The Feast of St. Patrick

St. Patrick warns of dragons:

The Most High does not accept the gifts of evildoers. The one who offers a sacrifice taken from what belongs to the poor is like one who sacrifices a child in the very sight of the child's father. Riches, says Scripture, which a person gathers unjustly, will be vomited out of that person's stomach. The angel of death will drag such a one away, to be crushed by the anger of dragons. Such a one will the tongue of a serpent slay, and the fire which cannot be extinguished will consume.

I have read that in Ireland his feast day is generally somber, coming as it always does in Lent. 

Yellowstone

A friend of mine recommended this series -- now filming its fifth season -- to me recently. We've been watching it; we're now on season four. It has a lot to recommend it. This fellow thinks it's biblical in scale, and in a way it almost is. To be truly biblical, God should play a bigger role.

Its critics in the media get it wrong, though. As that linked article notes:

Reason reports that “media elites” are mystified by the success of “Yellowstone”: “It is not… saying anything grand or sweeping about our world.”

That's totally wrong, and the linked article gives an account of why. What "Yellowstone" is about is resistance to the fact that our whole economic and political system destroys traditional ways of life, forces settled people to become nomads, wipes out communities and families and homes. Nearly all human meaning derives from relationships with others: family, church, community, home. These are the things inexorably destroyed by the very system that sustains us.

These forces are titanic, and we both depend on them and struggle against them with all our might. When they win -- the county I grew up in was completely destroyed by the expansion of Atlanta, its way of life gone, almost all the people I grew up with forced into exile by rising property taxes and costs that could only be bone by the richer new arrivals -- they destroy almost all the meaning in our lives. Communities and churches are broken up when the congregation splits up and moves. Maybe family can survive in other places; maybe they can maintain their relationships in spite of the new distance and the fact they never see each other anymore. No one visits my father's grave down in Georgia. My mother and sister now live in Idaho. I haven't seen them in years. I have no idea where the friends of my youth now live. They aren't the sort of people who join Facebook, so they have vanished as completely as a sailor slipping beneath the waves.

Nothing grand or sweeping? This is almost everything. Only the one thing they leave out -- God, the hope of the dying -- remains when all these things are lost. Even God, for those who are neither hermits nor prophets, is harder to hear and know without a church.

"Yellowstone" is a fantasy because we usually can't sustain and survive. But it does lay out the task: hold the line as long as you can. Oppose progress in all its forms. No more roads; no more improvement. No more government, no more control. 

No more of any of it. No more. 

It's Important to Know Where You Are

At last night's training the instructor asked me where I was from, and I mentioned Dahlonega as a reference point close enough by that he'd know it. He did know it, and asked if I'd heard the story of the two Yankees who visited Dahlonega. He said they were traveling through and stopped at the Dairy Queen to get a milkshake. While they were waiting in line they were arguing about how to pronounce the Cherokee name of the town. They couldn't agree, and so when they got to the head of the line they asked the girl working the counter how to pronounce the name of the place.

She looked at them solemnly and said, "DAY-ree KWEEN."

Will we fight? Will we even struggle?

From Glenn Reynolds:

Also in the mix, somehow: Chinese think tank: China should cut Putin loose ASAP and make nice with the invigorated west. Yeah, all this Ukraine stuff runs the risk of reminding westerners what they believe in and convincing them to fight for it. Can’t have that!

Once the NYT figures that out, they’ll go from jingoist to pacifist overnight.

Plus: “China may be gambling that the western appetite for punishing Beijing if it sends military aid to Moscow will be weak at a moment of high inflation and sky-high gas prices. Western consumers can stand only so much pain; the U.S. and EU won’t open another front of global economic warfare when they’ve already gone nuclear with Russia via sanctions. But here’s the question: Is China in a position to risk that at the moment? They’re hurting economically already. . . . Putin also believed that the west wouldn’t dare wage economic war on him for attacking Ukraine by freezing his currency reserves or isolating Russia’s central bank. How’s that working out for him? Does China want to roll the dice that it won’t be hit surprisingly hard too at a moment when the U.S. and EU are in a mood to de-globalize? When China and Russia announced their “no limits” partnership against the west just six weeks ago, Beijing hoped that the alliance would be a force multiplier that gained each of them a sphere of influence at the expense of the U.S. Suddenly, to its horror, China is learning that Russia is a paper tiger not just economically but militarily.”

Imagine what trouble China would be in if the United States had a functional presidency.

Partisan Politics

Tonight at the VFD meeting yet another candidate for sheriff came to address us and seek our support. There are five candidates for the office this year. Sheriff is not a very political office, not usually, so none of them have made much of which party they are running with in the primary. It turns out that there are four Democrats and only one Republican (who will, perforce, make the general at least). The candidates are all older men, each boasting of decades of experience in law enforcement. When they picked their party as young men, it was as natural for them as for me to choose to be a Southern Democrat. 

That was the subject of significant discussion after the meeting, among a number of us firefighters. It turns out that all of us are Democrats too -- Southern, mountain Democrats of the old fashion. It must be the last place on earth where this faction, the Jacksonian faction, still exists. One fellow said he was going to go down to the registrar and change his party affiliation; another, the oldest of us, averred that he was ashamed now of his party membership. There were no kind words for the party, its leadership, its direction, its vision, nor any other facet of what it has become. 

The candidate seemed like a decent guy for a cop; when he's not doing work as a deputy US Marshal he sells auto parts and performs vehicle repairs. Like a good Southern Democrat, he addressed the meeting wearing a t-shirt with pictures of classic muscle cars. He had the sense to see that we were conducting a training session tonight that would take hours of our time, and the courtesy to keep his remarks short. 

I still won't vote for him because his solution to the problems was to bring in more Federal law enforcement, and more of the Federal government in my community is the last thing I want. He said that currently the Feds consider this county an almost forbidden zone for their activity; that's sweet news to my ears. Ordinary decent criminals I can deal with; indeed, they've never caused me one moment of trouble in my entire life. The political criminals are far worse. 

I probably will never switch to the Republican party, which is full of scoundrels as well -- especially its establishment wing. But the old party of my youth, still for the moment strong in these mountains, is probably in its last hours. 

Dressing as a Woman to Escape War

This is a story that occurs from time to time; it was said of Jefferson Davis, for example, that he fled Richmond dressed en femme. (Davis hotly denied this for the rest of his life.) This is the first time I've ever heard of a biological female confessing to dressing like a woman to evade war, but these are strange times.

But as a transgender man — a man assigned female at birth — different questions raced through his mind about leaving his homeland. Andriy is a pseudonym used to protect his identity.

He read the news that all men in Ukraine, ages 18 to 60, were not permitted to leave the country and were obligated to serve in the military.

He told Insider he needed to stay with his mother and care for her. Leaving her to flee Ukraine alone just was not an option....

"If the border force saw him as a man, he would have to stay in Ukraine and not care for his mother," Dubilewski said. "It was very painful for him to dress up as a woman, wear his mother's makeup, but it would have been more painful to leave her in a foreign country to start her life over." 

Yes, very painful.

I suppose 'Andriy' adequately proved he wasn't a man by dodging his duty to fight for his country in the face of invasion, but it's ironic to see someone who has been so insistent on the point reach for that female privilege just as soon as it matters. As usual the duties and hardships of  manhood aren't what 'Andriy' really wanted.

A Cold Day

Winter is having a last little laugh here, with wind chills down to negative ten and a shock of snow this morning. Of course, such a cold day almost demands a fire department call -- everyone gets their wood stoves or fireplaces good and hot, and you can just expect to be out there in it freezing to fight their fire. On the way we discovered that the wind had been blowing so hard that steel street signs and trees alike had been blown down and out into the road. 

Hopefully there won't be any repeat fires tonight, when it's going to be in the single digits before the wind chill. We're told it'll be back in the sixties next week. Spring is almost upon us.

What should I do?

I got this unusual email from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen:

Janet Louise Yellen

Dear: Beneficiary,

Reply-To: mrsjanetlouiseyellen11@gmail.com

Attention: Fund Owner,

This office now understands the reason why you did not want to complete the process in regard to this transaction of yours. We are surprise to receive a message from unknown Woman Mrs. Donna Marie Guss this Morning who claims to be your representative and she explain to this office that you have an Auto Accident on the 10th of last Month on your way back from office and after taking you to so many Hospital’s you did not make it,

She also went ahead and explain to this office that before you pass away that you instructed her to contact this office so that she will pay the needed balance fee sum of $250 usd required regarding to your transaction to able us change the ownership Name in your Document to her Name so that the paying Bank will transfer the total fund sum of $20,6 Million United States Dallas Twenty Million Six Hundred Thousand Usd successfully into her local Bank Account as you can see below:

Bank Name: Wells Fargo Bank Account 6464449591. Routing No 121000248. Swift BIC.WFBIUS65

Please for your information this office is waiting to hear back from you as soon as you receive this message if you are alive. But if we did not hear from you in regard to this message we will have to confirm that Mrs. Donna Marie Guss is saying the truth and this office will instruct the paying Bank to release the total fund into her Bank Account,

From the Office of Janet Louise Yellen, United States Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury Suite 4820 U.S. Department of State Washington, DC 20520-5820

I'd hate to leave her in suspense about my survival, after someone took me to so many Hospital's, and I could really use the $20.6 million Dallas.

More on the Gypsy Jokers vs. ANTIFA

Sose the Ghost on the confrontation. "If you say it a whole bunch of times, it doesn't make it true."

Targeting for Political Reasons

A wife of a January 6th detainee claims that she and other family members are being targeted by the FBI. That's plausible; putting pressure on family is a classic method of breaking people you're trying to get to plea so you don't have to prove your charges in court. That's how they got Mike Flynn, for example: by threatening charges against his son if he wouldn't plea. 

Meanwhile, in Michigan, we see the 'plot to kidnap the governor' turning on the testimony of FBI agents who were deeply involved in planning the alleged plot -- agents who hated Trump a whole lot.

Trump is not the issue; I'd prefer if he didn't run again. The FBI is proving itself to be too dangerous to survive. Whenever there's a chance for reform, it should be disbanded.

Among the Truckers

The convoy efforts in the US have shown none of the spirit, forethought, nor determination of the Canadian convoy movement. They appear to be purely for show. Nevertheless, they did draw a visit from Ted Cruz.

Landis’ truck carries a WWll flag that proudly waves on its flatbed. The flag had been draped over the casket of a soldier who died in WWll and was hand-delivered to the convoy in Oklahoma by one of the veteran’s grandsons. The flag traveled the rest of the trip into Hagerstown with the convoy....

Cruz did most of the talking at the press conference, with Brase speaking for only a few minutes. Cruz emphasized the importance of being informed voters because elected officials often make poor decisions on behalf of Americans....

Brase stepped up to the mic, adding his two cents on the Senator’s words:

“It is our freedoms. That’s what this is about, and it’s time to remind the American Government and governments truly around the world even that they work for us."

There has been some doubt expressed in the comments section here as to whether the government does, in fact, work for us.  They certainly tax us, although long ago now it was no longer appropriate to say that we thereby 'pay their salaries.' They spend far more money than they tax from us; their salaries are paid with just more printed money, underwritten by nothing but a promise they know cannot be kept. 

UPDATE:

Gas Hikes

My friend Hunstman breaks it down: even if you attribute 100% of the post-Ukraine gas price hike to Putin...

Total Increase since 1/21/21: $1.72/gal

Biden Increase: $1.20/gal

Putin Increase: $0.52/gal

Biden % of Total: 69.8%

"World War Three"

It's at least six by my count, but it's still not great to hear the President of the United States talking about it as a live possibility. Particularly not this president, with his mental and physical challenges; nor this military, crippled by having the same leadership that has not known accountability for its failure in Afghanistan. 

Are their Biological Weapons Labs in Ukraine?

We know for sure that there are biological labs of some sort in Ukraine, because our own government has admitted it in testimony before Congress. We also know for sure that at least some of them used to be biological warfare labs, because they were established as such under the Soviet Union.

Descriptions I've read of what has been going on there make it sound more like Wuhan-style 'gain of function' research on zoologicals, but that's very hard to distinguish from biological warfare research. It strikes me as probable that our government would have inherited and preserved/continued the Soviet research, just as they did with the WWII-era Japanese and German research into plague, nuclear weapons, and rocketry. Also, after the recent pandemic, I'm sure we'd all prefer that such laboratories be treated as extremely dangerous things to mess around with anyway.

Reuters reports that the UN has advised Ukraine to destroy whatever is in those labs on an expedited basis. 

Hillz does her part

Bee

Another Gigantic Bill No One Read

It's almost three thousand pages, released after midnight and voted on the same day by the House. It passed, of course, because Congress is full of scoundrels. Amber Athey skimmed at least some of it and found quite a bit of waste.

...an unspecified portion of the nearly $4 billion available in bilateral economic assistance — meaning direct transfers from the United States to other countries — shall “be made available for programs to promote democracy and for gender programs in Pakistan.”

Gender programs in Pakistan? How much are we sending to Saudi Arabia? They're actually making progress on that front. 

Be On the Lookout for Spider Paratroopers

An invasive species invades.

Researchers say there's nothing we can do. They're coming... I say let's pool our resources now and build a dome around Georgia and keep them there.

It's too late. 

Mafia Economics

An interesting thread on Russia's situation. I think this insight is important:

Why old oil and gas tycoons were expropriated, while metallurgy oligarchs were spared and largely remained rich through the entire Putin's era? Because metallurgy is too complicated for Putin's friends to control it directly. They spared it, because they are too mafia to run it

 

The closer you are to the seat of power, the more mafia like and thus simpler you are. You are just unable to administer anything complex. That's why the highest-ranked and the simplest interest group took oil and gas - something they could rip off without destroying. immediately

1990s oligarchs are more complex but lower in dominance hierarchy. They took something that they could administer without ruining it immediately - the metallurgy. Ofc they're ruining it slowly. They're depleting old deposits without developing new ones. But it will take time

And only really complex stuff like competitive machinery is left for nerds like a nengineer Skurov - the owner of that mining machine producing factory I talked about. That's very important. Complex machinery is administered by guys who are very low in Russian dominance hierarchy

That's quite important for understanding the economic prospects of Russia. Complex industries, especially hardware industries are run by very weak interest groups. Higher-ups tolerate the nerds because someone should do it, but they'll milk those miserables dry 

I imagine it's like the banker in this scene:

It's probably easier to navigate. The banker in that scene thinks he lives in a place where there's rule of law; the nerds in Russia don't have any such illusions. 
 

The Past was not Conservative

A fascinating study of our (mis)perception of public attitudes. 

"Some men kiss their chains"

But not all do. Niall Ferguson observes that it's foolish to assume everyone shares our value for freedom, but there's no need to ignore those who do.

It turns out that Americans grasp that it’s foolish to try to make people like themselves — but they sure are happy to lend a hand when they see people who are like themselves. It also turns out that Americans have a pretty good grasp of the national interest, and factor both sentiment and calculation into their preference on what ought to be done.