Narrative Poisoning

 

Scott Adams on his latest podcast,  described something he calls Narrative Poisoning which establishes a mindset favorable to specific viewpoints, and goes into some detain as to just how it's done. Relating to revelations in the twitter files, it seems as though there's a noticable path for certain specific narratives. It looks like this

CIA

DNC

FAKE NEWS

SOCIAL MEDIA

CITIZENS

Now any conspiracy theory that originates with the CIA is automatically suspect, but it now appears that a large number of Twitter employees, of high rank, moved there from jobs at intelligence agencies of similar rank. Their obvious shortcomings notwithstanding, the CIA does have some notable persuasion skills. Several examples are cited, and the obvious effort at persuading people to a specific mindset was called out, interestingly, by a Twitter employee from China, who was familiar with the process. The general process leads the targeted audience to take favored positions in spite of evidence that they are seriously flawed. The link is a fun watch.

On a related note, a chatbot, ChatGPT, that learns what it knows from the internet of news and social media, was run through multiple politicalpreference tests,  and was consistently identified as having a strongly progressive bent. This suggests to me, anyway, that the political direction of a people can be easily, if slowly, be turned in whatever direction that a small number of the people in the right positions, desire. The Chinese refer to this as a “Long March”. Short summary: It works.

The chatbot is very popular, and gets to interact with people asking it questions day and night. Its method for generating answers is to scan the web, find the consensus, and put together an answer based on this. Real people know to use this approach with caution, and assign weights to web-derived information based on relative credibility of the source. On average, I'm guessing that the percentage of BS integrated into the mix is going to be higher for the AI than for real humans, who have more experience at this. How much difference is TBD for sure. Persuasively written BS is more persuasive than poorly written gospel truth. Nevertheless the Chatbot is a great demonstration of how the public can be persuaded to a particular viewpoint, however flawed.

Paying Baksheesh

 If you want some group to give you money, you can promise to help them, or you can promise to not hurt them. The best models for this are government and organized crime. Government starts out by promising to pave the roads and put up street lights. The mob starts out by promising to not break windows or burn your business down. Guess which offer is the most persuasive. Government has moved up to suggesting that monies donated to certain political parties will defer new regulations that would have the same effect as a Molotov cocktail through the window. Republicans say they won't support the regulations. Satisfied that they are safe from the Right, businesses see no reason to pay the protection money to them.

NICS Checks Nov 2022

 Man, I'm really slacking off on this blog.

Anyway here's the numbers thru November, and yup, we're about where you'd expect us to be. The Donks have discovered that turning their Brownshirts loose, while it does frighten conservatives, simply inspires us to buy more guns and ammo. Now they have to figure out how to take them away from us. They got one-party rule in the last elections, but the Supremes are slapping them back at every move. Anyone care to speculate what they'll do now that they've lost the House?

Click to enlarge.

NICS Checks Oct 22

 Still following a "normal' curve in spite of Slo Joe's blather about banning so-called "assault Weapons".

Sorry I'm late, but other stuff is proving distracting.

Not calling out the party brownshirts (Antifa et. al.) has brought the curve back to the steady rise we've come to expect. (Upper graph) Rising crime rates may well accelerate things as we move along although I'm surprised we haven't seen this earlier.

NICS Checks Sept 2022

 Here we are again, outstripped only by the panics of the previous 2 years, but up a bit anyway, probably in step with population increases.

The dems keep yammering about confiscating "assault weapons" defined to be anything that shoots, and the SCOTUS keeps smacking them down. Soros funded AGs are still refusing to seriously prosecute crime, but they are being recalled and defeated everywhere. Promising, that. So far the people haven't decided to quit calling the cops, and just call a discreet cleaning service instead, but that's still a possibility.

Humor - Amicus Briefs

 OK so if you're looking for humor, reading amicus briefs to supreme court cases is probably not the most fertile ground. OTOH when one of the participants is the Onion, a competitor for the title of "Newspaper Of Record", in which it is defending its use of parody, well, you might strike gold.

In addition to maintaining a towering standard of excellence to which the rest of the industry aspires, The Onion supports more than 350,000 full- and parttime journalism jobs in its numerous news bureaus and manual labor camps stationed around the world, and members of its editorial board have served with distinction in an advisory capacity for such nations as China, Syria, Somalia, and the former Soviet Union. On top of its journalistic pursuits, The Onion also owns and operates the majority of the world’s transoceanic
shipping lanes, stands on the nation’s leading edge on matters of deforestation and strip mining, and proudly conducts tests on millions of animals daily.

The Onion is arguing that any reasonable person would be able to figure out that things the Onion published regarding a local police departments approach to pedophilia were humorous parody and not some kind of defamatory muck raking. As the case progresses we may het to see if a liberals complete lack of a sense of humor, a known trait of the breed, must be accommodated by humor writers, lest they feel "targeted" or "triggered". This would necessarily make humor a lot less funny, but the eventual complete ban on humor is an unstated plank in the liberal platform. 

Article here.

FBI Now Formally in The Leakage Business

 Same as it ever was I guess with anything having to do with Trump being quickly leaked to a hostile press. Since the letters in question were taken by the FBI and held in no one elses possession, there can be no doubt whatsoever who is doing the leaking. Not only is the FBI Bidens personal gestapo, I guess they will soon be joined by those 88,000 new Stasi IRS agents.

Fun With Headlines - Pandemics

 The Chinese ae buying a large parcel of land in Florida to be used as  a disease research center.

Chinese Biotech Firm with Deep Links to China’s Military and its COVID-19 Program Just Bought Land in Florida for a Massive Research Complex

So the next pandemic leak will be centered not in Wuhan, but in Florida, a strongly red state.

NICS Checks, Aug 2022

 Here's the numbers, and the curve is following a normal shape in spite of Slo Joes ranting and the ATF trying to define spitballs as WMDs:

Ho Hum I guess.

What Is Capitalism?

 Any discussion of the shortcomings of Socialism takes about 3 statements to devolve into the hoary whine that "real Socialism" has never been tried, always because "the right people" are never put in charge. This is then extended to argue that "real capitalism" also has never been tried because when it has, it quickly results in something like an oligopoly with a handful of the very rich oppressing the remaining 99% of the population.

The best example of this was the Russian nationalization of agriculture in the early 30's (I think). Instead of hundreds of farmers jointly providing food for a large part of the world, they got 60-odd years of "bad weather" with instead of many well-to-do farmers, they got one VERY well-to-do oligarch commissar.

If you ask what Socialism is, you get a word salad about a happy and prosperous land in which no one is wanting, and recommendations to read a large stack of thick books starting with Das Kapital. Ask what Capitalism is, and the left will describe a system that works much like the old Soviet Union, only with results that almost exactly mirror that system.

Let me try to simplify: Capitalism is trade with some rules to keep people honest. That's about it. Socialism is absolute rule of law with trade being incidental to the rules. No matter what, some government intervention is necessary, on one end to prevent actions that impede trade, and on the other, permitting some trade to keep the peasants from either revolting or simply starving to death.

Here's a simple graph:

All economic systems fall somewhere along the line. None actually fall at the ends as the shortcomings of the extremes become quickly apparent. If you have a belief in the ability of government to treat its people fairly and equitably, than you may be comfortable along the upper end of that line. I don't trust the government to walk across the street with a burnt match so I'm closer to the lower end. 

EDITED to use improved graphic. The names I included are not to be thought of as the last word on any category, but are some that seemed to fit. Stalin, however, holds the far left down quite securely.

QOTD - Transportation

 Jon Caldera has an article explaining, yet again, why transportation in Colorado doesn't seem to be getting any better. Here's a nice money quote:

When your veins are bulging during your next parking-lot-on-the-highway moment, remember it’s not because we have too little money going to “transportation.” It’s that the money that should go to expand that highway went to a bike path or trolley car that statistically no one is using.

 I, personally, suspect that no one working at CDOT actually owns a car. The peons live in a high rise apartment complex about 2 blocks from their HQ building, and the management all have chauffer-driven SUVs. Suburbans for the middle management, and Escalades for the upper ranks.

Womens Problems

 Women only have 2 problems: #1: How to attract men, and #2: How to make them go away. 

Nearly all women have worked out solutions to these problems with varying degrees of success.

All other problems a woman might have can be solved by applying their solutions to items 1 or 2.

If you reverse the words "men" and "women", nothing else seems to change.

New Improved Lie Detector?

 The technology to detect mental problems via a skin sensor is out there, it only needs a careful analysis to move from detecting Parkinson's to detecting purposefully generated falsehoods. An AI could probably knock this out in a day or so.

Imagine a politician making a speech behind a podium with contact patches embedded in the speakers surface. Imagine politicians making every speech like an Italian, hands flailing in the air to emphasize every point, and to avoid touching the contact patches.

NICS Checks Jul '22

 July numbers are out a day early showing another decline overall. 

Slightly higher than what would normally be expected, but nowhere near breaking the '20 and '21 records. 

Trump/Gaetz

 At Scot Adams suggestion:

AGM is bunk

 Which I've been saying for a good long time myself. Quick summary:

As I have been pointing out for two decades (see, for example, here, here, here, and here), the claim that “climate change” is primarily driven by humans burning fossil fuels and that computer models prove that this anthropogenic climate change will be catastrophic are all claims are based on four decades of Lysenkoism posing as science.  

Full article here. 

Omicron Delta Kappa

 Wasn't that Fauchi's fraternity back in med school?

NICS Checks - June

 The Juns numbers are out and are showing a modest uptick in checks which is historically near normal for this time of year. Bidens "historic" gun bill doesn't seem to be triggering much in the way of panic buying although supplies are still scarce and overpriced. I actually saw small pistol primers on the shelf at a Big Box sporting goods store last month, priced at $10/hundred. Harumpf.

Midnight Visits By The U.S. Stasi?

 Well, if no one dares complain, then I guess it must be legal.

Tinfoil Hat Department

 Could it be that the Dems have figured out that they can get around the unpopularity of packing the supreme court, by egging their followers into assassinating some sitting conservatives so that Biden will get to name their replacements?

Update.

Nah! Who'd do a thing like that?

NICS Checks for May

 Bright and early, here they are. May saw 2,340,383 checks performed, of which 1,638,681 (give or take some) represented gun sales. Note that this years curve is following the usual pattern, snd dropping as the summer arrives. Of course this could change next month with the Dems usual squeals for more gun bans arise following the Uvalde school shooting. 

Could be worse. Up in Canada Justin Tru-dope is calling for a moratorium on the sales of all handguns, which I'm having a hard time seeing that come to fruition. Down here the more radical elements are calling for more oppression of gun owners, and stronger protections for criminals with the usual suspects announcing drinks at 5 to see if they can work out something both stupid and evil*.

So far I'm not seeing much real support for any of that either and if the noise dies out, as it usually does, next months number should be slightly less than this month.

Of course the thought of arming some of the school staffs has again reared its head, so here's my contribution:

*There is a quote out there that sometimes get attributed to Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen and sometimes not. The quote is that there two parties in Washington — the stupid party and the evil party. Every once in a while the stupid party and the evil party get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. In Washington, that is called bipartisanship.–Erick Erickson, “It’s What Happens When the Stupid Party and Evil Party Get Together,” April 12, 2011.

Plagiarizing Your Way To A Pulitzer - Ukraine

 Today, my hometown paper, the Denver Post (Ved Nanda), and the Times of London, (Max Hastings) are both running similar articles rehashing the old arguments in favor of buying off aggressive tyrants to somehow buy peace. Shades of Neville Chamberlin. Let the Germans Russians have the Sudetenland Donbas regions, and forestall the possibility of an a actual shooting war. Peace In Our Time!

I bet I know how that will turn out.

Both the abovementioned articles are behind paywalls, but you can get the general gist of both by searching for Chamberlins agreement with Hitler which he waved for the press on his return from negotiations.

Uvalde Shooting - Same Story, Different Venue

 As the story unfolds, with the speed of continental drift, It seems the shooter was standing in front of the school, popping off rounds for 12 minutes before going inside. I guess he wanted to make sure it was safe.

Which means that one of the front office administrative staff would have had time to remove a Remington 870 from the school gun safe, load it with #4 buck, stick it out a window, and drop the shooter before any cops of any sort could have arrived.

As usual, it's not that there was a man with a gun, it's that there was ONLY ONE man with a gun.

Women Don't Exist! - ACLU

 Just when you think the world can't get any crazier, the world steps up, says "Hold me beer" and proceeds to shatter your delusions of sanity.

ACLU Files Motion Denying Existence of Women

Money quote:

Denying sexual dimorphism is up there with a motion claiming that the earth is flat.

But the ACLU motion went on “to deny the allegation that ‘human beings’ are ‘sexually dimorphic, divided into males and females each with reproductive systems, hormones, and chromosomes that result in significant differences between men[] and women[.]’”

Biology 101 is now an “allegation” to be denied in court.

Maybe the ACLU’s next motion will deny the “allegation” that the earth revolves around the sun.

Watching History Rhyme

Interesting watching history repeat itself. First a proxy war featuring US v China, and to a lesser extent, Russia in Viet Nam, followed by Russia v US in Afghanistan, followed by US v Russia in Afghanistan now morphing into Russia and to a lesser extent, China v US and Europe in Ukraine.

The Vietnamese ran the French and Americans out of their country and quickly discovered that they couldn’t run a successful country. They are now croney capitalists.

The Afghanistanis ran both the Russians and the Americans out and are discovering the same thing.

Ukraine: Same thing coming down but with a likely alignment with the EU.

Kinda sucks to be the proxy though.

Basis for a Dilbert Strip

 Here's a headline 

Apple Machine Learning Director Said to Quit Over Tech Giant’s Return-to-Work Policy

Which made me think that some clever code monkey at Apple had written an AI that did all the functions of a director, and pulled down the salary to the code monkey, without ever having any human contact at all. Great scam, if you can get it.

Problem being is that now Apple wants its people back at work, and someone was bound to notice the absence of a warm body in the directors chair. 

Apple might well leverage this by writing AIs that formulate meaningless memos in high-level bureaucratese and send them to a designated mailing list. The obvious use would be to replace about half the executive branch of the government with these things. CGIs could be constructed to convince the public that real people were somehow involved, and the whole country could run on autopilot.

Taxes And Regulations Work! Here's Proof

 

None of these happened, and that proves that there is no problem that can't be quickly solved with a generous dose of taxation and the creation or expansion of a government agency.

Prove me worng!

NICS Checks for April

 Again, we seem to have gotten back to what passes for normal with a "normal" drop in checks:

Everyone got their tax refunds in March, and bought their new guns with the windfall I guess. Barring a revival of Antifa or BLM, I'm not seeing a big uptick for the summer although if Slo Joe lets Title 42 go by and a big increase in illegals follows, this could drive the numbers upward. Facing the mid terms, though, opening the southern border to all comers does not seem like a winning move.

Arabic Language Lesson

 Earlier in this blog I published a helpful item giving the definitions of some Arabic words in common use giving somewhat more complete descriptions of the meanings which seem to be different depending on whom the definition is being presented to. 

Here's another, courtesy of FrontPageMag: Kuffir, or Kuffar, or any of several varients in spelling. This word is presented to the non-muslim as referring to non-muslims in a very neutral way, but wait: The Koran uses it with rather different overtones:

Thus the Koran refers to kuffar as inherently “guilty” and “unjust” (10:17, 45:31, 68:35); terror is to be cast into their hearts (3:151); they are the “vilest of beasts” (8:55, 98:6), comparable to “cattle,” and “devoid of understanding” (47:12, 8:65); they are natural born “enemies” to Muslims (4:101), “disliked” and “accursed” by Allah (2:89, 3:32, 33:64), who further declares himself their implacable “enemy” (2:98).

Something to keep in mind if the word pops up in a discussion with a Muslim. 

Epstein Syndrome?

 Now there's a name for it, oligarchs committing suicide and frequently taking all nearby witnesses with them.

Epstein Syndrome, no less!

The DNC: What Next?

 Not a rant about their latest power grab, but a question about the future makeup and direction of the party itself. Pundits across the board are predicting a disaster for the DNC this year only rivaled by the Chicxulub meteor impact that marked the end of the Cretaceous and the extinction of the dinosaurs.

So lets imagine the Dems bomb biblically in November. Then what? The DNC is a big organization, like a huge vehicle with a committee in the drivers seat. Post election, some of the drivers committee are going to either jump out the doors, or be tossed. But which ones? The moderates will find it easy enough to reinvent themselves as independents, and who knows, perhaps alter their voting practices. The hard core will be happy to see them go, and will move to make sure they don't come back. Ownership of the party is profitable, and the fewer "unproductive units" there are, the more swag the remainder gets.

This could work the other way of course, with the extremists getting the boot and the moderates taking over, making sure that the now exiled Bolsheviks find it very difficult to get back on the bus, and certainly not into the drivers seat. 

The DNC is a large, heavy vehicle, and no loss will be great enough to completely destroy it. At least I don't think so. Remember the Whigs?

Lockdown In Shanghai - Stressful And Unpopular

How unpopular, you ask? Here's a link to a Twitter feed with a video showing just how unpopular some are finding it.

WARNING: NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!    

Here

NICS Checks - Back To Normal?

 Thru March we're back to following the traditional curve. It's possible that the nation has calmed down a bit with 3 more states adopting constitutional carry, or it may be that monies formerly spent on guns and ammo nor are being diverted to non-perishable foodstuffs. Anyway:

What If The Virus WAS The Vaccine?

 Found this on Bijou who found it elsewhere so it's now 3rd hand, but it's an interesting bit of medical technology, creating a virus that leaves behind proteins that trigger an immune response to another virus.

What could go wrong?

Usually Reliable Sources - Technology Theft

Today it is being reported by usually reliable sources that the Chinese government has successfully stolen American technology used by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to manufacture American Process Cheese. 

As is widely known, APC is a by-product of refined petroleum and is produced in large quantities by every refinery in the U.S. The final product is then sold to cheese users like Kraft to make their world famous Mac and Cheese food product in addition to thrifty citizens to help make fake meat burgers palatable. Excess production then goes into the National Strategic Cheese Reserve located in a large complex of refrigerated warehouses in Wisconsin. 

The Chinese have pilfered this technology, and are using it to produce cheese, under the name of Chinese Process Cheese, which will be used to alleviate impending food shortages being brought on by the Russian war in Ukraine which is expected to severely impact the global production of wheat and fertilizer.

Allowing the Chinese to build up a large Cheese Gap in this underhanded manner in unconscionable on President Bidens part and we all need to write him and our elected representatives in Washington and demand that the National Cheese Reserves be opened to alleviate hunger in the United States. Do it now! For the children!

Attention Writers, Film Makers!

Plot line anyway. I don't know anyone who normally writes this sort of thing but todays Coffee with Scott Adams included a tongue-in-cheek proposal from Scott that Hollywood might make a Bond movie based on a finding that Hunter was involved in creating the Covid virus in a Ukrainian lab, but had also developed a perfect antidote, the details of which were sent to Hunter at some point, and stored on one of the 6 or 8 laptops he lost as he traveled the world, visiting various dens on iniquity and hives of scum and villainy. 

Bonds assignment would be to find these places, visit them, kill anyone needing it, and retrieve the laptops. Sounds like a great idea. A G-rated version might be made of Harry Potter and the Seven Veils. Another version might closely resemble "Dude! Where's My Car?"

I thought the idea had possibilities. Any writers out there?

What Do You Think? - It's Probably Wrong!

 Legal Insurrection has an article showing what Americans think about fairly ordinary stuff. Some overs, some unders, and some pretty close:

A New Tax With A Loophole?

 When it comes to separating taxpayers from their money, governments are the acknowledged experts. The Colo state government is/has put forth a $29 "use fee" on your license plate, to supplement the $25 "fee" to have your car smog sniffed annually. The $29 fee will reward you with a parks pass which will allow you to use the parks system for "free".

The Colorado Sun is reporting that there may be a loophole in the new law:

Colorado’s Parks and Wildlife Commission on Wednesday approved a $29 price for the new Keep Colorado Wild Pass. The pass, which will be part of every vehicle registration in the state unless drivers choose to opt out, could generate more than $54 million a year for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s 43 state parks.

Bold text mine. I imagine that the legislature found the big increase* in vehicle registration costs to be so distasteful to the peasantry that some way out had to be provided to keep the lawmakers from the lamp posts. 

*YMMV. My cars run about $70/year and get smog sniffed every 2 years for $25/each so the "free" parks pass represents about a 30% increase in registration costs. 

Sanctions: How They Work

 Sanctions work by cutting someone off from something they need. The Arabs might sanction some country they don't like by refusing to sell them oil for example. The U.S. is sanctioning Russia by cutting off oil purchases and boycotting other products produced by Russian Oligarchs.

Now the Russkies are striking back: They are sanctioning  a list of Americans including Anthony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Mark Milley, Jake Sullivan, Jen Psaki and Hillary Clinton.

That should teach them. Once the Russkies buy you, you darn well better STAY bought.

Fun With Headlines: Climate Fixed!

 Breitbart is reporting that Slo Joe is going to fix the worlds climate problems by executive order. Eclipsing the efforts previously brought to bear by King Canute no doubt.

Biden Promises Executive Action on Climate Change as Energy Costs Spike

That'll show mother nature who's boss. He'll probably throw in something to normalize the ebb and flow of tides too while he's at it.

Putin Reads From Trumps Book

 As of right now, it's pretty clear that Putins library includes a copy of Trumps book "The Art Of The Deal'. Famously it says that when going in to negotiate, ones position should be to demand the Sun, the moon, and the Stars, and work from there.

Putin has offered his starting position for an end to hostilities in Ukraine thusly:

1. Ukraine should cease all military actions.

2. Ukraine must change their constitution to guarantee its future neutrality.

3. Ukraine must acknowledge Russias possession of Crimea, and 

4. Give up the 2 eastern provinces which the Russians occupied a short time ago.

A great opening offer. Let's see:

1. Russia enjoys being thought of as the second most powerful military force in the world, and is quite embarrassed to be getting stymied by #22 Ukraine.

2. The next time they invade, they would prefer a completely disarmed victim. This is Russias international equivalent to the U.S. gun bans.

3. Russia had based a big part of their Black Sea Fleet in Crimea and dearly wants their Navy bases back. Historically, Crimea has been part of Ukraine, notwithstanding the little love lost between the mostly Muslim Crimeans, and the mostly Christian Ukes. The Crimean Cossacks don't care much for the Russkies either.

4. The Donbas region has been an economic disaster ever since the Rus occupied it, ostensibly to protect the ethnic Rus who live there. Anyone who could move, already has, back west into Ukraine.

So now it's Ukraines turn to make a counter offer. The soldiers on Snake Island probably said it best, but this is international diplomacy, so their response to the Russian demand for surrender would probably need to be Bowdlerized a bit:

1 You first.

2. You first.

3. How about if we agree that Crimea will be a designated neutral and demilitarized zone?

4. You will remove all occupying troops from Donbas, and we will guarantee full rights to the citizens there.

5. Additional diplomatic words and phrases, saying nice things about all parties concerned, mentioning Ukraines right as a sovereign nation to associate with anyone she wants, and ending with "...and the horse you rode in on."

Gas, Wars, Etc.

 Here's a pic from Fromthebarrelofagun that puts current gas prices into historical perspective:

With this in mind, and American oil company recently purchased a large number of barrels of Ural crude from the Russkies at the bargain basement price of $28/barrel. I don't approve of this subsidy of the Russian war in Ukraine, but at that rate it was an offer they seemingly couldn't refuse. As of this writing oil is currently bringing $110/bbl. Still, with all the sanctions, we still have not gotten around to including energy products like crude and LNG.

This pretty much sums it up.

The War - A View Closer To The Ground

 All reports should be viewed warily, as they are diminished by the fog of war and you have no real good idea by how much. Some observations, however, can be considered more reliable if they don't change much over time, or if they are backed up with images. Be careful, some of the "Ukrainian images" out there seem to be from Russian operations in Syria. The Traffic Jam on the road into Kiev from the north as been photographed repeatedly and doesn't seem to have changed much in the last 8 days. This is really bad news for the Russkies as large offensive operations generally require movement of some sort to be considered effective. 

Pictures of Russian heavy equipment, mired in mud, with the tires coming off the wheels does not inspire confidence, especially with people close to the situation describing this as a common problem with vehicles fitted with Chinese made tires. When you think about it, you have to wonder: With sanctions and a generally dismal Russian economy, what percentage of their ground forces have been serviced with parts from Harbor Freight? Tires? Diesel engine parts? Combat boots?

On the one hand there are reports that the Ukes have adjusted the dikes and levees in the area surrounding the roadway resulting in the "off road" becoming a swamp. The road itself seems to be best described as 2-lane blacktop with a breakdown shoulder on each side. The Russkies are taking full advantage of this by stacking their vehicles 3-abreast and some 40 miles deep. The problem here is that if the front ranks are out of fuel, the tankers can't get up to service them. If they are damaged, a T-84 tank becomes an 80 ton paperweight. Repairable? Probably, if you could get a repair vehicle up to it. Tankers and wreckers are relatively soft targets, and the Ukes know this. Shoot and scoot. A reliable technique for the last 2000 years.

Here and here are articles by people who seem to be much closer to the action than most of the pundits who are getting the media time. Give them a read and then consider the phrase "Potemkin Army". Keeping in mind. of course that while judicious use of force can drive a bear away from your trash cans, you do NOT want to run up and engage it with bare knuckles. It IS a bear after all.

The War: Ukraine, Russia, Finland

 Finland recently donated some artillery pieces, complete with ammo to the Ukrainians. Predictably, this annoyed the Russians who issued a "strongly worded letter" condemning the action and hinting at "military consequences.

Finland responded with a print of their latest Captcha pic:

Sneaky, the Suomi.

Fun With Headlines - Ukraine

 Having turned the country into a net importer of oil, and making us buy some 200K* barrels of oil a day from Russia, the meatloaf-in-chief now says:

Biden Says US Is Open to Banning Russian Oil Imports

Unanswered is the obvious question: "What do you propose we replace this with?" 

The expected answer is likely something about covering the state of Kansas with Chinese-made solar panels as soon as the environmental impact statement is completed and approved, probably sometime in the next decade.

*I googled the quantity we import from Russia and got numbers ranging from 208K to 800K barrels/day Filtering for hysteria, I think the correct number is in the 500K range.

NIVS Checks - Feb Update

 Here's the graph up to February, buried down in amongst several others and hard to spot. 

The country may well now be well-armed enough to slough off a takeover attempt by Mr. Putin. Now if we only had some ammo.

QOTD - Ukraine

 Insty has this one, particularly apropos after reports of an entire Russian tank column getting lost and running out of fuel on a back road in Ukraine:

FROM A FRIEND: “Ukraine government asked citizens to turn in captured Russian tanks. Citizens replied the tanks were lost in a boating accident.”

Question: Do the Ukrainians also play the banjo? 

 

Fun With Headlines - Ukraine

 From ProTrumpNews (they kept the name. Why not, it bugs the left!)

Jen Psaki Confirms Biden Admin Will Accept Ukrainian Refugees 

 Following up, Putin offers to send 20,000 refugees formerly stationed kept at various Russian military bases on condition that Biden move to house them in D.C.

Statistics: Cars & Guns

 Almost another "Fun With Headlines" post but not quite:

Study: Guns Pass Car Crashes as Leader of Potential Years of Life Lost Due to Trauma

 I will shamelessly speculate here. The drop in car deaths is due to more people working from home or dropping out of the work force, and the increase in gun deaths is because of skyrocketing crime rates and lax enforcement and prosecution by leftie mayors and DAs.

I expect the Dems will be taking credit for the former, citing higher gas taxes as the reason for fewer people actually being out on the road in the first place, and using their perceived success as a model, will be plumping for a $.50/round tax on ammo and a gun owners license, renewable annually, to cut down on the number of thugs getting plugged by their victims and rivals.

Meantime the Alabama house has passed a constitutional carry bill, and bids to become #22 to do this.

Kamala Threatens Putin!

 The news won't report this of course but I have it on the best authority* from an unimpeachable source** that Kamala will be meeting with Putin and laying down the law: "You call off the invasion of Ukraine and recall all the troops or you're sleeping on the couch for the rest of the month!"

*A small bird, chirped in my ear.

**I hold no office, therefore I can't be impeached.

QOTD - P.J. O'Rourke

 "I have often been called a Nazi, and, although it is unfair, I don't let it bother me. I don't let it bother me for one simple reason. No one has ever had a fantasy about being tied to a bed and ravished by someone dressed as a liberal." - P.J.O'Rourke 

Now imagine being tied to the bed and ravished by Anthony Weiner while Hunter stands nearby, stoned, watching. Would that not excite a liberal?

NICS Checks - Starting The Year Off

 I'm rather surprised to see this. Yes, the panic buying was settling down, but this represents a bigger drop than I expected. Note in the annual overall chart that the projected total for '22 is right in line with the general trend prior to the Covid outbreak and the "mostly peaceful" demonstrations.

The starting number for Jan '22 is 2,591,588 and the pale blue X is hard to see in the monthly chart. Quite reasonable. Of course it could follow the 2020 curve into low earth orbit depending on what the animated meat loaf in D.C. decides to do. Or what the Czar of Russia or the Emperor of China or Punxsutawney Phil do. 

On the positive side a new ammo plant will soon be opening up in Texas and will be manufacturing primers in addition to finished ammo so maybe all those new gun owners and us reloaders will be able to take a trip to the range without arranging a 2nd mortgage from our bankers first. Again, it depends on the unpredictable actions of a bunch of unpredictable people.

If You Can't Beat "em... Trade

 The supply chain problem is now into it's perennial problem, that being that very little gets done in China (and a lot of the rest of Asia) this time of year anyway, due to Chinese New Year. This fest begins with abut a week to gather ones extended family together, a week to celebrate, and a week to recover, after which it's back to work. 

This year it might help by giving the SoCal seaports 3 weeks to try to process the backlog. Grace Meng (D-NY) is proposing that Lunar New Year be a recognized federal holiday as well, bumping the total to 12. 

While it's good to hear that all the really big problems facing Washington have been either successfully dealt with or swept under a rug, I have to add conditional support for the idea of another Federal day off. I will support Mrs Mengs bill if she includes a day in October to honor Octoberfest. This would combine support from both the Asian and Northern European communities into a veto-proof majority of national support. While we're at it, how about if we move the Super Bowl to the weekend of the week preceding Lunar New Year, and set Octoberfest Day as the weekend preceding Halloween. 

Realistically, the fall holiday should probably be set on the first Saturday following election day so that everyone, regardless of affiliation, would have a chance to celebrate (or mourn) the outcome.

TEOTWAWKI -Weather

O.K. I've sussed it! Those prison camps in XinKiang full of Uhigers don't just make iPhones and sneakers. All the prisoners, on a second shift, are given a box of butterflies which they are forced to shake to get them to flap their wings. Since it is established science* that all our weather is caused by the flapping of butterfly wings in China, this must be the cause of all our weather catastrophes. The joke will be on the Chinese when their weather modification project causes China to be crushed by the glaciers along with everyone else, and the next ice age is named "the Chinese Winter".

*Of course it's established. I read it on the internet somewhere.

• 
  

TEOTWAWKI - Covid: We're All Gonna Die!

Found this just now. Seems the HIV virus, which is widely used as a genetic modification agent, works well with the Covid virus to produce large numbers of Covid variants. https://tinyurl.com/bs7vyrvc. 

Now all we need to do is wait for the pair to produce an easily transmissible variant with a 100% mortality rate. All you writers out there, write the book and sell it while there are still people alive to buy it!

Fun With Headlines - Canadian Insurrection!

 From the conservative treehouse comes this beauty:

Amid Escalating Protests, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Has Fled the Capital City of Ottawa – Canadian Safety Minister Refuses to Confirm CBC Broadcast of Russians Surrounding the City

Even funnier because it's true, still, one must realize that the Chinese would never allow Russian troops in one of their many "breakaway provinces" now would they?

QOTD - Gun Control

 From Bidens 2020 campaign:

“Whether it is a 9 mm pistol or a rifle, it is ridiculous. I am continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”

They empty the jails and refuse to prosecute the ones that get caught, then wonder why the public is arming itself. 

Covid: Are You Sick?

 The problem with the latest variant is that it's frequently difficult to tell if you're actually sick. According to this article in the Mirror, you need to be on the lookout for the following symptoms:

The common signs of Omicron according to the ZOE Covid study are :

• Dry/scratchy throat

• Runny nose

• Sneezing

• Mild muscle aches

• Fatigue

Other reported signs of the variant have been claimed to include congestion, brain fog, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, nausea or vomiting, with some people also experiencing sleep paralysis and night sweats. Most recently, a Berlin hospital revealed that fainting spells could be a sign of the virus as well.

There are also certain symptoms which require urgent medical attention. The CDC asked people to keep an eye out for pale, grey or blue-coloured skin, lips or nail beds, which could indicate worryingly low levels of oxygen in the blood.

In case any of you haven't noticed, it's currently the beginning of winter, which around here is characterized by cold weather, snow shoveling, and very low humidity. Between the temperature, the shoveling, and the humidity, it's easy to develop most, if not all of the above symptoms. The obvious cure, is to hie thee to a warmer, more humid location. Fiji comes to mind. Just as nice as Vera Cruz, but not controlled by drug cartels. 

If you have symptoms described in that last paragraph, you're probably already dead, so don't take them too seriously.

I still hold out hope that a cartel of billionaires will band together and buy a Caribbian island nation, and run it like old Hong Kong as a bastion of capitalism. I'd move there in a heartbeat.

The End Of Covid Is In Sight

 But probably not quite the way you were hoping. HHS will be asking hospitals to cut back on the number of deaths they report as being Covid deaths in advance of the mid terms. It is also expected that mask mandates and lockdowns will be reduced or eliminated. This is expected to last until mid-November.

The New Biden, Coming Soon To A TV Near You

 Expect the DNC to soon demonstrate recent innovations in AI purchased from the Chinese. They now have a couple of newscasters done with advanced animation and AI broadcasting the news daily and undetectable by watchers.

The original news people were popular and widely watched, and when the original AI models were introduced, they were not hard to spot. Currently the AI has learned to refine its modeling to the point that the models are virtually indistinguishable from the real people.

Expect this to be imported into U.S. politics soon. The giveaways will be the politician getting through a speech without self-correcting an error, either factual or grammatical. Speeches will be written by a committee, carefully checked for errors, and then piped out to us peons in a manner reminiscent of Max Headroom. Our new crop of pols can be expected to appear only on TV, or in meetings via Zoom or something similar. Slo Joe will be locked away in his Delaware basement, and his "steering committee" will have his AI driven image taking care of business. 

Actually, the uses for this are much more extensive than just keeping a demented meatloaf in the oval office. Imagine if a nationwide TV broadcast/youTube production went out in Iran in which the Supreme Leader threw his turban on the floor and denounced Islam as a fraud. Or if Xi JinPing were to suddenly announce the end of communism, or Kim Jong Un announced he was retiring to some South Pacific Islands with enough money to never bother with North Korea again. The mind boggles.

Meantime, watch for Slo Joe to suddenly begin making sense, or at least stop with the gaffes. A sure sign he's been replaced

QOTD - Bidens Speech

 Slo Joe gave a rousing stump speech in favor of federalizing all US election processes that both sides of the debate recognize would result in one-party rule in the U.S. for the foreseeable future. Dem side here, Rep side here. Note that they both agree.

Here's a clip:

Biden said at one point in his speech: "At consequential moments in history, they present a choice. Do you want to be the side of Dr. King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?"

NOTE: Dr King and president Lincoln were both Republicans, while the rest, most notably Wallace, Connor, and Davis, were Democrats. So was John Lewis, but having carried significant civil rights law reform, he gets a pass. 

How Dangerous Is The Wu-Han Flu?

 Maybe not as dangerous as we've been led to believe. First off, consider that the usual death toll from fly has dropped to literally zero for the last 2 years. Now look at this article from no less an authority than the CDC:

Asked on ABC’s “Good Morning America” about a study showing that vaccines targeting COVID-19 and its variants have successfully prevented serious illness, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control, admitted, “The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities. So, really, these are people who were unwell to begin with.”

Emphasis mine. Over reporting, maybe?  

 How many comorbidities do you need before the vaccinations themselves become a greater threat than the disease? Makes you go Hmmmm.

Is The Left Desperate? Yes!

 Here's the latest move to insure that the left doesn't lose its trifecta of political control: charge Republicans under section 3 of the 14th amendment which disfranchised southern politicians after the civil war.

Hard to believe, but there it is. Frankly I don't think they'll get very far with this, but if you find a friendly judge to uphold this moonbattery, it could take years for it to get to the supreme court and get tossed, and in the meantime, the Dem candidate gets to claim that his Republican opponent has been plausibly charged with insurrection.

NICS Checks - End-Of-Year

 And whaddayaknow! Looks like gun sales are back to normal after 2 years of panic buying and supply chain disruptions. 

Looks like there are 2 years in which December sales outstripped this years December, 2020 and 2015. I saw in a blog post which, of course I now cannot find, that Vista Outdoors is saying that all primers produced by their companies (Remington, Federal, CCI, Speer, will be unable to ship bulk primers until April 2022 at the earliest. All production is currently devoted to producing loaded ammo. Loaded ammo is currently in contention with Bitcoin based on what I saw last weekend. 9mm range ammo is running $.40/round, and is sold out. Available ammo is limited to the boutique DRT home defense stuff at $1/round. 

CORRECTION: Vista only controls 3 of the above listed primer manufacturers. Also I finally found the letter at Only Guns and Money blog:

From the story at The Firearm Blog:

December 21, 2021 

Dear Customer: 

Thank you for your business and for your continued support of American jobs and manufacturing. As we continue to see supply chain constraints and increases in our raw materials, we are increasing our pricing to help offset those rising costs. 

Effective 4/1/2022, CCI, Federal, Hevi–Shot, Remington, and SPEER ammunition will take the following price increases: 

• Primers – 5%
• Powder – 5%
• Handgun – 2-8%
• Rifle – 3-8%
• Shotgun – 3-12%

Additionally, due to continued demand, NO new Primer orders will be accepted until further notice. 

Unless you notify us to cancel an order, we will reprice all existing and future orders shipped on or after 4/1/2022 to the new prices. 

You will receive your finalized price list no later than March 15th, 2022. 

Thank you for your continued support of our brands and our American workforce. 

Jason R. Vanderbrink

President, Ammunition