Stevie Wonder going back to the Mudderland
Posted On: Tuesday - March 2nd 2021 5:49PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Lefty MegaStupidity Music Race/Genetics
Face it, with their ungratefulness and almost innate leftist stupidity, there are many millions of people who we feel really ought to go back. Some are not even close to being newcomers, but, hey, they are still quite welcome, as far as I'm concerned.
I would never have said that about Stevie Wonder. I've like lots of his music, going back to the 1970s. His Boogie On Reggae Woman is a hell of a good tune with a great funky sound. Though that post was from last summer, I remember using that song to test the youtube embedment process (still not working on Internet Exploder, AFAIK) back when I was putting the
However, in a case of blind stupidity, as reported by a site called Page Six, Stevie Wonder [is] moving to Ghana to protect grandchildren from racism.
Stevie Wonder, good old Stevie Wonder ... worried about his grandchildren .. racism is not .. it makes you wonder, doesn't it? I guess that whole Ebony and Ivory thing ain't workin' for old Stevie. He's fine with the Ebony but tired of the Ivory. I wonder what's up with old Stevie. Oh, man, now I've got this guy doing Trump again in my head. Make it stop! Commenter PeterIke quips "I bet he's not Ghana like it there."
Anyway, his career is over for me, as the last hit I recall (aside from the duet with Sir McCartney cited above) is I Just Called to Say I Love You, and wiki says that's from 1985, so I'm just not gonna let myself get all bent out of shape about this. From the short article:
The “Sir Duke” crooner, 70, told Oprah Winfrey in a recent interview that the decision came out of the growing racial injustice he believes is pervading American society.I would say "take a look around you, and see where the racial injustice is" but he can't. He can listen though.
You wonder how he and his grandchildren will get treated in Ghana if they ever find out that Stevie's real name is Stevland Hardaway Morris. Consider yourself doxxed, bitch. They may not take too kindly to people with names like that, or if, say the US dollar dies, and the grandchildren don't live like Kangs and Queens anymore over there. I think that's what it's about anyway, being a famous big fish in a little scummy pond.
What I've seen all over the place lately is people from Ghana who've moved HERE. In fact people from all over the place have moved here, such that I met a woman at the auto parts store from Paraguay.* Paraguay! I was probably the only customer who knows where the place is on the globe. She liked that, and she's pretty good, but seriously, is Paraguay an auto parts mecca to where we need AP-1 Visas to get more people doing the looking up of make, year, model, and engine size on the computer that Americanos just can't do?
That digression over with, you go on, Stevie and family, and make good over there. If you come back with your tail between your legs, write us a good song about that. In the meantime we can get your stuff for free off youtube, like right here, one of my favorite romantic songs:
All Stevie Wonder's best music was from the 1970s. This one was from the Talking Book album from 1973. The first half of the first verse was sung by one Jim Gilstrap and the next half by the smoothed-voice Lani Groves. I think these two sound much smoother than Mr. Wonder, but he wrote the song, sang the rest, and played those great keyboards, so kudos to him on this one, my 2nd favorite of his songs.
* No, she wouldn't tell me exactly where the Bushes are holed up. I think it's in one of those gated ex-Nazi subdivisions. They're getting long in the tooth, but those ex-Nazis are still really strict about the H.O.A. fees and bringing the garbage cans back up to the house by 5 PM. Mach Shnell, Beaners!
Comments (13)
March Mask Madness - Part 1
Posted On: Tuesday - March 2nd 2021 9:18AM MST
In Topics: Curmudgeonry Kung Flu Stupidity
Peak Stupidity had our 13 part series* called "Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic" this past summer (of course). One can find them all with the Kung Flu Stupidity Topic Key. I just looked and only 3 out of them did not specifically involve the face masks. There's a lot more to this PanicFest than the masks. The worst is the economic damage done by the LOCKDOWNS, but we have written about that too (note our discussion about hotel/motel closings). We will shoot for more posts on this.
LOCKDOWNS are not as easy to fight on the small-scale. However, the masking stupidity is. We can ignore the face masking up to our personal limits, and the wearing of them in strange situations and for obviously no benefit shows an inordinate amount of compliance, something I'd always thought American were not supposed to be too keen on. I've been focusing on this personally, so this blog will too.
We've got lots of posts to come in this series, most of them hopefully humorous to not just the blogger, but the reader too. That all said, this one, now that I think of it, is not about the masks but the surface contamination worries, which have, hehe, resurfaced at the library (please
Here's the deal: I didn't even know the library had reopened till a month or more later. You can't go in there though (too bad for the bums, seriously). The nice librarians will come outside and take your request for a book or video. The material we get is stuff we put on hold on the website - that works pretty well. They don't even ask for ID or a library card - too many germs, I believe is the reason, which is something I just now thought about. Hey, I keep a clean wallet, ma'am. I've got nothing older than an old Blockbuster video gift card and a receipt for my projection TV in there.
I would go up without a mask, it being outside and all, but they got on me about it. I will put it on for the 1 or 2 minutes. Well, this time I had 2 videos to return. Worried about forgetting them, I put them on top of the couple of book shelves outside. The lady, who I know pretty well, brought out my new items, and I said, "here you go, before I forget".
I did forget something. The lady came out all worried, asking "wait, you're returning these?" "Yeah." "These have to go into the drive-through boxes." Though I'd done it 10 times already, I really had forgotten that part, rather than trying to infiltrate the building with Covid-one-niner germs on purpose. As I've noted in Scenes from the Kung Flu Summer re-Panic - Part 7, I come from a family of non-drive-throughers. It is still new to me to have to sit in the car when I can simply get out and take care of something in person.
However, this was obviously a bigger faux pas than I first though. "I've touched the items" or something like that, was what the librarian said then. Was she really scared? Was I supposed to feel bad? If she was really scared than I guess so, but then with face masks on, you can't tell about people (subject for another part in this series). "We've got to sanitize everything..." she was telling me. OK, got it. All the stuff comes into the box, gets sprayed off with something or other, and then can come in. All the material on the shelves, and the shelves themselves, are clean, free and clear of the Kung Flu. The air inside is pristine! OK, "was". My two videos had fucked up the whole library.
I get it. Were this the Black Plague 2.0 or Ebola, I would want to see all that and more done. I'd probably just not go to the library. Instead, of reading new books and watching new videos, I'd be holed up in the house writing more frequent blog posts, and eating 3 month-old Top Ramen and beans with the family. This system in place at the 'brary is done to make everyone BE SAFE or at least FEEL SAFE. Well, I do feel bad about screwing up their nice system, the more I think about it. However, the lady goes home too. She probably has a family and germs are all over the house. I really think she and the library patrons should lighten the hell up and get a life.
However, it's this "surfaces full of germs" thing again in a new strain. From now on, I will remember to drops books off in the big box. I just hope I'm not in such big trouble that I'll get a visit at home from Mr. Bookman.
The Seinfeld TV show had quite a few extremely funny guest stars over its years. Ben Stein, seen at the bottom of this post of ours is one, and this guy who plays Mr. Bookman is also a very favorite of mine. I usually don't give a damn who the actors are, but kudos to Philip Baker Hall for multiple LOLs here!
* I wrote the 1st one on July 1st when Season 2 of the PanicFest was just starting "cases, cases, cases!" was the theme then. The last one, Part 13, happened to be right after the start of Fall, and I really thought it might be all over then. Ooops...
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All I hear of, is Lady O'Gaga...
Posted On: Monday - March 1st 2021 6:00PM MST
In Topics: General Stupidity Humor Movies
... Lady O'Gaga, Lady O'Gaga.
No, I really don't hear anything about or from her, but I have read something about her and the kidnapping of her doggies. Oh, and whenever I read her name, that Queen song Radio Gaga comes into my head. It never fails, in fact. Because it's not one of my favorite Queen songs though, I won't feature it in this post.
Rather than that, Peak Stupidity will feature something completely different. This is a snippet of a proposed movie treatment*, or screen-play, of a film to be called The Pink Panther's Dog Day Afternoon.
All three hostages are in the house. From the dialog between Sal and the hostage negotiator on the phone with Sal first:
“Get that squad car off my driveway! One more move like that and the dogs get it!”
“Of course, Sir, that was a stupid move by the LAPD. We’ll be talking to them about that. (Sargeant, get your men away from the house, now!)… OK, I’m a hostage negoti... errr, your friend, and I’m here only to help you get everything you want, so the everyone can walk out of there nicely. Now, you say you want a pepperoni pizza for yourself and you need a 10 pound bag of Purina Puppy Chow and two cases of Fancy Feast. What should we bring for the dogs? Now, can you put the gun on the kitchen counter for me, Sal?”
“Yeah, they're French Bulldogs, so I want a case of canned escargot, extra large snails. Also, I want a jet ready to go for me at Van Nuys, with enough fuel to get me out of the country… to Wyoming. You got it, copper?! Also, do your dogs bite or sing?
“No, my dogs don’t bite or sing. Please, Sal, don’t do anything ra–“
BANG! BANG! BANG!
What’s happening in there, Sal?! Did you shoot one of the French bulldogs?
“No, that was Lady Gaga. I thought you said your dogs don’t sing!
“She’s not my dog. OK, the pizza and escargot are on the way.”
Man, writing a screenplay, ain't easy. Well, it's a work in progress. I've got Rob Reiner the Meathead looking at it right now - he may have some tweaks. In the meantime, I'm already thinking of changing it a little bit since Lady Gaga got her dogs back and is still singing.
If it's not funny at all, well, I hope it's just that you haven't watched either or both of the two movies, The Return of the Pink Panther, from 1976, starring the hilarious Peter Sellers, and Dog Day Afternoon, from 1975, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale as Sal.
Here's the great scene with Peter Sellers. I highly recommend Dog Day Afternoon. There's part of it that's got me planning on writing a review on it soon.
Seriously for a second, I understand the loss of one's pets, and really do feel for someone who has one taken like that. However, what about the poor dogwalker guy who got shot 4 times in the chest? Well, he's breathing on his own, at least, I just read.
Something I've learned from this is that the occupation of Dog Walker is not always a cush job like Diversity Coordinator or Peak Stupidity Blogger. I don’t know where it falls exactly in the list of dangerous occupations, but I’d guess it’d be somewhere between Bush Pilot and Nuclear Disaster Clean-up Coordinator, right now probably # 5 with a bullet.
If I ever change careers to be a Dog Walker, I will refuse to service ANY dogs worth more than 20 bucks apiece. Oh, and Labs, because they are known to get Stockholm Syndrome when they get kidnapped.
Catnapping, well they're on their own. They can take care of themselves pretty well, and if it happened, you may expect a call from the kidnappers offering YOU money to come get them back.
* That's what we call it in the Biz, though I have no idea why.
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Doing the standing up that White People just
Posted On: Monday - March 1st 2021 11:06AM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity California Race/Genetics
This post will continue with the thoughts discussed last week in Behave yourselves - 2nd-Class Citizens*. The conclusion was that a White Man will not get a fair shake if he gets the now-typical viral-video treatment or Lyin' Press coverage when defending himself from aggression in public.
Black people in America have gotten extremely entitled-feeling, due to many decades of Government and Big-Biz favoritism and the egging on of this by the Lyin' Press. In the meantime, Whites have become a much smaller proportion of the American population, with > 50 million immigrants and their children being added over that same time period. (As I recall, it has gone from a mid-80% number to the mid-60%, and it's quite a bit lower for the numbers of young people.)
These immigrants become 1st-Class Citizens upon arrival**, at least the 90% of them or so who aren't white do. Therefore, they do not have the same worries about anarcho-tyranny in the legal system, excoriation in the Lyin' Press, career termination by the Big-Biz HR ladies***, and cancellation by the "TECH" Totalitarians (VDare term) if they try to defend themselves here, as 1st-Class Citizens. Nope, they've got that P.O.C. card in their wallets or purses.
These newcomers can do the standing up that White People just can't do. For some, that seems like a great thing. It's not like it was the plan though. Massive immigration was implemented for reasons of cheap labor, dilution of votes, and the Globalist's wet dream, the crushing of the middle class. Still, people like Ron Unz in California may be pretty pleased with the way it's worked out. In that State, (mostly) the Hispanics have done the work of taking over the formerly black neighborhoods and doing the virtual rounding-up-and-moving-out that the White Californians just couldn't do.
The Hispanics, though still more violent than White people, have gotten that street crime down to a dull roar. They are a macho crowd (never mind those silly Latinx college, errr boys?). They will stand up for themselves. Then the Chinese and the •Indians are peaceful folks, sticking with the graft, corruption, and white-collar stuff. It's all good, right? See, now they've got their State back over there in Cali.
Wait, who's got his State back? Talking about demographic replacement, the White population has almost been replaced in that State within 50 years. (See Mr. E.H. Hail on "Who Lost California?".) So, that beautiful piece of land, one the called Paradise, no longer belongs to the people who settled and built it. Sure, the elites in Cali can enjoy their relatively more peaceful lives there, but what of their children and grandchildren, who will be growing up in a foreign country?
Are the newcomers going to take care of the place the way the White Californians have? Not as far as the environment goes. Most of the newcomers don't have the same respect for the land. In an infrastructure sense, perhaps things can be kept running. How about in a sense of a unified high-trust society? Nah.
Lastly, even if it were worth it to import people just to stand up to the aggressive black people, keep in mind that they aren't standing up for us, just themselves. ("C'mon guys, it's all tribalism nowadays!". ) As the many, many, Steve Sailer posts on this subject have shown us, when these disputes between groups of 1st-Class citizens happen, they are often settled by blaming it all on the White People.... somehow... yeah, it works. It'll work till the White People are gone, or even after. Bitch, bitch, bitch... hopefully they won't hear it from their new home on a planet in orbit around Alpha Centauri****.
* BTW, I wrote that term last Thursday, and a couple of days later, I ran across the use of it by Christopher Caldwell in his book The Age of Entitlement, near the end. This book was recommended by commenter E.H. Hail, and a review is imminent.
**Hell, the illegal ones now don't even have to worry about all that silly Kung Flu testing business.
*** See also Part 2, Exhibit A - Toby Flenderson, and Part 3.
**** Please, any readers who are Sci-Fi buffs, amateur astronomers or even professional astronomers, humor me on that one.
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I'm Goin' Straight to Hell...
Posted On: Saturday - February 27th 2021 8:00PM MST
In Topics: Music Southern rock
... just like my Mama said, I'm goin' straight to hell.
Nah, it's not anything I've done, as far as I know. This is just a great old Southern country/rock song by a band named Drivin' and Cryin' that I just remembered. I've seen them live - I can't remember that much.
Been goofing today, so my apologies for having no real blog post. I've got plenty in mind though, a proposed Lady Gaga and her doggies screenplay, more about us 2nd-Class citizens, more mask madness, Kung Flu stupidity at the library, and much more, coming next week.
Straight to Hell is from this Atlanta, Georgia band's 1989 album Mystery Road.
The band:
Kevn Kinney – Guitar, vocals
Buren Fowler – Guitar, dobro
Tim Nielsen – Bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion
Jeff Sullivan – Drums, percussion, backing vocals
Comments (5)
Where have you gone, Ronald Unzio, ...
Posted On: Friday - February 26th 2021 7:10PM MST
In Topics: Internets Websites Pundits China Kung Flu Stupidity
... our nation turns its Panicky eyes to you... Wu Hu Flu....
I would normally put this caveat or disclaimer at the bottom in a footnote, but this time it's important to me that the reader read this part first:
The Unz Review website has been my 2nd favorite for the last 3 years or so. (#1 is Peak Stupidity of course!) I mean that more to indicate which site I spend more entertaining time on, not especially which site in the world has the most truthful material. For the unz site, which is one of only 4 on our blogroll, I spend more time on it by a long shot over any other site but right here.
Unz.com is an extremely well-working site, made by a very intelligent guy who's done more than his share of software work. I know some commenters here don't agree, but the commenting system is my favorite of any other I've seen in functionality (yes, of course it beats hell out of PS in that sense).
The Unz Review does a tremendous service in the name of the truth, or the search for it, anyway, in archiving loads of writer's older work, links to videos, and entire books. This is material that could and probably would, the way things are going, get lost. I use "get lost" here not in the passive sense, but as in the woke American society purposefully losing them!
I admire Ron Unz for being a truly stand-up guy in regards to publishing lots of material that most others are scared to publish. Not only that, but, even for the material below - the Kung Flu PanicFest - Mr. Unz will continue publishing work by writers who are 180 degrees off from his opinions. We know his opinions both from his own (usually very long) articles and from his occasional comments in the various threads. (He moderates very lightly, with exceptions for rare bouts.)
Note the titles of the Ron Unz-authored articles shown above, just a small sampling of hundreds, taken from a screen-shot I made in summer '18*. Yeah, they're controversial, as are most of the articles/columns by the dozens, or maybe near 100, writers on the blog. Now that you've noted those 3 titles, I'll get to my point which is my perplexity about the mind of this guy, right now, during this life-changing Kung Flu PanicFest.
As I wrote already, this PanicFest is no exception for Mr. Unz on his policy of letting all sides chime in. I see Ron Unz’s opinions as very open-minded, but most open-minded when the opinion is anti-Americans (note that’s plural) in any way at all. He’ll believe any weird shit that makes Americans look like the worst people in the world. I don’t get that, but that's not my beef here.
What I find amazing is that with all his highly-researched journalism on all sorts of cover-ups, false narratives, and schemes in American history, Ron Unz does not see the one right in front of his face happening RIGHT NOW. Instead, what does he do? With purely circumstantial evidence, he comes up with the big conspiracy that the American military or Deep State created the Kung Flu, infected the Chinese via a sports team that “just happened” to be in Wuhan. He's written a dozen or more posts or so on this conspiracy theory of his, to be found among his own articles here**.
I mean, it ain’t like there’s not been a lot of back-and-forth travel to China and that Wuhan isn't a big-ass city even for China. What also “just happened”‘ to be in Wuhan was one of just a handful of high-level infectious disease labs, finished less than 2 years before the virus. Apparently, Mr. Unz’s conspirators were smart enough to create the disease and infect China but not to foresee that the disease could spread around the world, including America, via, I dunno, New York City or somewheres?? BTW, it's not like I'm even completely sure that Ron Unz is wrong in this. It's just that his fixation about the origin of the Kung Flu is distracting him from any analysis of the PanicFest itself.
My point about Ron Unz is that his talent and efforts are being wasted on the conspiracy stuff. We have this huge nation-destroying (or accelerant of it, at least) PanicFest going on.
It involves the Lyin’ Press, though not as a conspiracy – they are too stupid for that. It involve government officials at the high Federal level, State level, etc. It involves medical professionals of all sorts, giving all sorts of conflicting important “expert” advice. There’s a load of money involved, with incentives for it to continue and disincentives for people that don’t accept the panic. It involves a great increase in the Police State/Totalitarianism in this country and others.
If ever there were a big story that could rival that of WWI and WWII being instigated by certain people or the people behind the implementation of Communism in Russia, who shot JFK (or JR, for that matter) or. any one of Ron’s areas of historical research that many appreciate, woudn’t this Kung Flu PanicFest be it? Yet, Mr. Unz is so into his “who started it?” conspiracy theory instead. I’m just wondering if that’s just an anti-Americans and pro-Chinese attitude coming though. Be that as it may, this is the biggest story of the century, with huge amounts of political implications. Wake up, Ron Unz! This is happening NOW, Ron, Right Here, Right Now (Unfortunately, it's not as bright a happening as the fall of the Commies in Europe, the subject of that Jesus Jones' song).
PS: Why pick on poor Ron Unz? OK, he's not exactly poor, first of all. There are plenty of Americans that ought to be high-profile opinion-leaders for the Anti-Panic side. Ron Unz coulda' been a contender. We could use a guy like him on our side, not in his current capacity as a source of another anti-all-things-American conspiracy theorist.
* I was searching for images for this post, and I found this one already uploaded. It works fine for this post.
** I didn't link directly to the posts, not because of any animosity about it, but just because he's got lots of other work there. You'll have to scan through anything with a title containing "China", "Wuhan", "Ft. Dietrik" (don't ask), and/or "COVID".
Comments (29)
An Unmasked Insurrection
Posted On: Friday - February 26th 2021 7:52AM MST
In Topics: Elections '16 - '24 Americans Liberty/Libertarianism Anarcho-tyranny Kung Flu Stupidity
"No! That's not how you do it!" - antifa Commie
In the comments under our post When the masks come off, regarding the Capitol Gang, seen above past January 6th, E. H. Hail (of the "Hail to You" blog added a good point:
If it were an "insurrection," and especially given the ubiquity of masks, you'd think many would wear masks. (It doesn't hurt that it's literally the law to wear them outdoors, under a theoretical $1000 penalty as ordered by the typical big-blue-machine DC local government). But almost none were wearing masks.I was going to put this into my own words, but when I went back to Mr. Hail's comment, I saw that this is the same way I'd have put it. There was no big plan to take over the Capitol ahead of time. Had there been, the idea of masking up would have been brought up by someone - the timing, as I wrote, would have been just perfect. Or, does the left just think those who don't have the very same ideas as they do and comply with the same politicians they do are just stupid?
Clearly they did not think they were doing anything illegal, or even near the borderline of illegality, or they'd have taken basic steps to conceal their faces. Many were probably against masks on principle, others may have believed 'Covid' was kind of a giant scam to get Trump, others just didn't care and didn't think they were comfortable/breathable for vigorous activity such as marching and protesting.
This is a different angle to the No Masks at Capitol Protest observation than the one you discuss here because it shows the protestors' motivations; No Masks = No Insurrection. (As if this point even has to be proven, but that is good proof of intent.)
I don't really think that. The idea that there was an INSURRECTION AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is just such a blatant lie. This point is another one that helps all Americans with common sense see this blatant lying.
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One Way Out
Posted On: Thursday - February 25th 2021 9:00PM MST
In Topics: Music Southern rock
We're going back 50 years here to these shows at the
The old R&B song One Way Out was written by Elmore James, Marshall Sehorn, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, though some versions claim just the latter. I don't know about those older artists, but at this point The Allman Brothers version goes way back itself. Yes, for some of our parents music that was made 5 decades ago meant Scott Joplin or something.
Gregg Allman - Lead vocals and keyboard
Duane Allman - Slide guitar
Dickey Betts - Guitar
Berry Oakley - Bass guitar
Jaimoe Johanson - Drums
Butch Trucks - Drums
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Florida Man Unmasked
Posted On: Thursday - February 25th 2021 4:26PM MST
In Topics: Americans Bread and Circuses Kung Flu Stupidity President DeSantis
Though I've keep up somewhat with Florida's government's common-sense way of dealing with the dreaded Kung Flu, being almost completely off the Lyin' Press "news", I haven't kept up with all the details. Therefore, I haven't really known what a great character Governor Ron DeSantis is. Actually, because I don't watch video off the TV, I've never heard the man speak, so I can't say for sure he's an original "Florida Man".
It's been kind of new to me too, this humorous "Florida Man" meme, so just to explain, the idea is that if you hear some humorous story about some drunken and/or wild shenanigans on the news, the headline disproportionately reads "Florida Man". Peak Stupidity especially enjoyed the Florida man who used a front loader to dig up a few neighbors' yards in the process of removing Zhou Bai Dien signs late last October (he was ultimately unsuccessful ... in helping Trump win the election, that is). We have nothing against rednecks and this kind of fun here at Peak Stupidity.
As I dug up the image at the top (thinking about it for this previous post), I noted the headline for the post it came from: Gov. Ron DeSantis after Super Bowl criticism: 'How the hell can I drink a beer with a mask on?' The Governor was seen at the game with no mask on. That was bad cause, well, why again?
Now, Peak Stupidity gives the hypocrites grief on here all the time, as futile as it likely is. However, Governor DeSantis has been a trooper in fighting the idiocy of the Fed and their Kung Flu PanicFest. He has been against face mask mandates, so I am glad to see that he set a good example for Floridians.
Someone said, ‘hey, you were at the Super Bowl without a mask,’” the governor reportedly said. “But how the hell am I going to be able to drink a beer with a mask on? Come on. I had to watch the Bucs win.”"Voluntary" executive order? What does "compliance" with a voluntary order mean? "Voluntary" means whoever wants to wear a face diaper at the game wears one, and whoever doesn't, doesn't. Aren't there any pot-holes to deal with, Mayor Castor? Yeah, and the only real superspreader I know is over near the Naval Observatory (where the VP hangs out).
Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, is one of the few U.S. governors who never issued a mask mandate during the coronavirus pandemic. The NFL required masks at Sunday’s game and the crowd was reduced to less than 25,000 in a stadium that normally holds some 66,000 people.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor had issued a largely voluntary executive order requiring masks during the Super Bowl festivities, the Orlando Sentinel reported. She faced questions Monday after viral photos and videos showed revelers in the streets without masks on.
Ms. Castor said it was a “little frustrating” that some fans didn’t follow the mask requirement but said the “majority of individuals” she saw celebrating complied. She also cited the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup win in September, which she said was not the superspreader event people had feared.
I really hope the story of the conversation discussed in our post Federalism Rumble: DeSantis v Bai Dien is true. It was truly exhilarating to read that. The more I learn about Rob DeSantis, the more I like him. He doesn't kiss Fed ass, that's what it comes down to. How do you find guys like this, Florida? Every State could use more Florida men.
Comments (5)
Behave yourselves, 2nd-Class Citizens
Posted On: Thursday - February 25th 2021 11:22AM MST
In Topics: Race/Genetics Anarcho-tyranny
The race situation in this country is not getting any better. With the economy worsening for lots of reasons, with the divisive Kung Flu PanicFest going on, and with a Presidential administration that is blatantly anti-White, I think things will get worse. The main take-away I've seen is that no matter who bashes whom, it's the White People's fault.
Now, Mr. Steve Sailer has been doing a bang-up job recording the Lyin' Press' narrative on this for a long time. He's had a few posts lately on the topic, and it's Ring, Ring, go the Racists*, and, of course, the good comment thread below it, that I am keeping in mind here. I noticed that Peak Stupidity's 2nd-favorite-with-a-bullet pundit Michelle Malkin also has a good article regarding the same incident - Dear Woke Asians—Stop Blaming Whitey For Black-On-Asian Attacks. This and a related post to come will not be a rehash of Mr. Sailer's or Mrs. Malkin's illustrative takes on this inter-racial bashing the subsequent tweet-squabling, and the usual calls for the Community to get together to HATE on the White Man. I've got a couple of other points to make.
In particular, the case in question, with a video showing a white guy** knocking down an older Chinese lady, looks like a winner for the Lyin' Press narrative. They've got their Great White Defendant, in Tom Wolfe (The Bonfire of the Vanities parlance). However, in the iSteve comment section, way down there, a commenter replied to me with some more details. He stated that what was seen in the video happened after the (OK, 2nd) perpetrator got into a squabble about face masks with the old lady, she maced him, and THEN he knocked her on her ass. Now, that's a completely different story. It's from an internet commenter, while the duck didn't give me any results from "Flushing beating mace". Should I believe some internet commenter over the rest of the whole internet? Nowadays, yeah, I very well may.
Perhaps this commenter lives near there (Flushing, Queens, NY - hey, not a bad idea!) and actually knows some details. I don't plan to argue the truth of this case, which is, after all, just a small happening in a city in which I don't live near and has loads of cases of black violence against all kinds of people on a daily basis. This post will have a quick discussion about the plight of White people (sometimes Oriental too, or anyone who can't be held up on the pedestal as People of Color), when there is any conflict on the streets or other public places.
See we are 2nd-Class citizens at this point. All it takes is for a man to go through some scenario in his head, regarding what he'd do in certain situations, for him to realize where he stands with the law and public opiinion. Now a White man can go around avoiding trouble, highly recommended to anyone, and meekly taking some slight words of abuse and rude moves by others of higher races, and unless he is targeted directly as a crime victim, usually come out OK. Even being meek doesn't work all the time, as that encourages real bullies, as we learned around the time we were in kindergarten. Also, as men, it's not the way we'd all like to go through life.
Picture yourself in various scenarios that involve other races, especially black people. You can go through what you'd rather do the next time some black punk disses you or your girl or lady. You start with words back, but they are the most likely people to escalate things. You think of what you'll do then. I won't go through it all, but in my mind it never ends up worth it.
Back to that little incident in NY City, again, let's say you made a remark back about the face masks, due to someone giving you a hard time about not wearing one (see, here's where I come in!) What if the mace came out? That and pepper spray really suck to have in your face, or so I've learned from others (never had the pleasure myself). If it were the case, I imagine that guy in Flushing just got impulsive out of rage. Let's picture a more likely scenario, where you back way off from someone giving you grief about your face diaper, or lack thereof, or really, any other thing that he takes as a sleight. You back off and try to be reasonable. Then the 1st Class citizen escalates things by continuing to give you a hard time about it.
Yeah, you can just walk away. It looks like a wussie move to everyone, including yourself. However, you have to understand your status as a 2nd-Class citizen. If you decide to fight back, verbally or more seriously, you are at a big disadvantage. "Oh, we got video everywhere now", you say. Yeah, but it's often the case that any serious altercation will not be videoed from the beginning, the initial problem. I've seen the quick altercation mentioned above. I can't tell if there were words or mace sprayed, because nobody started "filming" yet then. Not only that, even if someone else did catch the rest of the story, as per our old late friend Paul Harvey, who says youtube or the TV news will show that one?
The nearby public will be against you. Even if it were 75% white, the nearby public will likely STILL be against you, due to "racism!" The law will be against you. The Lyin' Press media will be against you. The wider public, once they see what the Lyin' Press wants to show, will be against you. It's not all the details, but the basics of this are probably ingrained in most White guys' minds at this point. (Maybe, for some of the non-woke younger set, that is not the case yet.)
We already know that the way to both not have to put up with either getting railroaded by the law, HR, and maybe even one's wife, and not have to act like a meek 2nd-Class citizen is to simply avoid places where any of these people are around. It really is a shame, because when you get around the cities, even heavily black areas, you see that most people are just inherently pretty decent. Still, the percentage of people who can screw with you, or really, are ALLOWED to screw with you, is just too damn high.
You can get away from it pretty well (as per commenter Adam Smith) for now. How long will this be the case, though? Peak Stupidity will continue with this thought in a follow-up post called "Doing the Sticking Up for One's Self that White Americans just CAN'T Do." (or something close to that. I'd like to find better wording.)
* You'll have to click this one to understand the title, which is just a snarky aside regarding the woke writer of this particular article. Steve is at his funniest in this one, along with giving a good take on the story.
** He's got a Hispanic last name, but from the picture, he's at least one of those real white Hispanics.
Comments (2)
When the masks come off
Posted On: Tuesday - February 23rd 2021 7:13PM MST
In Topics: ctrl-left Anarcho-tyranny Kung Flu Stupidity
NOTE: This post and a few more to come will be partially taken from things I've written in the comments under E.H. Hail's recent blogpost On the lack of high-profile opinion-leaders for the Corona Anti-Panic side: Why? Peering into “Covid” as social phenomenon. If it seems too familiar, sorry 'bout that - we'll be mixing in plenty of other stuff.
Until about a year ago the phrase "when the masks come off" or "they're taking off the masks now" was said figuratively, as an idiom, one might say, not unless it was the odd example of a hospital tech being told when it's OK to come into the operating room. We all know that it means the time when our enemies stop playing coy games to hide their intentions. They figure they've got things set up and they've got the numbers they need, to win. There's no more value in hiding their intentions.
I would say the masks have come off the ctrl-left in America over the last 1/2 a year, especially since their CheatFest ended successfully and they have control of the high levels of the US Feral Gov't. (They've had the lower levels for quite a while already.). See, now I mean that figuratively, while literally (I mean actually literally, not figuratively literally, as per Millennial talk), the masks have come ON for most people over the last year.
Those BLM thug looters and their antifa Commie cohorts and enablers put on face masks for anonymity. That worked damn well for them, as if it were planned, in fact*, If those peaceful riots had been happening only half a year earlier, it would still have been evident to most people that one's wearing a face mask meant he was up to something** What timing! Now one can safely argue that he is doing his duty to fight the Kung Flu, and maybe it's even the law TO wear one, OUTSIDE, for cryin' out loud.
The face diaper madness has been the most common detailed subject matter discussed here on Peak Stupidity over the last year, and that will continue until morale improves ... which ought to occur about the time Dr. Anthony Fauci is unmasked for his long dirt nap. There's an aspect of it that I somehow missed until recently, well after the Capitol Gang festivities of the past January 6th. Maybe it's just because I don't watch any TV and avoid the Lyin' Press sites like yahoo, etc. too. A reader could inform me in the comments if I've missed this, but I have seen nothing referenced on the news/opinion sites I do read.
The Anarcho-Tyranny we are living under unmasked itself [Enough!! - Ed.], as it's been obvious to everyone that the Capitol Gang has been treated by the Law, rhetoric of the politicians, and the Lyin' Press in a completely different manner from the BLM/antifa. This hypocrisy abounds and the ctrl-left doesn't care that we see it. What I haven't seen written about, or heard being said, is anything at all about the Capitol gang having mostly been unmasked there in the chambers of Congress. These guys were running around, hanging out, putting their feet on desks of the anointed, and all kind of mean and nasty things, spreading COVID-one-niner germs everywhere they went!
If the Blue squad and ctrl-left top people REALLY believed that this Kung Flu is pretty much the Black Plague 2.0, wouldn't they have been screaming through their non-woven material about all that germ spreading? The place should have been LOCKDOWNED, not just to save Nancy Pelosi and crew from these mean unarmed horned tattooed guys, but to CONTAIN this virus, dammit! Come in with a National Guard "water buffalo" full of disinfectant, drop cases of wipes out of Blackhawks, hell maybe napalming the place would have been prudent.*** "I love the smell of napalm in the Capitol, any time of day... smells like ... victory."
I haven't read or heard thing one about the spreading of the Kung Flu by the Capitol Gang. What I believe is that, at the high levels, even the high-functioning imbeciles of the ctrl-left aren't really scared of this virus. It's a great distraction and a great tool for them when they need it. The January 6th events got turned into the next big narrative against us. That narrative is "INSURRECTION AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" That one Trumps, if you'll excuse me, even the Kung Flu PanicFest. Of course, that card is still there to be played, when its time comes.
* I dunno. That's a subject for another post.
** It's another point I disagree with Steve Sailer on. He had always maintained (well before this Kung Flu) that laws against wearing face masks in public should be enforced. As a Libertarian, and especially in the age of ubiquitous cameras, I strongly disagree.
*** There's PLENTY of money to build a new Capitol. It's like one day's worth of border wall money, which is like 10 minutes of normal spending, or something ...
Comments (17)
The United Asterisked College Fund
Posted On: Tuesday - February 23rd 2021 7:45AM MST
In Topics: Humor Political Correctness Race/Genetics
If you can't even mention the word "nigger", as we discussed recently in Cancelling the Cancellers, then can't "negro" be used in some situations? How about for black crayons ... in a Crayola set made for the Latin American market...? No? Still no?
I know what the proper description is for people is, "Black" with a capital "B", right? "Afro-American"? "Colored"? "African-American People of Color"? That sure takes a while, so I'll just use that when I have ctrl keys handy to cut/paste it from somewhere.
Peak Stupidity is just the messenger here, as the image above is straight from a John Derbyshire VDare post titled Woman Of Color Cancelled For Saying "Negro". What had triggered somebody was the phrase "house nigger". That's a derogatory term meaning "acting too white" that can only be used by Colored people about other Afro-American people. However, someone got triggered, so the whole class has to go to detent... errr, we need to all tweet back to stop this behavior, errr, behaviour, these are British kooks here, not our own.
Yeah, but people, the word "Negro" is still used in a lot of places. I wonder if all you
The United Asterisked College Fund - special ASCII characters are a terrible thing to waste.
Boy, that was a long set-up just for that lame-ass joke, huh? I also think that the single byte (256 bit) character set allows for quite a few anyway, and we need not worry. Maybe some computer guys here could tell me if the world has updated to 2 bytes. Man, that would cover anything the world could think of for a long time.
So for all muh N*****os reading today: Here, knock yourselves out:
********************************************************
and if you're planning to write a grievance novel for me to review, here!:
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Comments (12)
Our Lady of the Forest - Book Review Addendum
Posted On: Monday - February 22nd 2021 8:00PM MST
In Topics: Feminism Books Legal Stupidity
(Continued from original book review.)
In Peak Stupidity's review of Our Lady of the Forest, I completely left out an aspect of the story that I had intended to discuss. There should be a number (4) to add to the 3 points I mentioned to explain what "Mr. Guterson [the author] really knows his stuff on".
This is a subject for which we should really add a new Topic Key. (I am working on a good name first.) Right now, this has the Feminism key, as that's the closest we've got. Feminism is the root cause of this big part of the stupidity space, if you will. Let me explain it in terms of the novel.
The character Tom Cross is either divorced or separated. I don't have the book on me anymore, so I can't check. Either way, in the story, he is mostly the cause for the divorce with the tragedy of his son (I'll won't get into all that detail), but his wife has some part of the blame too. Tom Cross ends up living in the motel room, leased from the •Indian owners, because he has been thrown out of his house by the legal system. This is most often the case in real life.
What David Guterson seems to know very well is the situation men can find themselves in, between family court law, their ex-wives, and their children. I'll state right here for the record that I am happily married and have never been divorced. However, I've known a few guys over the years that have been through the deal character Tom Cross has in this novel. Because of restraining orders, other court rulings and the like, men get constrained to a ridiculous degree. Any normal manly ways of getting things done can be perceived as threats to the ex or violations of the court.
The scene in this book that rings so true to life is the one in which Tom Cross must get his pick-up truck camper top back from the ex-wife's yard. If you know that region of the country, one can't go long before some rain comes down, yet Tom has all his belongings in his truck. Well, the restraining order says Tom can't even go on his property. As his wife is inside the house with some other women who have been all set against him, he would like to simply get the camper top from the yard with no messy interaction and get out of there. It's not like the wife is going to get big bucks for it on e-bay (she'd let the thing corrode out there), so it's not about stealing, just getting this important task done.
It turns out the ex's or one of her sympathetic girlfriends' little POS car is in the way. There's no way to drag the thing out without moving that car. Rather than start a scene inside by asking her as nicely as possible to move it, he decides to move the car, the women come out screaming bloody murder, and then Tom is in trouble with the law yet again. (Luckily, since the Marian apparition madness is in full swing by this time, the law is way too busy with other things for a while.)
This makes number (4) of the list of things the author knows well because he describes so well the situation a man can get in. It got almost impossible for Tom Cross to get his life in gear and his truck in gear with his camper top to save his belongings due to the legal stupidity and feminism inherent in today's family court world. This is a subject area of stupidity that Peak Stupidity would like to get into more in the future.
Now, since our commenter Dieter Kief recommended this novel in the first place, I will paste in a few thoughts of his from the comments under the main book review post:
In case anyone is wondering why that favorite Allman Brothers' song isn't here, Peak Stupidity has featured it before, way back near the beginning of this blog, when we started out with our very favorites: here.
- - - - Wonders, craziness (and mental disorder), drugs (mushrooms), beauty of various kinds (not least natural ones) and religion and the unifying spirit (unio mystica) which connects all these spheres - - -
Thanks. Great review. The book has three centers: 1) Nature (you did focus on this one). 2) Life of regular folks in the rural Pacific Northwest (that theme was important for you too) and - 3) the longing for transcendence that springs from that hard life (here you are a bit on the defensive side).
Transcendence is big throughout. That and natural beauty - not only of the forest but also of Ann, the skinny, a bit run down but nevertheless (sexually) attractive visionary) and how (not only her) multi-faceted attractiveness affects the logger, the priest and the greater public - all on their own terms, so to speak. The unemployed logger, the greater public who is more and more drawn into the scene, the priest, and his supervisor. David Guterson makes it easy to follow these people and how they are attached to the many forms of inner-worldly transcendence, which the scenery and his characters embody and/or encounter in many different ways. The subtext of the novel is religious in the sense of a feeling of belonging, which people strive for - good people as well as other ones. In the end, that is what comes through - that longing for belonging, even if in a form, that finally might look as if this main theme of the book would be diminished by it (it isn't).
The founding equation is natural beauty (of all kinds - not least of the Pacific Northwest but also of the main run down desperate and skinny character Ann) - ajá: The main equation at the center of the book works like this: This multi-faceted natural beauty that is on display here equals transcendence and this transcendence equals longing and: A reason for belonging and the oneness of all kinds of folks - a feeling of universal unity. This mystic feeling which - in order to be achievable for us - must be turned into something that can speak to everybody though. So here is sublimation at work: The transformation of the primal (instinctual) drives of our bodies and our souls into something that encapsulates those (at times: dark) forces without falling for them: And that then must be - something else to mark the difference and thus - enable release/redemption. To cultivate primal (instinctive) longings means ideally to transform them into something that - can be shared. - A (religious) ritual, a speech, a song, a poem, a dance...***.
***The Belonging Quartett
Since we talked about the Allman Brothers here: The movie Almost Famous shares quite a bit of the subtext of Our Lady of the Forest (and a skinny and charming groupie - Penny Lane (cute but too sugar-coated to be quite real: Kate Hudson. In this regard Guterson's Ann is much more realistic). But the religious/transcendental subtext of the novel is also to be found in lots of the Allman Brothers Band's songs: Not least in Blue Sky - with its "Early sunday mornings - bells are ringing everywhere" - and the "river flowing" under "blues skies": Nature and transcendence (religion) and - joy.
Comments (3)
Federalism Rumble: DeSantis v Bai Dien
Posted On: Monday - February 22nd 2021 1:41PM MST
In Topics: Liberty/Libertarianism US Feral Government Kung Flu Stupidity Zhou Bai Dien President DeSantis
That above is supposed to be a reference to the NY Daily News headline Ford to City "Drop Dead" from 45 years back, in reference to New York City's request for bail-out money from the US Government.
Now, on this one, I was so excited to read what I'll post below that it made my week! OTOH, it's hard to find out whether this phone conversation really went like this or not. I don't go for the "it's too good not to be true, so we'll publish it anyway" bit. It's not really that we could get sued [STFU!! PS Legal Dept.] I don't want to purposefully spread false information. Look to the bottom for more on this.*
We get this short post about a conference call conversation between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on the one side and the President, his people, and a bunch of medical muckety-mucks on the other from Real Raw News. Written by one Michael Baxter, this great read (only 1 to 2 minutes) is something I'd like to paste in whole. However, I'll just give a brief background. The background is that the State of Florida has one of the few anti-Panic Governors. Because the next panic season, "New Strains!", in 3-D, is coming out to a school, playground, or small business near you, the medical experts, backed up by China-puppet Zhou Bai Dien, are on Florida's case.
There is obviously a strong partisan political component of this conflict. DeSantis is a Republican and was a Trump supporter. The panickers of the US Feral Gov't don't like how Florida has taken this all kind of easy. They don't like the results, which don't match the experts' finely-tuned models. The results, healthy people living their lives pretty normally (in a State with an extraordinary number of old people, no less!) must be wrong. The Feral officials want to make an example out of Florida, and they know that tourism is a big part of Florida's economy. Therefore, they want to implement some extra-Constitutional restrictions (more than we have now? Unpossible!) These involve travel into or out of the State of Florida. We pick up the conversation from there:
Florida had arrested the spread of Covid-19, DeSantis argued, and accused Biden of targeting Republican states that supported Donald Trump.[My bolding, for a bold man.]
“Florida absolutely will not comply,” DeSantis repeated. “Instituting a travel ban or restriction of movement would be a gross example of federal overreach with no grounding in law or science. We have Covid-19 in check, and you’re trying to exert unlawful authority over our state and its people,” he chided Biden.
Biden then tacitly threatened to withhold federal funding and to deny Florida access to Covid-19 vaccinations.
“C’mon, man, Florida needs our help, and you need vaccines, which are hard to come by, isn’t that right, Dr. Fauci,” Biden said.
The “Deep State” doctor replied in the affirmative, telling DeSantis that he expects the prevalence of the UK variant to double or triple every week to 10 days.
“Governor, do you want to be responsible for reinfecting the nation? Truth is, we don’t even know how effective current vaccines are against the UK strain.”
DeSantis told Dr. Fauci he trusted his own state health authorities over financially incentivized federal officials.
“How much do you stand to earn from these vaccines, Dr. Fauci? And, Joe, if you continue with this course of action, I will authorize the state National Guard to protect the movement of Floridians,” DeSantis said.
“Address me as Mr. President or President Biden,” Biden said.
“I will not, and you can go fuck yourself,”DeSantis said before hanging up.
OK, let me make this clear: It should not be the most exciting thing in the world hearing about a guy talking back to the President, as if the President were the King. He's just the elected, honestly or NOT, head of the Federal Gov't Executive Branch. That not respecting him in person*** is a big deal is how it does seem to be going though, as we noted recently in The Farewell to Kings didn't take.
Because of one of the many evils of Constitutional Amendment XVI**, the flow of the money, local and State officials bow to the whims of our Feral officials. Now, with Governor DeSantis getting direct threats from the Feral Gov't to the economy of Florida, he is arranging to fight them. Telling the President to go fuck himself is a great start.
I am not exaggerating when I say this news made my week. I've not had a man-crush on anyone ever, as far as I can recall, but this is as close as it gets.
PS: Unless I find out that this conversation did not happen beforehand, I'll be looking up the office of the Governor of Florida later and writing possibly even a snail-mail letter in thanks - something he could hang in his office.
* Here is the text from just under the post on that Real Raw News site (their bolding, all the way):
Addendum: We are aware that various so-called fact checking agencies are disputing our account of the telephone call, claiming that the governor’s office has denied the event happened. These so-called fact checking parties are run by the Democratic Deep State. Real Raw News stands by our story and its source, and we would love to see DeSantis comment on it personally.Theses "agencies" in question may be Snopes or a few others I checked out. None of them have had any quotations from officials denying this conversation. I found this story from Mr. Hail's comment under his most recent blog post, and before that, he got it from the Kunstler blog. (We discussed a post from Mr. Kunstler's blog before called Cluster-Fuck Nation****.) Mr. Hail added:
Michael Baxter, editor of Real Raw News, has now repeatedly said he believes it is authentic, stands by his source, source has provided him correct info in the past.If Peak Stupidity learns that this is surely made up, we will note that at the top of this post and maybe make a quick correction post.
** See # 1, top of the list of evils, and, for more background on Amendment XVI, Part 1 and Part 2.
*** Though this somehow didn't apply to Donald Trump.
**** We've already ruined the family-friendliness of this particular post, so the rest are free, as they say!
Comments (14)
Our Lady of the Forest - Book Review
Posted On: Saturday - February 20th 2021 6:32PM MST
In Topics: Immigration Stupidity Treehuggers Bible/Religion Books
🎵We get
Between unz.com and Peak Stupidity commenters, I get book recommendations, not always even to me directly, but if they interest me, and I can get them easily, I'll usually read 'em. (I'm still catching up on one from Mr. Hail.)
Our illustrious commenter out of Deutschland, who sure likes Switzerland too, Dieter Kief, recommended a novel some months back, called Our Lady of the Forest, by David Guterson. In our few dozen book reviews (to be found here), we've only reviewed 4 novels. 2 of those focused very specifically on the immigration invasion problem, a specialty of this site, and 2 were prepper novels.
This review then will be reasonably short, due to this book being a novel**. I will not spoil the ending, except to say that I wasn't very satisfied with said ending.
Our Lady of the Forest is about a wayward young waif*** (~ 16 y/o) who supposedly sees visions of, and converses with, the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, in the forest in the Olympic Mountains. From the author's point of view, we don't know if little Ann Holmes is actually seeing Mother Mary or not, but that's part of the mystery. Well, there are a few other characters involved in those woods with her, also somewhat under-employed folks that go into the forest land picking mushrooms (for a living, not always necessarily to see things...) Nowadays, even 15 years ago, it is/was illegal Hispanic guys picking some other kind of plants in that area, but we'll get to the immigration aspect.
Because there are witnesses around, the continual sightings of the Mother Mary by the young lady end up becoming a big deal and a cause a big influx of pilgrims, media, hucksters, and Catholic officials. This happens over the course of a week or so and that is about the length of time of the story. Besides Ann's closest "friend" Carolyn, who becomes her pitch-lady, there are a few other characters that are developed, including Tom Cross, an ex-logger, and a fairly young Priest, Father Collins.
I'll say this about the book: Mr. Guterson knows of what he writes. I've written before regarding One Second After (the other prepper book reviewed here), that the author was told, by Newt Gingrich no less, to "write of what you know". The religious aspect of this novel is not what I mean, as I am not a Catholic, and this one would be probably even more interesting to a Catholic. I refer to the big woods in the Olympic Mountain range in the corner of Washington State. Peak Stupidity discussed before this favorite area of American wilderness in Part 5: The Wilderness of our looting by China series. I'm sure I can be convinced of more beauty elsewhere, but here's the picture again from that post and from the Olympic National Park.
This story takes place in private land, owned by a timber company, but it's got to be nearby.
Mr. Guterson knows his stuff on:
1) The lay of the land, the climate, and the beauty of the Pacific Northwest temperate rain forests. He also knows some very specific places there.
2) The economy of that region and how it was devastated 3 decades ago by the big restraints put on the logging industry.
3) The change in the quality of life for people due to huge immigration levels of ultra-foreigners.
Relating item (1) to the book now, besides describing the place so well, the author even has the name of a motel that I know of, in Port Angeles! For those who've read, or might read the book, this is not the one that Tom Cross is staying at. That one is not named.
On item (2), I WAS trying to keep this post short, so I won't get into the environment vs. economy argument in this post. There are two good sides to the issue, but I'll just say that the great decline of the logging industry is part of this novel, especially for the character Tom Cross. It so happens that his story has an immigration aspect to it. I wrote something already in paragraph 10 of the recent post Hotel Haiti - on Competence. Mr. Guterson does a great job with this, with no PIC holds barred.
The main characters in this novel are not doing very well in life, partly due to the economy of the region, but also due to the normal human foibles. Most of them are hopeful that the visions of Ann Holmes are indeed a miracle. There are the exceptions of the jaded Bishop from the Catholic Church, who has traveled to ascertain the validity of these sightings, and then Ann's pitch-lady and closest confidant Carolyn, who is the most despicable character in the book.
The sexual themes in the book are a little odd, as they sure don't show the good side of that activity. Another small thing I didn't like was that the character Carolyn was overdone. I'm not sure anyone could be that cynical, and her dialog is just too cynical and quick to be realistic. Here is one bigger flaw that I find just plain weird:
I read the LARGE PRINT edition of this book because it was all I could get, kind of embarrassing really, when I was traveling with it once. There were no quote marks. "Maybe it's just the large-print edition, and they couldn't work in big quote marks", I thought, but NO, it's not just the large print edition - this author does not put quotes around any of the dialogue! It's hard to tell where the talking starts and ends. Lots of times, as it went back and forth, I'd have to go back and count, "OK, who started this? Who's talking now?" I'd never seen this before, and it is just plain stupid. Was Mr. Guterson's quote-mark key on his keyboard broken? I would have emailed him a couple of thousand of them, if I had only known!
Hey Guterson: """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" . That's for your next novel. No charge. You're welcome!
With that out of my system, I'll conclude that Our Lady of the Forest was a decent read. It's got some deep religious thinking in it. It makes me want to get back out in the woods too, Mother Mary or no Mother Mary. That's probably not the review that Mr. Kief would have liked to read, but I welcome input in the comments from him or anyone. If you would like to add a section to this review, Dieter, I can edit it (like quote marks and such) and insert it here or put it in another post.
There are more important books to read in these times. I'll still give this one a thumb up. The other thumb is on the quote key, in case David Guterson calls back.
* Sorry, old Paul Shaffer music there, from the Dave Letterman late night show.
** I will say that one of the 2 prepper novels, The Mandibles, was a book for which Peak Stupidity wrote an almost endless review on due to our great interest. We ended up with 6 posts! Introduction, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Conclusion.
*** OK, I'm not sure what a waif is, really, but I seem to recall waifs are skinny, right? This girl is skinny, weak, and vulnerable.
Comments (19)
Peak Constitutional Amendment - XXV, Part 2: Presidential Incapacity
Posted On: Saturday - February 20th 2021 10:33AM MST
In Topics: Liberty/Libertarianism ctrl-left Dead/Ex- Presidents Morning Constitutional Zhou Bai Dien
(Continued from Amendment XI, Amendment XII, Amendment XIII, Amendment XIV, Amendment XV, Part 1 on Amendment XVI, Part 2 on Amendment XVI , Part 3 on Amendment XVI, Amendment XVII, Amendment XVIII, Part 1 on Amendment XIX, Part 2 on Amendment XIX, Part 3 on Amendment XIX, Amendment XX, and Amendment XXI, Amendment XXII, Amendment XXIII, Amendment XXIV, and Amendment XXV - Part 1: Housekeeping)
I can't get these nice little images of scrolls for the entirety of the longer Amendments, but I like them for consistency. Therefore, here is Section 4 of Amendment XXV again:
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.The problem that Section 4 was written to solve was that of a President who is deemed by others to be incapable of performing the duties (such as knowing when to push that "red button" on the "football") of the office, though he is well enough to believe and maintain that he is. For physical problems, I don't think this is such a big issue, something I'll get to at the end of this post. I believe this Amendment was designed more to handle Presidents gone Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, as we used to say.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
The Founders didn't want too strong an Executive Branch, as they'd dealt with Kings, very recently, in fact. However, the Constitution lays out the powers of the branches quite nicely. We don't want the President to be on eggshells wondering about the next vote of no confidence, the next election that could happen any time, as with the Euro type governments. I believe ours was designed pretty damn well.
There is already an impeachment process, spelled out quickly in Article II (the Executive Branch), Section 4, and in more detail as to the voting, in Article I (the Legislative Branch), Section 2 (The House), clause 5 and Article I, Section 3 (The Senate), clause 6*. Impeachment is a big formal process that was used only ~ once per century until recent times. None has ever resulted in a conviction by the Senate. The only one that I think was truly a serious deal worthy of consideration by a serious government was that of Andrew Johnson who was impeached in early March of 1868 and very narrowly acquitted by the Senate at the end of that month. The Nixon near-impeachment and the Clinton** impeachment were less related to actual government business, and the Trump deals have been just Lyin' Press lefty distractions and show trials in that order.
I suppose "Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors" doesn't cover "batshit crazy" or "under the care of Nurse Ratched." The good old interpretation page notes that Section 4 solved part of the issue about "inability"
At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, delegate John Dickinson asked, “What is the extent of the term ‘disability’” in the proposed presidential succession clause, “and who is to be the judge of it?” No response is recorded. By giving the President, Vice President, and Congress important and distinct roles, the Framers of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment went a long way toward answering the second part of Dickinson’s question, rather than try to resolve the first part.As those two authors also noted, this is a long Amendment, and Section 4 has a lot to it. However, as I read it, I see that the Congressmen and Senators in 1965 still had their heads screwed on fairly Constitutionally. Note that the "principal officer" or cabinet heads, the government officials closest to the President, get to make this determination first. However, there's that out of "some other body as Congress may by law approve". Is that to keep the cabinet from running a coup? Nah, because, as you read on, you see that the Legislative branch is involved from that point on. If the President begs to differ on the issue of his inability to function, then a lengthy process must happen (I can see at least well over a month for this), and for him to be discharged, it must take 2/3 of the House AND 2/3 of the Senate. That is more than impeachment requires.
I give kudos to the Amendment XXV, Section 4 authors for not making this an easy way to perform Soviet Union/East Bloc/Red China type changes in leadership. "Yep, the guy just went crazy. Nope, haven't seen him in a while. Premier Stalinowski is in charge now. Who are those 2 bodies on the floor? Not your business Comrade."
The Amenders of 1965 still lived in a sane country where even the left, at least at the high political level, did not act like Soviets or Red Chinese. (At least they pretended to be sane, anyway.) We've read of Nancy Pelosi and her crowd threatening Amendment XXV action against President Trump. They would love to have the power of that Commie leadership of old. The psychological test for ability was a big Communist tool to wield power. The gun controllers, for instance, just love the idea of some psychological test for gun ownership - I left out that part of the proposed gun control laws described yesterday just due to trying to limit the post.
"This guy has written and said too many crazy things... all kind of crap... about 'due process of law', 'muh Constitutional rights', 'States' rights', 'sovereign Sheriffs', c'mon!! His ideas are crazy - he's insane. No way could a guy like this safely own a gun or stay in the office of President!" "The government must be able to regulate crazy people. If you don't agree with that, you're anti-government. Being anti-government is crazy because, for one thing, you're against regulation of crazy people. Therefore, we need to regulate you."
Maybe it wasn't much of a can of worms in 1965. I don't think there were bad intentions. Section 4 of Amendment XXV is a can of worms that the ctrl-left has already popped the lid off of, though. If they do, you can bet they'll use that "some other body as Congress may by law approve" clause. That only takes a majority, and "some other body" could be the $PLC in the near future.
I wrote that I'd get back to the use of Section 4 in regards to physical incapacitation. In the past, people usually died more quickly of ailments that we now can knock out in a few days or solve with surgery. The VP would just step in before any of that months of activity started. There's no reason a President in the past could not have done a decent job from his death bed until his last words. There's even less of a reason now, that he should be removed for physical ailments. Even if he couldn't move anything but his thumb on one hand, he could look at news on a tablet, be in zoom meetings, and give a thumbs down or thumbs up to his advisors.
Perhaps any Section 4 action regarding physical disabilities should be decided in council with the President's legal advisors, say someone like Ben Stein:
In conclusion, Amendment XXV took care of some housekeeping to avoid Constitutional issues that could come up. That could be important in the future in a country that actually bothered to abide by it. Section 4 may turn out to be the can of worms that finishes eating up the rest of the document.
* There is a clause 7 too, which basically spells out how much legal trouble the President can be in for.
** It's not that I don't think there were serious charges against Bill Clinton for perjury (no it wasn't about Monica Lewinski's stained dress). He perjured himself during an investigation into sexual harassment allegations. No doubt Clinton was a lying corrupt, likely, murderer, but this was not government business so much as politics.
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NRA Bankruptcy and impending gun control legislation
Posted On: Friday - February 19th 2021 3:47PM MST
In Topics: Liberty/Libertarianism US Feral Government ctrl-left Big-Biz Stupidity Guns
The National Rifle Association has been around for 150 years! Though they've compromised some, and they've got some kind of shenanigans going on at headquarters, I'm still a member. My main reason, besides getting the magazine* to spread around at airports and dentists' offices, is to just be a part of that 5,000,000 membership number. That huge number, for a private single-issue organization, has mattered in elections many times. I'm not sure it does anymore...
Well, New York State, with Attorney General Letitia James as attack dog, has just harassed the NRA enough to where they are bailing out of that state incorporation-wise. The organization had been based in Virginia, but they have been incorporated in New York State as a non-profit since their founding in 1871. But that was a different New York. The NRA's move to Texas is more of a financial and symbolic move than a physical one. To do this, they are using the usual business model of going bankrupt. There's discussion of the legal back-and-forth in that article. The gist of it is that New York State, or the politicians anyway, want the NRA dead, but Texas welcomes them.
How long Texas' support lasts depends on demographics, which are not trending well anywhere. I will give the NRA credit for understanding that as of late, based on some articles in the magazine.
I'm still a member, I got the magazine last month, and I have a new card:
It's just a business move. What's the diff, and what took them so long? If you don't like the NRA, I suggest joining Gun Owners of America (the GOA). I used to read their website regularly when it was mainly the 2 Pratt brothers in charge. The site looks different now, but they are holding their own, I suppose, with 100,000 members per wiki. (I swear it used to be a lot higher though. Hopefully, that's just my memory.). I am not a member, but I may join any day now.
Is all this joining and spreading around magazines going to stave off the onslaught by the ctrl-left? No. After the CheatFest was accomplished, these people have got big heads. They are pretty sure they just have a mop-up operation on their hands. I believe they are mistaken in that, but I'll get to that.
The push is on now, full-bore. From what I've read - House Dem’s gun control bill mandates national registry, licensing, gov’t training and $800 insurance - there is no "compromise" talk anymore, of which "compromise" always meant small steps in the ctrl-left's favor, with spaces in between. They aren't going for the slippery slope anymore. They think they can ram this stuff down our throats.
Look at these people, though. The current-era hard left is composed of, how to say this politely, people with the brain power of high-functioning retards at best (luckily for us!) rather than the more intellectual but still wrong-headed people of the left of a century ago, It's not a big plan, so I won't say that they missed a step, exactly. They are just jumping the gun (pun unforeseen, but welcomed).
This push of registration of all guns, anathema to anyone who values liberty and has read the smallest bit of history, is already a bridge too far. The money in significant amounts will piss off the Fudds** too. Licensing and gov't training are just another hurdle and a security threat respectively.
Just the proposal and debate on this new bill ought to wake up a lot of Americans. They need the guns before they can have real honest control, like a Totalitarian government should. We no longer have to wonder about the slippery slope, small compromise, common-sense legislation, and "for the children" discussion, methods that are tempting to some. Anyone should know what they are up to now, as they are no longer trying to hide behind those weasel terms.
I don't care if people join the NRA or GOA due to this. I don't care if they write letters and emails or make phone calls. I don't see the value in all that, but knock yourselves out with that. It can't be all though. We must not comply. Anything other than that from an American liberty lover means he is a hypocrite.
Site Note: We've added 3 new topic keys lately to keep up. On this newest, Guns, well, no point clicking, as I haven't yet gone through (same for Zhou Bai Dien) and put the key on older posts yet. It's a chore. Right now, look in Liberty/Libertarianism, the one we've been using.
* It's pretty good read too, and my favorite part is the "Armed Citizen", now "Citizen Journal: Armed Citizen" column.
** I've nothing against hunters at all, some of whom get disparaged by this term "Elmer Fudds" by the serious liberty-minded gun enthusiasts. The problem has been that many bird hunters, for example, just care about shotguns for hunting, deer hunters don't care about pistols, etc. The term has been used for people who don't see the big picture of gun rights, that's all.
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Peak Constitutional Amendment - XXV, Part 1: Housekeeping
Posted On: Friday - February 19th 2021 9:12AM MST
In Topics: US Feral Government Dead/Ex- Presidents Morning Constitutional
(Continued from Amendment XI, Amendment XII, Amendment XIII, Amendment XIV, Amendment XV, Part 1 on Amendment XVI, Part 2 on Amendment XVI , Part 3 on Amendment XVI, Amendment XVII, Amendment XVIII, Part 1 on Amendment XIX, Part 2 on Amendment XIX, Part 3 on Amendment XIX, Amendment XX, and Amendment XXI, Amendment XXII, Amendment XXIII, and Amendment XXIV)
Due partly to the at-the-time recent assasination of John Kennedy, and subsequent installation of the Socialist bastard Lyndon Johnson as Presidedent, the proposed Amendment XXV (that's "25" for those of our readers in Del Boca Vista*) was passed by the US Congress in July of 1965. It was ratified by the 38th State (Nevada, in this case), per the required 3/4, in February of '67, about 54 years ago.
This one is not as succinct as most of the Amendments and the Constitution itself, for that matter. The writers tried to cover all of numerous situations that could occur, and some that had occurred:
Section 1It's hard to see that very many partisan or ideological arguments could be made against Amendment XXV. This seems like a lot of overdue housekeeping, some rules to keep thing straight for the next incident. There haven't been so many involving physical incapacity or death recently. As much as the US Feral Gov't leadership is resembling the old Soviet Gerontocracy, the science/tech side of healthcare has improved so much since the 19th century, keeping them all around. Unfortunately, often enough, they stay well past their "best governed by" dates these days, while back in the 19th century, there were Presidents dying from having frozen their asses during their inauguration and stuff like that.
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
The Constitution Center's Amendment XXV Interpretation Page, written by Law Professors Brian Kalt and David Pozen, has some good history notes to explain the evolution of the ideas of the succession of Executive Branch powers. Note that Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution stated from the beginning:
“In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.”The question of whether the office itself "devolves" to the VP or just the powers (till an election of some sort?) is discussed by these professors. It became clear from the precedent of the death of William Harrison and subsequent elevation to Presidency of John Tyler, that yes, the VP becomes President. Section 1 makes this clear in writing.
Section 2 became very important during the later Nixon years. When Spiro Agnew (in my hindsight, a good guy) resigned, Gerald Ford was nominated by Nixon and confirmed by the Congress. I kind of wish he'd picked a stronger guy, as we know than Ford became President per Section 1 not that long afterward. Here's an interesting bit from the Interpretation article:
Second, what should happen when a vice-presidential vacancy arises? The original Constitution did not provide for filling such a vacancy. Prior to the adoption of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, one Vice President resigned, seven died in office, and eight took over for Presidents who died in office: all in all, the vice presidency was unoccupied more than 20 percent of the time. [My bolding]How much do we need that bucket of warm spit** anyway?
The first of 3 uses of Section 3, as a temporary measure, per The Reagan Library Education Blog was by old Ronnie while he underwent surgery***:
On July 13, 1985 President Ronald Reagan became the first President to invoke Section 3 of the 25th Amendment. Or did he? Like the Amendment requires, President Reagan sent a letter to the President pro tempore of the Senate, which was Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina at the time, and Speaker of the House, which was then Representative Thomas “Tip” O’Neill of Massachusetts. In the draft above there are a couple lines which indicate that President Reagan had some misgivings about using the Amendment for a brief surgery. “I do not believe that the drafters of this Amendment intended its applications to situations such as the instant one,” is a line from the draft that made it into the final letter.A couple of decades later, President George W. Bush continued with the precedent of temporary invocation of Amendment XXV, Section 3, basically "calling out sick", twice, in '02 and in '07. These were both done for colonoscopies, and, each time, VP Dick Cheney was temporarily elevated to assume the duties of probing the nation in the ass.
I'll point out another item I question here from the two professors of law:
In practice, power was never transferred and presidential inner circles typically concealed the President’s condition. This pattern came to be seen as increasingly irresponsible with the advent of nuclear weapons during the Cold War; the nation needed a fully functioning presidency at all times. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sought to break the pattern by being more open about his health and by entering into an agreement with Vice President Richard Nixon that provided for Nixon to serve as Acting President in the event of presidential “inability.” [Again, my bolding]Yeah, well, the Cold War is over. Unless there is a DECLARED war going on right now, what's the hurry if the Prez is down with the Kung Flu for a coupla' days****, or puking his guts out after a night of hookers and blow? Not our business. What if some very important legislation is on his desk awaiting a signature or not? Hell, I've got mail on my desk from couple of years back. No own cares. Let it rot. The less legislation, the better. I'm all for a Calvin Coolidge style Presidency.
Especially right now, in this era of the Black Plague 2.0, we should not expect so much out of the executive branch. We may expect soon a sign on the White House door:
At first glance, Section 4 seems to just laying out more details of the powers of the House and Senate, the procedures, and the timetable involved, if the President is unable to perform the duties of the job. However, as opposed to Section 3, this section describes procedures for the case in which the President is deemed unfit for the duties, by others. Ahhaaa, this is where Amendment XXV opened a big political can of worms.
I was going to finish, but it seems like the politics that have resulted from Section 4 of the 25th Amendment deserve a separate post. Part 2 is coming tomorrow.
* See? Thank you, El Rushbo.
** Most attributed to Texan VP-to-FDR John Nance Garner, with, as usual, references to possible earlier uses. Oh, and it was "bucket" or "quart" or "pitcher", depending on whether anyone can properly record details from 60 to 100 years ago. See, now we got youtube!
*** The surgery was for the removal of a polyp in his large intestine.
**** See also Trump Triumphs, Kung Flu Kapitulates.
Comments (9)
I got those low down, senile Chief Executive buh-loooo-oooze...
Posted On: Thursday - February 18th 2021 8:06PM MST
In Topics: Music Humor Zhou Bai Dien
[Four years of this? We've gonna need a bigger
I too, wake up occasionally wondering where the hell I am. Were I to find out that I were a resident of Washington, FS, I know I'd get the low-down blues.
Woke up this morning,
got them Federal Shithole blues.
Well, I woke up this morning,
got them Federal Shithole blues, now.
Asked the Lord above for mercy,
"Save me if you please!"
Da da da dah, di-da da da,
Da da da dah, di-da da da...
Dammit! Happened again! It started out with the tune of the Allman Brothers' Statesboro Blues, with a touch of Robert Johnson for lyrics. Yet it still somehow turned into Cream's Crossroads/Riverside Blues again.
A more favorite of mine blues, or at least bluesy, song by the Allman Brothers, is Dreams I'll Never See.
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Hotel Haiti - Conclusion
Posted On: Thursday - February 18th 2021 1:24PM MST
In Topics: The Future Race/Genetics Customer Care
(Continued from the Introduction, on Competence, and on Caring.)
When you import the 3rd world, or even when you simply grow the 3rd world portion of the population, your country will become 3rd world. I don't know about the readers here, but it's not happening too slowly for me to notice.
If you can keep the competent and caring White People in the jobs for which these qualities are necessary, than you can keep things running more 1st-world-like. In the hotel business, having White People people in management and maintenance jobs is important if you don't want that "3rd-world feel". It's too bad we are all being told over and over that all races and ethnicities have the same intelligence, skills, and abilities, ... errr, except for in basketball.
Yeah, and you're going to want to have plenty of white or Oriental customers too, BTW, to balance out the costs due to uncaring customers of other types.
What's the way out? It'd have to be a hard-core immigration moratorium right now, along with expulsions of anyone who can Constitutionally BE expelled, and a complete turn-about in the AA, racial grievance, wokeness "industries". That wasn't going to happen even with Trump, and it sure as hell ain't gonna' happen during the reign of Zhou Bai Dien and the Superspreader.
"Hello, 3rd World! Yeah, what do you got for a small family on the weekend of the 17th through 19th? One of those rooms where everything works right... yeah, and no loud screaming and banging after 10 or so... safe to go in the pool .... Hello, 3rd World, are we reaching?...."
Yeah, top 10 hotels in Port au Prince. I'll go for the Motel 6 in Cedar Rapids in 1975, thank you very much.
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