The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. Thomas Paine, The Crisis No. I – December 1776
Frankly, it’s a time which try women’s souls, as well not just being disenfranchised en masse, but having the Establishment News Presstitutes and the Tech Oligarchs gag all mention of conservative simmering unhappiness and discontent in the major media, and chopping off access to social media for designated so-called ‘thought criminals’ in response to a relatively benign that is, relatively benign in comparison to what has been going on all year in cities that are prog strongholds a massive protest at the US Capitol. I’m fairly certain that the ruling political oligarchs had the snot scared out of them last Wednesday, when protestors overran the Capitol building. Here’s my tiny violin to play “My Heart Bleeds For You”, and my dainty Victorian lace-trimmed linen handkerchief to sop up the tears. (And BTW, one of those protesters was shot, fatally, by … well, er, someone, whose’ identity is yet unknown, prompting the observation that if he were a regular policeman and shot a protester of color in a prog-run city he would have his identity instantly spread all over the Presstitute Media, along with his home address, his spouses’ employer and the name of the school that his kids attended. But never mind…)
Anyway, the massive steal of the 2020 election season is accomplished and blessed by the Presstitutes and the Tech Oligarch Media, this a process objected to by us Constitutional conservatives to no avail. President Trump and his family and supporters are being unpersoned in job lots, people who went to the rally in Washington to protest the steal are being fired from their jobs and denounced by their families. So, it remains now what do we do now to make the filthy progs hurt metaphorically and economically, hurt until they bleed from every orifice?
I think, first withdraw our money and our eyeballs. Our money and eyeballs are about the only thing that we have left against the prog establishment. This has been happening gradually over the last few months, but we’ll have to go full steam ahead now. Professional sports orgs, who went all the way for BLM have seen viewership crash. Good. Make them crash ever harder. Right along with Twitter … whose stock price is already dropping. I deactivated my own Twitter account yesterday. I’ve always been a long-form blogger, anyway.
Stop watching pro sports, drop cable, and media outlets who are toeing the proggie line. Migrate from Facebook as much as possible, to alternates like MeWe. Even return to old long-form specialty blogs, rather than Facebook, et cetera. Look at video alternatives to YouTube.
Shopping … difficult to near impossible to avoid buying stuff made in China, especially since our industrial and retail lions outsourced everything from electronics to clothing to sweatshops in China, but there are workarounds like purchasing second-hand. Just call it ‘vintage’ and embrace the buying habits of our grandparents: use it up, wear it out, made it do or do without. If and when the filthy progs crash the US economy, we’ll have to go that route anyway. Embrace a handful of small companies or artisans creating completely American-made stuff. Use Amazon as a research tool and then go and buy directly from the manufacturer.
And as soon as I can, I’m going to change my voter registration to Independent.
What else can we do to stick it to the progs? Other suggestions and alternatives are welcomed in the comments..
“difficult to near impossible to avoid buying stuff made in China”
If you try, it’s still possible. I had to buy a powertool for Christmas. I actually emailed several companies asking where the model I wanted was made. One said China, one said it was impossible to say, one said Hungary. So a Bosch from Hungary is what I bought. Not Made in USA, but better than the other options.
LEDs for Christmas trees are all made in China, as far as I can tell. There are some LED light bulbs for the house made in USA.
So it can be done. It will be more work, but in general it probably won’t actually cost more. And we need to make it loudly apparent that we are doing it.
Whether to change registration I think depends on your state. What has to be done is anyone who is not standing up for our freedoms right now must be purged. If you are in a closed-primary state, you should stay in/join the GOP, to vote them out. I’m in deep blue NY so it doesn’t matter anyway.
Those are all good ideas, Sgt Mom. But be of good cheer! Reality is that our obnoxious Political Class (including Big Silicon Valley Business, Big Law, and all the rest of the usual suspects) have already lost. The die has been cast. Through their own stupidity & arrogance, they have finished themselves off. It may take a few more years for this reality to overwhelm them, but they are dead men walking.
No society can survive with perpetually increasing budget deficits. No society can survive with perpetual trade deficits. The Political Class took the strongest economy in the world and regulated it into a Cargo Cult economy dependent on imports from China — which was exactly what the Chinese Communist Party wanted. A de-industrialized country will become a de-militarized country; it will take some more years, but the CCP is patient. What the CCP clearly wants is a world in which the US is no longer a credible threat to them — and they are already well on the way to achieving that.
We will have our chance to start again with a clean sheet, thanks to the CCP.
I am on MeWe and will try to get my family to join once I am off suspension by FB for mentioning the Russia Hoax. It will be my last FB post.
I did quit Amazon Prime after the Parler thing. My wife said she saw the the first TV ad for Amazon Prime she’d ever seen, so maybe I was not alone. I suspect Amazon is a tax shelter for Bezos but AWS is a cash cow and should be taken down.
A suggestion that has its drawbacks: use Amazon like I used to use Barnes & Noble, use it to see what’s out there, then order online at home. I’ve ordered lately products that I see on Amazon and then go to the manufacturer or local dealer The last two gift certificates for my children were to Etsy – those had always been to Amazon before and for those who want to be free to choose their own reading, I’m going to have to figure out some work around. (Maybe gift certificates to Regnery which would accomplish a secondary goal of focusing their attention on books I’d rather they were reading.)
From another commentator: “difficult to near impossible to avoid buying stuff made in China”
I’d amend that to say “new stuff,” particularly when you’re buying is tools. I visit thrift stores and garages sales, always on the lookout of older American-made tools. They’re almost always better quality and I’m not feeding a totalitarian state. It’s also great fun to find something older and bring it back to useful life. I’m doing that right now with a circa 1980 sailboat.
When you are living in a totalitarian state, and make no mistake, we are living in a totalitarian state, you have three choices; Submit, nullify by refusing to participate or kill them. There is no grey area and you dont get to refuse to play.
Books….it’s been very easy to snap up an e-book from Amazon because they’re cheap and immediate. Instead, use your local public library, and apply pressure for them to procure more new titles, more copies o those new titles, and procure them faster. As Sarah Hoyt points out, this will hurt indie authors, many of whom publish “electronically only,” but libraries also have e-books available (usually in the Overdrive format).
Buying clubs – form one. If Joe is looking for a non-Chinese circular saw he’s a lone voice in the wilderness; if Joe, Fred, Harvey, Barbara, Chuck and Nancy are each looking for a non-Chinese circular saw, the prospect of selling a half dozen at one shot will attract more distributor (or manufacturer) interest, and probably a better price to boot. Don’t forget to tell the “pseudo manufacturer” – the giant outfit that markets the Chinese-made stuff under their name – that you bought from someone else for a reason.
My suggestion: Project MAGAfication. From the ground up and from the top down, infiltrate every corridor of influence or power. Voting and uncoordinated action is not enough. (For decades the Left has had an overarching plan of how to influence/destroy the system from within in EVERY arena. That is why they are like the Borg.) At the county level, for example, MAGA-type people form a group and look at what needs to be MAGAfied in the area: 1.RNC committee taken over. The RNC has machinery in place just waiting to be stormed, shock and awe, RINOS. 2. Every single county position filled with our person. No matter if it is apolitical.3. Every municipal position,including dogcatcher. 4. Schoolboards, etc. On state and national levels aside from political positions, curricula developers, publishers, public prosecutors, professors… MAGA influencers can change the culture if we plan and coordinate with each other. Like the curricula developing group has connections with the group that focuses on schoolboards.
If you want to purchase things made in America, try the Made in America Store https://madeinamericastore.com
Hi
Switch to protonmail.
I have also switched out of Roth IRA and gone to all tax deferred IRA savings. I figure this keeps about $8k out of the government’s hands.
I pay cash now at small businesses.
Grow, can and make things at home.
Max my charitable deductions.
My wife upped her 401k deduction to 50% and was able to stop all tax withholding on her paycheck.
Economic boycott against all big corporations.
Break mask laws everywhere.
Mock the serfs mercilessly.
I hit the tip jars now all the time.
Looking for a Linux phone.
UK commenter here.
First, bravo (or I suppose brava)!
Second, more suggestions as to how to avoid Amazon gratefully received.
Third, what Mike Perry says. American tools used to be best in the world, IMHO. My Estwing claw hammer is still a treasured possession. I’m sure some Snap-on tools are still made in the US (please say they are).
When thinking of chinese purchases. Remember the Lenin rule.
“They will sell us the rope we will use to hang them”.
Mike Perry Says:
find something older and bring it back to useful life. I’m doing that right now with a circa 1980 sailboat.
OK, thanks for the “You’re OLD” statement of the day…. ouch
Mark Says:
Looking for a Linux phone.
They’re out there. They’re just as expensive as the newest iPhone – at least the slider one was.
If only I could remember the name. *points to the “old” statement above*
Don’t want CCP crap? Try this for a start:
https://chinanever.com/
I found some US made Topsider deck shoes. I’m not sailing anymore but I wear them in summer. They cost significantly more than the Chinese imitations that last about half as long. Pretty much a wash.
As far as restoring a 1980s sailboat, try restoring a 1969 one.
Jonathan, very slow today.
Ohh, thanks for the links to chinanever.com and to madeinamericastore. Bookmarked and noted for future use.
Just remember how the Founding Fathers solved their problems.
They didn’t play nice.
They didn’t “obey the law”
They didn’t see it as a difference of opinion.
They didn’t “we’ll do better next time”
There was no “next time”
Washington didn’t cross the Delaware to do twitler or fakebook.
The Founding Fathers piled up the corpses of their enemies.
I second Sgt Mom thanx for the sites to bookmark. I started a folder to start collecting such tips. Thanx & keep ’em coming.
What would happen if there were daily traffic jams inbound to DC and state capitols? Caused by inexplicable simultaneous ‘breakdowns’ of vehicles. Delay the pols and bureaucrats.
On a grander scale, if this happened in all large cities, to the point that the food chain gets interrupted, what would that be like?
I’ve reconditioned an American-made lathe from the late 40’s and a milling machine from the 60’s. Both are great machines that will still be making parts long after I’m gone.
Dave,
That stuff just undermines the support we have from the public. Want to see video of emergency vehicles unable to get where they are needed? Blocking everyday folks from getting to where they need to be does not win any support. Sounds more like Antifa welcoming the demonstrators into the Capitol. Peddle that mob stuff somewhere else or catch a clue.
Death6
In August 2019 I purged my home of all things made in China that were consumed or applied and set out to not buy anything made in China period. I was amazed to discover in January 2020 that when it comes to prescription medication, not consuming something manufactured or sourced in China was very difficult if not impossible. I need a new crock pot but to buy an American made one starts at $300, every other pot is made in China. So I have my daughter who is an expert vintage shopper of many years on the lookout. Patience is required. No problem. I’ll use my Dutch oven in the meantime.
Google, Twitter, Facebook and Amazon – one of these isn’t like the others. Those of us in the benighted hinterlands may live our entire lives without being in the radiant presence of a real live Twit, Googler or Facebooker. Amazon by contrast has a massive geographical foot print. Granted that, outside the enclaves of enlightenment, the chance of running into an Amazon employee with discretion beyond what they have for lunch is equally remote. The first three also share a well documented reluctance to hire Americans, an option not open to Amazon, at least not yet.
I wonder what the effect of actively cultivating the enmity of a large portion of the population will be for Amazon? Luckily for them, the portion they are enraging is not the one with the habit of burning random symbols opposition. We do, however, represent a large part of the market for all the services they sell.
Heretofore, most enterprises would not have entered such a controversy other than through extreme mischance and would waste no time in jettisoning anyone with any connection to it. Most would have worked hard to avoid engendering aversion let alone incandescent rage in half their prospective market. Amazon seems to have chosen this course deliberately. The other three may manage, in the absence of competition, to do just fine with the portion of customers aligned with their viewpoint. I doubt that is an option for Amazon in the long run.
The best way to hurt these idiots is to quit using the Big Tech websites.
Ditch Google for DuckDuckGo
Facebook? There’s about two dozen startups attempting to replace Facebook. Currently MeWe appears to be leading the pack and Parler will be back by next week.
Twitter? Use Gab instead.
YouTube? There are a horde of companies growing to replace YouTube. Diamond & Silk are on Rumble but there are more choices.
Mozilla just went pear shaped. Use the Brave browser in place of Firefox and Bluemail in place of Thunderbird.
Amazon? All the other big box stores are attempting to emulate Amazon. Prices at Amazon are climbing. Check out Rural King or Walmart. It may still be the same Chinese crap but it’s a local store and it’s not Amazon.
Look for alternatives. They’re out there.
I have the collywobbles realizing how much of the S&P index funds I own are linked to the tech firms – about 25% it seems, including Apple and Microsoft. Since many are also part of Nasdaq, there seems to be a double counting effect here. Anyone with info on a Linux phone or a Rumble site on building your own pc, please let me know. Thanks for the links to nonChinese sites, I have been struggling with this. Did anyone notice what happened to retailer numbers at Christmas time? Why buy clothes or jewelry if you are stuck in your house? Did anyone other than our beloved overlords go on skiing trips?
I wonder what the effect of actively cultivating the enmity of a large portion of the population will be for Amazon? Luckily for them, the portion they are enraging is not the one with the habit of burning random symbols opposition. We do, however, represent a large part of the market for all the services they sell.
Every time Amazon comes up, I think of the people that killed off Sears. The year that Amazon first appeared, selling books, Sears shut down their catalog store. I worked for Sears in college and saw how poorly managed it was in 1957. A couple of years later, I was working as an engineer and programmer of an old mainframe. I thought that the Sears catalog would be easy to structure as a computer project. Of course, that was well before the Internet and especially the web browser but the early Internet was a text world. How many remember the “Archie” and “Veronica” search engines ? By 1995, when Amazon appeared, it would have been much easier to put then Sears catalog on line.
Instead, the “Vulture Capitalists” dismantled it. And here we are with no alternative to Amazon except WalMart whose heiress Board member supports Black Lives Matter.
Fiona…”I have the collywobbles realizing how much of the S&P index funds I own are linked to the tech firms – about 25% it seems, including Apple and Microsoft. ”
Why not consider trading some of that out in favor of funds/firms that represent other parts of the economy?
Buy Taiwan tools- they make excellent stuff. And a thumb in the eye to the chi-coms.
}}} by the Presstitutes
I’ve been using the term “Merdia”, FWIW.
;-)
}}} Instead, the “Vulture Capitalists” dismantled it. And here we are with no alternative to Amazon except WalMart whose heiress Board member supports Black Lives Matter.
Well, there is Ali Baba….
DOH.
That had an {RBG} that got et by the html processor
I do see a lot of problems with a bunch of people well versed in economics ignoring the principle of comparative advantage with re: China manufacturing.
I cite:
1) Obvious flawed economic thinking
2) China has a major problem, an excess of males. The historical solution to this is simple: WAR. A jingoist china is really not a good thing. They’re belligerent enough. If China is in business, then their males can compete for females via something other than war — business. This strikes me as a better option than war… For everyone.
3) China’s burgeoning middle class will also be a force against war.
4) China’s internal turmoil is nontrivial. Militarism gives them a clear distraction from that turmoil.
OBH — A lot of us are stuck in the past, thinking that war necessarily involves bombs & bullets. War is, as the Man said, simply the continuation of politics by other means.
What was the aim of the Allies in WWI? To get the Axis Powers to surrender unconditionally. And the path to that goal did involve armies fighting — but more importantly, it involved destroying the Axis Powers’ manufacturing capacity, largely through aerial bombing. Germany collapsed partly because it ran out of manpower, but largely because it ran out of the capacity to manufacture weapons & provide food & fuel to its forces.
Look at what China has done to the US manufacturing capacity over the last quarter century — or, to be more precise, what US politicians and US businessmen have done to the former US world-leading manufacturing capacity. Our brilliant leaders have lost an economic war they did not even know the Chinese were fighting. We are very close to the point where China can bring the US to its knees simply by stopping exports to the US of everything from medications to nuts & bolts.
My guess is that China does not want a shooting war with the US, and certainly does not want to occupy the US. Mostly what China wants is for the US to retire from the world stage, and especially to exit the Western Pacific. When there is no prospect of support from the US — Japan, Korea, Australia, Philippines, Vietnam will all fall into line. And the Europeans already know their place.
Between persuading US businesses to offshore manufacturing and buying US politicians, China is now very close to achieving checkmate. China certainly has its own problems, but they won’t stop China winning this economic war. I would not be surprised to see Beijing Biden selling to China the aircraft carriers the US will soon not be able to afford to operate.
“OBH ”” A lot of us are stuck in the past, thinking that war necessarily involves bombs & bullets. War is, as the Man said, simply the continuation of politics by other means.”
You can buy a really nice CNC machining center, Japanese, not that Chinese crap, for the cost of a HUMVEE and a pretty good sized factory for the cost of an F-35.
Real war ain’t cheap and we’ve gotten bad at killing masses of infantry. It’s been mare than a hundred years since you fought wars by handing out rifles and walking to the enemy.
When there is no prospect of support from the US ”” Japan, Korea, Australia, Philippines, Vietnam will all fall into line.
I’m not so sure about that.
I think Japan especially won’t, and South Korea need not either. Both countries could have nukes lickety split- Japan supposedly “at the turn of a screwdriver”- and someone commented at this site recently that Taiwan has missiles that don’t make sense other than to delivery nuclear weapons.
I half suspect that China is doing the exact opposite of what will help them with their awesome plan to dominate the world- that is, they’re driving their neighbors to combine against them, like Germany did in the last century.
That may not end well for them, even if the US becomes globally irrelevant or even disintegrates.
Xennady: I agree. The US is far weaker than we thought, but China is much weaker than most people think, and their neighbors aren’t suicidal, and have zero interest in becoming Chinese satrapies.
Funny story–my daughter knows someone at her high school, part-Chinese, who regularly spews vicious anti-Japanese rhetoric. A certain liberal I know thinks he obviously picked it up in school, because American white people are the source of all racism. Lol. The left knows zero about the world.
Xennady: “I half suspect that China is doing the exact opposite of what will help them with their awesome plan to dominate the world- that is, they’re driving their neighbors to combine against them, like Germany did in the last century. That may not end well for them …”
That is a reasonable concern — although there is a certain difference of scale in Australia vs China compared to England vs Germany. And England had bigger friends. But history tells us that things do not end well for any country — the only question is timing, as we are finding out in the US now.
Given the abysmal quality of movies & TVs produced in Canada by “Hollywood”, I have taken to watching subtitled programs made in Korea & Japan. One of the interesting themes underlying many of those productions is that government is corrupt. I wonder how much support those governments will have from their own people when times get hard? Admittedly, Usurper Biden’s regime should be asking itself the same question. Japan & Korea presumably do have nuclear capabilities — but using them against China would be a conscious act of seppuku — big China would recover from the hit; little Japan & Korea would not.
We have to ask ourselves what does China want? (Or more precisely, what do the rulers of the Chinese Communist Party want?) If we listen to what they say publicly about the “Century of Humiliation” China suffered at the hands of the Europeans & Japanese, the answer is they want to make sure something like that can never happen again. My guess is that the CCP does not want to rule the world — they will be satisfied if countries like the once-proud USA, Japan, Korea are emasculated and functionally de-militarized and no threat to China … rather like Europe and Australia today. Dealing with India & Russia is probably more of a long-term concern for the CCP.
Between persuading US businesses to offshore manufacturing and buying US politicians, China is now very close to achieving checkmate. China certainly has its own problems, but they won’t stop China winning this economic war. I would not be surprised to see Beijing Biden selling to China the aircraft carriers the US will soon not be able to afford to operate.
Gavin, I could see that happening but it is less likely than a simple economic collapse like 2008. Also, I think you meant WWII in your example of Germany being bombed. In WWI, the British economic war was the blockade of food to Germany. Had the British and French just held in place, instead of killing their seed corn of young men for a generation, Germany would have collapsed economically about the same time. There was no significant aerial bombing of Germany in WWI. The bombing was along the trench lines and just behind. The Germans panicked British politicians with dirigibles that could reach London but the effect was psychological.