I do not wish to seem like an obsequious greasy sycophant or whatever but I absolutely swear to God you're not just an extraordinary writer and analyst but a magnificent rallyer (rallier? whatever) of the populace and as long as this doesn't end like Braveheart, keep speakin' this way. It's a grief to me sometimes that I only get to know you and so many who comment on a variety of like-minded Substacks through the peculiar world of cyberspace and not while sitting in a backyard somewhat allowed to run wild on its edges, all of us talking about any damned thing we feel like.
"...sitting in a backyard somewhat allowed to run wild on its edges, all of us talking about any damned thing we feel like." I wanna be there. Now. And you are not an "obsequious greasy sycophant;" Why are so many of us here? Because el gato malo is the most insightful, perceptive and rational voice in this insane world.
This is one of quite a few good things born out of the last two years - the amazing, clever and bloody brave scientist, doctors, writers, lawyers, truckers and everyone else that I've learned about and got to know, virtually or in real life, who have stood up to tyranny and done it with humour and decency. I've been on marches and handed out leaflets with people I would never have met otherwise. And it's been a privilege to know them. So to all the beautiful freedom loving souls like you and el gato, thank you and keep holding that line.
The great unmasking. We've learned who's clever vs dim, tyrant vs. empathetic, critical thinker vs follower. So much has been revealed. I"m grateful to have discovered Gato and this community.
These sub stack and other blogs are the anti-dote to social media (and for that matter the MSN) - a growing counter culture community of thought, analysis, exchange/diversity of views, enlightenment, gain/sharing of knowledge, not the nasty, spiteful, hate-filled, orthodox dogma of shrill zealots, locked in their own echo chamber and insulated from sense and reason.
Perhaps we didn’t want to know. I suppose we thought such things as have happened, couldn’t happen.
But history is a good teacher. When the Catholic Church was supreme in Europe, the Samizdat of the day were those (Protestants) who translated, printed and distributed copies of the Bible in the vernacular rather than Latin, defying its authority and thus breaking the Church’s monopoly over how God’s word was to be interpreted, spread and obeyed, and thus how people lived their lives. This gave the Church authorities almost complete control over the masses. The only truth was the Church truth… everything else was fake news.
Sound familiar? Heretics were excommunicated… the equivalent of cancelling today. Those who printed distributed, preached from Bibles in the vernacular were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and often executed.
It is hard to avoid noticing we are regressing to the days collectivism versus individualism, of a neo-aristocracy and a supreme authority over what we think, know, say and do.
The snarling about "your *freedom*" is a remarkable moment in America. This nation learned nothing from the Japanese-ethnicity internment camps. Or perhaps those who do remember history learned too well how easy it is to create the official despised class.
I realised a while back when I opined how easily people forgot certain things from the recent past, that many were too young to remember and had never been taught. Our entire history these days can be distilled into one topic: slavery. No other history exists.
(Man, if I win that damned lottery I'm gonna have a lakeside estate [modest residence but the grounds are gonna be astonishing] and I'll send all of you roundtrip tickets.)
What you’re experiencing, what we’re all experiencing, is the effect of superbly articulated reason in a maelstrom of irrationality.
It’s like catching an eddy in the midst of a run of class-four whitewater. Now we just watch the torrent roll by and study the river downstream. Figure out how to work the river.
I been famous for my gooey brownies for a quarter-century now. But if you lean towards savory, my now-ex's Sikh friend used to say I did the best masoor dal he'd ever eaten...
They'd actually work a lot better on fallout than on Covid (you DON'T want radioactive particles in your lungs), but lets hope it doesn't come to that.
He did. His buddy Ronny Jackson and the other WH medical staff Stockholmed him, big time. Trump's current political handlers made the mistake thinking that if Trump played to the jabbed and no jabbers he'd cover a larger demographic wrt running again. They finally got the message after rally goers repeatedly booing Trump over Warp Speed and vouching for jabs. Now he doesn't bring it up. (Thank you, God!). Trump loves America and America so much, he would do ANYTHING to save them. The overthrow cabal used that strength against him, to get him to ask We The People to go along. We The People trusted Trump not to ask unless it was necessary. Exactly what overthrow cabal wanted. Trump will eventually come to the conclusion he was used, and what the real damage is. I fear for him personally, when he does.
Trump may love America, but he loves himself even more. After what he did to the country, passing the torch to someone with a better track record would be the loving thing to do.
I'm still struggling to figure out who/what Trump is and what his role in this is. Like the Kennedy Assassination, I'm certain that none of us will live long enough to know the entire truth.
There is no other patriot like DJT. Ron Desantis is more measured but he does not have the energy. Did you see the gymnastics Trump had to do to build that wall? And energy independence? And now he is ready to tackle Global Warming. (I refuse to allow them to call it "Climate Change", BECAUSE climate change is predicated on 2 degrees of WARMING caused by CO2.)
Biden & Congress just allocated far more $$$ to Ukraine than the amount DJT requested for the border wall. U.S. borders aren't as important as Ukraine borders, apparently.
I hope you are correct; that eventually he sees that he got played bigtime and learns from it. I didn't know about the rally goers booing him over Waaaarp Speed. Good for them. I think he still has too many quislings advising him though. His second biggest mistake after covid was not firing everyone he could in the Deep State and starting over. The problem was he didn't have a big pool to choose from.
Trump is/was a 'big picture vision' guy, His gift was saying out loud many of the things people were saying at their kitchen tables and corner cafes. His downfall is that he was not one to get in the weeds - he delegated too much to people he should have never trusted. DC is not really run by the politicians, it's controlled by the career bureaucrats who survive administration after administration and they know how to dig in and survive. Until someone comes in and guts all these 3 letter agencies, the crap will continue no matter who we elect.
BUT it’s way too late. Our comfortable old normal is gone.
While the “pandemic” waxed & waned and the comic book baddies, the “vaccines” were scooshed into billions of arms, the economic basics & the financial system globally was taken beyond repair.
You know the cartoon where a persons legs keep striding long after they’ve gone off the cliffs edge? That’s humanity.
Economic collapse, riots & war are nearly inevitable, given the psychopaths remain ascendant. Food supplies are going to fail during the next year. Probably power supplies also. I expect martial law. Currency collapses will delete the incentives to trade commodities internationally. Now we see why China stockpiled years of some foodstuffs.
All institutions have failed. We might not agree, but that’ll be because they haven’t all been tested yet. When they have, each has just imploded.
truth be told, when the media became a force for the left/right narrative and the populace ate it up, it was over. Instead of looking at what we hold in common we have allowed ourselves to directed by the emotion of the left/right narrative and the beat goes on.
I read somewhere last year that a reporter asked one the elders of Quakers how they avoided the problems of covid. He said that when one got sick they shared from the same cup so that they would build immunity. He also said they don’t have television. Not sure which was more important!
Normal is gone. Funny, but when I first heard about what was happening in Wuhan early on, before the MSM really pushed it, and being told it was a novel virus and seeing the videos and hearing the hype (what I now know to have been hype) I told my friends and family “normal is dead”. And I was right for the wrong reason. Normal was dead not due to a virus per se but because of the thoroughly planned and premeditated and cold-blooded acts of a global wrecking crew.
These people are mass murderers on a scale that is nearly incomprehensible.
I have had low trust for 30 years because I'm a little of an eco-fascist and the fundamental underpinnings to ones physical existence require nature to be stewarded and supported, but the level of venal and corrupt activity exposed over the last few years has left me angry and breathless.
Dr Yeadon - thank you for your service and efforts! and I thank myself for being self-sufficient in food, water, fuel and common sense. I agree with your sentiments around the coming collapse (at least in the West.) Democracy has already gone, free speech - gone, freedom of movement - gone. Next cab off the rank - velocity of money and food.
I agree completely that prudence indicates preparedness. A little reality check: mayhem is by nature unpredictable. And mayhem is soon to be unleashed.
Wishing you (and your moronic ox!) the best in this dread time.
“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth” Ps 124:7-8
My enlightened city friends feel this in their bones even after Melbourne suffering the longest lockdown ( imprisonment ) in the world. I guess tolerance is high for the special ones.
Me - I'm a nobody - therefore anything can happen - or maybe the Syrians, Iraqi's and Ukranians are bad people who deserve it.
They still needed EVIDENCE that the measures imposed would work.
A rationale, for example.
I know you know this 😊
There was no such evidence.
General lockdown will NEVER be effective, because it’s symptomatic people who are good sources of transmission. These people were already “in lockdown, voluntarily”. Thus, adding lockdown couldn’t make a difference & indeed did not.
Well, sure, (and I did catch your sarcasm here) except the “pandemic playbooks” were all written in anticipation of any manner of viral pandemic. Their excuses about this being *novel* never held water. Every new virus is novel, but a respiratory virus is a respiratory virus is a respiratory virus and none of the basic underlying science that guided the creation of the playbooks is predicated on knowing the pathogen prior to implementation.
It really speaks to the serious lack of critical thinking skills that the so much of the American populace could be so easily bullied into silent obedience with a ridiculous assertion like “it’s a *novel* virus.”
Novel? And for most people, ‘CoV 2’ didn’t give it away. Gee Batman, d’ya think if it’s a 2, there must have been a 1. That’s right right Robin, and four other CoVs have been in circulation for decades causing 10% of Colds. Holy protein spike Batman!
I agree with the commenter elsewhere in this comment stack that noted that Gato is top of the Substack pile, but what a pity that we could not all just convene at a backyard barbecue and really discuss some of these things. Having said that, this is far better than where we were before The Bad Cat started penning these pieces.
In an interesting confluence of leading minds, Bari Weiss did a piece pivoting on Ukraine today that, coincidentally, reinforces many of these individual liberty points. Whereas Gato has always understood these matters, Weiss was a pretty far left NYT reporter who has changed as she has recognized what is happening. Also a decent writer. Worth the read, if just to add fuel to the Gato fire: https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/things-worth-fighting-for?s=r (Note that I am not recommending this for the Ukraine commentary -- I do not know enough about that to even opine at all, much less to pick sides. But the comments on what needs attention in America are consonant with Gato's piece today and have a much wider audience which is good for all of us.)
Thanks for all you contribute. I was an early paying subscriber and have never regretted it for a moment.
Weiss is a warmonger. She has no idea who is bombing whom in the Ukraine. “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Zelensky is a professional actor and TV producer. Anything we see could be staged.
Edit: "The last step for the media upon preparing a country for war involves continual reporting of atrocities. Fabricating and or embellishing stories will serve to stir up and strengthen emotional reactions, which will eventually lead to a sudden urge to go to war.
The focus of propaganda during wartimes is often on children. In World War I, stories were published detailing how Germans would throw babies into the air and spear them onto their bayonets during their marches."
As I tried to emphasize above (and as I did in my note in the Bari Substack) the writing about the Ukraine/Russia is NOT the point to be taken from this. (I do not happen to agree with her views.) But the part about AMERICA and our erosion of liberties here is on point. So read past the Ukraine part and to the "worth preserving in America" part...I think you will find it much better. Remember, this is someone with a pretty deep left leaning following. Bringing everyone together to recognize the power of individuality, the Constitution, etc. has to be high on all of our hit parades.
As I tried to emphasize above (and as I did in my note in the Bari Substack) the writing about the Ukraine/Russia is NOT the point to be taken from this. (I do not happen to agree with her views.) But the part about AMERICA and our erosion of liberties here is on point. So read past the Ukraine part and to the "worth preserving in America" part...I think you will find it much better. Remember, this is someone with a pretty deep left leaning following. Bringing everyone together to recognize the power of individuality, the Constitution, etc. has to be high on all of our hit parades. (Sorry to repeat a comment, but it applies to two posters who are not stacked.)
About half of our company took the "vaccine", not because they wanted to, not because they thought it was "effective", and certainly not because it was "safe". No, the only reason was because they "had to".
Thanks Gato for not letting the crimes of the last two years disappear into history. I'm already seeing way too many people letting a war we have absolutely no control over cover up something we actually *did" and *do* have control over.
The problem that the ones being conned and believe in the narrative they must overcome their cognitive dissonance to accept reality. It is extremely difficult when the lie is gigantic. Most people I talk to still parrot the BS from the last 2 years.
"america succumbed to the tyranny of superstition and pseudoscience". today i left my 28 year career because my ex-employer has continued this exact same type of tyranny. fully vaccinated staff, guests and customers = mask-free!! unvaccinated staff = must be masked, cuz science! i just couldn't take the b.s anymore. and this from a self proclaimed leader in blood donation and transfusion. cuz, science! I don't know if my resignation is a shove, but ive tried to help them be better employers, but no dice. they just aren't interested in being virtuous, just signalling virtue.
I am sitting here in Ontario, Canada...still watching people fearful to participate in life, still ignorant to what has happened to them. I have stayed current over the last 7 or 8 years on the building insanity in the culture and establishment, and still was astounded at how few people I saw who kept a grasp on reality. It was saddening to watch many who I respected as intelligent go mad with everyone else, disregard their educations and stop thinking for themselves. I found some hope in some few close around me waking up, and a few close friends who saw it from the start. I don't know what it is about Canadians...maybe it's me that can't communicate, but they seem nearly impossible to reach. The media is as impressive a force as the dissonance. It's substacks like this and those friends that have kept me sane throughout. Yes to that back yard party folks...though maybe we shouldn't all gather in one place lol.
"kept calm and carried on" - sorry, I just need to say this:
THAT is what I did; I came to work (to an empty office) every single day (middle management so I could get in - lots of others could not, I know) - traveled the empty state highways several times, etc. ... so, so many people terrified - colleagues shocked that I was venturing outside - life changing! - Schwab was (April 2020) and still is absolutely correct: "we can never go back"
remember that famous Twilight Zone?- neighbors viciously fighting over entry to a nuclear shelter... then - never mind - false alarm... then this palpable emptiness settles in ... and they look at each other blankly... and then down... that is the "can never go back" moment.
I do not wish to seem like an obsequious greasy sycophant or whatever but I absolutely swear to God you're not just an extraordinary writer and analyst but a magnificent rallyer (rallier? whatever) of the populace and as long as this doesn't end like Braveheart, keep speakin' this way. It's a grief to me sometimes that I only get to know you and so many who comment on a variety of like-minded Substacks through the peculiar world of cyberspace and not while sitting in a backyard somewhat allowed to run wild on its edges, all of us talking about any damned thing we feel like.
"...sitting in a backyard somewhat allowed to run wild on its edges, all of us talking about any damned thing we feel like." I wanna be there. Now. And you are not an "obsequious greasy sycophant;" Why are so many of us here? Because el gato malo is the most insightful, perceptive and rational voice in this insane world.
This is one of quite a few good things born out of the last two years - the amazing, clever and bloody brave scientist, doctors, writers, lawyers, truckers and everyone else that I've learned about and got to know, virtually or in real life, who have stood up to tyranny and done it with humour and decency. I've been on marches and handed out leaflets with people I would never have met otherwise. And it's been a privilege to know them. So to all the beautiful freedom loving souls like you and el gato, thank you and keep holding that line.
The great unmasking. We've learned who's clever vs dim, tyrant vs. empathetic, critical thinker vs follower. So much has been revealed. I"m grateful to have discovered Gato and this community.
These sub stack and other blogs are the anti-dote to social media (and for that matter the MSN) - a growing counter culture community of thought, analysis, exchange/diversity of views, enlightenment, gain/sharing of knowledge, not the nasty, spiteful, hate-filled, orthodox dogma of shrill zealots, locked in their own echo chamber and insulated from sense and reason.
Yes. But who knew we'd need our own samizdat in the land of the free?
Perhaps we didn’t want to know. I suppose we thought such things as have happened, couldn’t happen.
But history is a good teacher. When the Catholic Church was supreme in Europe, the Samizdat of the day were those (Protestants) who translated, printed and distributed copies of the Bible in the vernacular rather than Latin, defying its authority and thus breaking the Church’s monopoly over how God’s word was to be interpreted, spread and obeyed, and thus how people lived their lives. This gave the Church authorities almost complete control over the masses. The only truth was the Church truth… everything else was fake news.
Sound familiar? Heretics were excommunicated… the equivalent of cancelling today. Those who printed distributed, preached from Bibles in the vernacular were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and often executed.
It is hard to avoid noticing we are regressing to the days collectivism versus individualism, of a neo-aristocracy and a supreme authority over what we think, know, say and do.
The snarling about "your *freedom*" is a remarkable moment in America. This nation learned nothing from the Japanese-ethnicity internment camps. Or perhaps those who do remember history learned too well how easy it is to create the official despised class.
There was no Japanese sabotage on the West coast during that time.
I realised a while back when I opined how easily people forgot certain things from the recent past, that many were too young to remember and had never been taught. Our entire history these days can be distilled into one topic: slavery. No other history exists.
Let's all move to some small country somewhere and be done with the clowns
I'd rather make the clowns move to some small country somewhere.
Guantanamo.
https://markoshinskie8de.substack.com/p/ill-never-forgive-the-coronamaniacs?s=w
I feel like maybe barbarian horde invasions of independent nations are considered declasse this year...
i'd rather ship them all on a one way trip to mars. they want to go there anyway, so why not NOW? with a limited supply of oxygen, of course.
Let’s all leave Pandemia and move to the free republic of Substackia. I hear one of its leaders is a cool cat.
Where's the Duchy of Grand Fenwick when you need it?
Where though?
Like this a million times over (and even without your graciousness to me).
None of these benefits was nearly worth all of the pain caused.
I will never forgive the architects of the Scamdemic nor anyone stupid enough to go along with any of the interventions.
https://markoshinskie8de.substack.com/p/ill-never-forgive-the-coronamaniacs?s=w
It's useful to sort out the people one might safely trust one's children to from the ones you need to fight to the death to keep away from them.
...could not have said it better myself. That would be one helluva backyard party. First round is on me!
I don't drive. Can you fetch me?
(Man, if I win that damned lottery I'm gonna have a lakeside estate [modest residence but the grounds are gonna be astonishing] and I'll send all of you roundtrip tickets.)
Thankee!!
Find your people and party with them!
You ARE my people.
SCA, you are clever, funny and sincere. Love you!!
I ain't fond of cheap sentiment but by God I love you back!
What you’re experiencing, what we’re all experiencing, is the effect of superbly articulated reason in a maelstrom of irrationality.
It’s like catching an eddy in the midst of a run of class-four whitewater. Now we just watch the torrent roll by and study the river downstream. Figure out how to work the river.
Maybe someday we can have a REAL reunion.
I can dream.
Thank God for vitamins. I ain't much for workouts but I'm religious about my Vitamin C 'n all.
I'll be having some Team Reality BBQs in my back yard (complete with edges) this summer near Boston. Y'all are welcome.
I ain't so far away. Think twice, now...
Bring a side dish
I been famous for my gooey brownies for a quarter-century now. But if you lean towards savory, my now-ex's Sikh friend used to say I did the best masoor dal he'd ever eaten...
Either one sounds like a hit!
We r in the Boston area, north shore!!
i like the way rallyer looks. let's go with that.
I agree wholeheartedly, except can the backyard be an expansive putting green with a few bunkers, and we converse during putting contests?
No.
Two years to destroy the economy and 'rebuild' it so the rich and powerful stay rich and powerful forever.
And so the president and governors can keep "emergency" powers forever.
In a nutshell. Brilliant observation!
But the destruction is not over… Net Zero carbon is carrying on the good work, with a new wrecking-ball just added, self-harming sanctions on Russia.
They were getting sick and tired of the riffraff spoiling "their" planet.
2 years to flatten societal cohesion.
Now let’s forget the whole thing because Putin ya know…. Let’s die in a nuclear war to paper over everything.
15 days to stop the fallout
Do N95s work on fallout.
Yes; as well as they work for Covid.
As a child who experienced the end of that era, gods help me the masks just reminded me of ducking and covering under our primary school desks...
Echo that. And we knew that was BS then, as well, didn’t we?
I always preferred and ascribe to Stop Drop And Roll for any and all emergencies!
They'd actually work a lot better on fallout than on Covid (you DON'T want radioactive particles in your lungs), but lets hope it doesn't come to that.
Laugh out loud. Cheers
🤣🤣🤣
gato, you're on a roll. I've been freeloading long enough. I just purchased an annual subscription.
Worth every penny. Plus it keeps substack fed with cash as they get a sliver. Good for everyone.
I’d like to see a book 😊
So stupid. And when Trump said we should open by Easter the media went ape-shit.
#TheMadnessOfCrowds
Mr. Stable Genius got rolled on COVID.
He did. His buddy Ronny Jackson and the other WH medical staff Stockholmed him, big time. Trump's current political handlers made the mistake thinking that if Trump played to the jabbed and no jabbers he'd cover a larger demographic wrt running again. They finally got the message after rally goers repeatedly booing Trump over Warp Speed and vouching for jabs. Now he doesn't bring it up. (Thank you, God!). Trump loves America and America so much, he would do ANYTHING to save them. The overthrow cabal used that strength against him, to get him to ask We The People to go along. We The People trusted Trump not to ask unless it was necessary. Exactly what overthrow cabal wanted. Trump will eventually come to the conclusion he was used, and what the real damage is. I fear for him personally, when he does.
Trump may love America, but he loves himself even more. After what he did to the country, passing the torch to someone with a better track record would be the loving thing to do.
I'm still struggling to figure out who/what Trump is and what his role in this is. Like the Kennedy Assassination, I'm certain that none of us will live long enough to know the entire truth.
Scott Atlas’ book “a plague upon our house” is the best place for a deep dive look behind the Trump WH coronavirus task force curtain.
There is no other patriot like DJT. Ron Desantis is more measured but he does not have the energy. Did you see the gymnastics Trump had to do to build that wall? And energy independence? And now he is ready to tackle Global Warming. (I refuse to allow them to call it "Climate Change", BECAUSE climate change is predicated on 2 degrees of WARMING caused by CO2.)
Biden & Congress just allocated far more $$$ to Ukraine than the amount DJT requested for the border wall. U.S. borders aren't as important as Ukraine borders, apparently.
I hope you are correct; that eventually he sees that he got played bigtime and learns from it. I didn't know about the rally goers booing him over Waaaarp Speed. Good for them. I think he still has too many quislings advising him though. His second biggest mistake after covid was not firing everyone he could in the Deep State and starting over. The problem was he didn't have a big pool to choose from.
Trump is/was a 'big picture vision' guy, His gift was saying out loud many of the things people were saying at their kitchen tables and corner cafes. His downfall is that he was not one to get in the weeds - he delegated too much to people he should have never trusted. DC is not really run by the politicians, it's controlled by the career bureaucrats who survive administration after administration and they know how to dig in and survive. Until someone comes in and guts all these 3 letter agencies, the crap will continue no matter who we elect.
Agree completely.
“Mass Formation Psychosis”
I endorse all this smart feline says.
BUT it’s way too late. Our comfortable old normal is gone.
While the “pandemic” waxed & waned and the comic book baddies, the “vaccines” were scooshed into billions of arms, the economic basics & the financial system globally was taken beyond repair.
You know the cartoon where a persons legs keep striding long after they’ve gone off the cliffs edge? That’s humanity.
Economic collapse, riots & war are nearly inevitable, given the psychopaths remain ascendant. Food supplies are going to fail during the next year. Probably power supplies also. I expect martial law. Currency collapses will delete the incentives to trade commodities internationally. Now we see why China stockpiled years of some foodstuffs.
All institutions have failed. We might not agree, but that’ll be because they haven’t all been tested yet. When they have, each has just imploded.
truth be told, when the media became a force for the left/right narrative and the populace ate it up, it was over. Instead of looking at what we hold in common we have allowed ourselves to directed by the emotion of the left/right narrative and the beat goes on.
Turning all MSM to off was the best defence against the “virus”.
I read somewhere last year that a reporter asked one the elders of Quakers how they avoided the problems of covid. He said that when one got sick they shared from the same cup so that they would build immunity. He also said they don’t have television. Not sure which was more important!
Normal is gone. Funny, but when I first heard about what was happening in Wuhan early on, before the MSM really pushed it, and being told it was a novel virus and seeing the videos and hearing the hype (what I now know to have been hype) I told my friends and family “normal is dead”. And I was right for the wrong reason. Normal was dead not due to a virus per se but because of the thoroughly planned and premeditated and cold-blooded acts of a global wrecking crew.
These people are mass murderers on a scale that is nearly incomprehensible.
So now what…?
Terrible storm coming.
I have had low trust for 30 years because I'm a little of an eco-fascist and the fundamental underpinnings to ones physical existence require nature to be stewarded and supported, but the level of venal and corrupt activity exposed over the last few years has left me angry and breathless.
Dr Yeadon - thank you for your service and efforts! and I thank myself for being self-sufficient in food, water, fuel and common sense. I agree with your sentiments around the coming collapse (at least in the West.) Democracy has already gone, free speech - gone, freedom of movement - gone. Next cab off the rank - velocity of money and food.
Make arrangements NOW people.
I agree completely that prudence indicates preparedness. A little reality check: mayhem is by nature unpredictable. And mayhem is soon to be unleashed.
Wishing you (and your moronic ox!) the best in this dread time.
“Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord Who made heaven and earth” Ps 124:7-8
Thanks Lawrence. Forgiveness in the truest sense (non-judgement) is a skill and thought I desperately need to develop. Thank you friend.
It can't happen here. To me. I'm/we're special.
My enlightened city friends feel this in their bones even after Melbourne suffering the longest lockdown ( imprisonment ) in the world. I guess tolerance is high for the special ones.
Me - I'm a nobody - therefore anything can happen - or maybe the Syrians, Iraqi's and Ukranians are bad people who deserve it.
But, but, those guidelines were for influenza and SARS-CoV-2 is a
*n o v e l*
virus!
They still needed EVIDENCE that the measures imposed would work.
A rationale, for example.
I know you know this 😊
There was no such evidence.
General lockdown will NEVER be effective, because it’s symptomatic people who are good sources of transmission. These people were already “in lockdown, voluntarily”. Thus, adding lockdown couldn’t make a difference & indeed did not.
We knew that before two weeks to flatten….
Science fiction novel for sure.
Well, sure, (and I did catch your sarcasm here) except the “pandemic playbooks” were all written in anticipation of any manner of viral pandemic. Their excuses about this being *novel* never held water. Every new virus is novel, but a respiratory virus is a respiratory virus is a respiratory virus and none of the basic underlying science that guided the creation of the playbooks is predicated on knowing the pathogen prior to implementation.
It really speaks to the serious lack of critical thinking skills that the so much of the American populace could be so easily bullied into silent obedience with a ridiculous assertion like “it’s a *novel* virus.”
People are sooooo dumb!
Novel? And for most people, ‘CoV 2’ didn’t give it away. Gee Batman, d’ya think if it’s a 2, there must have been a 1. That’s right right Robin, and four other CoVs have been in circulation for decades causing 10% of Colds. Holy protein spike Batman!
It will take all of us. Nothing else will work.
No colluders allowed!
I agree with the commenter elsewhere in this comment stack that noted that Gato is top of the Substack pile, but what a pity that we could not all just convene at a backyard barbecue and really discuss some of these things. Having said that, this is far better than where we were before The Bad Cat started penning these pieces.
In an interesting confluence of leading minds, Bari Weiss did a piece pivoting on Ukraine today that, coincidentally, reinforces many of these individual liberty points. Whereas Gato has always understood these matters, Weiss was a pretty far left NYT reporter who has changed as she has recognized what is happening. Also a decent writer. Worth the read, if just to add fuel to the Gato fire: https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/things-worth-fighting-for?s=r (Note that I am not recommending this for the Ukraine commentary -- I do not know enough about that to even opine at all, much less to pick sides. But the comments on what needs attention in America are consonant with Gato's piece today and have a much wider audience which is good for all of us.)
Thanks for all you contribute. I was an early paying subscriber and have never regretted it for a moment.
Weiss is a warmonger. She has no idea who is bombing whom in the Ukraine. “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Zelensky is a professional actor and TV producer. Anything we see could be staged.
Edit: "The last step for the media upon preparing a country for war involves continual reporting of atrocities. Fabricating and or embellishing stories will serve to stir up and strengthen emotional reactions, which will eventually lead to a sudden urge to go to war.
The focus of propaganda during wartimes is often on children. In World War I, stories were published detailing how Germans would throw babies into the air and spear them onto their bayonets during their marches."
https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297a/War%20Propaganda%20Past%20Present%20and%20Future.doc
As I tried to emphasize above (and as I did in my note in the Bari Substack) the writing about the Ukraine/Russia is NOT the point to be taken from this. (I do not happen to agree with her views.) But the part about AMERICA and our erosion of liberties here is on point. So read past the Ukraine part and to the "worth preserving in America" part...I think you will find it much better. Remember, this is someone with a pretty deep left leaning following. Bringing everyone together to recognize the power of individuality, the Constitution, etc. has to be high on all of our hit parades.
There is no looking past Ukraine/Russia when people like Weiss amplify propaganda that is pulling us towards a nuclear confrontation.
As I tried to emphasize above (and as I did in my note in the Bari Substack) the writing about the Ukraine/Russia is NOT the point to be taken from this. (I do not happen to agree with her views.) But the part about AMERICA and our erosion of liberties here is on point. So read past the Ukraine part and to the "worth preserving in America" part...I think you will find it much better. Remember, this is someone with a pretty deep left leaning following. Bringing everyone together to recognize the power of individuality, the Constitution, etc. has to be high on all of our hit parades. (Sorry to repeat a comment, but it applies to two posters who are not stacked.)
Cowardice from top to bottom.
About half of our company took the "vaccine", not because they wanted to, not because they thought it was "effective", and certainly not because it was "safe". No, the only reason was because they "had to".
And probably didn't care. Most people don't care about much.
Thanks Gato for not letting the crimes of the last two years disappear into history. I'm already seeing way too many people letting a war we have absolutely no control over cover up something we actually *did" and *do* have control over.
The problem that the ones being conned and believe in the narrative they must overcome their cognitive dissonance to accept reality. It is extremely difficult when the lie is gigantic. Most people I talk to still parrot the BS from the last 2 years.
"and so we must be ready to be ungovernable and to claim the right of individual agency as ours not theirs."
The above is a quote from the author, I hope that's clear.
"america succumbed to the tyranny of superstition and pseudoscience". today i left my 28 year career because my ex-employer has continued this exact same type of tyranny. fully vaccinated staff, guests and customers = mask-free!! unvaccinated staff = must be masked, cuz science! i just couldn't take the b.s anymore. and this from a self proclaimed leader in blood donation and transfusion. cuz, science! I don't know if my resignation is a shove, but ive tried to help them be better employers, but no dice. they just aren't interested in being virtuous, just signalling virtue.
I am sitting here in Ontario, Canada...still watching people fearful to participate in life, still ignorant to what has happened to them. I have stayed current over the last 7 or 8 years on the building insanity in the culture and establishment, and still was astounded at how few people I saw who kept a grasp on reality. It was saddening to watch many who I respected as intelligent go mad with everyone else, disregard their educations and stop thinking for themselves. I found some hope in some few close around me waking up, and a few close friends who saw it from the start. I don't know what it is about Canadians...maybe it's me that can't communicate, but they seem nearly impossible to reach. The media is as impressive a force as the dissonance. It's substacks like this and those friends that have kept me sane throughout. Yes to that back yard party folks...though maybe we shouldn't all gather in one place lol.
It's the same in the US. Most people here are absolute zombies and haven't a clue.
The coordinated media campaign was too much for many to overcome, particularly those with a trust level of the media that is off the charts.
"kept calm and carried on" - sorry, I just need to say this:
THAT is what I did; I came to work (to an empty office) every single day (middle management so I could get in - lots of others could not, I know) - traveled the empty state highways several times, etc. ... so, so many people terrified - colleagues shocked that I was venturing outside - life changing! - Schwab was (April 2020) and still is absolutely correct: "we can never go back"
remember that famous Twilight Zone?- neighbors viciously fighting over entry to a nuclear shelter... then - never mind - false alarm... then this palpable emptiness settles in ... and they look at each other blankly... and then down... that is the "can never go back" moment.
I'm reminded of the meme with the kids sitting with dad.
"What did you during the pandemic?"
"Went to work like a boss."
"Fuckin' legend."
I had not seen that! - Thank you! - I needed that. It has been an inconceivably difficult two years!