Some of you have been reading from the beginning — that would’ve been October 9th, 2020, when I launched Ubi Libertas. This blog has come a long way and covered a lot of territory (literally and figuratively) since that first post.
Right after I published yesterday, the ‘bots at WordPress sent me an automated message letting me know that it was my 500th.
Five hundred posts.
Even though I did the work — hundreds of thousands of words and thousands of images — it still humbles me to gauge the distance we’ve traveled.
More than that, I’m grateful for your kind attention. Thank you.
I’d like to tell you where Ubi Libertas Blog will go from here, but I can’t. I truly don’t know.
Stick around and we’ll find out together.
About a month ago, I believe it was, the CEO of an insurance company revealed that among Americans aged 18 to 64, deaths (from all causes) are up an estimated 40% over what they were before the “pandemic.” That’s almost a million of what the CDC refers to as “excess deaths.”
We’re told that a short-term spike of 10% would signal a catastrophe. Discovering that working-age Americans may be dying at four times that rate would be, if it’s true, beyond concerning.
As you can imagine, the hammers in our midst see those numbers as just another convenient nail, implying that the deaths are the result of the delayed effects of WuFlu infection. It conveniently fits their theory of so-called “long WuFlu.” Some go so far as to suggest that government somehow under-reported or under-counted WuFlu cases.
Maybe they’re right. I suspect, however, that it’s way too simplistic to attribute a 40% spike in deaths to the invisible and the unknown when visible and known factors have been smacking us in the face for almost two years.
Then again, maybe it’s an anomaly of some sort.
All together now: “We don’t know.”
I still contend that American society’s reaction to the appearance of a new virus has done more damage than the virus itself. Health-care facilities were cut back and closed unnecessarily. Bankruptcies jumped. Families’ life savings were lost. Addiction, depression and mental-health issues went untreated and, in many cases, ignored. Local economies were destroyed. Crime increased.
Mandates devastated the culture. Children have been irreparably harmed.
Not by the virus. By the reaction.
Smart, independent and intellectually honest people need to step up, shut out The Holy Narrative and get to the bottom of that 40% thing.
Five days after a winter storm dropped a foot or more of snow on the area, there was still a good bit of it left on The Mountain when we arrived this morning. We hopped in the Ranger and churned our way up the summit trail.
Then, as we’d planned, we set to work clearing a simple walking path to the highest point. This wasn’t full-on trail building — all we did was cut back overhanging branches, remove intruding seedlings and clip pesky vines. We didn’t pick up rocks and we didn’t move obstructions.
What we have now is a pleasant 60-yard stroll to the actual summit. We’re pleased with the result.
With the work done, and after a quick break for refreshment, Deb and I grabbed our walking sticks and began meandering around the high ground. We spotted all kinds of tracks — rabbit, whitetail deer and what may have been bobcat. Imprints in the soft and settling snow were distorted, making for some difficult identification, but we had a great time observing and imagining behavior.
Deer are all over The Mountain. Judging from the tracks we saw today, they seem to like the UTV trail we’ve cut from the road. (In the video above, look closely at the snow as we drive the Ranger up into the woods.) We also came across a sheltered spot where two or more whitetail apparently had bedded down during last week’s storm (and perhaps since).
Deb’s cousin reports that The Mountain also hosts black bear, coyote and, according to neighbors’ accounts, mountain lion. We’re looking forward to spending enough time there to see more wildlife than we have already.
Today we recorded two bald-eagle sightings — one near the summit and one soaring above the road as we left this afternoon. That was a genuine thrill.
Chalk up another great day. We’ll be going back again tomorrow.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB