Reactions to Biden’s COVID speech on vaccination mandates
I’ve already said a few things earlier today. But I’ll reiterate that this COVID mandate business is being done in order to change the subject from the horror show in Afghanistan to a topic that Biden and his aides think is his strong suit.
I wonder if they are miscalculating once again. It really depends on how many Americans remain interested in liberty. I truly don’t know the answer, but that is the question.
Americans seem appallingly willing to sign away their rights–and worse, other people’s rights–for the sake of “public health.”…
What is still not clear to me is why I, having been vaccinated long ago, should care whether others choose to do the same. If the vaccine works, I have nothing to fear from them. If it doesn’t work, they shouldn’t be forced to submit to it.
Increasingly, it appears that the rationale for vaccination is that you still may catch covid, but your infection won’t be as severe as it might otherwise be. Fine: but for people under 60, covid infections are rarely severe in the first place. Young people who think they have little to fear from covid whether they are vaccinated or not are, in general, right. So the government should not try to dictate their health care decisions. Their bodies, their choice.
…The lawsuits will begin to fly as soon as the starting gun goes off.
Ace has this to say:
A friend emailed me to say Jesse Waters had made a good point on the Fox five o’clock show: Biden is not just attempting to boost his own popularity by demonizing a minority — a “distinct” minority, he said twice, with hissing distaste, as if it were a racial slur — but is setting up an excuse for why the economy is tanking under him.
When the economy continues to tank, and inflation continues to soar, Biden will just blame the unvaccinated.
I’d go further and say This is the entire reason for this unconstitutional power-grab. He knows he faces an increasingly likely wipe-out in 2022: He must do something, then, to change the trajectory.
If he can’t fix the economy, he’ll fix blame…
So divide, divide the country. Attempt to demonize a “distinct” minority to become the hate-objects and scapegoats for a transitory majority, keeping them together through shared, stoked hatred just long enough to get through 2022.
This is fascism.
Direct all of the country’s anger towards a “distinct” minority. Blame the Jews. Wait, I mean blame the unvaccinated, who are the subversive wreckers undermining society with their clannish, inscrutable ways.
A lot of those unvaccinated are black, of course. But Biden is counting on black loyalty to the Democrat Party to be absolute.
Two things come to mind. The first is Sarah Conly – remember her? Conly is the Bowdoin professor who wrote the 2013 book Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism, in favor of more government control to ostensibly promote better health. I wrote about her and her book quite a few times – for example, here and here.
And of course, there’s always that evergreen work by the genius known as Dostoevsky. I’m speaking of Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” part of the book The Brothers Karamazov.
In the following passage the Grand Inquisitor is addressing Jesus, who has come back to earth. Although the Inquisitor is a man of the Church, he is not in favor of what he believes Jesus offers to humankind, which is free will. Instead, the Inquisitor proposes to enslave people, and he tells Jesus how he will go about doing it. The Inquisitor speaks here of food, but I think what he says applies just as well to the current situation:
Command that these stones be made bread–and mankind will run after Thee, obedient and grateful like a herd of cattle. But even then it will be ever diffident and trembling, lest Thou should take away Thy hand, and they lose thereby their bread! Thou didst refuse to accept the offer for fear of depriving men of their free choice; for where is there freedom of choice where men are bribed with bread? Man shall not live by bread alone– was Thine answer. Thou knewest not, it seems, that it was precisely in the name of that earthly bread that the terrestrial spirit would one day rise against, struggle with, and finally conquer Thee…
Knowest Thou not that, but a few centuries hence, and the whole of mankind will have proclaimed in its wisdom and through its mouthpiece, Science, that there is no more crime, hence no more sin on earth, but only hungry people? “Feed us first and then command us to be virtuous!” will be the words written upon the banner lifted against Thee–a banner which shall destroy Thy Church to its very foundations, and in the place of Thy Temple shall raise once more the terrible Tower of Babel…
…It is then that we will finish building their tower for them. For they alone who feed them shall finish it, and we shall feed them in Thy name, and lying to them that it is in that name. Oh, never, never, will they learn to feed themselves without our help! No science will ever give them bread so long as they remain free, so long as they refuse to lay that freedom at our feet, and say: “Enslave, but feed us!” That day must come when men will understand that freedom and daily bread enough to satisfy all are unthinkable and can never be had together, as men will never be able to fairly divide the two among themselves. And they will also learn that they can never be free, for they are weak, vicious, miserable nonentities born wicked and rebellious. Thou has promised to them the bread of life, the bread of heaven; but I ask Thee again, can that bread ever equal in the sight of the weak and the vicious, the ever ungrateful human race, their daily bread on earth? And even supposing that thousands and tens of thousands follow Thee in the name of, and for the sake of, Thy heavenly bread, what will become of the millions and hundreds of millions of human beings too weak to scorn the earthly for the sake of Thy heavenly bread?…In our sight and for our purpose the weak and the lowly are the more dear to us. True, they are vicious and rebellious, but we will force them into obedience, and it is they who will admire us the most. They will regard us as gods, and feel grateful to those who have consented to lead the masses and bear their burden of freedom by ruling over them–so terrible will that freedom at last appear to men!
The COVID scare and the COVID vaccine mandates aren’t about food, but they are about the same thing: liberty versus government control “for your own good.” And, just as the Inquisitor said, there are all too many people willing to lay down their liberty – or, as Conly says, their autonomy – for what they perceive to be protection from risk.
ADDENDUM: In his speech, Biden says, “This is not about freedom or personal choice.” And of course he’s right. It’s about lack of freedom (actually, liberty) and personal choice.
Take a look at the comments to the video I just linked above.
ADDENDUM II: Another video:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Beyond the naked authoritarianism of this is also the economic part that Jesse Watters alluded to. I don’t know about the ‘economy tanking’ as I grow tired of these kind of throw away lines by too many on the right but if you take these mandates seriously then they are going to be very bad for workers and businesses.
First, if you employ 105 workers what is the smart move? Let a few go and get under 100 of course.
Second, Has anybody been in a grocery store lately? The shelves are varying levels of empty mainly because of all kinds of labor shortages and other supple chain issues. The JOLTS report this week showed 10.9 million job openings a record since they have been keeping track.
With this they are making it harder for employers to fill job openings and giving them incentive to actually cut jobs.
What a mess.
On a side note I hope everyone is enjoying the restoration of norms.
Re: labor shortages. Took my wife to the dentist today for a cleaning. Found out they only have 1 dental hygienist around for now, used to have at least 4 that I knew of. Everyone I talk to that’s working talks about having fewer people and not being able to get any to fill open positions.
About the mandate, of course Biden needs scapegoats. All tyrants do to deflect the anger from themselves. Xi is working on that too for his own reasons.
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/472700/
This was apparently at a Jimmy John’s in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue and I saw a notice at a Subway saying they were closing at 6 pm every night because they didn’t have enough workers. I’ve heard similar things from other restaurants also. So, yeah, let’s make it harder to hire workers.
https://twitter.com/KIRORadio/status/1433874184065609729
Boss the comments there are the best.
I’ve been pretty p.o.’ed about businesses going into overdrive to help advance Dem policies. For example, Facebook/Twitter censorship of any info that contradicts official FDA pronouncements. Or Amazon and others who delight into snuffing out conservative speech.
But in this case a business owner comments that firms who require vaxx for employment will include many who are rugged by their insurance companies. No vaxx policy, no business insurance.
That will be the choke point. Of course, there may be many who are relieved to have an excuse …
Let’s see:
1) unvaxxed can get sick
2) unvaxxed can spread the virus if sick
3) vaxxed can get sick
4) unvaxxed can spread the virus if sick
5) infected/recovered can have natural antibodies that protect well, yet not have a vaxx passport
Therefore: the pandemic can be stopped if everyone gets vaxxed.
QED
Anyone spot any holes, or does the logic hold up?
New found respect for the most vilified people in the world, the YouTube commenter.
This will be challenged all the way to supreme court. Id bet the farm Supremes let it stand for Biden administration employees. All the others … no way Jose!
jack,
Yep, that would be my bet also. This needs to be done quickly and the squishes like Kavanaugh need to have learned their lessons from the eviction case.
Biden says, “This is not about freedom or personal choice.” And of course he’s right. It’s about lack of freedom (actually, liberty) and personal choice.
While it is not hard to believe that Biden is this tone deaf, I’m a little shocked that his speech writers and handlers are. Of course, Joe could be overriding said handlers.
My favorite Youtube comment on Biden’s speech:
Kevin S
4 Stages of Manipulation: Fear, Flattery, Bribery, Violence.
As to Biden doing this to distract from Afghanistan I’m not sure I buy that. Bad as that has been I have not heard very many people talking about it at anywhere near the level of conservative media where as masks and other mandates come up in conversation every damn day and I have heard from numerous people in the last couple hours completely pissed off about this by Biden and King Jay of WA got in on it today also.
This garbage affects everybody where as Afghanistan may but it’s in a far less immediately obvious way.
To add to my last comment you don’t change the subject from something that affects almost no one’s day to day life to something that affects almost everyone in some way.
The stupidity of this is hard to believe. Protecting the vaxxed from the unvaxxed, and totally ignoring the natural immunity of people who’ve had the disease, now probably well over one-third of the population, who don’t need a vaccine at all.
Griffin:
But he thinks people will like this.
Second, Has anybody been in a grocery store lately? The shelves are varying levels of empty mainly because of all kinds of labor shortages and other supple chain issues.
Been just yesterday. No, the shelves were not understocked.
Well I don’t know what to tell you the last couple of times I have gone to WalMart they have had almost no bottled water the soft drink aisle was about half full and canned foods were short of supply.
There have been numerous stories about truck driver shortages and the ports on the west coast are all completely messed up with huge amounts of containers waiting to be distributed but lacking the work force to take them out combined with huge numbers of empty containers waiting to return to Asia and this is all leading to massive supply chain problems.
There was an article in the WSJ I think that quoted numerous grocery execs about deliveries coming in half full or less.
Maybe it’s not as bad where you are but it assuredly is on the west coast.
I am watching the replay of a Euro PGA golf tournament going on Today in Surrey, England. 100,000 spectators per the announcers.
Not a mask in sight.
Boatbuilder,
In the up and down see saw the UK has overtaken the US on the sanity scale. We’ll see if it lasts.
They also have much, much better data then the US where it is virtually impossible to analyze because health bureaucrats just make proclamations without backing them up.
P.S.- Wentworth is awesome.
While so-called “breakthrough infections” among this [vaccinated] group do happen, they remain the exception: In fact, recent data indicates there is only 1 confirmed positive case per 5,000 fully vaccinated Americans per week. — Whitehouse
Some version of that was in the speech. Don’t you love it? Baffle them with bullsh_t. They could tell us the stats. for vaccinated versus unvaccinated. But no. That would be too informative. Just spout some numbers that seemingly look good for vaccinated people. “We’re following the science man!”
And what is a confirmed positive case as opposed to an unconfirmed positive case?
1/5,000 positive per week = 1/35,000 positive per day = 1/100 positive per year.
TommyJay,
Kevin Roche is very good and he is pretty rosy on vaccine efficacy but in this he says 1/3 of cases right now are vaxxed and it will obviously only get higher.
https://healthy-skeptic.com/2021/09/09/joe-biden-is-a-senile-jackass/
The entire Left Wing leadership of the Democrats, truly are evil people, aren’t they?
LOL. What do your girlfriends say now? Why, by and large, I’d wager it is the same thing they said before.
When people make a decision to sell their souls ( not that they believe in such nonsense anyway) they are not likely to change their minds over the little details of the contract that emerge later. They are generally Ok with it. They knew what a “no limits” deal was before they ever assented. What use had they for an idea only men mostly cared for, in the first place?
The wheel-spinning outrage machine is what I find funny now. “Who did this to us? How can they get away with it?”
Look to our cherished neighbors and relatives, and then look in the mirror. Easy Peasy.
Griffin,
If they could honestly tell us that an unvaxxed person is 50 or 100 times more likely to get sick than a vaxxed person, they would. But they don’t because they can’t. The semi-honest person would therefore dodge the quantitative aspect entirely, but instead they feed us crap numbers.
Using very rough estimates, the Roche 1/3 number would suggest that vaccination cuts your probability of getting infected in half. Not great, but not useless.
Easy squezzy
Exactly so.
We are fucked by our neighbors.
.
Though not surprised, I am continually disappointed that my close friends — for all our civil libertarian activism, going back decades — have proved completely incapable of recognizing authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and fascism now that it’s staring all of us right in the face. Has anyone, anywhere, written anything about how it feels to watch your nearest and dearest turn into fucking nazis? I’d really like to know. My morale is taking a massive hit.
Biden and his lunatic Administration are erratic imbeciles, what can one say?
The supply lines are not yet well, not yet recovered to approximate pre-COVID plenty – I too am coming across regular, though limited, shortages at many marketplaces, including Amazon (perhaps the most affected with things out-of-stock). If you inspect your grocery shelves carefully, you might discover that there are artful ways to present stacked goods that cover empty spaces behind, just f’rinstance.
I found this Matt Stoller substack essay very interesting today.
Counterfeit Capitalism and the Problem with Shortages.
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/counterfeit-capitalism-why-a-monopolized
“What is still not clear to me is why I, having been vaccinated long ago, should care whether others choose to do the same. If the vaccine works, I have nothing to fear from them.” John Hinderaker
That’s so obviously true that it begs the question; what do they hope to accomplish? Control? Sure some but not nearly enough to decide who wins. And they are all about winning. Incremental steps toward ever greater control are sure to bring resistance.
I can’t prove this but I can’t rid myself of the suspicion that something very dark, even darker than tyranny, lies down the path the Left’s elite are insisting Americans take.
I ask myself what people who deeply ‘believe’ in “climate change” tell themselves is at base needed for climate change to be defeated? The public is not going to give up modern conveniences. But if there are less people, then there’s less carbon emitted into the atmosphere and less pollution.
Ultimately, fewer people is the bottom line.
To save the planet and to save the human race… what means is forbidden? Does not that end justify whatever means are necessary?
The most efficacious way to accomplish such a goal is through ‘voluntary’ extermination.
Too terrible to contemplate? Not for fanatics its not. After all, it would be for the greater good.
Correction:
If 2/3 of people are vaccinated and 1/3 of all infection cases are vaccinated people (Kevin Roche number), then the vax breakthrough rate is 25%. So vaccination cuts your risk of infection by a factor of 4.
Been just yesterday. No, the shelves were not understocked.
Just can’t keep from playing the little contrarian among other posters, can we?
A practicing doctor who got Covid in early 2020 and recovered. He regularly tests his natural antibody levels, they’re excellent.
He will be suing to keep his job and to have access to NY restaurants etc.
Because he’s decided not to vaxx.
https://youtu.be/aU7uBmLUiiY
Don’t think for a minute that Joke Bidet is running the show; he is just the senile and evil buffoon trotted out to make the speeches.
He is being run and controlled by the many dozens of Stalin-wannabe power brokers within the extreme left of the Obama socialist / neo-communist / demokrat party, and they mean to “fundamentally transform” the USA.
Joke Bidet is just the figurehead.
And there are thousands within the Federal bureaucracy that are aligned with Bidet (they wish to keep their jobs and their pensions – they are “our” Nomeklatura) and will enforce his edicts one way or another.
No need to mandate anything; there are a many ways to skin a cat.
And at the state / city level – think California and LA , SF, etc; NY and NYC, etc – are all in with Bidet’s usurpation of power and imposition of a tyranny upon the citizenry.
These people mean business; they are truly evil and they will not give up. They will do anything and everything to solidify their power. It does not bother them one bit that they are blatantly and persistently lying to the American people. This should tell all of us what these leftist elitists think of the American people; they literally hate us.
They have no problems finding many other folks – Psaki, et. al., – to make public statements that are bald face lies.
The media will fall into line as they always do, for they too hate the fundamental idea of individual freedom. God forbid that “average” folks are allowed to make choices that differ from those of the self anointed elites.
As for the next presidential election, rest assured the fix is already in.
This is not looking good.
There is no way to tell how all of this will unfold.
Will the American people just suck it all up, wrinkle up like a cheap suit and wind up under the control of an American version of Stalin or Hitler or Castro?
Who knows.
I was talking with my sister-in-law earlier. She has a co-worker with Lyme disease who is on lots of meds. How do companies decide who is exempt from the vaccine mandate? Do the company heads halfway around the country get to decide, or does the store manager who sees the person every day and knows what she is going through?
Like a nightmare or a Sci-Fi movie, eh, Molly? You wake up and find that about half the population are actually Pod People or wannabe’s.
I’m just going to ruminate out loud here, tossing out some tentative and only partly thought through impressions.
I have always wondered about a certain lacunae in the discipline of psychology. You can get an idea of what I am referring to when you consider the discipline characterized as, “The psychology of adjustment” or some similar formulation.
The idea is adaptation and social integration without too much concern for any “values” other than smooth personal functioning on the one hand, and perhaps a presumptive or unexamined default ethic of maximal social inclusion on the other hand.
That which is ignored is not just “real ethics”, but strangely too, any attempt at a taxonomy and a study of the range human independent-mindedness and conformity; as psychological impulses per se
And before anyone starts demurring, “But Kohlberg!”, or “But Adorno and Frenkel!” it should be stipulated that what I am talking about is a potential metric or scheme of analysis for not higher or more purely altruistic social values blah blah blah, but of the psychic need for affiliation and inclusion above all else in the first place.
And although I admit my familiarity with the literature is 40 years out of date, I do not recall anything relating to an analysis of natural or innate dispositional differences in humans in such a personality or character trait; except possibly the obverse side of the coin labeled “reactance as a trait of libertarians”, as characterized by Haidt.
A large number of our ostensible peers seem to be – and I can only think of comical terms from pop culture for it – a kind of morally labile quasi-zombie, or “Borg” whose notion of themselves as a distinct individual responsible for their acts, does not really even register with them as a notion clear enough to be consciously rejected.
All that comes readily to my mind that at least tangentially addresses this profound issue, are some studies of the differences based on the famous distinction that was once drawn between Japanese and American moral foundations: one based on shame and the other on guilt. And then various articles following up on that theme.
So from this perspective then, there seems to never have been much interest in psychological circles at all in expanding on this very fundamental issue.
When I reflect on it, it seems to me that there has been a great movement in America to adopt a morality of “liberation” which in terms of a “tactical move” implies adopting a more Japanese-like “every-body does it” moral framework in which “evolving social mores” and a socially conscious individual focus, replace the traditional western Man to God polarity, and thereby relieve many more than willing individuals of the burden of a private conscience.
At the cost of course, of that individual ceasing to be – at least as defined within the scheme and contract – an independent moral locus: becoming instead, a social tool which may freely consume and ejaculate with abandon and until it is commanded to stop, and informed it must now cease to be.
That is a price many seem not only willing but innately predisposed to pay.
Who they are and why they are like that is a question that seems to me at least, to be one of great interest.
And, I think it relates more or less directly to the question of republican virtue: self-governance and responsibility written with a small “s” leading right to the same spelled with capitals as Self-Government.
If there are any familiar with the current clinical psychological literature on this (apart from Haidt) I’d be interested in the references.
I see a significant number of shortages in my local grocery store. Not a major problem, but a fair number of empty spaces on shelves with a little tag saying something like “sorry, supplier problems.” No regular Rotels, for instance, last week, and just a few cans of the others.
If you’re scared, various cures MUST work. if they don’t work, we’re screwed. So anything the shaman comes up with MUST work. The alternative is too terrible to contemplate.
The shaman cannot be seen to have failed, or…we’re screwed.
If I were in a conversation with a mush head….. But I try not to. I don’t kick a dog who doesn’t know what he’s done wrong. It would be the same expression on a mush head’s face if I were to ask what world-turned-upside-down tactics we are supposed to deploy to address worse risks. Do we mask against seasonal flu? Why not? Kids wear helmets while riding in a car? Why not?
Has anybody done the math? How many deaths due to auto accidents per 100k miles? If each trip to vax ten million kids averages eight miles round trip–pick your own–that’ 80 million miles. But say there are siblings. So, 75 million miles. How many deaths in 75 million miles? How many deaths among untaxed kids? Anybody know? Anybody ask? Why not Jeez, I crack myself up.
It is because these questions are not asked that the little Hitlers, the Karens, the perpetually terrified can be manipulated. But I date myself. The answers make no difference.
Richard Aubrey–
Glenn Greenwald wrote a recent column on Substack about this issue: “The Bizarre Refusal to Apply Cost-Benefit Analysis to COVID Debates: Are those who oppose a ban on cars or a radical reduction in speed limits sociopaths, given the huge number of people they are knowingly consigning to death or maiming?”
“Whatever is true about motives, what is unacceptable — sociopathic, really — is the insistence on assigning severe costs to just one side of the ledger (harms from COVID itself) while categorically refusing to recognize let alone value the costs on the other side of the ledger (from severe, enduring anti-COVID disruptions to and restrictions on life). Given the reflexive rage that is produced when one tries to make this argument — what immediately emerges are accusations that one is indifferent to COVID deaths — I wanted to walk through the evidence and rationale demonstrating why this approach is reckless, immoral and irrational.”
Greenwald produced a 30-minute video on the issue, which is embedded at the link and you can watch it there:
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-bizarre-refusal-to-apply-cost
Just can’t keep from playing the little contrarian among other posters, can we?
Uh, no, the shelves at my regular groceries are not understocked. Sorry that irritates you.
“Sorry that irritates you.“
Hey, everybody! Guy who spews out facts and data every time he farts now wants to pretend he doesn’t understand the limitations of anecdotal evidence!
And I hate to say this is all about Trump but it is all about Trump. The American managerial class and its admirers believe in Donald Trump’s incompetence more than anything else in the world. To them, Trump was the only reason COVID was a problem. Trump being gone and COVID remaining a problem causes cognitive dissonance in all but the most mentally decrepit and anger is the response.
This seems to be the systemic flaw underlying most every current trouble. The people who think they should be in charge can’t ever be wrong about anything so every error or failure is met with denial or doubling down.
Mike
DNW:
Perhaps you are referring to research on conformity? See also this.
No vax is required to protect against sexually-transmitted diseases. People with sexually-transmitted diseases are worse than anti-vaxxers and should be denied employment, education, medical care, suffrage, welfare….
MBunge – I’m not sure it’s all about Trump (though Trump is certainly part of it). I don’t think the progressive worldview can handle a disease that humans are incapable of eliminating.
So when it first hit, it must have been Trump’s fault. Now it must be the fault of Republican governors. The idea that this is just what covid is and that we have to live with it simply doesn’t compute in the progressive worldview.
Instead of accepting reality, they’re lashing out. It’s frightening.
Biden’s handlers are motivated by their belief that anti vaxxers = Trump supporters. The same crowd that stormed the Capitol. Have to control them and punish them.
Re: Biden’s Afghanistan disaster–
It is notable that, while it is being reported that “thousands” of Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan, commenters have noticed the odd fact that—despite what one would think would be all sorts of “human interest” stories featuring such American evacuees flooding the media i.e. close calls, whole families being able to get out, children saved, etc.–good stories and great for circulation, right?—no one has seen any interviews of or stories featuring any one of these returning American evacuees reported in any media.
Odd, isn’t it.
On “understocked:”
What I’ve noticed is that items I regularly buy will disappear from the shelves for a week or two or more and then reappear and some other item is not to be found. This has caused me to keep a large stock at home of any that are not perishable and of ones that are have as much as I can keep and replenish every trip.
I/we got used to the stores always having some of everything and so at home ran like a “just-in-time” business popping down to the store whenever I/we ran out. The paper product problem of last year showed that a good sized home stock was needed for items used on a regular basis. This is my experience.
“Dead men tell no tales” about a “dog that didn’t bark” or even wag. If we only had a “gaslight” to see and tally the tales.
Bauxite @ 7:46 said;
“….. I don’t think the progressive worldview can handle a disease that humans are incapable of eliminating…….”
Yes they can, but only if it politically suits them.
Progressives are driven by the pursuit and attainment of power. They will embrace any cause, jump on any wagon, as long as they believe it is a step in achieving this goal.
If implementing a policy that ostensibly is for the common good, AND requires massive government control and suppression of individual liberties, then liberal progressives / communists / the demonkrats will support it.
They could give a f**k about whether or not any disease or policy or anything is harmful to other’s.
Recall the AIDS “epidemic,” which was not in any sense an epidemic. The progressives got on this bandwagon because they felt it would promote their cause; make them appear as “caring,” etc., but they also knew that the vast majority of gays are liberal progressives.
Do you honestly think that if the vast majority of gays were conservatives, AIDS would then be considered an epidemic?
I don’t think so.
We all would have been hearing how gays who contracted AIDS deserved it because they were……….you know.
We all have to get over the notion that “we” all want the same outcomes, but differ only in the means to attain that outcome.
Castro, Lenin, Mao, Chavez, Kim Jong, Stalin, Hitler…..and the hit parade goes on …..had very different notions than you or I of what constitutes the “desired” outcomes.”
The demonkratic party of today is Hitler’s party in early 1933, Lenin’s party in 1918, Castro’s party in January 1959 and Hugo Chavez’s party the day the voters there – in their stupidity and ignorance – willingly committed national suicide and put that little Hitler into office.
(Then again, we here in the USA are in no position to criticize voters of other nations, considering who “our” president is).
Hitler’s Nazi Party never won more than 38% of the vote in any national election. My point here is that demons who become leaders do NOT require a majority of the people to support them; just a much much smaller group willing to do whatever it takes to prevail, using any and all means, legal or otherwise (or more likely, implementing “emergency” measures for the public good).
And just as important, if not more so, is the “opposition” sitting on its hands with their thumbs up their anuses doing nothing at all (geez, where are the republicans contesting Joke Bidet’s, by the stroke of a pen, overturning duly enacted immigration laws?? where is the opposition to any executive order that overturns duly established laws??).
That’s right, just usurp power incrementally, all in the “best interests” of the people.
That ‘s how it starts.
How does it end.
Who knows, but
Just look at history.
I haven’t run across any of these “American evacuees return to the U.S.” stories–perhaps you have–but I’d think that “government contractor/educator/good Samaritan/local pastor Billy Bob and his family escape from Afghanistan” type stories would be everywhere, especially in local news sources and, it seems as if they aren’t.
By next week, there will be lawsuits and soon to follow nationwide injunctions against this. The federal government has no general police power for health. Tenth Amendment.
The biggest joke is that the postal union got an exemption for postal workers. Huh?
My job is to go into stores and if a customer’s product isn’t on the shelf, in the right place with a price tag, to make sure that it is in place, neat, and tagged–among other tasks.
Anyone who thinks there aren’t grocery shortages isn’t paying attention. I see them every day. A popular cookie is out of stock for two months. Four cases on order, but none in the trucks on the way, none in the warehouses. It’s all kinds of items, really.
Christmas is coming, and the Walmarts I visit have half-empty toy aisles. They should be fully stocked with pallets more in the back, by now.
I talked to a contractor who does awnings in Arizona. Awnings are essential to life here. He has five crews, but needs 12 crews. No workers, and this is in a town with many thousands of illegal construction workers.
A local Walmart–granted, one of the largest in the western US–is short 80 full time workers. At any moment there’s 20 less people to do the work. And Walmart has been paying more and more, and increasing benefits.
Oh, yeah. Motor oil is just coming back into full stock. But the oil change places have 8 stalls and only four workers.
My guess as to why they are not showing feel good stories about Americans returned from Afghanistan is two fold.
1. Few of the returnees have kind words for the President.
2. The ones that do will validate others complaining about the handling of the evacuation and promote talking about those left behind.
Been just yesterday. No, the shelves were not understocked.
Just can’t keep from playing the little contrarian among other posters, can we?
Not my experience in Tucson AZ. Multiple shortages.
One interesting item in the Biden mandates. Postal workers are exempt. What is the percentage of postal workers who are black? 50% ? 75% ?
Reading the Grand Inquisitor’s speech, I found myself thinking of what Arnim Zola said in Captain America: The Winter Soldier when he was explaining HYDRA ‘s long-term strategy to Captain America and Black Widow:
“HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you tried to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew, a beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For 70 years, HYDRA has been secretly feeding crises, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed. […] HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA’s New World Order will arise.”
I will also note that when Supreme Chancellor Palpatine announced that he was now Emperor Palpatine, he offered the following justification: “In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society.”
Gordon Scott: Since you seem to have some professional experience in this area, perhaps you can answer a question: What happened to the Suzy Qs? I haven’t seen any in the grocery store for about a year. The store has Ho-Hos, Ding-Dongs, Sno-Balls, Donettes, Cupcakes, and about a dozen different types of Twinkies, but no Suzy Qs at all.
Though they are really good, I can’t imagine people are hoarding them like toilet paper. Is there a rational explanation for their absence?
Not my experience in Tucson AZ. Multiple shortages.
Multiple shortages in southern CT too. Cleaning supplies, pet food, skim milk, chicken, ground beef, deli items, on and on.
And the supermarkets are all begging for full-time as well as part-time workers.
mkent: Hostess is not one of my customers, so I have no special insights. But what I am seeing within various company’s brand lines: Certain products are never out of stock. These are usually the top sellers. But a particular variety that is not a top seller will go out, and often for weeks. Then it comes back, but another variety is suddenly impossible to get.
What’s more confusing is that you may be able to find what you want in a grocery store with a different supplier. Gamesa is a Mexican brand owned by Frito Lay. They have a sandwich cookie with orange flavor. It’s just now showing up again in the area Walmarts after about 8 weeks. But that whole time, it could be found at Safeway/Albertson’s stores.
I advise against buying the Flor de Naranjo, as well as the chocolate Emperadors. Neither will last 24 hours once opened. And then you’ve consumed a whole box of cookies, and are planning a trip to get more . . . .
Every adult should be vaccinated, unless they have a bona fide medical exemption.
No adult should be forced to be vaccinated by blanket government edict.
We’re having low-level grocery stock problems. Nothing like the empty shelves in the spring of 2020, but consistent outages, familiar brands disappearing for weeks at a time, more empty spaces than usual on the shelves. This is something I’ve been used to see every week or so, when the supply truck is due, but lately it’s nearly every day. When the supply truck comes, a lot of things just aren’t on it.
The nearest small town’s restaurants are having a hard time staying open for lack of staff.
Uh, no, the shelves at my regular groceries are not understocked. Sorry that irritates you.
Doesn’t irritate me that you have regularly stocked shelves. Does irritate me a little that you seem to devote more time on here attempting to dispute others’ remarks than contributing something of substance. Especially when you think that your ‘anecdotal evidence’ trumps someone else’s.
Just adding to the anecdotal accounts:
My local store has been having numerous shortages in bottled water, Gatorade, cereal and frozen vegetables for about 6 months now.
I’m not a Gatorade fan but it’s hard not to notice that aisle has been empty (as in not a single bottle) in at least a month.
As far as I’m concerned the Biden Administration and all of its functionaries and spokesmen—including the MSM— have absolutely no credibility.
A more sinister explanation is that far less than those reported “thousands” of Americans have actually been evacuated, thus the absence of stories.
Still one of my all time favorite movie scenes…
https://youtu.be/1VR3Av9qfZc
“A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running; I aim to misbehave.” – Malcolm Reynolds
Doesn’t irritate me that you have regularly stocked shelves. Does irritate me a little that you seem to devote more time on here attempting to dispute others’ remarks than contributing something of substance. Especially when you think that your ‘anecdotal evidence’ trumps someone else’s.
OlderandWheezier:
That’s just the way AD rolls. It’s amusing that he is totally oblivious to it.
Yesterday I couldn’t find canned refried beans at a large grocery store in Albuquerque. I thought there were state laws about that…
Anecdotal here.
In caring for my wife I need a certain product which we for years bought at Walmart because it was the cheapest. A couple months ago it disappeared from the shelves. Not out of stock but there was no longer even a space with the price/upc marker anywhere. Other name brands of it would have one or none at each visit.
Looking at Amazon I found a brand and ordered some to try. It worked fine so I ordered a larger amount. Then at the beginning of this month I put in another order for a large quantity to get stocked up. after a few days I got this email.
“Unfortunately the item you have purchased is on a manufacture backorder. We will be canceling your order at this time.”
Went back and found it available from another source at a higher price so I put in another order. This is the type of thing that has been going on for the past year or more. If it wasn’t for online I’d be stuck with what I could find locally.
I will give Biden credit for pushing for more monoclonal antibody treatments. Didn’t notice? Apparently none of the MSM did either. Nothing about it on the news last night or in the newspaper this morning. Why are the institutions so opposed to therapeutic treatment of vulnerable people to keep them out of the hospital? The Snohomish County Health Department does not recognize the treatment as of yesterday. Will they begin to recognize and promote it to the public now? Crickets so far.
The other good thing is that you can buy a home test kit from Amazon/Walgreens/CVS/etc. at cost. Right now we only have three testing sites in the county – none convenient for me to access. If I develop symptoms I can diagnose myself rather quickly at home. I like that idea.
It seems clear that the vaccinations are not stopping the spread of the virus. What they seem to be doing is cutting the rate of serious illness. Herd immunity? It now seems likely that herd immunity will only be attained when enough people have actually had the virus and recovered. Quite a way off it appears. IMO this is going to last longer than anyone thought it would. Inconvenient fact for the Dems and Biden who wanted everyone to believe they would stop the virus and make Trump look like a chump.
J.J.:
If vaccines mean that COVID becomes mild for almost everyone who is vaccinated, once almost everyone is vaccinated then it becomes like flu or the common cold, and why should we care what the case numbers are?
I am not in favor of vaccine mandates, however.
@ MollyG > “Though not surprised, I am continually disappointed that my close friends — for all our civil libertarian activism, going back decades — have proved completely incapable of recognizing authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and fascism now that it’s staring all of us right in the face.”
I’m intrigued by this observation. Was there something “subject specific” about the CL activism that just didn’t register as a general principle?
I’m thinking of the standard complaint about Libertarians that they don’t care what else happens so long as marijuana is legal; Feminists who don’t care what else happens so long as abortion is legal; Conservatives who don’t care what else happens so long as taxes are low.
We know that Leftists / Marxists / Progressives (current ones anyway) work on the general principle of arguing any side of a debate so long as it advances their agenda.
I’m wondering if you are thinking about the ACLU, which recently revealed that it was never about Civil Liberties at all; the “nonpartisan” stance was just to gain credibility for their ultimate agenda: exercising power by any means.
To those mentioning the USPS exemption: Apparently, that is not actually the case.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/postal-workers-subject-to-biden-vaccine-mandate-despite-confusion
Neo, I’m thinking that the vaccine mandates are not going to go well. Court challenges, underground resistance, organized resistance, and the difficulty of enforcing such mandates.
It’s amazing to me that so many people don’t want to take the shot. Cases are high, hospitals are full, and Snohomish County only has 454,000 people vaccinated out of 740,000 eligible. 61% and the numbers are increasing at a bout 5000 per week. At that rate it w ill take 28 weeks to get to 80% vaccinated, which, IMO, is about the top number that can be achieved given the politics and psychology of the issue. That might be the point where it becomes flu-like.
The results out of Israel bear watching. They are at the 80% vaccinated number. In July they were having a lot of serious infections in vaccinated people, but the wave is now receding and they just reached an R of .86
ttps://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/covid-in-israel-further-decline-in-infection-rate-1.10194247
Their path may be what we can expect.
@Aesop Fan: What an astute question!
Yes, in fact, there was something subject-specific about our activism. We were all gay and/or feminists. And we still are.
But — two things.
First, I was a strong proponent of civil liberties long before I was ever a gay or feminist activist. Civil liberties were important to me even as a child in elementary school.
Second, my eyes were irreversibly opened to the opportunism and cynicism of today’s Democratic Party — that is, the Democratic Party of roughly the last 20 years. The 2008 Democratic primaries in particular gave me, as well as some other feminists on the Left, an unvarnished look at the sexism and, in some cases, outright misogyny of many “progressive” men, especially those who are now in their forties and fifties. It was also impossible for me not to notice the Left’s uniquely toxic brand of racism, which Barack Obama and his cronies so deftly exploited.
As I broadened my outlook and began to read right-wing blogs, I saw that Republicans and others on the Right are very often civil, well informed, and witty — not the ignorant, evil monsters that the Left had trained me to see.
Anyway, thank you for your thought-provoking question. It leaves me wondering whether my gay and feminist friends, maybe from a combination of fear and pure habit, are living on a Democratic “plantation” analogous to the one that so many black voters still call home — “against their own interests,” as Leftists (including some of my dear friends) so arrogantly like to say about the Deplorables.
I live SW of Chicago and feel like my local stores have never fully recovered from the early outages. There are frequent empty spots, but I’ve also noticed that they are facing the shelves so that whatever they have covers the blank spots. The products don’t match the labels, so unless you are looking for a specific item, you wouldn’t notice it.
Yeah, one aspect of it. As I read your links a great deal of the survey litearture we all had to cover came tumbling back, as well as the sharpening and reinforcing idea that what was being covered there was not in general firmly linked to personality type except in the case of agreeableness, as Peterson often refers to it.
The motivations in various circumstances are of course typed and mentioned. And some of them, i.e., “informational” are pretty reasonable on face, when it comes to conformity. If you are among people who can see further than you can from their perch, and you have no reason to suspect they are self-dealing or lying for some other reason, adjusting your views to incorporate their perspective may not be unreasonable, nor represent a moral failing.
The specific mention of adolescent peer pressure and predisposing collectivist culture influences was also noted and seems more or less intuitive. {though now disputed in the case of ethnic dispositions]
The first link you suggested, types conformity in three modes according to Kelman: compliance, internalization and identification.
The link then goes on to cover “Deutsch and Gerrard (1955)”, where the motivations for conformity are described as Informational or Normative. Under “Normative” we finally find these items
“-Yielding to group pressure because a person wants to fit in with the group. E.g. Asch Line Study.
– Conforming because the person is scared of being rejected by the group.
This type of conformity usually involves compliance – where a person publicly accepts the views of a group but privately rejects them.”
The problem with these studies is that although they demonstrate that the level of conformity can be influenced by peers, they don’t make clear the role of character or personality in the process of a cynical adoption of a viewpoint for the purpose of personal gain – even if it is just “inclusion “.
In other words we are shown that some people do conform given certain circumstances, but not what kind of personality types are more likely to conform and under what circumstances and with what particular motivations.
What we have seen in the United States over several generations now, is the elevation of collectivism to the status of a moral principle. But as you and others have noted, this new collectivism does not distribute obligations and burdens and rights indifferently, any more than Marx ever intended to.
My position is that the persons we call progressives know this perfectly well; and that these persons adopt progressivism as a means of advancing their own personal interests. Their rationale being that “Nature” is unfair, that someone or something is always going to compel, and that therefore a little, or a lot, of game rigging or social compulsion or “engineering” is just part of what being in this reality entails. It’s just a question – for them as for Lenin – of who or what is doing to whom.
Now, it is the people who willingly conform to that program (or shruggingly accept that paradigm if you prefer) who are the people whose psychological make-up I am interested in understanding.
It is one thing to say that someone is a moral nihilist, or to say that some portion of their brain is over or under active by comparison with some standard set of others; but it still does not really strap them down in a chair and dissect their moral sensibilities and decision processes in the way I’d like to see done.
So far, you, and numerous others, have been generously labeling your progressive acquaintances “informational” conformists. Not literally in that terminology, but certainly by implication.
I don’t believe that that’s the case. And if it has in effect become the case, I would argue that it is the result of a course consciously set out on in the past. that has made it that way.
These supermarket shortages described seem to be caused by glitches in the Logistics Matrix. One reads comments in other blogs (Bayou Renaissance Man being case in point) of Product X having always been available in Location Y but not for some time or only sporadically in Location Z.
Might be an idea to go re-read E M Forster’s short story, The Machine Stops.
In the “I’m Alright Jack” department, one of the two local supermarkets in my community just spent the last 3 months with bits sectioned off as they did a rolling remodel/rebrand exercise whilst still trading. Weirdly, nobody consults me about these things, but it seems that the object was to have more display space to hawk a wider age range of Serrano Ham and extend Egg Coverage to every continent except Africa and South America (that’s where the blueberries partly come from). The baby tomatoes in my refrigerator were in a Palestinian oops Dutch Greenhouse this time last week. As for Africa, I can go online and buy Biltong made by a real Boer on a farm and have it delivered every Friday.
So, the stuff exists. And plenty of Cake is being baked for the Peasantry to eat. And it has no trouble getting to Hong Kong by air and sea. Which suggests that it’s all about trouble with road and rail transport in CONUS. Labor shortages due to stupid Covid rules and other bureaucratic inanities doubtless are causing much of this. But.. the big problem with these complex supply chains is that nobody can really understand or predict all of their failure modes. Finally we’ve created the world where a butterfly flapping its wings Here can really %^&* things up There. Progress!
@ MollyG > “First, I was a strong proponent of civil liberties long before I was ever a gay or feminist activist. Civil liberties were important to me even as a child in elementary school.
Second, my eyes were irreversibly opened to the opportunism and cynicism of today’s Democratic Party — that is, the Democratic Party of roughly the last 20 years.”
Thanks for your response. Your story sounds a lot like Neo’s, of having a bedrock belief in true liberal principles, thinking those were embodied by the Democrats & others on the Left, and then discovering that the professed principles were being used as “cover” for the real agenda – tyrannical control over the government and all social institutions.
Hopefully, the increasing rips in the cover will convince more people that the classical liberal principles they believe in are NOT truly supported by the Democrats.
Andrew Sullivan has a timely post on that (via Powerline); well worth the read, although I certainly have not become a Sullivan Supporter just because he can see what’s happening on the Left.
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/emerging-cracks-in-the-woke-elite-a85?sort=new
DNW:
I believe 95% of the liberals/Democrats I know (not the couple of activist leftists I know) are as described, and are unaware, and did not make any decision except for the decision to remain relatively uninformed. Plus, they have no desire to go against the group (that’s where their “agreeableness” comes in).
I’ve never been “agreeable” in the sense of psychological testing. I don’t mind being different than the group, perhaps it’s because I never have fit in with the group in that way, anyway. So I’m somewhat used to expressing contrary points of view, and even did so in childhood. In part, that’s because I had very strong opinions about things. I don’t know why that is so and was so quite early on, but I know that is different from a lot of people I know (particularly women, which is in line with the fact that women tend to test higher than men in the trait of “agreeableness”).
I also, until about 20 years ago, shied away from reading much about politics. That was not because I shied away from either reading or taking in information about all sort of things. I found politics highly distasteful and messy, and also reading about war (such as the Vietnam War) was frightening and disturbing. I didn’t think I could do much to affect either thing, so why immerse myself in so much awfulness? I read enough to learn the basics of what was going on, but in those days it was harder to have read widely, and I just read whatever was the local paper (NY Times and then Boston Globe), which meant that, without knowing it, I was reading only liberal MSM sources.
Of course, that changed after 9/11 and with the internet. But I was as described originally, and it persisted for the majority of my adult life until 9/11 and beyond. And my strong sense, from talking to my friends, is that that is what is going on with them, plus greater agreeableness in their personality makeups. If there is any consciousness in their decision to be that way, it is something similar to the reasons that I originally made that decision for myself, and why I had kept my knowledge of things both shallow and narrow without even realizing I was doing it. I was the same person then as I am now; I did not undergo any big personality change.
What is the percentage of postal workers who are black? 50% ? 75% ?
About 40%.
Does irritate me a little that you seem to devote more time on here attempting to dispute others’ remarks than contributing something of substance
IOW, your nose is out of joint because I took exception to something you said while sloshed.
Hey, everybody! Guy who spews out facts and data every time he farts now wants to pretend he doesn’t understand the limitations of anecdotal evidence!
It’s called a ‘conversation’, Bunge. You relate your stories, I relate mine. Mr. Griffin poses the question, “Has anybody been in a grocery store lately?” Some people relate their problems, I relate what I’ve seen here. This isn’t that difficult.
Zaphod saith
That reference gives me an opening to reply to a comment you made in a now receding thread. The son of the Boers you mentioned showing his ’38 Mauser to his relatives, presents some interesting questions.
For example was that a Kar 98? It must have been, unless he had a custom job. And whether Mauser hunting rifles were still being produced in 1938, I could not say. I would guess so, but could not be certain without looking it up.
[My uncle brought one built on the Kar 98 base home though I don’t know the year of manufacture: modified with a scant stock with Schnabel forend, set trigger, hunting sights, polished barrel. It was however in 7.92.]
His, your friend’s, ancestors of course were using a quite different rifle, the Model 95 in 7mm and with a straight bolt handle (mostly) , rather than 7.92mm. Of course anyone who is an expert could dispute any of this and lead us down the byways of Spanish and Chilean Mauser models and nomenclature, but the interesting point for me is the 7mm caliber.
In fact, after I finish typing this reply up, I am going to check the ballistics tables for the 7 vs the 7.92, and see if there is any difference in flat shooting capability.
But then that takes us to the question of whether the Boer Mausers were using J or S bullets. And my guess is that they were using the older round nosed rather than the spritzer.
The question of the day is, does a comparable J vs S distinction [both form and actual bullet diameter] also apply to nominal 7mm 1893/95 Mausers? Or, can modern 7mm Mauser rounds be safely run through it?
You opened a real can of worms here, pal.
@ Hubert,
Oh a link to “Gun Jesus” as he is humorously and admiringly referred to. The appellation makes me a bit uncomfortable, but one can see their point, after a fashion.
That was a very “cool” weapon, and if legal would be great fun. Well, if the cost of ammo came down, it could be. Not at the insane prices of .22 ammo nowadays though. I wonder how many rabbits the .22 hoarders think there are on this continent, anyway.
MollyG —
All the progressives I know would probably describe themselves as “activists” even if they never get off their couch. They all seem to suffer from Selma Envy (or Stonewall Envy), and in practice want to pretend that it’s eternally 1970 while pocketing the benefits of it actually being 2021.
I don’t think most of them even subconsciously subscribe to an agenda of using state power to control their fellow citizens. I think most of them want to feel like they’re Doing Important Work™ and Sticking Up For The Oppressed™ and literally do not see the consequences. The fact that their “important work” is sophomoric and useless is also invisible to them.
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.” — T.S. Eliot
@DNW:
Here’s his latest article on his new toy:
https://www.kimdutoit.com/2021/09/10/three-old-farts-walk-into-the-range/
It is indeed a KAR98k unmodified and chambered as Woden intended it to be.
Not up on the finer points of Anglo(they effing started it)-Boer War Mausers, but have a backlog of books on the conflict to get to eventually having had my interest re-kindled by reading Deneys Reitz’s Commando Diary reissue.
Trivia: The Russians donated a field hospital to the Boer effort.. Paul Kruger respectfully declined saying that good old Boer Horse Medicine and the Bible had always worked for Boers. Seems the Russians sent some Red Cross detachments anyway + Russians were among the international volunteers fighting with the Boers.
For Snow on Pines – I have seen ONE article in the local paper (sj Mercury News) about a family getting out of Afghanistan. one.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/04/bay-area-afghan-family-spends-several-frightening-days-trying-to-escape-kabul-amid-taliban-takeover/
“Everything seemed normal, Mansoor recalled, as the family waited in the airport’s terminal. But suddenly their flight was cancelled without explanation and what they hoped would be an uneventful trip back to Milpitas turned into chaos.
It was Aug. 15 and the Taliban were taking over the city after swiftly seizing control of provinces throughout Afghanistan and Hamid Karzai International Airport began locking down.
“They told me go downstairs, take your luggage and go back home,” Mansoor said during an interview at his Milpitas home. They left the airport, with thousands of other would-be passengers and even the employees.”
and more. But only that.
@DNW:
FWIW, Mad Ed Dutton interviews Boer du Jour, one Willem Petzer.
https://odysee.com/@JollyHeretic:d/Afrikaans-Activist-Willem-Petzer-Discusses-South-Africa's-Collapse-into-Anarchy:c
@ Zaphod.
Thanks, I’ll take a look. Almost blind from looking at charts for an hour.
If I don’t go to the north woods tomorrow, maybe I’ll check back in.
Can’t effen believe I wrote “spritzer” for “spitzer”, LOL
“The Boer’s, their Mauser mini spray bottles in hand, stormed down the kop overwhelming the English, who were helpless to return fire at the distances involved”
Say goodnight, Dick …
@DNW:
My copy of “Mauser Military Rifles of the World” shows the Boers using Model 1895 Mausers in 7×57. Some are called/marked 1896 and 1897 and done by Ludwig and Lowe not DWM. They are all stamped “OVS” for Oranje Vrij Staat. Some were so stamped and then diverted to Chile for that contract and stamped with the Chilean crest.
I have two 1912 Steyr Chilean Mausers but not one of those. One is in the original 7×57 and the other was converted by the Chilean government to 7.62 NATO.
@DNW:
“The Boer’s, their Mauser mini spray bottles in hand, stormed down the kop overwhelming the English, who were helpless to return fire at the distances involved”
http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s09e09_the_battle_of_spoin_kop
@ zenman > “A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running; I aim to misbehave.” – Malcolm Reynolds
It blows my mind that the Firefly series still resonates with people 20 years after one slightly truncated season, with the episodes aired out of order (no wonder the story was so confusing), and so much left unresolved even after the movie “Serenity.”
Some people didn’t get with the story, though.
https://reason.com/2011/09/26/the-clear-and-present-danger-p/
Well, you get the picture.
I think I’ll cross post this in the “When did Education go wrong?” thread.
A more robust reaction was posted here.
https://www.popehat.com/2011/09/26/i-swear-by-my-pretty-floral-bonnet-i-will-censor-you/
It might be enlightening to point out that the professor enlisted FIRE in his cause, and the stars of the show took up the gauntlet, and the university folded, grudgingly.
Sometimes, misbehaving does carry the day.
https://www.thefire.org/best-of-the-blog-aim-to-misbehave-donate-to-fire-today/
This was a good post on the inherent contradiction of the Democrats’ alleged principles.
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2021/09/10/kamala-your-body-your-choice-biden-hold-my-beer-n415009
….
“The Babylon Bee sums it up nicely.
Inspired by the most popular president in history? So are we. That’s why we made this Joe Biden t-shirt featuring his message for the people: Your Body My Choice.”
Those were echoes of Neo’s earlier post:
https://www.thenewneo.com/2021/09/03/many-people-are-pointing-out-a-contradiction-between-those-who-say-my-body-my-choice-for-abortion-while-also-advocating-vaccine-mandates/
“But I contend that there is no contradiction. The two positions are remarkably consistent, but you have to understand that the principle being advocated is not the one you suppose. The principle actually goes like this: “My body, my choice” and “Your body, my choice.” In other words, the speaker always gets to decide – for self and for everyone.”
Either Great Minds came to the same conclusion, of the Bee-sters are lurking at Neo’s Salon.
On the Left it is always, “Your anything, My choice.” Power addiction is their affliction.
Liked Firefly series and Serenity, but then ran across an interview with Firefly and Serenity creator Joss Whedon in which his statements indicated that he bought into the entire Leftist world view and agenda.
So it appears that Whedon created a series featuring a world view and Libertarian philosophy that he fundamentally disagreed with, because he thought such a world view and philosophy would “sell.”
Of course, you have to mouth that Leftist worldview and philosophy if you want to get anywhere in Hollywood.
The mRNA “vaccines” were an emergency decision to an incoming and apparently horrible disease threat. The vaccine was a gamble. The long term effects were unknown. The required dose to get immunity without killing too many people was a guess.
Turns out that the disease has mutated into a manageable problem. “heyjackass.com” notes that virtually all of the “COVID deaths” in Chicago were in those with one or more “co-morbidities”. Those people were already on the slippery slope.
Most of the rest is the Progressives never letting a crisis go to waste.
Wash your hands. Verify that you have normel Vitamin-D(3) levels. Talk to your doc.
“Rag” masks are close to worthless except for catching snot. If you are vulnerable (co-morbidities), like diabetes, immune compromise, obese, high blood pressure, etc. Fix it. The rest is just the woke trying to get more control while they destroy our economy and society. The young are not at risk of death from COVID. The young are hardly inconvenienced by that “bug”. Those with medical co-morbidities have to be more careful. “Hiding” will not help. Don’t depend on the current “vaccinations” for protection.
Note: Our “worthies” continue to meet (maskless) for “Birthday Parties” or “Fund Raising” while they allow Illegals into our country without vaccination, quarantine or therapy. Spot checks indicate that ~10% of the Illegals are infected. Curiously, those on “welfare” and “Obamacare” are not required to get vaccinations in spite of there being a public health and cost interest. Wonder why?
Relax, it is a “show”. If you are concerned, see your doctor. If you are vulnerable due to co-morbidities, get a protective mask (N95 or better) that protects you and not the idiot across the bingo table when you venture out to shop. Stay away from any facility operated by a Democratic governor. The rest is political theater.
Theater is clear when you might need a “VAXX Passport” to go bowling but don’t need ID to vote. Enjoy the show!
IOW, your nose is out of joint because I took exception to something you said while sloshed.
Does being a weaselly little prick work for you as well when you’re not hiding behind your keyboard?