And so I’m back… from outer space (cue the song mentally). Or central Asia. Same thing. 😀 Seriously, it’s good to be home but for multiple reasons – mostly being facilitating the wife seeing her family – I’m glad we went. One hundred percent necessary for her mental health to go. And an interesting culture and people. Amazing history too.
and
I’ll be sprinkling observations and anecdotes from the trip into posts over the next few weeks; pics too. And I’ve emailed with Steve about the images and legibility / visibility as on his posts people commented on that. From now all, all images that permit posting as “full size” will be posted as such (there are a few that, occasionally, do not permit size changes). Hopefully this helps.
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They’re flying so thick and fast it is amazing.
Take heart – there will be a Meme Overflow and almost certainly a Friday Meme Overflow-Overflow. Last week’s Overflow-Overflow. And… an enormous HAT TIP to Steve for taking up the baton and doing meme posts while I was away. Mega-dittos kudos.
Remember, ridicule and mockery are effective weapons:
- Ridicule cannot easily be fought
- Ridicule makes the enemy angry, and angry people make mistakes
- For those in the “squishy middle” a Thought Splinter (and Part II and Part III and Part IV) can often be hidden inside humor.
Now, let the mockery and mayhem begin.
*** Warning, a few possibly off-color ones, in case tender eyes are about ***
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Two Modest Proposals for a Better America
Bill Whittle and team, excellent as always.
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Keep $4 and give $3 to the sibling. “Taxes and ‘sharing the wealth'”.
On the last one… can I always find the answers? No. But will I commit to having the humility to admit I don’t know everything? Yes. And perhaps most importantly, when faced with new information that calls into question what I believe, including possibly disrupting beliefs that make me feel good about myself, will I consider that I might be wrong and that “my truth” needs to be supplanted? Absolutely.
Of the Seven Deadly Sins, Vanity is not my primary or even secondary sin.
The Devil’s Advocate Ending Scene- Vanity is definitely my favorite sin
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PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA – PSA
Her homeland is moving towards being cashless. They have an app that you use to scan the store-generated Q-code and the transfer works instantly. Cash is still viable almost universally, but there were a few times when my MasterCard was not a viable payment system (e.g., the local pizza place) which necessitated having cash (but a lot of stores don’t carry a lot of change in any significant amount so you need to prepare and have close to the right amount before you go in). As an example, the only way to pay for busses / public transit is with the app.
Notice how this guy almost Joneses about the idea of programmable currency; limiting “wrongthink” items, possibly expiring money.
Bayou Renaissance Man: Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC’s): even more of Big Brother
Remember, they think they’re doing good.
Slip-Sliding Towards Hell with a Good Conscience – Granite Grok
Anyway, so cash still exists there, but there is definitely a PR pressure to switch, entirely, to the app. Watching TV you’d see glorious ads for how conveeeeenient the app is, with attractive-looking (and almost universally young) people living it up, all with the e-commerce payment.
No, no, no, no social engineering nudges there.
The Fly on the Urinal – Urban Scoop
And the worst part? So many think it won’t affect them. E.g.:
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So at a local coffee shop I met a guy who spoke English, and we talked several times while waiting for my coffee order to be made. Nice guy. He’d studied in the US and one of his kids was born here.
Politics came up and he asked whether I was a Democrat or Republican. I mentioned that I was neither, using my tag line from my profile about not being a Republican. He asked, with astonishment, “Are you in the KKK”? to which I responded “Um, I’m married to an Asian woman”! He acknowledge the point. I then pointed out that I’m Jewish, to his mixed surprise & curiosity. But that gave me an excuse to send him on a journey, starting with these two videos, after I dropped a few tidbits from them to his utter astonishment in our conversation to pique his interest. Including the fact that the KKK was founded by a Democrat to be the terrorist arm of that party to intimidate blacks from voting and running for office.
A VOTERS’ GUIDE TO REPUBLICANS
I ran into him after he’d watched this first one and he’d been captivated. As I took it from the conversation, he’d known none of these things. And:
The Inconvenient Truth About the Democratic Party. [Pastor Reacts]
The reason I often like “reaction videos” is because of the emotions of the people who watch these and do these videos, and the emotions and amazement as their minds are broadened. I think it helps break cognitive barriers when people are confronted with info that shatters something they believe, see their reactions echoed in others, and that helps reinforce their emotional turmoil into which more new information can then flow. Which reminds me, I need to send him two other videos as follow-ups (links only):
Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican? | PragerU
The Inconvenient Truth About the Republican Party | PragerU
I was looking for the second one and didn’t find it on YouTube (hence Prager), but I did think of this one, below. It’s a “meaty” and lengthy interview, but Larry Elder is relentlessly and ruthlessly convincing. So I sent it as well just now.
Conservatives, Black Lives Matter, Racism | Larry Elder | POLITICS | Rubin Report – YouTube
As a line from the sci-fi channel production of DUNE said:
Never underestimate the power of an awakened mind.
Also recall my contention from here – to wit, that people, even people convinced that “A” is true resent finding out they’ve been misled, and worse intentionally misled… and that “not A” is actually the truth.
The only way I’ve had any success – and limited at that – is to present such irrefutable evidence they’ve been lied to, that they react to that realization – and only then by first getting them to agree to something, then hitting them with disproof that cannot be ignored. Then, and only then, when they realized they’ve been played and are seething about it, can alternative data be presented.
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My one condition for reparations is repatriation. After all, if we’re “making things right” then let’s restore them to where they’d be if slavery never happened.
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Another recipe from my friend’s business: My Tree in Israel. Note that I receive no compensation for plugging them: just fantastic olive oil, helping a friend’s business, and hopefully supporting agriculture in my spiritual home.
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This – Ruby Ridge – and Waco were twin seminal moments in shattering my trust in government. Yes, there were some increasing doubts here and there, but they were based on things from the “distant” past – e.g., Operation Sea Spray – that I’d learned about accidentally. Prior to those events I couldn’t believe the US government would do such things today.
US Military Released Bacteria to Test Biological Warfare (businessinsider.com)
That suspicion and nascent distrust of FedGov primed me for Covid. My skepticism about Covid, and then the Jab, already had a firm foundation.
Remember this video?
THEY KNEW Ivermectin worked. THEY KNEW Hydroxychloroquine worked. And they were willing to murder untold hundreds of thousands – knowingly and with malice aforethought, for two ends:
1. Making fear be the mind killer as a prelude to further controls
2. Getting Trump out of the way
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There’s a scene in the movie THE OCTOGON, the first Chuck Norris movie I ever saw, in which he is preparing to rush off and be the hero. The older man in the scene says, from memory, “Young man, before you run off to save the world, remember… the world, it does not want to be saved. Only to be left alone”.
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Former New York Post Editor Laughs When Detailing Censorship Of Bombshell Hunter Biden Laptop Story
Remember: the entire FedGov entity worked hand-in-glove with the enemedia industrial complex to fool the American public. And yet… there are people who still believe the government unquestioningly.
A Crisis of Trust – Urban Scoop
Speaking of lying:
So…
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Neil Oliver: ‘…lies, lies, lies!’
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Flip the races.
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Pick of the post:
Her home is a family-oriented country. Everywhere – and I mean everywhere – young mothers were pushing strollers, often with two, three, or even more children in tow as well. Most apartment buildings, including the one where we stayed, had playgrounds built in. Everywhere was child-friendly. Meanwhile, here in the US:
Remember, paraphrasing Mark Steyn, “The future belongs to those who breed to populate it”. I wish I could have more kids, even now…
More on Islamic demographic changes:
Closer to home:
A good friend in Maine says the locals now refer to it as LEWIS-STAN.
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Monday Musical Memory:
Mac Davis – It’s Hard To Be Humble (Lyrics on screen)
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Palate Cleansers:
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