I somehow got stuck in a loop where I start posts on topics that refuse to be captured in 400-to-600 word posts.
At the risk of the loss of flow and smoothness, you are going to get short "chunks".
"Mexico"
We had an executive from Mexico named Victor running our factory for a bit longer than a year. He was a very personable fellow. He even spoke to low-level peons like me.
I asked him how the Cartels and crime in Mexico impacted his every-day life when he lived in Mexico.
He said not-at all. The different forms of violence were patterns like fashion. One form would become more fashionable for a while and then fade away.
Then he said he still got random phone-calls telling him that his kids had been kidnapped and he needed to immediately wire $20,000 to this number.
My eyebrows went up.
"Most of them are fishing expeditions" Victor said. "When I kiss my children good-bye in the morning, we all understand it might be the last time. If they get kidnapped, they are dead. Even if I paid the ransom, they are dead. Leaving them alive is too much risk for the kidnappers."
"So when I get a call like that, I hang up and text my kids' nanny to see if they are OK."
Our current political trajectory is turning us into Mexico.
What the celebrities and politicians appear to be oblivious about is that their children and spouses and lovers and parents and nieces and cats will become the targets of kidnapping, rape and murder. Not Joe Bullshitter in B.F. Michigan. Nope. It will be hot-shot singer and the Instapot influencer and the mayor's brother and the newsie talking head, the tennis star, the basketball player....
From the Daily Mail, Sept 12, 2024 |
For what it is worth, Cartel leaders HATE celebrities. It is an ego thing. They love being famous and feared. Like a male lion, they kill the cubs that do not bow to them and who, later in life, will be a threat to them. Yes. Cartel bosses regularly put out "hits" on Mexican music stars, journalists and anybody who is famous.
Celebrities are stone-cold-stupid to want to make the US more like Mexico (or Haiti).
The whole thing defies logic. I've tried to wrap my head around it, can't, it hurts when I do.
ReplyDeleteThe nearest I can figure, is like always before in history, the "useful idiots" do not recognize their role in the performance. They think they will be saved members of utopia. When the time comes, they will be aghast, agog, and absolutely blown away that it's their turn up against the wall.
"No Comrade, you don't understand. You see, I was one of the people who...."
Would you like a cigarette? Turn and face the wall.
They don't think it's going to happen to them. Nothing else makes sense.
Schadenfreude is a combination of the German nouns Schaden, meaning "damage" or "harm," and Freude, meaning "joy." So it makes sense that schadenfreude means joy over some harm or misfortune suffered by another.
ReplyDeleteOnly the Germans seem to have this word-concept.
Anyway, while the "useful idiots" will suffer soon enough.
I plan on how to protect my family and friends as best I can.
I'm NOT looking forward to living as your Mexican Friend described.
BTW I note ALL the Main Street Media are in FULL Protect the Haitians mode AKA Protect the Narrative.
You might wish to look up the English word “epicaricacy” before you blame the Germans exclusively for a universal human emotion.
DeleteJoe could you do an article about best seeds for a bad times garden? And why.
ReplyDeleteFor example I keep red cabbage in my garden . It stores well, a great winter source of Vitamin C. Fermented easily into kraut kimchee for even more healthy nutrition Biannual so you have to dig up and overwinter to replant for seeds. My friend in South NH deep mulches for the winter but expects to lose a few to deep frost and voles.
The comments might be awesome.
Michael
Of course, food is important. However, caffeine is essential. Does anyone here know of plants whose leaves contain caffeine? Asking not just for a friend, but for myself.
DeleteStay safe
Caffeine citrate (crystal extract) stores well, keep your jar away from heat and light and it'll still be effective next century.
DeleteAlternately, Yaupon Holly is moderately cold-hardy, probably easier to maintain than a tea plant, and similar stimulant content.
ERJ, this matches a thought process I was working through with a friend recently where the proposition was that Americans can no longer plan 12-18 months out, let alone farther. We have completely lost the ability to plan for the long term.
ReplyDeleteFor many reasons, a large segment that supports the Blue Party will be the most impacted (and negatively at that) by the policies that they are proposing, but that cannot be seen.
I wonder where Victor is now? And his family? ---ken
ReplyDeleteCelebrities are stone cold stupid.....
ReplyDeleteThat pretty much covers it.
Maybe, maybe they are paid to spout stupidity to lead the maliable amoung us astray.
Deletere: garden for SHTF... save your own seeds. You will get next years crop from a known source. Beans, corn, radishes, peppers, and tomatoes here.
ReplyDeleteRe: Crime... be prepared to SSS. Make sure you have disposable guns that cannot provide forensic evidence against you.
Canola - I researched finding a non-hybrid rapeseed. Turns out the non-hybrids are hybridized to minimize toxicity. I am sceptical as to the success rate of that minimization effort so we have minimized how much Canola we use. I am banking on sun flowers to subsidize my cooking oil needs. However, I read once that it takes an acre of them to supply a family of four. So it cannot be a long term single solution when you consider crop rotation. But who would trust themselves to a single solution? Roger
ReplyDelete