This is Day 325 of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve and Day 85 of Ohio’s WuFlu Curfew.
Deb and I are doin’ well.
Each of our escapes last year came to a close, of course, when we arrived back at Second Chance Ranch and shut off the engine. The header image today captures the end of our “maiden voyage,” with my Tacoma and the Bumper Bunker parked temporarily next to the house.
That day we followed a pattern which turned into a bona fide ritual — park in the driveway, unlock the house, use the bathroom, grab a couple of beverages and settle at the patio (car port) table. We’d sit and reminisce about the weekend we’d enjoyed, discussing who’d unload what gear, just relaxing. It was good to be Home.
We’d stay there a good long while, too, before undertaking every trip’s most difficult task — turning the whole rig around and backing the trailer onto its designated spot in the back yard. Not easy. We got better each time we did it.
After this first escape, we had a relatively quick turnaround for the next. Our trip to Hocking County was something of a “shakedown cruise,” and we gave ourselves just ten days (mostly evenings after work) to tinker, adjust, repair and re-stock for Muskingum County. That tested us, but we got it done.
It won’t be long now before we take another “shakedown cruise,” this time in Ernie. That’ll be a whole new experience, with new challenges and new adventures. And we can hardly wait.
Well, we knew this was coming — the CDC yesterday made it official, issuing a statement telling everyone to get on board with the silly double-masking fad. Reportedly, the agency did an amateurish lab experiment “confirming” that two masks are better than one.
I have a sneakin’ suspicion that as I type this, that lab is busily testing the efficacy of triple masking — “Because you’ll believe anything.”
I don’t care if you wear a mask, or two or three. I’ve already written at length about masks (“On masks & masking”) and the tendency of folks to yield to groupthink (“Double-Up”). At the risk of going blind here, I’ll quote myself:
“I simply don’t believe that masks do what their adherents claim they do. … The State’s ‘pandemic theater’ is a guilt trip aimed at simple-minded collectivists, a giant circle-jerk of virtue signaling. It’s not science. … No, I won’t put on a mask as a symbol of something I’ve determined is neither true nor effective. And no, I won’t put on a mask because the State tells me to. … I don’t wear one mask unless I have no other alternative. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna wear two.”
Honestly, I don’t expect what I say on Ubi Libertas to change minds. I’m sure that some of you engage in a practice which a year ago, pre-WuFlu, was dubious (at best) and now, somehow, is “science.” Whatever you choose to do in your American Life, though, I hope you’re making independent choices and not merely complying (or defying) out of reflex.
(Just so you know, this morning I scraped the bare parts of my face with a razor equipped with five blades. That’s what was available. That’s what I bought. That’s what I used. And I still don’t believe that five does a better job than one.)
Whenever I invoke the word “enemy” — as in “enemy of Liberty” — I imagine it makes some of you flinch. It’s a strong word, I’ll admit that, a polarizing word, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it generates strong reactions.
I just want you to know that every time you see that word, you can be absolutely sure that I chose that word. I used it intentionally. When I say it, I mean it — every damned time.
The Constitution, and along with it America’s foundation, is under attack from the Left. That much is beyond credible dispute. The target of the heaviest siege, obviously, is our birthright to free speech, guaranteed by The First Amendment. And the threat goes well beyond social media.
Democrats are still chasing after the previous president over words he didn’t speak on January 6th, inventing a dishonest basis for snap-impeachment and trying him on the imaginary charge of “incitement of insurrection” — even though he left office over three weeks ago at the end of his term.
I’ve heard that they want to prevent Trump from running for federal elected office ever again. That may well be true, but he’s not who they’re really after.
We are. They hate us. If they’ll dishonestly impeach a lame-duck president, and lie while trying to convict him, and pursue him after he leaves office, how long do you think it’ll be before they come after the speech of 75 million right-thinking Americans who voted for him?
It doesn’t stop with the First Amendment, either. Everyone (with a brain) knows that Democrats and other progressives want nothing more than to disarm law-abiding Americans, effectively repealing the Second Amendment. Legislation already has been filed in this Congress which would do exactly that. What’s more, anti-American allies outside of Washington are hard at work to help put an unconstitutional squeeze on gun owners.
Bank of America, for example, is voluntarily (and without a warrant, apparently) handing the feds the private transaction records of certain customers it decided — on its own — need to be investigated for “extremism” and “domestic terrorism.” It’s a solidarity play to Daffy’s DOJ, a we’re-with-you move, perhaps the most sinister corporate virtue signal I’ve ever seen.
What kind of transactions did the bank flag and toss to federal investigators? Purchases at gun stores, of course — but not just gun purchases. Basically, the company surrendered customers’ private information if they bought anything at a retailer that sells firearms. Using your VISA to buy a hat or a pack of jerky at an FFL could get you put on Bank of America’s super-secret watch list.
What would you call a company like that? What would you call a politician who swears an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and then uses their office to assault the individual liberties that document protects? What would you call media that benefit from constitutional protection but work to destroy it?
These are the enemies of Liberty. These are enemies of the People.
When I see something, I tend to call it by its proper name.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath