That's great!
The only possibly bad thing is that she appeared to be in her 70s or 80s. Maybe that's not as bad as it seems-- who knows the influence she has on others.
Still, I'll take what I can get.
Most of the time I feel like a voice in the wilderness. I've spent a lot of time in the wilderness and I know that there's almost nothing you can say in that situation to make any impact. Scream and shout and maybe you'll spook a deer and some birds, but you're not going to influence anyone.
But, just maybe, there are a few people listening after all.
Yes, I know it would cause terrible pain for a lot of people. So does pulling an abscessed tooth or setting a broken bone. I'd do it anyway because it is essential for long-term survival. Putting the pain off because you imagine it would be cruel will only make it worse when it finally has to be dealt with, which it will-- you're doing no one any favors by prolonging the disease.
But, there is no such button.
Instead, you are limited to the real world where you can either try to v*te yourself more liberty, fight the thugs of the state directly, or work around them.
The first way, which most people hope is the "easy button", won't work. There's just no chance.
The second way will get you killed. Let someone else be a martyr.
The third way seems-- to me-- the only realistic option. I could be wrong, but it's what I strive to do. and what I try to encourage others to do. And, it's not easy or quick!
I acknowledge the existence of the state and its criminals ("politicians", legislation/rule enforcers, bureaucrats, agents, employees). Just like I acknowledge the existence of the mafia, freelance rapists, and other bad guys.
What I don't do-- what I won't do-- is pretend the goons of the state are somehow less evil than the other criminal types. They are at least as evil-- probably more. They just hide it better behind a professional veil and rules they've made up to "legitimize" their crimes in the eyes of many of their victims. But their acts are no more legitimate than any other act of archation.
You don't do yourself any favors by pretending otherwise. In fact, you need to let others see that you view those "officials" and their ilk as nothing more than gangsters or common criminals. Let your ethical behavior encourage others to give themselves permission to see the thugs of the state as they truly are. The emperor has no clothes-- and never did have any. Say it without shame.
As Etienne de la Boétie pointed out, "Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces."
As I've said recently, I feel pretty good about the condition of my preps. I've never been better positioned for the S to HTF, even though I don't think my location is ideal since there is no real outdoors (farmland doesn't count) within a couple hundred miles.
But if I had the money there are more things I'd get.
I'd get much more ammo.
I'd get antibiotics packs for everyone in the household from JASE Medical.
I'd get more water containers, sturdy ones, the kind that can stack like bricks as well as a couple of water bobs.
I'd stock up on heritage seeds, even though I'm a terrible gardener.
Even though I believe it's important to reduce dependence on electricity in anticipation of TEOTWAWKI scenarios, I'd still get a solar "generator" and solar panels to charge it.
I'd get a more secure, larger shed, and a sturdy privacy fence around my entire property.
I'd get locking gas caps, and harden my vehicles against EMPs.
I'd get more monetary metals and trade goods.
What would you get if money were less a factor?
Obviously, it's also Trump's inflation. He started it with the first rounds of Covid "stimulus" bribes, after allowing Dr. Evil to demand the economy be destroyed. (But even he was only building on the crimes committed by government/the Federal Reserve since 1913, which make inflation inevitable.)
But then Biden doubled down and is now trying to blame it on Putin's war crimes (a redundant phrase).
Of course, whichever political criminal is in office when the problem becomes obvious is the one who generally gets most of the blame. That's Biden. And if Biden were to blame this on Trump it would allow the masses to think about that and maybe realize it is also Biden's fault for not reversing course. That would be bad for the Zombie-in-Chief.
The political criminals in DC have proposed getting rid of the stupid and deadly, twice-yearly clock re-setting. That's good... but the morons are proposing to stick with the worse clock setting: "Daylight saving" time.
Know what it doesn't do? Save any daylight. The daylight stays the same regardless of how badly you set your clocks. Smart, responsible people realize this fact and don't fiddle with other people's clocks.
By that (wildly incorrect) setting, the sun in this area will be at noon around 2PM during parts of the year.
I'm all for getting rid of the anachronistic superstitious practice of changing clock settings twice a year to beg the Sun for more daylight (even though it can't work). But not for imposing the less correct setting on everyone.
That's what you get when "morning people" get power. They always feel the need to force everyone to do things by their schedule. Instead of just opening their businesses an hour earlier, as would be honest, they want your clocks mis-set so it appears that they are opening (and closing) at a reasonable time. DST is a lie.
If they can do that, why can't we all just set our clocks to say the current "time" of 10AM is now 6AM? It makes exactly as much sense as what they propose to make permanent.
Who decided political criminals should have any say on setting clocks? It was a dumb mistake, whoever did it.
Political government is, by definition, political. So, political government is stupid and makes people who "believe in it" stupid-- and often, makes them commit evil.
That's why so many of them support wars, politicians, and other rights violations and anti-liberty things.
Politics is too dangerous to have around.
But... a relative of his lives near me and had to babysit his dogs for a few weeks a while back while he did some remodeling on his house. They are large, aggressive dogs, and I didn't enjoy having them near my house.
They even escaped a few times and were a threat to people in the neighborhood.
I just overheard a conversation he was having with someone else about his crutches and it turns out he was injured a couple of months ago by being attacked in his front yard by his neighbor's aggressive dog.
I wonder if this experience taught him anything about the folly of owning large, aggressive dogs that are able to escape and run loose.
I wonder if he even sees the irony in his situation.
I hate to admit, but it made my sympathy shrink to a much smaller level.
It reminded me of the friend of mine who freaked out on me many years ago over my lack of respect for police, but then sheepishly admitted I was completely right after they kicked in his door and treated him like a criminal on a tip.
I hoped they recognized the same was true about me.
If America got nuked, governments were to blame, not regular people.
I have slightly expanded that blame over the years to include people who imagine political government is somehow legitimate; government-supremacists. Their support empowers the political criminals, even if only by saying the "office" is legitimate even if the goon currently occupying it isn't.
I assume that in every place around the world, there are a lot of people who know government is a problem, who don't support anything it does, and who don't fall for the propaganda. Those people I can befriend.
It feels like a loss, but I'll get over it. It's just time.
Plus, I have its pages mirrored at the top of this blog, so the information wouldn't disappear.
I'm going to see how much it costs to keep the domain name, though.
Apparently, I can't cancel until after they charge me for the next month, as payment processing has already begun. But soon.
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| Cheeto and MommyCat |
If this is something anyone would be able to help with, just subscribe through Paypal and mark it with a note that says "cats" and that's where it will go. If not, that's understandable. Cats aren't everyone's cup of tea-- I didn't always like them, myself.
I hate the Russian government, just like I hate all political government and political criminals (including the militaries of those governments and political criminals). But I don't mistake people for the political government that pretends to act on their behalf. I never have. Just as I wouldn't want people to judge me by the behavior of the political criminals who "run" America and send its military all over the world.
Sure, the majority of Russians may "support" that government. I understand that most Russian people don't realize they have the option of not supporting ANY government or political faction. Just like most Americans don't realize the same. So they may end up "supporting" a state because they don't know it's a choice.
If I hated them for that I'd have to hate nearly everyone everywhere.
