other hand, is precisely the kind of intellectually-tortured, logic-pretzeling codswallop we’ve all come to expect from the hoplophobic Goosesteppin’ Left.

5

Yes, Virginia, there ARE good people left in this world

Posted on February 4, 2023February 4, 2023 by Mike

NOTE TO READERS: When I mentioned to BCE earlier that I was considering maybe relating the below story to you CF Lifers, he gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to the idea. So here t’is; this really did happen, and every word of it is true.

So night before last I went to the Murphy’s about three miles from the house to put a little gas in the car, where I had myself a most interesting encounter. I get the gas in the tank, screw the cap on, and then roll around to the passenger door, which is the only way I can get in, having to disassemble the wheelchair, drag the whole mess through the door and onto the passenger seat, then scoot my baggy butt on over to the driver’s side. Ain’t no way the trick can be turned from the driver’s side, the steering column is in the way. Go ahead, ask me how I know.

Anyways, I had both the main wheels off, the seat-back folded down, and was just beginning my rasslin’ match with the chassis when a tall, slim young man, probably about 30 or so, walked up. He was neatly dressed and coiffed, not any kind of ruffian, at least by my admittedly dim lights. And hey, being something of a ruffian myself, I know one when I see one.

“Can I help you with that?” says he. I told him nah, no need, but thanks; I’ve got this whole PITA rotation pretty much down to a science by now, thanks to having done it way too many times. But, I said, if you have a minute you can close the door behind me when I’m in and done, which is the biggest pain of the whole ordeal. He said he’d be happy to, then whips out his wallet. “Do you need any money?”

Again, I told him I was okay, inasmuch as any of us can really say so with that jackass we got squatting in the White House making a mess of the entire damned country. He chuckled, shook his head, and pulled out a few bills, about ten bucks or so it was. I tried to turn him down again, but after a bit more back and forth he just crammed the money into my hand insistently enough that suddenly it felt somewhat rude to keep declining. So I finally gave up, thanked him, and took the dough.

Which is when he got down to the meat of the matter with: “May I ask you kind of a personal question?” “Sure, fire away.” Then he did.

“Do you believe in God?” Sayeth I, “Yes, I surely do.” “Do you believe in Jesus Christ?” Again, I answered in the affirmative, then elaborated: “I was raised in the First United Methodist Church in Mt Holly. My mom worked for years as church secretary; I sang in the choir as soon as I was old enough; was asked by the music director to be the church organist when I was fourteen, which I declined to do because we have a for-real pipe organ with three manuals, a full pedal clavier, and a console with I don’t even know how many stops, not one item of which I know very much about. I attended vacation Bible school every summer. My whole family on my dad’s side were very active in our church their whole lives, in fact amounted to pretty much the backbone of it. I made sure that was where my daughter attended kindergarten a few years back, over my self-professed atheist ex-wife’s objections.”

“So yeah, even though I would never lay claim to being as good a Christian as I could or should be—I’m a sinner just like everybody else is, after all—I am most definitely a Christian.”

He asked me my name, then asked if I would mind if he prayed for me. I told him I would greatly appreciate that, since nowadays I figure we all need all the help we can get. He smiled, took my hand in his, and bowed his head.

“Dear Lord, I pray that you will heal Mike in his body, his mind, and his spirit. Please remove all disease, all sickness of any kind, from his body and his heart. If You will it, allow him to regrow his left leg as well. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I also know that with You, all things are possible. Guide him on Your righteous path, and let Your light and your grace shine upon Him. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.”

I repeated the final line of this man’s prayer myself, then released his hand and raised my own head to look at the kind-hearted, humble stranger. I swear to one and all, I felt the stump of my left leg tingling when he asked that God might regrow it, strongly enough that it was almost creepy. It weirded me out just a little, that tingling sensation, it truly did.

He told me that when he pulled into Murphy’s and saw me struggling to get that danged wheelchair into my battered, beat-up old piece of junk car, he heard God’s voice in his ear, instructing him to go over and see if there might be some way he could assist me, with anything at all. And so he did.

After I thanked him profusely, he smiled at me one last time, shook my hand, and walked on into the convenience store. I started up the car and drove back home. That unlooked-for encounter has stuck with me these last two days, and I expect I’ll carry it with me for the rest of my life. Or so I hope, anyway. It was a wonderful thing, and I can’t begin to express how fortunate I feel to have received such a powerful gift from a perfect stranger.

It occurs to me now that I really ought to have asked this fella what church he attends, because any church that’s turning out good, true Christians like himself is a church worth knowing about.

9

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