A Summer For Caution: Extreme Caution
Readers are probably familiar with the hacked BLM (as in Black Lives Matter, not the other BLM we’re more prone to post about here) leader’s Twitter account, in which plans are discussed for a “Summer of Chaos.” (See here for that conversation.) It looks like that has already begun, with the Orlando Pulse night club tragedy (or false flag, depending who you ask) and most recently the shootings of police officers in Dallas. Terror is a form of conditioning, and it sure seems to be ramping up lately. Thank goodness for the white hat hackers, who work to expose this stuff and warn people who are paying attention.
Recently I’ve had reason to watch — or just listen to — a large number of Youtube videos. And thus, been exposed to a lot of those annoying ads in the beginning. Usually, I click “skip this ad” as soon as I’m able to do so — but there’s one ad I keep seeing, for one particular movie, “Jason Bourne.” Last time, I finally DID sit through that ad . . . because it set off red flags for me. Both the tone of the movie, and the frequency of the ads, for a movie that will be released later this month (the 29th, I think) just felt out of the ordinary to me. Especially since I’m precisely the wrong demographic for such a trailer, in a time when ads seem so well targeted — often perturbingly so — to the viewer.
So, that got me thinking: What’s the deal here? Having given it some thought, a creepy and frightening concern has arisen. It looks like precisely the sort of film likely to appeal primarily to young males — the warriors, if you will. Restless young men, who are disenfranchised and resentful, for many reasons — some of those fully justified, undoubtedly. And their wives and girlfriends, as well.
What better way to demoralize a nation than terror strikes deliberately aimed at the young and restless? The fighters, the protesters, the activists, who best represent — for good or ill — the energy and lifeblood of a nation? To channel their youthful rage, as a form of social engineering . . . toward some desired outcome. I don’t know what that could be, but the alarming potential of such a scheme — especially terror strikes affecting a large number of people, or in a wide number of locations, all at once, is chilling to consider.
This looks to be a summer to avoid crowded places, and large events. A summer for heightened situational awareness everywhere and at all times. A summer for concealed carry (or open carry) if you can, and to avoid gun free (free fire) zones like the plague. A summer to be ready to record video, audio and images at the drop of a hat, if you’re equipped to do so. A summer for connecting the dots and filling in between the lines. A summer to be prepared, as best one can, for anything and everything.
Almost surely it will be a summer to remember. Hopefully more for the evil plans that were thwarted, than for the devastating actions that weren’t.
May each and every one of you have a wonderful summer, despite the bizarre state of pretty much everything around us — and may the fall arrive, in America and around the world — with a huge (and OK, I’ll say THAT word) *collective* sigh of relief. 😉
July 8th, 2016 at 9:13 pm
Brunette: I’m an atheist – but in response to your last couple of paragraphs, I’ll invoke an old Irish saying” “From your lips to God’s ear”.
I hope that you and Vin have a great (and peaceful) summer; and thank you for this blog. There are far too many voices I once heard weekly in the R/J (Vin, Tom Mitchell, Sherman Frederick and – this dates me – Rafael Tammariello) that are now available only, if at all, online.
July 9th, 2016 at 11:04 am
Bob, thanks. 🙂 I guess I’m agnostic — God to me is a personal concept, so often abused in the name of religion. That is to say, I don’t need anyone to tell me what to believe in. 😉
And thanks for reading this blog . . . the internet (at least some corners of it) begin to seem like the final frontier of sanity and reasoned discourse. Your comments here are appreciated!
July 9th, 2016 at 3:52 pm
Amen, Cat!
And I’d add that it is imperative for people, especially women, to develop mutually defensive groups for their adventures out, even in the daytime. The thugs and gangs are attacking in groups now, and no matter how well you are armed or trained, that’s an exceedingly dangerous thing. Not to mention that even being armed is not likely to help when a bomb goes off.
If possible, get armed, get trained, and watch each other’s backs. The unaware lone person, even in a crowd, is increasingly an easy victim.
July 9th, 2016 at 10:10 pm
Based on the writings and links referred throughout this website, I think the algorithm used to target advertising has properly targeted you and Vin.
After all the Bourne movies are all about shadow governments overstepping their boundaries and the conspiracies that follow.
I think it’s actually a compliment.
As an aside, Microsoft Edge won’t post comments here.
July 10th, 2016 at 7:05 pm
Mama, a dear Vegas friend called on short notice and wanted to go test out a gun he’d had for a while, but hadn’t had a chance to shoot. So we put in some practice today and should do it more often. Even though it felt a bit inconvenient, we’re glad we went. 🙂
I loved archery; it’s quieter and there’s something more zen about it, funny that it’s actually harder to find places for target practice. I suppose it’s akin to the difference between manual and automatic shift cars — I find manual keeps me more engaged and focused, but it seems manuals are getting harder to find on the used car market.
Crowds — I’ve always been uncomfortable in them, nearly got trampled at a Grateful Dead concert once. Public transportation, malls, theaters, yes . . . in those places I’d feel much safer with a familiar group. And (despite whatever my family has to say about it) I never intend to set foot in an airport again. Depending on who you’re surrounded by, other women could be allies or simply a distraction. In my life, I might have encountered half a dozen women of the ally variety: You being one of them, of course. 😀
July 11th, 2016 at 4:21 am
Indeed, it is not easy to find companions who would be of any use in an emergency, more’s the pity. I probably have more available her than a lot of people, but that’s not saying much. I have not gone into the big (relatively) city in SD more than once a year for many reasons, but that’s one. I have a good friend here, my shooting buddy, who will take me any time I want, but I just don’t care to be in crowds like that. It will be interesting to see if being able to hear better now makes any difference.
But to deliberately go into some very large crowd, even if not disarmed and helpless… seems crazy to me. And no, I won’t ever set foot in an airport again until they offer frangible ammo for my carry gun. I”d even pay for it. 🙂
July 11th, 2016 at 4:22 am
Brunette,
Regarding airports, crowds, et.alia, here is something from The Woodpile Report:
http://www.woodpilereport.com/html/index-407.htm
Its funny you mentioned a near trampling at a Grateful Dead concert. It was a Dead concert in Philly years ago which completely firmed my conviction that places where crowds converged were precisely the places I wanted to be far away from. “The declared purpose for a crowd is nonbinding,” indeed.
As for airports, a history channel program about D.B. Cooper made me think of something Vin said recently that, before D.B. Cooper people could carry their concealed firearms and unchecked briefcases unmolested into the plane after boarding on the tarmac. You stowed your cased rifle in the carry-on compartment over your head. When you consider the expertise “Cooper” showed, not only in making his jump from the plane but in his knowledge of same it is difficult not to smell a government set-up that got the ball rolling in this particular repression of our freedom to travel.
We’ve come far and it hasn’t been a pleasant trip.
July 11th, 2016 at 4:25 am
Arg! I tried to include this quote along with the link from Woodpile:
“My personal rules assume a continent-size penal colony with armed inmates, to wit: no public place is safe, but I especially avoid cities, airports, sports venues, malls, bad neighborhoods and bars. I’m not in public places much past dark. I avoid minorities. If there are two or more of them and one of me, I’m the minority in the only way that matters. I avoid mass transit and heavy traffic, rallies and demonstrations. In short, I stay away from crowds. I’ll not be missed. When a crowd is unavoidable, I part company as soon as I can. The declared purpose for a crowd is nonbinding, its conduct volatile and its fate my fate. There are no good crowds.”
Perhaps putting it in brackets killed it? Mea Culpa.
July 11th, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Steve, I started a response to you last night, but got distracted and then lost what I’d written after accidentally clicking away from the page. 🙁
You are probably far more accustomed to modern TV and movies than we are, I’m guessing. I mostly quit watching TV in my late teens . . . with a few rare exceptions. But it’s been years now since we’ve even owned a functional TV, and when we are exposed to it (usually at restaurants, annoyingly) it’s jarring. Movies can be even more so. I used to enjoy movies occasionally, but (for the most part) don’t miss them now.
I didn’t mean to single out Jason Bourne — really, the main point of the post is the concern that resulted from my reflections about it, and the sort of huge crowds it — or ANY big movie (sporting event, etc.) — is bound to attract. (BTW, if anyone must go, especially on or near a big opening day, I hope they’ll at least try to sit close to an emergency exit.) 😉
Odd about MS Edge . . . you’re the first to mention that, AFAIK.
July 11th, 2016 at 4:34 pm
Vince, I went to a number of Grateful Dead concerts, and don’t recall clearly where that happened — it might have been in Philly, maybe even the same concert you went to . . . (I’m thinking 1977, possibly ’76).
The band had hired Hell’s Angels for security. My friends and I had staked out a spot on the steps early on — not a good idea, I later realized — and the crowd just kept pushing and shoving from behind, forcing me up to the terrace for balance. Whereupon, one of the ‘Angels’ would growl at me to get back down. I weighed less than 100 lbs at the time and had to cling to the metal railing for safety . . . but it was terrifying; as soon as they opened the doors, the crowd began to rush past — it was like being caught in a flood, but of people rather than rushing water.
Miraculously, I don’t recall anyone being seriously injured that day — but it became obvious in retrospect that I’d put myself in an extremely precarious situation, and was lucky not to have been trampled.
Thanks for sharing the Woodpile quote . . . brackets might have caused the quote to disappear, I suppose, though I don’t know why. Probably best to stick with quotation marks. 🙂
July 11th, 2016 at 7:54 pm
Being a technician since the late 70’s I always had, and always will have, electronics around.
But I am very selective of what I watch on TV and movies are something we watch at home, foregoing the theatre experience with very few exceptions. I like the movies we choose to watch, they are entertaining when we don’t have to put up with a boatload of people around. When we have gone to a theatre, it is usually on a weekday and an early show. The places are empty. Much more enjoyable. Restaurants too.
Although we DID go to Cheech and Chong, with good seats too.
I understand about crowded places, it takes something really special to get me to go through crowds.
Cheech and Chong was one of those things and the couple next to us, he was a retired cop, a detective no less. He and I were the ones who liked the show, our wives…not so much.
But the crowds…yeah we got out of there ASAP. No need for the $160 meet and greet.
Used to use Chrome for everything, then they stopped supporting NPAPI and it was ok for a while but….
Chrome started to act up a little and suddenly it was opening stupid pages if I left it alone for a while (and a very specific failure involving EarthLink news articles)…I thought it was a virus that somehow slipped by me but nothing found anything and it effected only Chrome and then only with JavaScript enabled. Edge and IE were and are still, fine. So I verified my suspicions by loading a clean version of Chrome onto my other PC ( Hardware and software configured identically) and Chrome exhibited the same issues as it does on this PC.
So far, no one else has expressed an issue as far as my searches go. So I have been switching between IE11, Edge and checking on Chrome. Next up (I suppose) is Firefox. But Chrome is still the fastest of them all.
This is why I discovered the posting issue I experienced with Edge, I tried it several times before posting with IE successfully. In fact, there are several things about Edge that don’t function well on some websites while other sites work very well with Edge. MS knew this too, as evidenced by the “open with IE” link built into Edge!
July 13th, 2016 at 7:33 am
Brunette,
It is likely we did attend the same concert. The Dead’s venue in those days was the sports arena known as “The Spectrum”. If Garcia toured with his own band it would have been the Tower Theater at 69th and Market in Upper Darby. In those days I could have been found at either.
Garcia’s band was not bad at all. He would perform, typically, with 3 additional musicians (John Kahn on bass, Bill Vitt on drums, Nicky Hopkins on piano) in a smaller, more friendly (acoustically speaking) stage.
The Spectrum was a zoo. It was made for sport outings like ice hockey and the sounds produced in that atmosphere must have set the various bands technicians teeth on edge. Hearing your story horrified me. I guess I was lucky in that we always had terrible seating up top near the columns. David Bowie, I remember, was roughly 2 inches high.
The funny, or not so funny, thing is, I didn’t particularly like the Dead and I was completely repulsed by the “fans” who attended. It was like being surrounded by the vocal apes in one of Heston’s movies. After a vomiting “fan” caught me on the arm I swore off all such entertainment. The avant guard group I occasionally pal’ed with never understood how I could pass up an opportunity for two hours of yawning, boring solos from Garcia and company. I suspected at the time that the Dead simply wanted to lull their energetic, tie dyed tee shirt wearing followers to sleep, the better to avoid scenes like the one you described.
I’m happy you were not injured but pleased our various experiences stayed with us to the extent that any repeat would be unthinkable.
July 13th, 2016 at 6:35 pm
Steve, FWIW we like Firefox . . . it’s not perfect, but it’s familiar and we haven’t had too many problems with it. I’ve never tried Chrome, or Edge, but I never liked IE, and have only used it when I had no choice — once or twice over the years.
The one thing we might sometimes miss about having a TV is being able to watch the occasional movie at home. Theaters, I’d only agree to a sparsely attended matinee, at this point, given my druthers. Then again, I’d rather avoid them completely. 🙂
July 13th, 2016 at 6:45 pm
Vince, now that you mention it . . . The Spectrum sounds right. That would have been my first Dead concert, so long ago . . . I also later saw them in Hartford CT, once or twice, though I’m terrible at remembering venue names. (Never saw Garcia with his own band, though I’m sure I would have enjoyed it.)
That memory is pretty distant — perhaps partly because of the traumatic elements of that day for me, and not just the passage of time (I’m sure drugs had NOTHING to do with it either, LOL) — but one thing I distinctly recall, is that it must have poured for a while that afternoon. So when the band opened with “Sugaree,” as a nod to the fact that fans had endured the pouring rain, the crowd grew ecstatic. Does that ring any bells for you?
As a side note, some time ago Vin & I stumbled into a used CD collection that must have belonged to a serious (obsessive?) deadhead. Bought most everything we could find, including what must be some pretty obscure stuff. I have barely made a dent in listening to those . . . but my favorite so far, is Dylan and the Dead playing together. Great music. 😀
July 20th, 2016 at 8:00 am
Steve, in case you’re still checking comments here — re: Jason Bourne, here’s this: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/5/matt-damon-jason-bourne-star-calls-for-us-to-ban-g/
That’s ban guns “in one fell swoop” in the U.S. as “they” did in Australia.
Whatever his role in the movies, he doesn’t sound like such a great guy to me. 🙁