I’m just going to go down the line.

American Stasi

The Washington Times noted that Patrick Eddington of the Cato Institute obtained redacted documents showing that U.S. Postal Service inspectors monitored the mail of some American citizens. The impetus for the move? These people were gun rights activists and had issues with the election of Joe Biden. The office spied on gun activists who attended a gathering in Richmond, Va.,  what the Times calls “far-right” groups who went to D.C. after Biden’s election, and even those who gathered to protest the shooting of Breonna Taylor. This particular operation also included digital surveillance through the Internet Covert Operations Program. The documents Eddington obtained showed that the operation in question ran from September 2020 to April 2021. There were disclaimers on the reports that stated that the surveillance was not intended to infringe on anyone’s rights but to give law enforcement intel about potential violent or criminal activity. The post office inspector general said that the moves were outside the scope of law enforcement and may not have had legal approval. The inspectors disagreed. In the interim, the Postal Service has agreed to a full review and to make sure that future surveillance is properly authorized.

We need postal inspectors. Back in the wild west days of the internet, I covered cases in which postal inspectors played key roles in intercepting child pornography and working with local law enforcement to lock up offenders. But the gun-rights activists and politically active Americans who were recently monitored were not doing anything illegal. Distasteful to some, but not illegal.

Why Is The Capitol Police Setting Up Regional Offices Across The Country?

There’s a Reason Conservatives are Becoming Less Tame

Did Obama and his leftist elites bother to talk to the Tea Party about its grievances? Absolutely not. Instead, they called the Tea Party racist. They claimed the Tea Party was a bunch of radical extremists. Then President Obama weaponized the IRS to attack the Tea Party supporters with abusive audits and denied their organizations the non-profit status the tax code said they were entitled to.

The constitutional rights of the Tea Party supporters were under assault. As the attacks escalated, the Tea Party morphed into a movement for constitutional adherence, government accountability, and America first. MAGA was born — though it wasn’t named yet.

And then Donald Trump came down the golden escalator. He didn’t create MAGA. MAGA drafted him. He agreed to fight for constitutional conservatives, and gave their movement a name — Make America Great Again. How very radical.

The movement needed an unapologetic standard bearer to represent them — its own George Patton. Donald Trump became that guy.

The Poisonous Politics of Pejorative

Remember back in the good old days, when our Democratic friends used to obsess about fundamentalists and the Christian Right? How they hated Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority!

Obviously their concern must have eased up a bit by the time that presidential candidate Barack Obama was making patronizing remarks about “bitter clingers.”

But then, with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, we learned all about the “deplorables.” Shall we rehearse her comments one more time?

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” Clinton said. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.

Bless her heart.

Bless her heart indeed.

Red wave … or tyranny?

The midterm elections of 2022 are just around the proverbial corner. Will the long-predicted “red wave” come to fruition? Based on every piece of evidence, it should. Based on what has transpired over the past two years, it should. If everyone asks themselves, “Am I better off now than I was two years ago,” it damn well should. Logically, it is virtually certain to be the case.

However, unfortunately, a significant percentage of the electorate aren’t logical or rational. Ergo, even though many Democrats have revealed themselves to be clinically insane, that has not proven to be a deal breaker to the low information, highly entitled voter. And never underestimate Republicans’ ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of almost certain victory. Or Democrats’ ability to manipulate, project, rig, and gaslight.

These facts led me to ruminate a bit, and here is some of what I noted: every election that Democrats lose is an obvious, a priori instance of fraud, malfeasance, and Russian collusion. (So they claim.) These blatantly stolen elections have tragically and adversely affected the fortunes of Al Gore (think Florida), Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams, to name only a few.

What Does Fidelity to Our Founding Principles Require Today?

We’re all political people here, right? So we all know Senator Pat Geary? No?

He’s the Nevada senator portrayed at the beginning of “Godfather II.” He tells Michael Corleone, “I intend to speak very frankly to you—maybe more frankly than anyone in my position’s ever talked to you.” He tries to blackmail a mob boss and later ends up in bed with a dead hooker. I believe he was also a Democrat. So just about the only thing I have in common with Senator Geary is that I intend to speak very frankly to you.

What does fidelity to our founding principles require today? Let me begin to answer that question with a quote—perhaps a familiar quote to some or most of you. But it’s apt, and there’s always a chance some of you haven’t heard it, and/or that others can use a refresher.

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types—the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.

Those words were spoken by G.K. Chesterton, a Brit, in 1924. He was speaking of the British Constitution, not ours. But the words strike me as especially apt to our situation.

A Bitter Pill for the Silent Majority

Every time you’ve allowed fear to control what you did or didn’t say; what they did or didn’t do was a win for progressivism. Because of that, you are part of the reason our country is in the shape that it’s in and it’s about time that you take responsibility for that. Now, wash that down and think about what you can do every day starting now to change that.

Believe me, it hasn’t been easy being called the names I’ve been called because of my politics. It wasn’t easy being the only person not wearing a mask in a store. It wasn’t easy being called a grandma killer because I chose to read the science myself and came to believe in the power of my immune system over taking a rushed vaccine. I know that simply believing in freedom and loving America is enough to set some people off, and I am comfortable in the knowledge that I am the opposite of everything I’ve been called. In fact, the hateful words of our political adversaries have been lost on me. They’ve been used as a weapon to silence me, and others like me, so much that they’ve lost all meaning.

Matt Gaetz Says RINO’s and GOP Elites Are Already Planning Business as Usual if Republicans Take the House (VIDEO)

Feckless GOP’s “Commitment to America” Is So Weak They Should Have Named it, “Hey, At Least We’re Not Democrats”

I can already hear the chorus of rebukes from those who claim to be “conservative” or “populist” but who are really just straight-ticket Republicans. “Don’t sacrifice the good to chase the perfect,” someone will say. Someone else will chime in with, “Weak Republican policies are better than strong Democrat policies.” Still, others will say, “You’re probably a Democrat pretending to be a Republican.”

In reality, I don’t pretend to be a Republican. I’m an America First patriot, and while I never have and never will vote for a Democrat, there are a whole bunch of Republicans on Capitol Hill who hasn’t done anything to earn my vote, either.

He’s Still the One

Only Trump defied the deep state empowered by his Republican predecessors. Only Trump has broken from the disastrous foreign policy championed by the conservative movement. Only Trump has taken on the mania for free trade and outsourcing. No other figure of the right has shown the same willingness to break with his own side’s orthodoxies.

Trump’s opponents on the right often describe themselves as “principled” conservatives. But this is no cause for boasting when one’s principles are bankrupt. The policies pursued by GOP elites since the Reagan era had plunged the nation into costly wars while accelerating the decline of the middle class. Trump promised to punish the architects of these failures. His rhetoric evoked the party’s older Eisenhower-Nixon tradition, which made peace with the New Deal and pursued realism and restraint abroad.

“Trump resisted the security apparatus.”

Trump resisted the security apparatus, which sought to keep him from office and then to remove him from it. He also disrupted the broad trend toward depoliticization. From immigration to transnational governance, elites in the years before Trump had removed fundamentally political questions from the realm of political contestation. Voters’ voices on these issues mattered far less than the determinations of elites wielding market rationality and supposedly non-political “expertise”—which just happened to serve their own interests. Trump’s rise promised a return of the political as such. So would his second term.

Trump also exposed the carnage caused by the neoliberal turn in American political economy and the neoconservative turn in foreign policy. For starters, there was the disaster of the post-9/11 wars, which most Republicans defended to the hilt—until Trump came around. “Obviously, the war in Iraq is a big, fat mistake,” Trump declared at a primary debate in South Carolina in 2016. “We have destabilized the Middle East.” The right’s foreign-policy experts were aghast. Yet Trump channeled the anger of military families and millions of others wondering what, exactly, the sacrifice had been for.

EXCLUSIVE: “Many People Are Becoming Aware of the Very Serious Coup d’état that is Being Carried Out by Supranational Powers” – Archbishop Vigano on the Election of Giorgia Meloni

There is a PDF of the letter/interview at the link.

What Are The Odds? Census Mistakes Overwhelmingly Benefit Democrats

A recent bombshell report reveals that U.S. census errors could provide significant and unfair advantages for Democrats in future elections, so naturally America’s corporate media have chosen to let those errors quietly slide.

Back in May, the U.S. Census Bureau released findings from its 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey (PES), a survey in which “the Census Bureau interviews a sampling of households across the country and then compares the results with actual responses from those households in the original 2020 Census records.” As noted by the Census Bureau, the results of the survey “cannot be used to change the final census count.”

While the agency found that the 2020 Census counts for 36 states and Washington D.C. were generally accurate, it also discovered that there were population undercounts in six states and overcounts in eight. When analyzing the states where significant counting errors were made, however, a startling pattern begins to emerge.

As detailed in the report, the six states that experienced population undercounts were Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. All but one (Illinois) of these states voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections and could be considered reliably Republican jurisdictions.

Tweets!

What got into the NY Slimes?

MEMES!

I kinda like the one on Martha’s VIneyard. Lovely pool.

Have a good day y’all.

(I don’t remember who brought this to a daily in the comments, but thanks.)

And, of course, the obligatory George Carlin:

Per the Boss:

Just ’cause I’m in the mood.

And now for the obligatory message from our sponsors:

Here at the Q tree we believe in the concept of CIVIL open free speech and the discussion that fleshes out ideas. When commenting and participating in the OPEN discussion on this thread all comments MUST NOT CONTAIN personal threats, baiting, name calling, or other anti-social words fomenting hate, violence or destruction. Our host Wolfm00n has strict rules about that.

Fellow tree dweller, the late Wheatie, gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:

1. No food fights.
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone

Please, stock up on blanks for celebratory gunfire, be ready to swing from the chandeliers…and no messing with the nuclear weapons.

Please remember to remain locked and loaded and ready for trouble should the insurrectionists try to invade your space.

Those who have things to say that do not fit the generally accepted limits of “civil” discussion, Wolf has provided a venue known as the UTree. You’re welcome to visit over there and say hi to anyone hanging out over there. The “Rescue Thread” is also over there. In the event a rendezvous of the tree is needed, please check it out, as well as the newest rescue venue.

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One other vital note:

Please, review these rules that our host Wolfm00n outlined toward the beginning of the growth of the tree itself. it won’t take long.

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JOB 9:1-12, 14-16

1Then Job answered: 2“Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be just before God? 3If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. 4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength — who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? — 5he who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger; 6who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; 7who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars; 8who alone stretched out the heavens, and trampled the waves of the sea; 9who made the Bear and Orion, the Plei’ades and the chambers of the south; 10who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number. 11Lo, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him. 12Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, `What doest thou’? 14How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? 15Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. 16If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.

PSALMS 88:10-15

9my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon thee, O LORD; I spread out my hands to thee. 10Dost thou work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise thee? [Selah] 11Is thy steadfast love declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in Abaddon? 12Are thy wonders known in the darkness, or thy saving help in the land of forgetfulness? 13But I, O LORD, cry to thee; in the morning my prayer comes before thee. 14O LORD, why dost thou cast me off? Why dost thou hide thy face from me?

LUKE 9:57-62

57As they were going along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60But he said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome.

Please include: President Donald Trump, the Q team, our soldiers in the field, special forces, tactical units, first responders and those working behind the scenes…and any and all people with family members in the hospital, COVID or not.

And…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another.

It is quite clear, as per Wolf’s message from July, that we are under spiritual attack. Building up a robust arsenal of prayer and discipline is a must in fighting the enemy and his minions.

In that spirit, the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel from Tuesday’s threads, and the Breastplate of St. Patrick, not to mention the Litany of Humility are favorites recommended by exorcists in spiritual warfare.

SATIRE SECTION

FBI Storms Convent To Arrest Group Of Dangerous Pro-Life Extremists

BOSTON, MA — Chaos erupted at a local convent yesterday as a team of FBI agents aggressively stormed the building in the early morning hours. Sources say they had received multiple reports of it being a gathering place for a large group of dangerous, right-wing, pro-life extremists.

“We have been surveilling this terrorist organization’s hideout for several weeks and simply felt it was far too dangerous to allow them to continue meeting,” said Special Agent Josh Christophersen, who led the raid. “Allowing these types of devious extremist groups to fester is just too great of a risk.”

The FBI strike team, wearing tactical gear and carrying automatic weapons, used flash-bang grenades and tear gas to breach the doors of the convent before shouting orders and violently wrestling the building’s occupants to the ground. As the dust settled, it quickly became evident that this anti-abortion, conservative hate group was, in fact, the gathering of elderly catholic nuns who live at the convent.

Though questions were being raised about the use of excessive force against a group of old ladies, the FBI was quick to defend itself and its mission. “What do you want us to do? Let these dangerous people keep plotting to overthrow our democracy?” said FBI spokesperson Judah Powers at a press conference following the raid. “These people don’t believe women should be allowed to dismember and murder their own babies. The next thing you know, they’ll be disagreeing with performing gender reassignment surgeries on grade schoolers.”

Just one question…nuns in Boston? That was the first city to have issues.

Cthulhu made that one.

There’s a new JP, but I gotta save something for tomorrow.

Ciao, my friends.

Let’s see what is in the tabs:

Jim Jordan Outlines Claims by FBI Whistleblower

George Soros: The Man Behind The Curtain

Billionaire George Soros is that rare megalomaniac who not only believes he’s a god but revels in behaving like one. “It’s a sort of a disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out,” he once boasted to The Independent.

This god complex, combined with his downright amorality and bizarre ideas about society, makes the 92-year-old extremely dangerous to democracies, especially America. The warning comes loud and clear in Matt Palumbo’s recent book, The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros, which documents Soros’sdecades of financial dealings, political operations, and nefarious networks.

Not sure I really want to put that on my “to be read” list, but the documentation is important.

Shades of Mengele

The late Dr. Vladimir Zelenko referred to the COVID jab as “poison death liquid.”  Zelenko pointed out that, in 1976, “the swine flu vaccine killed 26 people.  The entire program was scrubbed.”  In the fall of 2021 when Zelenko spoke out, the VAERS database reported upwards of 16,310 deaths due to the COVID shot. So, why is it that — long after these grave consequences came to light — Fauci still saw fit to promote this poison death shot?

Dr. Fauci falsely claimed that Hydroxychloroquine was ineffective against SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19), although his own National Institute of Health’s Virology Journal published a renowned article, in 2005, stating “that chloroquine has strong antiviral effects on SARS-CoV infection of primate cells….”  The NIH verified that Fauci “ranked thirteenth among the most-cited authors from 1983 to 2002 among the several million authors in all science fields,” so it would be difficult to believe that such a notable virologist as he could be ignorant of the important facts reported by the famed article.  Because the SARS-CoV-2 virus (aka COVID-19) shares 79% of its genome with SARS-CoV-1, both viruses use the same host cell receptor to gain entry to a victim’s cells.  Thus, Hydroxychloroquine, a milder form of Chloroquine, has proven to be effective against COVID-19.  It is import to note that Fauci likewise denounced Ivermectin, another cure for COVID, calling it “horse paste” — although it is common knowledge globally that Ivermectin, like Hydroxychloroquine, has the power to cure COVID-19.

The upshot of the growing awareness that two effective therapeutics for the treatment of COVID preexisted the pandemic is that people are now realizing that the jab was manifestly unnecessary, and that the government’s war on Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin caused a fatal crisis of major proportions.

That may well be the ONLY upshot.

Lindsey Graham’s Abortion Ban Is Good Politics

No one respects a coward. The electorate knows that the conservative movement achieved its biggest victory in generations when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer. Doesn’t it look awfully suspicious to ignore the elephant in the room? Silence on abortion has helped Democrats paint Republicans as reactionary extremists with something to hide. What kind of message does that send to moderates? And what message does it send to conservatives that Republicans think it’s too controversial to defend something as reasonable as a 15-week abortion ban? 

What are Republicans afraid will happen? When exceptions for rape and incest are included, a ban on abortion after 15 weeks is popular. As Graham mentioned, it’s a policy in alignment with much of the Western world, and it acknowledges the reality that babies at this stage of development feel pain. These are points that will resonate with people of conscience and goodwill. 

If you listen carefully, you can actually hear whispers of concern from the Left about Graham’s bill. Why? They know that if they push back too hard, voters will realize that it is the Democrats who are outside the mainstream. 

Graham’s proposal is only “extreme” to those who think any restriction on abortion is beyond the pale. To normal people, the Democratic Party’s official (if implicit) position of unlimited abortion-on-demand is repugnant. Democrats know this, which is why they resort to euphemisms like “women’s health care” and “choice” to describe what they support. They are never challenged with defending their real views because the media covers for them, even as Republicans are burdened with defending the most stringent restrictions around the country. It’s unfair, but it’s how the game is played. 

The Numbers, Please

Have you ever watched TV, streamed Netflix, paged through a magazine or viewed a commercial advertisement and thought something seemed out of whack? Why is everything portrayed as so, well . . .  gay, lesbian, black, and as if America had instantly and forever, completely changed. Why have these demographic misperceptions been used to fuel media and political hate mongering?

A recent YouGov poll asked people to look in the mirror, asking how they envision the country.

It turns out Americans vastly overestimate the size of all minority groups, representing an over-scaling problem for which there should be some accounting.

The ‘Print the Legend’ Obsession

The Left has controlled the media for so long it now believes it can rewrite history with impunity. It is this mindset that is a primary motivation for their actions toward Donald Trump, as it had been previously regarding Ronald Reagan, and the countless other victims of “all the news that’s fit to print.”

WHEN A MONARCH DIES

WHAT THE AFTERMATH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH’S DEATH TELLS US ABOUT 2022 BRITAIN

No, We’re Not Trying to Impress the Left

Have you ever noticed that, as a conservative, the moment you deviate from the prevailing conservative talking points, you are accused of being weak? Or of trying to appear woke? Or of seeking to impress the left? Or of caving in to pressure? Could it be that, instead, you have the courage to buck the tide and be true to your convictions, regardless of the flak?

Human Composting Is Now Legal in California, Leading the Way to ‘Soylent Green’

Cremation is one thing. Composting? 🤮

DeSantis Says Moving Migrants Exposed Democrat ‘Virtue-Signaling’ – Border Now ‘Front-Burner Issue’

DeSantis said, “You had millions of people since Biden has been president, illegally coming across the Southern border. Did they freak out on that? No. You have had migrants die in the Rio Grande. You had 50 die in Texas a trailer because they were neglected. Was there a freak-out about that? No. You’ve had criminal aliens get across that southern border and victimize Americans, killing some, raping some. Was there any type of outrage about that? No. And then, of course, we know fentanyl deaths are at an all-time high.”

He continued, “It is only when 50 get put into Martha’s Vineyard, which wasn’t saying they didn’t want this, they said they wanted this. They said they are a sanctuary jurisdiction. These are people who were basically destitute and then put in a situation where they could have succeeded, but that was all virtue-signaling. Not only did they not welcome them, they departed them the next day with the National Guard. Give me a break.”

Did ‘The Simpsons’ predict Queen Elizabeth II’s death?

Videos depicting the Matt Groening-created series’ alleged celebrity death forecast are amassing millions of views with “Simpsons” fans wondering if they’d done it yet again.

“The Simpsons have done it again,” reads the caption to one of the clips on TikTok, which currently boasts over 16.8 million views.

The snippet, posted Sept. 9 by @Moviesandmemes46790, depicts a scene from a Season 15, Episode 4 episode, called “The Regina Monologues,” in which Homer crashes into the Queen’s carriage and knocks it over while the Simpsons are vacationing in London. At the end of the clip, the camera zooms in on a piece of paper that reads 8.9.2022 — the actual date of Her Majesty’s death.

While many “Simpsons” fans believed the show had done it again, other discerning viewers were quick to point out that the date had been edited in, and didn’t actually appear in the original. In fact, the queen never actually died in the episode.

“That date was never in the original. Nice try,” scoffed one skeptic while another wrote, “Yeah nice edit btw. Heads up tho you missed a few frames there.”

Emphasis from DePat

This could be the other side trying to make us look like loons.

FBI moving agents off ‘child sex abuse cases’ to investigate ‘domestic violent extremism’: whistleblower

Which we know from yesterday’s headlines is a cause looking for non-existent crimes.

New Mexico Students Shutdown Conservative Speaker in Latest Attack on Free Speech

We have seen how in universities (including state schools) this can turn into a type of “heckler’s veto” where speeches are cancelled in advance or terminated suddenly due to the disruption of protesters. The issue is not engaging in protest against such speakers, but to enter events for the purpose of preventing others from hearing such speakers. Universities create forums for the discussion of a diversity of opinions. Entering a classroom or event to prevent others from speaking is barring free speech. I would feel the same way about preventing such people from protests outside such events. However, the concern is not with outdoor events where all groups can be as loud and cantankerous as their voices will bear. Both sides have free speech rights to express. The issue on campus is the entrance into halls, or classrooms to prevent others from hearing speakers or opposing viewpoints by disputing events.

Biden’s attacks on ‘MAGA Republicans’ are falling flat: Harvard poll

Voters also are not buying into Biden’s claims that conservative Republicans want to destroy the country.

“Do you think there are tens of millions of dangerous MAGA Republicans backing violence and trying to overthrow the constitution or is that a gross exaggeration and distortion?” the Harvard poll asked.

While 73 percent of Democrats agreed with that statement, many Republicans and independents did not. Eighty percent of Republicans believed the claim of dangerous Republicans was a gross exaggeration while 58 percent of independents also rejected Biden’s characterization.

Most Republicans and independents also believe the president is demonizing conservatives as a way to avoid talking about “inflation, immigration, crime and other issues.”

OPINION & ANALYSIS

CHRIS HEDGES: STRIKE, STRIKE, STRIKE

The ruling oligarchs are terrified that, for tens of millions of people, the economic dislocation caused by inflation, stagnant wages, austerity, the pandemic and the energy crisis is becoming unendurable.  They warn, as Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and NATO Secretary GeneraJens Stoltenberg, have done, about the potential for social unrest, especially as we head towards winter.

Social unrest is a code word for strikes — the one weapon workers possess that can cripple and destroy the billionaire class’s economic and political power. Strikes are what the global oligarchs fear most. Through the courts and police intervention, they will seek to prevent workers from shutting down the economy. This looming battle is crucial. If we begin to chip away at corporate power through strikes, most of which will probably be wildcat strikes that defy union leadership and anti-union laws, we can begin to regain agency over our lives.

The oligarchs have spent decades abolishing or domesticating unions, turning the few unions that remain — only 10.7 percent of the workforce is unionized — into obsequious junior partners in the capitalist system. As of January 2022, private-sector unionization stood at its lowest point since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. And yet, 48 percent of U.S. workers say they would like to belong to a union.

As a result of crushing conditions workers have been subjected to for years, the nation is facing its first major rail strike since the 1990s. The transportation industry, of which most rail workers are a part, has a higher than average union density compared to other parts of the private sector. A rail strike could mean a loss in economic output of $2 billion a day, according to a trade group representing railroad companies.

The Myth of Clean

Clean’, like ‘smart’, has become the prerequisite for all technology. Both are myths.

Smart technology is surveillance technology. It is not smarter because of its inherent qualities, but because it sends and receives data that allows it to be ‘smarter’ in manipulating users. The smart part of smart technology comes from human beings. So does the stupid part when people sacrifice their privacy and independence for the benefits of technology being shaped to them.

Clean energy is even more of a myth. The Inflation Increase Act doles out another stream of billions toward the inefficient forms of energy generation that the government has been subsidizing for over 50 years because some Madison Avenue ad agency branded them ‘clean’

The Great Pretending – Denial of Truth Allows Easier Trespass

The pretending issue goes beyond politics, it’s everywhere.  Sure, there was always an era where reality was skewed in favor of one position or another by various groups, people and leaders, where denying the obvious was always odd.  However, this current state of our national and international disposition extends far beyond politics into almost everything.

A person would ordinarily expect to see cultural or social pretending as an outcome of political correctness.  Denying the underlying social construct behind the rules of the urban society has been the norm for several years.  However, the pretending has become so pervasive it has recently extended into finance and economics; places where reality -actual outcomes- used to inoculate facts and figures against pretense.

It is no longer uncommon, heck, it’s become almost standard in this new era, to see CEO’s, CFO’s and even entire boards of directors, maintaining a standard of pretense. It is quite weird to see it happening.

Yes, this era -for a host of reasons- has made delusion somewhat of a norm.

Tweets!

SOUND UP!

In Rolling Stone, no less.

Can anyone here make heads or tails of this?

For real, biologically XX women who have oversized bust lines, this is a total affront, pun not intended. It is offensive on levels that simply have no words. Trying to find clothes that fit is a major pain in the backside.

Or at least give us back Windows 2007, and Office 1997.

MEMES!

I have it on good authority, Martha’s Vineyard is actually a swampy $#!+hole with big houses on it. No first hand experience, though.

Have a good day y’all.

(I don’t remember who brought this to a daily in the comments, but thanks.)

And, of course, the obligatory George Carlin:

Per the Boss:

Just ’cause I’m in the mood.

And now for the obligatory message from our sponsors:

Here at the Q tree we believe in the concept of CIVIL open free speech and the discussion that fleshes out ideas. When commenting and participating in the OPEN discussion on this thread all comments MUST NOT CONTAIN personal threats, baiting, name calling, or other anti-social words fomenting hate, violence or destruction. Our host Wolfm00n has strict rules about that.

Fellow tree dweller, the late Wheatie, gave us some good reminders on the basics of civility in political discourse:

1. No food fights.
2. No running with scissors.
3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone

Please, stock up on blanks for celebratory gunfire, be ready to swing from the chandeliers…and no messing with the nuclear weapons.

Please remember to remain locked and loaded and ready for trouble should the insurrectionists try to invade your space.

Those who have things to say that do not fit the generally accepted limits of “civil” discussion, Wolf has provided a venue known as the UTree. You’re welcome to visit over there and say hi to anyone hanging out over there. The “Rescue Thread” is also over there. In the event a rendezvous of the tree is needed, please check it out, as well as the newest rescue venue.

Auntie DePat’s requests:

If you see something has not been posted, do us all a favor, and post it. Please, do not complain that it has not been done yet.

The scroll wheel on your mouse can be your friend. As mature adults, please use it here in the same manner you would in avoiding online porn.

Thank you so much for any and all attention to such details. It is GREATLY appreciated by more than one party here.

One other vital note:

Please, review these rules that our host Wolfm00n outlined toward the beginning of the growth of the tree itself. it won’t take long.

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PSALMS 19:2-5

1The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. 3There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; 4yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,

MATTHEW 9:9-13

9As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. 11And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

As always, prayers for the fight against that which seeks to enslave us are welcome.

Please include: President Donald Trump, the Q team, our soldiers in the field, special forces, tactical units, first responders and those working behind the scenes…and any and all people with family members in the hospital, COVID or not.

And…members of the QTree who no longer participate for one reason or another.

It is quite clear, as per Wolf’s message from July, that we are under spiritual attack. Building up a robust arsenal of prayer and discipline is a must in fighting the enemy and his minions.

In that spirit, the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel from Tuesday’s threads, and the Breastplate of St. Patrick, not to mention the Litany of Humility are favorites recommended by exorcists in spiritual warfare.

SATIRE SECTION

Border Town Puts Up ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ Sign In Hopes Government Will Come Pick Up All Their Illegal Immigrants

DEL RIO, TX — Impressed by the efficiency of Martha’s Vineyard in expelling their migrants in less than 48 hours, several border towns in Texas have begun adopting best practices from the affluent Massachusetts island. One prominent change that Del Rio has already made is replacing their “Welcome To Del Rio” sign with a “Welcome To Martha’s Vineyard” sign so that migrants will know that there are not enough resources, they are not wanted, and they need to leave immediately.

“We’ve never seen anything like it – the Martha’s Vineyard team had the migrants gone in 48 hours flat! We haven’t ever been able to put up numbers like that, so we’re taking a page out of their playbook.” Del Rio resident Dee Porter spoke to reporters about the “Unwelcome Committee” that the town has formed to study the methods used at Martha’s Vineyard for migrant removal.