Massive doses of the cattle formulation IV would do the trick. No joke years ago where o live an idiot did this. Wasn’t the best way to commit suicide.
Gut-wrenchingly honest commentary, Gato....and sadly, I think it will be even worse than what you are predicting.
The last desperate gasp to hold on to their power will push the Corrupticrats to "round up and remove" from society anyone they perceive as a threat, and when one is paranoid, everyone seems to be an enemy.
We saw it during C0v1d - the "othering" of anyone who questioned the narrative. I believe it will happen again, on steroids, and so many people will stand by and cheer it on, until that day when they too are declared to be "subversive" and the lights will finally come on, but, at that point, it will be far too late!
I agree with you! I fear we will lose both houses. Trump will be impeached again. Everything, and I mean everything he has done to make this a better country will be stopped dead in its tracks. Susan Rice has already stated they are keeping score and making plans to deal with Trump and his supporters. If we lose in 2028 I dread what the Demorats will do to Elon’s companies. Retribution……
1. At the JFK Jet Blue terminal, once you get passed all the security, you can walk into the sushi restaurant and reach over the counter and touch the large sushi knife that the chef uses to prepare food. Nothing stops you from taking it on the plane with you.
2. When they determine that the water bottle/shampoo/etc. is "too large", and they make you despose of it because it may be an explosive/bomb, they direct to throw in the bin with the other "bombs". So are the saying there's a garbage full of bombs in the middle of the airport?
In 2003 (just two years after 9/11) I saw a Muslim woman go through a TSA checkpoint with a full face covering — just her eyes showing. I watched the whole thing, and there was no differential treatment for her, even though you could not see her face. No pat down, no extra ID check, nothing. Still shaking my head over that one.
🤣 That’s the point, isn’t it? TBH, the person was short, and seemed small/delicate (hands and wrists were visible), and the feet were small (this was before the shoe bomber)…but yeah, “they” could have been anyone.
what a great point! We are so used to absurdity that we miss what is obvious. And don't forget about women being forced to drink their own breast milk to prove it wasn't a "bomb."
I've also experienced the TSA workers saying, "folks, it's very busy here today--leave your shoes and belts ON and do NOT remove your laptops/tablets fro their case, we have to keep the line moving"... Oh, so a terrorist would never target a busy airport for maximal carnage. Got it.
Also, there's way more people at the airport and on the TSA lines than are on the actual plane--why isn't TSA stationed at the entrance of the airport?
Years ago an Israeli friend said she didn't feel safe in our grocery stores because there was no armed security. I responded that I wouldn't feel safe if we had such stores. Fast forward, and voila, grocery store guards look like they are part of SWAT evidencing we've become a low trust society. So while I agree with your point, I am nostalgic for a time when I didn't view my neighbor has either a sociopath or frightening narcissist.
And to think that MN was a high trust system. And maybe that is why they pushed for third world immigrants to be placed there believing the hospitality would smooth the ruffled feathers and have everyone become part of a nice salad? At least that is the positive spin I would rather believe than the darker plot that is probably truer.
When it was majority Scandanavian, it was high trust. Now with all those Somalians, it's low trust. I mean, they trust other members of their clan, and it's mostly one clan, but not entirely all that clan, so .... much deserved mistrust.
Just in the last month or so my local grocery store started having armed guards. I always felt safe enough before, but the armed guard made me think there's a danger I don't get to know about.
At my Walmart there is sometimes a frail old woman at the store exit asking to see your receipt if you have items not in bags, like gallons of water, but mostly they just smile and wish you a good day. There is no security. There are a few black people and some tattooed wiggers. No one causes trouble or raises their voice. People are friendly. Semi-rural area. Not everywhere is bleak.
you're wrong, there's quite a bit of security at a walmart, that little old lady has an intercom in her ear and is the front line of the security. Notice by the entrance there's a man door just beyond the glass entrance doors. Behind that door is full of security people and TONS of really great cameras. They see everything and cops are on speed dial, yeah even in the little rural areas. I live near one of those and their shrinkage rate is about 2%. 3 million dollars a year WITH all that security. imagine how bad it is in a big city.
Okay, I was wrong about there being no security, but I don't see anyone roaming the store looking like a member of a SWAT team. If they are around, they are very discrete.
People wheel out TVs and they can’t do anything about it. The cameras suck. If you ask for the receipt the thieves flip you off and walk of with stuff. All employees can do is follow them out and see if they can get a license number. It’s too late and they zoom out a far exit. Smallish Midwestern town in illinois.
Good point. An attack on the people in the airport would be just as terrifying. We have seen such attacks on subway stations and buses in Europe in the past.
After they fired all the security staff at European airports during Covid and couldn’t hire them back when it was over, we had period of all the regulations being scrapped just to process people in a timely manner. No shoes off, no laptops out, no limit on liquids. Just like that it was all unnecessary. Which I already knew, but now everyone else did too.
Can’t have too many liquids in 3 oz bottles either. They must be placed side by side in the bag and not bundled. Yes, no squishy food, not too many compartments on or in your carryon. Even if they are part of the suitcase. Head scratcher that. Machines can’t handle complexity but it’s all on the X-rays now. Human observation isn’t doing it anymore so even less work for humans. I found that a bit unsettling.
Don't even need that. All the people simply *bunched up* at the lines that wind back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth in front of all the lanes? What an *amazing* spot for some mayhem.
Yes, yes, and yes: Total Security Abyss. But I do hope you're wrong about the future. It's why we read Jeff Childers' Coffee and Covid every day because he's an eternal optimist and I am not!
Agree about C&C, like gato malo, it’s a read I never miss! I’m glad to have read this cautionary tale, though. We need to keep our eye on the ball and understand the stakes from both sides. It easy to be overly optimistic or overly doom focused. I for one will “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” to the best of my ability!
I read his column every day for nearly two years and while Biden was in office, I truly appreciated his critique and criticisms of the administration. But now, his "optimism" is beginning to grate. It relies on a right left, CNN versus Fox paradigm of politics that is simply not adequate to explain or address what is going on in our American political system today.
I am SO grateful to Jeff and all he did to push back on the totalitarianism of Cov!d mitigation. But if we don't open our eyes to the deeper issue at play, we are going to be back under totalitarian rule, and I fear it will be religious freedom they come for next. Masks and vaccines were only the test.
They already came for our religious freedom during the plandemic and people, church councils and boards caved with barely a whimper. I think Aaron Siri said it best on his Joe Rogan interview when he said he expected people to be protesting in the streets about lockdowns etc. and there was nothing. That was what shocked him most.
I don't dismiss the concerns gato has because I have the same ones. And I often feel Jeff's optimism doesn't take into account Last Days events. I have no clue how this Iran thing is going to play out b/c I am not God. Neither is Jeff, gato, Trump or anyone else on the planet. I am confident though that God is in control and my part is to be prepared as best I am able on all fronts.
Hey, *I* protested in the street, at my state capitol (well, the public streets near it), twice. Held a weekly gathering for 2 years where nobody got sick. Hiked and golfed constantly once things "reopened." As well as ignoring and working around 'public health orders' as much as possible.
I didn’t miss much either. Flew several times. Just needed the quick test that nobody ever asked to see. If signs said only vaccinated could go in I did anyway. I just sauntered in looking like I belonged there. Once, when challenged, I answered “look at me—I’m old. Do you really think I didn’t get them” rolled my eyes and kept walking. Kind of fun sometimes.
> I think Aaron Siri said it best on his Joe Rogan interview when he said he expected people to be protesting in the streets about lockdowns etc. and there was nothing. That was what shocked him most.
Yeah... I made a right fool of myself with a European friend, predicting that Americans would *never* put up with that sort of BS. I mean, I *really* went on about it.
I still read him daily. But as I see it, the systems at play underneath the personalities are what needs attention and so rarely does. This is one of those breath of fresh air articles, and a very fine discussion.
I’ve felt that at times, too. The TAW thing seems to be stretched to breaking point at times. He’s still a great worthwhile read on things despite that and the uplifting energy on his stack is a good tonic.
We can’t pray hard enough that God will be gracious and deliver us from the hardest of options. Truly the mercy of God in Christ Jesus is our only hope of avoiding this.
Yet history is replete with many of God’s people being put through very difficult times. One just has to look to Africa and China to find examples of this still being true today.
If I could pick I’d take the Cyrus/Napoleon over the tender mercies of our current political and globalist class.
Coffee and Covid readers are the type of happy slappy adults who race to post in the comments first every single day, before reading the article. Not as 1776 as I'd hoped for.
I think the real purpose of the TSA is to give the political class one more fork to stick into the hides of American citizens. The political class simply enjoys having control for the sake of having control.
It's purpose is primarily fear and demoralization, with a side of jobs program as gato noted. But primarily fear and demoralization. Say what you will about W, but those two things were his superpower.
Privatize airport security. The TSA sucks at security as much as USPS sucks at delivering mail. The private sector is infinitely better at just about everything than the public sector.
Another thing that drives me crazy about TSA is so many are hysterical unhealthy looking.
It as if they took all the folks who couldn’t get into the woke Biden era military and duck them into TSA. Sure there are some fit & healthy folks but they are few & far between.
While its obvious something has to give, and will do so, and it will be big, I don't think a constitutional convention would accomplish anything. More words on paper when all the words currently on paper are being ignored by those who swore an oath to uphold them won't change anything. I would have more hope in a 3rd political party (or even a 3rd and 4th). All the above seems unlikely, but the kleptocracy will end one way or another.
Maybe Elon would run. I don’t really trust him, mostly because of his tech bro bent. But I think he’d do a better job than any of the political class clowns that masquerade as competent or even desirous of being competent up on capital hill.
No one can reform the system from within the system. Look at how Trump was illegally stopped from doing his job by radical judges when he was legitimately trying to fix things. Same with Elon and DOGE. Congress is complicit in stopping reforms.
While I agree fully with your premise, I’ve still held onto hope he can somehow workaround the system to outsmart them. It certainly looks like that is what he has been trying to do to me. Although not always successfully.
It’s too bad the founding fathers didn’t set up a peaceful means of getting the corrupt and incompetent out. At least by term limits. Some of them did seem to know what could happen if enough of us lost our way or stopped being vigilant.
And I fully admit I was part of the slumbering. It wasn’t till Obama’s 2nd term that the blinkers started to fall from my eyes.
We (as a consuming nation) are better off with Elon building cars and spacecraft, and whatever else his mysterious capabilities are, um, capable of. His brain does not have the patience to put up with brick/titanium walls. Thank God.
Their antics are endlessly amusing, too. A lot of fun videos on YouTube of people building obstacle courses that the squirrels must figure out to reach delicious nuts at the end. So far the squirrels seem to always manage to find a way!
My opinion is that the power in the Presidency is THE problem. FDR's New Deal moved most legislative authority into the executive and the congress critters love it that way. They take in the big bucks, pass the authority to the presidency, and never are responsible for anything. No president will fix this. If it remains possible for us to vote our way of of this (and I have doubts) then We The People are going to have to vote for congress critters that will actually represent us, and vote OUT those that won't, which is 99% of those currently there.
This is precisely why el gato brought forward the error of the 17th Amendment which took away the Constitutionally structured system whereby the individual State legislatures selected their senatorial representatives TO REPRESENT THEIR STATES. This amendment changed this system to one of the general electorate of the State choosing their State’s senators. Ostensibly, this was to counter corruption on the State level by “interests”, but only to substitute corruption by the influence of national scale “interests” in its place.
Parenthetically, the year 1913 was a bad year for these United States, not only with the 17th Amendment, but also with the passage of the 16th Amendment authorizing a federal income tax and - surprise, surprise - the creation of the Federal Reserve (neither federal, nor a reserve), this last a move calculated to the upcoming implementation of a fiat currency, something that awaited only FDR’s confiscation of privately owned gold. The Treasury was thereby shoved aside to permit the cartel of big banks, and not necessarily even US banks, to run the currency in its stead. Yahoo, bankers’ wars!
Of course after Lincoln (the railroads’ boy, laboring for The Borg of the day) got through with crushing the secession of the Confederate States, these steps were only awaiting implementation.
And then there was the torturing of the Interstate Commerce Clause to better serve the centralization of power on the federal level, and not for our benefit,fellow muppets…
Agree that FDR amplified the power grab that was ongoing since really Lincoln, imho. It could all indeed be too big to fix at this point by any one elected President.
I know folks who aren’t crazed TDS leftists have differing views on whether Trump is a good man or not. I tend to believe he is genuinely trying to fix things. At least I pray so. But I must allow I could be completely mistaken.
If the vote can be uncorrupted I think that is EXACTLY what should be done. Vote Them All Out. And hold referendums from the people every year as to whether they deserve to stay and finish their terms. Also financial audits of each senator and representative every year. State and federal.
I doubt it. The reprobates in congress just don’t care. They would be cosseted in nice airport lounges and then led to their seats to fly away or just pop into the closest private airport, leaving their look alikes or armed something to deal with the icky rabble. . Or in the bunkers that must be around there someplace.
Very well said. I only take issue with the wishful thinking that America can vote its way out of this. I would be lovely if true, but it very obviously is not. Therefore, feeding this vain hope bleeds the populace of the fury they need to satisfy Chesterton.
We still have the right to vote in America. If you've observed foreign elections in violently troubled countries, you'd value that precious right. I saw foreigners stand in long lines for hours in blazing suns, for the right to cast that ballot. It made me loathe cynicism: "it doesn't matter if I vote." If the GOP could motivate 5% of the lethargic 50% that doesn't bother to vote in any given presidential election, they'd crush the Democrats. People too often would rather whine & preach to the choir, than go door to door, talking to neighbors, sign up at a phone bank or volunteer for & donate to campaigns. We need to pass Voter ID b/c we need to know who's casting the ballot & need to unplug dodgy voting machines. The situation's far from hopeless- it requires energetic, motivated patriots & dedication.
There is nothing wrong with voting. Vote harder, and get ever more people to vote, and vote every single opportunity you can. BUT, and this is the absolutely VITAL point, YOU WILL NOT VOTE YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS!
So why vote?
Vote to slow down the rot.
Vote to keep the legislative conditions open for the real resistance to grow.
Vote to block surveillance state that seeks to make resistance impossible.
In short, vote to give yourself TIME.
Voting is a precious weapon in your arsenal. The grave and fatal error is to think that it is the ONLY weapon. It is merely one of them, and not even the one that will finally make a real durable impact.
Yes, it does matter if you vote! It matters very much indeed. But better to never set foot in a voting booth than to think you have discharged your patriotic and moral and ethical and philosophical/religious obligations by pulling a lever or checking a box.
You have done no such thing. You have barely even begun.
Why do I say that? Because if it made a real strategic (and not just tactical) difference, you would not be where you are today. Who voted for mass illegal immigration? Who voted for letting rapists and murderers off with a slap on the wrist, while throwing the kitchen sink at people merely trying to defend themselves? The answer is damned few indeed. Yet here you are.
Mass democracy is a pernicious delusion because it destroys the will to act, replacing it with the placebo of pulling a lever and feeling patriotic.
It is imperative to vote.
It is delusional to think that that is enough, or even remotely enough.
"the entire american political class has become a vicious, self-serving parasite. they do not care one whit what happens to we the people so long as their money keeps flowing."
Correct. And yet Americans, rather than exterminating this parasite, instead argue over which species of it should be most privileged. All the while all species of the parasite knows Americans are weak-minded, easily distracted and generally unable to self-organize. The parasite scarcely cares which species is dominant as it knows each species will have its turn and all will profit regardless of political standing.
all you need to do to avoid being overrun by citizens with torches and pitchforks is to convince the pitchfork people that the torch people want to take their pitchforks and make them fight one another.
Then the Star and Crescent people watch, toss further instigation into the fray and do a little Hijra. Slowly at first, then all at once until POP! and Uncle Sharia's your new boss.
Maybe the air traffic controllers have become one as well. In the 1990s I knew a guy who had to quit because he had narcolepsy. What could possibly go wrong?
Watch some of the plane spotting channels on YouTube where you can hear ATC. (I like Airline Videos Live.) They have a very stressful job managing multiple situations in overcrowded airports, sometimes with limited visibility and difficult weather conditions, yet they stay calm, friendly, and do their jobs competently. Until recently there hadn't been a fatal domestic airline incident in over a decade despite 45,000 daily takeoffs and landings in the US alone. They have my respect.
I keep thinking that ATC could be hugely improved with AI. Obviously, humans and AI would both be involved simultaneously, with each checking the other, but it seems that such an approach would be optimal.
I don't want current AI anywhere near ATC. A simpler solution would be to use larger planes and have fewer flights. Airports need to expand, but they can't because homes and industries are built right up to the fences. Communication between ATC, the planes, and the ground services is also in need of modernization.
Yup. We ask too much of the federal government. When you can't observe everything the government is doing, it's going to be doing things that benefit themselves and harm you.
During the CA lockdown - a boost for the wealthy and hell for the plebs, I told my CNN watching relative that the country was too big and needed to break apart. While I was the one speaking the words, even I was astonished that I said them. But I think it is true. We need to reinvigorate strong state's rights with a weakened federal system.
I suspect the final straw will be when the Donkeys come for the guns. This will happen because enough of the Military will refuse to an illegal order like Kelly wants. If you think people got upset over their slaves just wait till it’s guns v
Already happened in several blue states. It's just little by little, not all at once. You already have had buybacks. If they do it slowly enough, no one fights back.
First they banned the sale of almost all firearms, but they left those in possession grandfathered. This year they are banning possession. totally Unconstitutional, and they know it. But now that Trump has self destructed I believe they are going to push it to the end game.
you are disarmed if you have no ammo. so they don’t have to take your bang bangs which might actually lead to a small little pushback. so they take the ammo with a lot less in the way of constitutional objections. you may have a lot of ammo, but the average bang bang owner has a few hundred rounds at most.
They are planning for next spring, when they own both houses and can ignore the SCOTUS and whomever is still titular head of the DOJ. Not even pretending they care about the Constitution. It is now truly just a piece of paper. Nobody is going to notice the murders of a few hold outs in my little state.
i’m sure they just want to keep us all safe. they are going to have to plan a few more school/church/synagogue shootings to get the GC laws passed that have already been written and are just waiting for the opportune time . so prepare for the coming false flags and some orwellian named bill like “keep americans safe” or some such nonsense.
i suspect the only path thereto is one of "repeal the 17th and restore the stringent idea of limiting the federal government to specifically enumerated powers" via constitutional convention.
a federal system in which states competed with one another for citizens all of whom were free to leave and move to others would be the best guarantor of liberty. you'd essentially create a market for it.
Assuming it were possible to get 34 state legislatures to agree for one, there's no reliable way to limit the scope of a constitutional convention. You can't argue that US elections are not secure and that Congress is corrupt, but an open convention would produce a fair and balanced representation of the will of the public. The leftists and corporations would out-organize the right, as they do now. It would lead to civil war.
you'd essentially need a political movement akin to the "contract with america" from the 90's where a large group all agreed to support one another's calls for a constitutional convention based on agreed upon aims. and it's in the interest of the states to protect state power.
and once they had it, those who misused it would pay the price in citizens and capital.
The individual states, as we are all now learing, are at least as corrupt as the Federal government. Half of the actual citizens can't find the US on a map and have the attention span of a goldfish, but they will be ignored in favor of the lobbyists so their opinions won't matter anyway. I can't see anything good coming from a Convention of the States.
“the entire american political class has become a vicious, self-serving parasite.”
YES!!!
And there is only one solution for parasites…
Ivermectin? Kidding : )
Massive doses of the cattle formulation IV would do the trick. No joke years ago where o live an idiot did this. Wasn’t the best way to commit suicide.
😂😂
Heavy sigh
😂🤣
Hemp neckties.
Gut-wrenchingly honest commentary, Gato....and sadly, I think it will be even worse than what you are predicting.
The last desperate gasp to hold on to their power will push the Corrupticrats to "round up and remove" from society anyone they perceive as a threat, and when one is paranoid, everyone seems to be an enemy.
We saw it during C0v1d - the "othering" of anyone who questioned the narrative. I believe it will happen again, on steroids, and so many people will stand by and cheer it on, until that day when they too are declared to be "subversive" and the lights will finally come on, but, at that point, it will be far too late!
They are already making certain speech and religious teachings illegal... where does that end?
It ends exactly where we the people stop it and not one second or inch before. How we end up doing that is still up in the air.
Trump's election gave us a brief, (far too brief), surge of hope. Now, I fear, we are destined to live out Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
They've made "speaking out" illegal too.
off the do
of course they do
I was thinking the same thing.
Already seeing it. Gov Sanders couldn't even eat in a restaurant because the restaurant employees couldn't tolerate being in the same room with her.
I agree with you! I fear we will lose both houses. Trump will be impeached again. Everything, and I mean everything he has done to make this a better country will be stopped dead in its tracks. Susan Rice has already stated they are keeping score and making plans to deal with Trump and his supporters. If we lose in 2028 I dread what the Demorats will do to Elon’s companies. Retribution……
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Yup. Look what they did to the J6 crew. They'll do that with any conservative of any stature.
Banana republic time.
A couple of observations:
1. At the JFK Jet Blue terminal, once you get passed all the security, you can walk into the sushi restaurant and reach over the counter and touch the large sushi knife that the chef uses to prepare food. Nothing stops you from taking it on the plane with you.
2. When they determine that the water bottle/shampoo/etc. is "too large", and they make you despose of it because it may be an explosive/bomb, they direct to throw in the bin with the other "bombs". So are the saying there's a garbage full of bombs in the middle of the airport?
In 2003 (just two years after 9/11) I saw a Muslim woman go through a TSA checkpoint with a full face covering — just her eyes showing. I watched the whole thing, and there was no differential treatment for her, even though you could not see her face. No pat down, no extra ID check, nothing. Still shaking my head over that one.
the tsa is a lot of things but raycissss they are not! other than targeting white anglo saxon types, but that’s not rayciss that’s reparations
How do you know it was a woman?
🤣 That’s the point, isn’t it? TBH, the person was short, and seemed small/delicate (hands and wrists were visible), and the feet were small (this was before the shoe bomber)…but yeah, “they” could have been anyone.
what a great point! We are so used to absurdity that we miss what is obvious. And don't forget about women being forced to drink their own breast milk to prove it wasn't a "bomb."
I've also experienced the TSA workers saying, "folks, it's very busy here today--leave your shoes and belts ON and do NOT remove your laptops/tablets fro their case, we have to keep the line moving"... Oh, so a terrorist would never target a busy airport for maximal carnage. Got it.
Also, there's way more people at the airport and on the TSA lines than are on the actual plane--why isn't TSA stationed at the entrance of the airport?
Years ago an Israeli friend said she didn't feel safe in our grocery stores because there was no armed security. I responded that I wouldn't feel safe if we had such stores. Fast forward, and voila, grocery store guards look like they are part of SWAT evidencing we've become a low trust society. So while I agree with your point, I am nostalgic for a time when I didn't view my neighbor has either a sociopath or frightening narcissist.
I have a female friend who says the same thing about going into grocery stores in her neighborhood in Minneapolis right now.
And to think that MN was a high trust system. And maybe that is why they pushed for third world immigrants to be placed there believing the hospitality would smooth the ruffled feathers and have everyone become part of a nice salad? At least that is the positive spin I would rather believe than the darker plot that is probably truer.
It's the darker plot for sure.
When it was majority Scandanavian, it was high trust. Now with all those Somalians, it's low trust. I mean, they trust other members of their clan, and it's mostly one clan, but not entirely all that clan, so .... much deserved mistrust.
Just in the last month or so my local grocery store started having armed guards. I always felt safe enough before, but the armed guard made me think there's a danger I don't get to know about.
it is all performance. i don't think they are allowed to actually engage anyone. in fact, I think in CA you'd get fired.
At my Walmart there is sometimes a frail old woman at the store exit asking to see your receipt if you have items not in bags, like gallons of water, but mostly they just smile and wish you a good day. There is no security. There are a few black people and some tattooed wiggers. No one causes trouble or raises their voice. People are friendly. Semi-rural area. Not everywhere is bleak.
you're wrong, there's quite a bit of security at a walmart, that little old lady has an intercom in her ear and is the front line of the security. Notice by the entrance there's a man door just beyond the glass entrance doors. Behind that door is full of security people and TONS of really great cameras. They see everything and cops are on speed dial, yeah even in the little rural areas. I live near one of those and their shrinkage rate is about 2%. 3 million dollars a year WITH all that security. imagine how bad it is in a big city.
hah so the little old lady is actually a secret agent.
Okay, I was wrong about there being no security, but I don't see anyone roaming the store looking like a member of a SWAT team. If they are around, they are very discrete.
Not the one where I live.
People wheel out TVs and they can’t do anything about it. The cameras suck. If you ask for the receipt the thieves flip you off and walk of with stuff. All employees can do is follow them out and see if they can get a license number. It’s too late and they zoom out a far exit. Smallish Midwestern town in illinois.
Good point. An attack on the people in the airport would be just as terrifying. We have seen such attacks on subway stations and buses in Europe in the past.
After they fired all the security staff at European airports during Covid and couldn’t hire them back when it was over, we had period of all the regulations being scrapped just to process people in a timely manner. No shoes off, no laptops out, no limit on liquids. Just like that it was all unnecessary. Which I already knew, but now everyone else did too.
Maybe
They once confiscated my eggplant parm sandwich as a potential threat .....!!
Throw your bomb into that can with the other bombs. If it's so dangerous that it can't be on a plane, why is it ok for it to be in the terminal?
For me it was a tub of cream cheese. The TSA guy looked extremely offended that anyone would dare bring cream cheese into the airport.
Can’t have too many liquids in 3 oz bottles either. They must be placed side by side in the bag and not bundled. Yes, no squishy food, not too many compartments on or in your carryon. Even if they are part of the suitcase. Head scratcher that. Machines can’t handle complexity but it’s all on the X-rays now. Human observation isn’t doing it anymore so even less work for humans. I found that a bit unsettling.
Don't even need that. All the people simply *bunched up* at the lines that wind back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth in front of all the lanes? What an *amazing* spot for some mayhem.
Maybe we can recycle the bombs.
Yes, yes, and yes: Total Security Abyss. But I do hope you're wrong about the future. It's why we read Jeff Childers' Coffee and Covid every day because he's an eternal optimist and I am not!
Agree about C&C, like gato malo, it’s a read I never miss! I’m glad to have read this cautionary tale, though. We need to keep our eye on the ball and understand the stakes from both sides. It easy to be overly optimistic or overly doom focused. I for one will “prepare for the worst and hope for the best” to the best of my ability!
Amen, sistah!
I read his column every day for nearly two years and while Biden was in office, I truly appreciated his critique and criticisms of the administration. But now, his "optimism" is beginning to grate. It relies on a right left, CNN versus Fox paradigm of politics that is simply not adequate to explain or address what is going on in our American political system today.
I am SO grateful to Jeff and all he did to push back on the totalitarianism of Cov!d mitigation. But if we don't open our eyes to the deeper issue at play, we are going to be back under totalitarian rule, and I fear it will be religious freedom they come for next. Masks and vaccines were only the test.
They already came for our religious freedom during the plandemic and people, church councils and boards caved with barely a whimper. I think Aaron Siri said it best on his Joe Rogan interview when he said he expected people to be protesting in the streets about lockdowns etc. and there was nothing. That was what shocked him most.
I don't dismiss the concerns gato has because I have the same ones. And I often feel Jeff's optimism doesn't take into account Last Days events. I have no clue how this Iran thing is going to play out b/c I am not God. Neither is Jeff, gato, Trump or anyone else on the planet. I am confident though that God is in control and my part is to be prepared as best I am able on all fronts.
Hey, *I* protested in the street, at my state capitol (well, the public streets near it), twice. Held a weekly gathering for 2 years where nobody got sick. Hiked and golfed constantly once things "reopened." As well as ignoring and working around 'public health orders' as much as possible.
Good for you! I did the same by refusing to wear a face diaper.
I didn’t miss much either. Flew several times. Just needed the quick test that nobody ever asked to see. If signs said only vaccinated could go in I did anyway. I just sauntered in looking like I belonged there. Once, when challenged, I answered “look at me—I’m old. Do you really think I didn’t get them” rolled my eyes and kept walking. Kind of fun sometimes.
> I think Aaron Siri said it best on his Joe Rogan interview when he said he expected people to be protesting in the streets about lockdowns etc. and there was nothing. That was what shocked him most.
Yeah... I made a right fool of myself with a European friend, predicting that Americans would *never* put up with that sort of BS. I mean, I *really* went on about it.
Well, aren't *I* embarrassed now...
*sigh*
Yes. I have to give my anxiety over to God. He got me through the 2024 election. I pray for discernment.
I still read him daily. But as I see it, the systems at play underneath the personalities are what needs attention and so rarely does. This is one of those breath of fresh air articles, and a very fine discussion.
I’ve felt that at times, too. The TAW thing seems to be stretched to breaking point at times. He’s still a great worthwhile read on things despite that and the uplifting energy on his stack is a good tonic.
Completely agree!
We can’t pray hard enough that God will be gracious and deliver us from the hardest of options. Truly the mercy of God in Christ Jesus is our only hope of avoiding this.
Yet history is replete with many of God’s people being put through very difficult times. One just has to look to Africa and China to find examples of this still being true today.
If I could pick I’d take the Cyrus/Napoleon over the tender mercies of our current political and globalist class.
Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayers.
He is not going to save our society from its sins. He only saves individuals.
You sure of that, right? He saved nations in the Bible. Prepares leaders who save nations.
Yep. The ones who repented. I don’t see any evidence of another Nineveh here in the U.S.
👍🏻. God bless.
But yes, I poorly phrased it. Perhaps saying: He only saves nations in spite of their sins when individuals repent.
Is a better way to say it…
Same
Coffee and Covid readers are the type of happy slappy adults who race to post in the comments first every single day, before reading the article. Not as 1776 as I'd hoped for.
$50 a month? No thanks
You can subscribe for free and get six days out of seven for free; only Sundays are reserved for paid subscribers fwiw.
good to know. thanks
You sure of that, Erika?
Yes. Why I read him too. Midterms are really scaring me.
Another government operation that totally sucks. But it is very good at its real purpose...destroying privacy.
I think the real purpose of the TSA is to give the political class one more fork to stick into the hides of American citizens. The political class simply enjoys having control for the sake of having control.
It’s like gladiator games to them. Seeing us struggle on so many fronts is partially designed for their amusement.
While they get escorted to the nice lounges sans pesky TSA.
It's purpose is primarily fear and demoralization, with a side of jobs program as gato noted. But primarily fear and demoralization. Say what you will about W, but those two things were his superpower.
Privatize airport security. The TSA sucks at security as much as USPS sucks at delivering mail. The private sector is infinitely better at just about everything than the public sector.
Currently, The USPS can't do its only job.
Another thing that drives me crazy about TSA is so many are hysterical unhealthy looking.
It as if they took all the folks who couldn’t get into the woke Biden era military and duck them into TSA. Sure there are some fit & healthy folks but they are few & far between.
Don’t get me going on intelligence.
They never send their best. 🙄
Think DMV levels of competence and general contemptuous demeanor.
I've noticed that as well.
While its obvious something has to give, and will do so, and it will be big, I don't think a constitutional convention would accomplish anything. More words on paper when all the words currently on paper are being ignored by those who swore an oath to uphold them won't change anything. I would have more hope in a 3rd political party (or even a 3rd and 4th). All the above seems unlikely, but the kleptocracy will end one way or another.
Maybe Elon would run. I don’t really trust him, mostly because of his tech bro bent. But I think he’d do a better job than any of the political class clowns that masquerade as competent or even desirous of being competent up on capital hill.
No one can reform the system from within the system. Look at how Trump was illegally stopped from doing his job by radical judges when he was legitimately trying to fix things. Same with Elon and DOGE. Congress is complicit in stopping reforms.
While I agree fully with your premise, I’ve still held onto hope he can somehow workaround the system to outsmart them. It certainly looks like that is what he has been trying to do to me. Although not always successfully.
It’s too bad the founding fathers didn’t set up a peaceful means of getting the corrupt and incompetent out. At least by term limits. Some of them did seem to know what could happen if enough of us lost our way or stopped being vigilant.
And I fully admit I was part of the slumbering. It wasn’t till Obama’s 2nd term that the blinkers started to fall from my eyes.
We (as a consuming nation) are better off with Elon building cars and spacecraft, and whatever else his mysterious capabilities are, um, capable of. His brain does not have the patience to put up with brick/titanium walls. Thank God.
A good observation. He’s very “Oh look…..squirrel!”
Squirrels have the innate ability to bury walnuts before the snow flies and find them months later. I admire that in a creature.
Their antics are endlessly amusing, too. A lot of fun videos on YouTube of people building obstacle courses that the squirrels must figure out to reach delicious nuts at the end. So far the squirrels seem to always manage to find a way!
My opinion is that the power in the Presidency is THE problem. FDR's New Deal moved most legislative authority into the executive and the congress critters love it that way. They take in the big bucks, pass the authority to the presidency, and never are responsible for anything. No president will fix this. If it remains possible for us to vote our way of of this (and I have doubts) then We The People are going to have to vote for congress critters that will actually represent us, and vote OUT those that won't, which is 99% of those currently there.
This is precisely why el gato brought forward the error of the 17th Amendment which took away the Constitutionally structured system whereby the individual State legislatures selected their senatorial representatives TO REPRESENT THEIR STATES. This amendment changed this system to one of the general electorate of the State choosing their State’s senators. Ostensibly, this was to counter corruption on the State level by “interests”, but only to substitute corruption by the influence of national scale “interests” in its place.
Parenthetically, the year 1913 was a bad year for these United States, not only with the 17th Amendment, but also with the passage of the 16th Amendment authorizing a federal income tax and - surprise, surprise - the creation of the Federal Reserve (neither federal, nor a reserve), this last a move calculated to the upcoming implementation of a fiat currency, something that awaited only FDR’s confiscation of privately owned gold. The Treasury was thereby shoved aside to permit the cartel of big banks, and not necessarily even US banks, to run the currency in its stead. Yahoo, bankers’ wars!
Of course after Lincoln (the railroads’ boy, laboring for The Borg of the day) got through with crushing the secession of the Confederate States, these steps were only awaiting implementation.
And then there was the torturing of the Interstate Commerce Clause to better serve the centralization of power on the federal level, and not for our benefit,fellow muppets…
Agree that FDR amplified the power grab that was ongoing since really Lincoln, imho. It could all indeed be too big to fix at this point by any one elected President.
I know folks who aren’t crazed TDS leftists have differing views on whether Trump is a good man or not. I tend to believe he is genuinely trying to fix things. At least I pray so. But I must allow I could be completely mistaken.
If the vote can be uncorrupted I think that is EXACTLY what should be done. Vote Them All Out. And hold referendums from the people every year as to whether they deserve to stay and finish their terms. Also financial audits of each senator and representative every year. State and federal.
Trump doesn't understand economics.
He has an economics degree from Wharton (UPenn).
Make of that what you will.
A President like Milei could fix it. He has balls so big he practically needs a wheelbarrow to carry them around. Plus there's the chainsaw.
Maybe ten million citizens showing up at the Capitol protesting the lack of representation might work. Unarmed, of course
I doubt it. The reprobates in congress just don’t care. They would be cosseted in nice airport lounges and then led to their seats to fly away or just pop into the closest private airport, leaving their look alikes or armed something to deal with the icky rabble. . Or in the bunkers that must be around there someplace.
Very well said. I only take issue with the wishful thinking that America can vote its way out of this. I would be lovely if true, but it very obviously is not. Therefore, feeding this vain hope bleeds the populace of the fury they need to satisfy Chesterton.
Can't vote your way out of what you didn't vote your way into.
Precisely.
So true.
We still have the right to vote in America. If you've observed foreign elections in violently troubled countries, you'd value that precious right. I saw foreigners stand in long lines for hours in blazing suns, for the right to cast that ballot. It made me loathe cynicism: "it doesn't matter if I vote." If the GOP could motivate 5% of the lethargic 50% that doesn't bother to vote in any given presidential election, they'd crush the Democrats. People too often would rather whine & preach to the choir, than go door to door, talking to neighbors, sign up at a phone bank or volunteer for & donate to campaigns. We need to pass Voter ID b/c we need to know who's casting the ballot & need to unplug dodgy voting machines. The situation's far from hopeless- it requires energetic, motivated patriots & dedication.
We all need to be reminded of this. If the DOJ would just prosecute 1/4 of the crimes we see, it would help.
There is nothing wrong with voting. Vote harder, and get ever more people to vote, and vote every single opportunity you can. BUT, and this is the absolutely VITAL point, YOU WILL NOT VOTE YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS!
So why vote?
Vote to slow down the rot.
Vote to keep the legislative conditions open for the real resistance to grow.
Vote to block surveillance state that seeks to make resistance impossible.
In short, vote to give yourself TIME.
Voting is a precious weapon in your arsenal. The grave and fatal error is to think that it is the ONLY weapon. It is merely one of them, and not even the one that will finally make a real durable impact.
Yes, it does matter if you vote! It matters very much indeed. But better to never set foot in a voting booth than to think you have discharged your patriotic and moral and ethical and philosophical/religious obligations by pulling a lever or checking a box.
You have done no such thing. You have barely even begun.
Why do I say that? Because if it made a real strategic (and not just tactical) difference, you would not be where you are today. Who voted for mass illegal immigration? Who voted for letting rapists and murderers off with a slap on the wrist, while throwing the kitchen sink at people merely trying to defend themselves? The answer is damned few indeed. Yet here you are.
Mass democracy is a pernicious delusion because it destroys the will to act, replacing it with the placebo of pulling a lever and feeling patriotic.
It is imperative to vote.
It is delusional to think that that is enough, or even remotely enough.
Two cheeks of the same arse. It’s so bad I’d feel like I need to take a shower after casting a ballot. No thanks.
Even Somalia just had their first free election in decades. Voter ID was required. One day vote. Crickets from voter and immigration fraudster Omar.
So much for voting; I shudder to think of what's next.
"the entire american political class has become a vicious, self-serving parasite. they do not care one whit what happens to we the people so long as their money keeps flowing."
Correct. And yet Americans, rather than exterminating this parasite, instead argue over which species of it should be most privileged. All the while all species of the parasite knows Americans are weak-minded, easily distracted and generally unable to self-organize. The parasite scarcely cares which species is dominant as it knows each species will have its turn and all will profit regardless of political standing.
all you need to do to avoid being overrun by citizens with torches and pitchforks is to convince the pitchfork people that the torch people want to take their pitchforks and make them fight one another.
it's timeless tactics. and it just keeps working.
Until it doesn’t. That’s when things get really ugly.
Then the Star and Crescent people watch, toss further instigation into the fray and do a little Hijra. Slowly at first, then all at once until POP! and Uncle Sharia's your new boss.
“the TSA makes sense once you stop thinking about it as security and realize that it’s a jobs program”
Same goes for the massive, bloated, inefficient defense "industry".
Maybe the air traffic controllers have become one as well. In the 1990s I knew a guy who had to quit because he had narcolepsy. What could possibly go wrong?
Watch some of the plane spotting channels on YouTube where you can hear ATC. (I like Airline Videos Live.) They have a very stressful job managing multiple situations in overcrowded airports, sometimes with limited visibility and difficult weather conditions, yet they stay calm, friendly, and do their jobs competently. Until recently there hadn't been a fatal domestic airline incident in over a decade despite 45,000 daily takeoffs and landings in the US alone. They have my respect.
I keep thinking that ATC could be hugely improved with AI. Obviously, humans and AI would both be involved simultaneously, with each checking the other, but it seems that such an approach would be optimal.
I don't want current AI anywhere near ATC. A simpler solution would be to use larger planes and have fewer flights. Airports need to expand, but they can't because homes and industries are built right up to the fences. Communication between ATC, the planes, and the ground services is also in need of modernization.
Possibly the best summary of the problem in a single sentence:
the american federal political system was never designed to handle this much power.
Bravo.
Yup. We ask too much of the federal government. When you can't observe everything the government is doing, it's going to be doing things that benefit themselves and harm you.
I mean, it was explicitly designed to *not have* that much power. Our forebears just decided to feed it NOS anyway.
I would so much rather have the Gremlin up on blocks than most any Congresscritter or president.
even if it's nonfunctional, at least the Gremlin isn't actively breaking things and enriching itself and its cronies
Just don't feed it after midnight.
and never, ever wash the poor dirty thing
During the CA lockdown - a boost for the wealthy and hell for the plebs, I told my CNN watching relative that the country was too big and needed to break apart. While I was the one speaking the words, even I was astonished that I said them. But I think it is true. We need to reinvigorate strong state's rights with a weakened federal system.
I suspect the final straw will be when the Donkeys come for the guns. This will happen because enough of the Military will refuse to an illegal order like Kelly wants. If you think people got upset over their slaves just wait till it’s guns v
Coming soon to a blue state near you.
Already happened in several blue states. It's just little by little, not all at once. You already have had buybacks. If they do it slowly enough, no one fights back.
First they banned the sale of almost all firearms, but they left those in possession grandfathered. This year they are banning possession. totally Unconstitutional, and they know it. But now that Trump has self destructed I believe they are going to push it to the end game.
The first person who shows up to confiscate a peacefully, legally owned firearm will be shot.
They will make him out to be a mad man.
But I wouldn't want to be wearing a Mom's for Erasing the Constitution tee shirt the day after.
they’ve moved on. you can keep
your bang bang thingies, but good luck finding ammo. you need a federal background check in ny to buy a box of 22’s
Not here they haven't moved on. They are planning to force us to disarm.
you are disarmed if you have no ammo. so they don’t have to take your bang bangs which might actually lead to a small little pushback. so they take the ammo with a lot less in the way of constitutional objections. you may have a lot of ammo, but the average bang bang owner has a few hundred rounds at most.
They are planning for next spring, when they own both houses and can ignore the SCOTUS and whomever is still titular head of the DOJ. Not even pretending they care about the Constitution. It is now truly just a piece of paper. Nobody is going to notice the murders of a few hold outs in my little state.
i’m sure they just want to keep us all safe. they are going to have to plan a few more school/church/synagogue shootings to get the GC laws passed that have already been written and are just waiting for the opportune time . so prepare for the coming false flags and some orwellian named bill like “keep americans safe” or some such nonsense.
20-30% of the citizenry is productive, supporting the patronage network of both parties but mostly dems.
"Bukele" is probably inevitable. But it's just as hard to get rid of Bukele once established.
I vote for republican restoration.
as do i.
i suspect the only path thereto is one of "repeal the 17th and restore the stringent idea of limiting the federal government to specifically enumerated powers" via constitutional convention.
a federal system in which states competed with one another for citizens all of whom were free to leave and move to others would be the best guarantor of liberty. you'd essentially create a market for it.
Assuming it were possible to get 34 state legislatures to agree for one, there's no reliable way to limit the scope of a constitutional convention. You can't argue that US elections are not secure and that Congress is corrupt, but an open convention would produce a fair and balanced representation of the will of the public. The leftists and corporations would out-organize the right, as they do now. It would lead to civil war.
you'd essentially need a political movement akin to the "contract with america" from the 90's where a large group all agreed to support one another's calls for a constitutional convention based on agreed upon aims. and it's in the interest of the states to protect state power.
and once they had it, those who misused it would pay the price in citizens and capital.
The individual states, as we are all now learing, are at least as corrupt as the Federal government. Half of the actual citizens can't find the US on a map and have the attention span of a goldfish, but they will be ignored in favor of the lobbyists so their opinions won't matter anyway. I can't see anything good coming from a Convention of the States.
You're playing my tune: "Enumerated Powers Blues".