North to Alaska I – Location, Location, Location
Mrs. Animal and I have been planning this for twenty years. We’re now at the light at the end of the tunnel stage. Here is the genesis story of our planned move from Colorado to Alaska.
By Way of Background
A potential neighbor.
I’ve never liked living in town. You all have read enough stories of my youth to know why this is the case.
My business, unfortunately, requires me to be near a major international airport. For the last fifteen years that I’ve been making my living as an independent consultant, Denver International Airport has served well enough, but there are other airports.
When we first started thinking beyond the rigamarole of early and late flights and long hours/days/weeks/months on the road, we entertained notions of staying in the Mountain West. Colorado’s Yampa Valley was on the list, or maybe a place down in the San Juans. But Colorado, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone who’s been watching this state, has been off the list for some time.
We considered Wyoming, northern Utah, and Idaho. We wanted a place where we can live out in the woods a way, but we still will need to be within a reasonable distance of an airport and, for Mrs. Animal, a VA hospital for her service-connected disability. We love to hunt, fish and shoot, we love the outdoors, with wildflowers and wildlife. Most of all, we want to be left the hell alone.
Then a magazine article I had read back in my teens came to mind; it was an article describing land available under the Homestead Act.
In Alaska. The word, “Alaska,” derives from the Aleut “Alyeska,” meaning, more or less, “The Great Land” or “The Mainland.” But of the two translations, “The Great Land” suits.
I brought it up to Mrs. Animal. We did some reading about the forty-ninth state and came away intrigued. But at that time, around 2000, we had small kids at home and neither time nor money to fly to the Great Land to have a look.
And there the matter lay until 2006.
Then We Saw It.
In June of 2006, I surprised Mrs. Animal with plane tickets to Alaska for a long weekend, and a booking for a B&B on the Kenai Peninsula.
Our morning view, that first visit.
Arriving in Anchorage on a Thursday night at about eleven, we were treated to our first example of the kind of weird not-really-dark, not-quite twilight of an Alaskan summer evening. The late arrival mandated we stay in the area to sleep, so we drove up to Eagle River and stayed in a cheap-sleep.
Friday morning, we got up early and headed for the Peninsula. The drive down the Homer Highway was magnificent. We stopped to watch belugas playing in the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet, then drove around the Arm, making the turn into the Kenai Peninsula proper at Portage. The drive into Soldotna was even more beautiful, and on that morning, we were hooked. “This,” I told Mrs. A as we rolled into Soldotna, “is the place for us.” She enthusiastically agreed.
As Time Went By:
Over the next few years, we made several trips north to the Great Land. We went north as far as Fairbanks, did some salmon fishing on the Kenai, and went out on a halibut fishing expedition with an outfitter (Alaskan Fishing Fever, out of Anchor Point – I highly recommend them.) Our kids came to be as fond of Alaska as we are, and at least one of them harbors notions of eventually moving to the Anchorage area.
On one of those trips we shipped home a hundred and sixty pounds of salmon and halibut. Overnighting the fish cost more than our plane tickets!
Every trip we made to the Great Land, we found more we liked about the place. Every trip we made to the Great Land, it was harder to leave.
Practical considerations are always a part of any decision, though. We need to be near a VA hospital, as Mrs. Animal has to have treatment for her service-connected injury. I need to be reasonably near an airport, as I’ll probably never give up working completely, at least until my health forces me to, and if my Dad was any indication, that could be in my nineties.
Travel up from the Kenai can be a problem in the winter. So, after the final decision that was easily made, we had to look for locations.
So, why Alaska?
I don’t think I need to describe the sad state of Colorado these days.
It’s a shame, because Colorado is a place I loved when I first moved here in 1989. In those days it was still South Wyoming, not the East California it has become today.
I won’t go into a deconstruction of how Colorado fell. Suffice it to say there’s a lot I will miss about this place; we raised our family here, after all. The house we will be leaving has been our home for twenty-two years. Mrs. Animal and I have lived in this house longer than either of us have ever lived anywhere in either of our lives. Our four daughters will always remember it as the house they grew up in.
Portage Lake.
But Colorado these days is a mess. Denver and even our own Aurora haven’t been immune to the unrest that has troubled the country this summer. The state government has been captured by statist lefties who seem determined to destroy any vestige of common sense from the state Capitol.
The mountains are still there. Colorado still has the biggest elk herd in the lower 48, which was part of the attraction for me when I moved here thirty-one years ago.
However, almost everything Colorado has, Alaska has more of. More mountains, more rivers, more fish, more game. More space. No elk, but plenty of bears, moose, and caribou. Three species of grouse and three species of ptarmigan, with a six-month season and a daily bag limit of ten birds. A waterfowler’s paradise, and some of the best fishing in the world, for trout, salmon, halibut and more.
Best of all, Alaska – at least, outside of Anchorage – is still home to plenty of independent, self-reliant folks. On our last trip up, we stopped for a drink at a general store in the tiny village of Sutton, on the Glenallen Highway east of Palmer. We noticed no one in the store was wearing a mask. The six-foot social distancing thing seemed to be roundly disregarded. I mentioned it to the storekeeper with a laugh, indicating it was a joke. She laughed in reply: “Socially distance? From who?” A fair point when you live in a village with maybe fifteen hundred residents.
Alaska is a place with room to breathe. It’s rated as tied for first place among the fifty states in Second Amendment freedoms, and only misses the top spot in other ratings of individual liberties because many of the bush villages are dry. Recreational marijuana is legal. Constitutional carry is the law, although you can have a permit for the asking, for reciprocity purposes. Outside of town, open carry is not only common but, given some of the wildlife, actually advisable.
It’s a place where a body can go live quietly, do as one pleases, and not be bothered. That, perhaps, is the greatest draw.
As It Stands…
Kenai Lake.
So now we’re not quite up to house-hunting, but the move north to the Great Land has begun. We have a storage unit in Wasilla, and are taking advantage of our United Airlines status to move small items – by year’s end we will have made four flights, taking two suitcases each full of clothing and other small goods (and, probably, our AR-15s and handguns that would be problematic to move through Canada) north.
We’re looking at housing along the Highway 1 corridor between the Wasilla city limits and Willow, the Big Lake area, and the Glenallen Highway between Palmer and Chickaloon.
There is still a lot of work to be done to get this house ready to sell, but our target is forty-eight months from now to have a house in the Great Land and be moved for good. I’m ready. I have my guns, my fishing gear, I even still have my traps. I have the same big, heavy, seventeen-foot aluminum cargo canoe I bought when I was fourteen.
My fondest hopes are to re-live many of the best things about my Allamakee County youth, only older, wiser, with more resources, and much, much, much more room to roam.
We can’t wait!
Some people say being First doesn’t matter. They are the anti-Rosa Parks. The ones who accept being told to sit in the back of the bus.
Looking forward to the future installments. I love planning and taking trips, but hate moving. This will be a vicarious adventure.
I’ve never liked living in town. You all have read enough stories of my youth to know why this is the case. – myself I always though you dreamed of a loft studio in Brooklyn within walking distance of hipster coffee shops and vegan restaurants. I guess I always read your posts wrong.
Alaska has what I call lots of body-hiding space.
Is rape still a big problem up there?
I feel this question can turn racist
I mean, it was never a problem to me.
Glances at avatar: “Checks out.”
Now this would have been a great first post. A missed opportunity.
I looked up the weather, looks perfect there now…
But I would not feel that way in January.
That was my first thought.
The gentle breezes of mosquito wings really keep the summers pleasant.
When I lived in Chicago, I used to compare the winter temperatures to Alaska. Anchorage was usually warmer than Chicago. I suppose it can depend how far from the coast you are.
My business, unfortunately, requires me to be near a major international airport. For the last fifteen years that I’ve been making my living as an independent consultant, Denver International Airport has served well enough, but there are other airports. – London. Paris. Amsterdam.
SO if you libertarians like the outdoors so much why do you want to destroy the environment?
Wasilla has a climate similar to that of Anchorage, but with slightly warmer daytime maxima and colder nighttime minima due to its inland location. Classified as subarctic climate (Dfc) by Köppen-Geiger climate classification. On average, over the course of the entire year, there are 30–31 days of sub-0 °F (−18 °C) lows, 37–38 days of 70 °F (21 °C)+ highs, and 1.4 days of 80 °F (27 °C)+ highs. The average annual precipitation is 17 inches (430 mm), with 52 inches (132 cm) of snowfall. – I like the sound of the highs but not of the lows. Summer should be nice but winter long cold nights… Also how many specialty coffee shops are in Wasilla and how are the wine bars?
I hear you can see Russia from Wasilla, Dontcha know.
Russia makes bad wine
Hmmm on a quick google there seem to be multiple coffee shops. ANd one place that may have larger wine list
I’m pretty sure we stopped at Starbucks in Wasilla.
Starbucks sucks though. I mean fresh roasted hipster coffee
I don’t particularly care for fresh roasted hipsters myself…
There’s lots of those roadside drive up coffee places in AK that are better than Starbucks.
Doesn’t even rate a twitch on my personal Give-A-Shit-O-Meter, so, not really a consideration. Your mileage may vary. Also, we’ll probably avoid Wasilla proper, it’s building up too much to suit us.
https://twitter.com/ryanlongcomedy/status/1295352466352070656
LOLOLOLOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK3xRUbnBUw
Beautiful.
A potential neighbor.
To have for dinner.
If I had to see this…
https://twitter.com/lenadunham/status/1294366520902946816
No, really, don’t click on that.
Look, it has ‘lenadunham’ right in the URL, there is no way
He put her name right in the link, what an amateur.
Thicc?
Doesn’t thicc usually require some concave curves?
Don’t curve-shame xer.
I have but a few iron laws governing my actions. One of the strongest is “Never click on a Lena Dunham link”, and that law has never steered me wrong.
You’ll never know, now will you?
*pours bleach into eyes*
Is this like that Jeff Foxworthy bit about a courtesy sniff? You posted it because you really want us to share in your suffering.
“15 DAYS TO SLOW THE SPREAD!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1240347278453411843
How many years has it been?
I see that dishonest hacks are still pushing the Trumpvirus and Trumpeconomy bs.
I like your plan. I hope it works out. I hope to see more installments.
There’s no way that I could convince my Texan wife to move to AK, but I hear you on the concerns regarding Colorado. Before we sold our house, we were debating between relocating to Dallas or to Ft. Collins, CO. There are a few reasons why Dallas ended up being the choice, and politics was one of the big ones.
Quoth the wife: “You never really understand the impact of politics until you move from a Red area to a Blue area and observe how they spend your tax money differently.”
I’ve started falling in love with the idea of moving to Wyoming but my wife would never, ever go for that. I’m still somewhat surprised that I talked her into leaving Florida for Virginia.
I’ve flirted with the idea of leaving VA for WV. Can’t get the lady to go along with that though. Perhaps I can get her to support simply moving farther from Richmond.
Yeah, that’s much easier road to take. We already would have moved to New Kent if they had better schools (one of her best friends bought a beautiful house out there several years ago).
We’re seriously contemplating fleeing Virginia for rural Oklahoma. The area around Woodward is really pretty, and that far out, the covid hysteria was nil. Having traveled through a *lot* of states this summer, I liked South Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma the best. Limited to no covid nonsense there, and people were super friendly, too.
Colorado, followed by my own home state of Virginia were the worst that we visited for pandemic security theater.
Near Hunstville, Alabama is currently our number 1 contender for the VA exodus. Southeastern Texas is #2. We’re looking at a tentative 3 year window.
I really like Tennessee, but TN has some of worst homeschool laws in the country which makes it an automatic no.
We were contemplating Tennessee as well, but the school situation is one of the things that made Oklahoma come out as the winner. Some of the most permissive homeschool laws in the country. And while it seems there’s a pretty good exodus from California and other such states to Texas, Florida, and Tennessee, where they do their best to do what they already did to Colorado, nobody seems to be considering Oklahoma as an option, which leads me to think we’ll be able to enjoy living there longer. And they fixed their beer laws and their medical marijuana law is so open they might as well have just gone with full legalization.
I’m thinking a couple of years, but my husband is pushing to go *now*. We’ll see about splitting the difference.
Sounds similar to our reasons for Alabama. I think Texas is going to flip over the next decade or two. I looked at Georgia and Florida too, but these are both definitely flipping.
Idaho and NC for me, but see the same flipping.
What I don’t see is any state flipping the other way, just moving slower.
The last time it was like this was the early 1900s. The result was the progressive era.
In Chicago, there’s a guy who is supposedly the best in the country at making prosthetics, and he also makes custom hockey sleds. So sometimes people from all over the country sit in on our practices. Last year we met a goalie from Alaska, a veteran, who practiced and played a few games with us. He’s one of the few I’d miss if I quit FB. A rugged individual, to say the least, and no patience for anything from the left.
Excited for you!! What an advenure!
Mark compares flintlock mechanisms.
Some friends of friends on Facebook were whining about how expensive it was to live in the Denver area. They were chatting about the pros and cons of moving to Cheyenne where it was a lot cheaper and still not that far out in the boondocks. Unfortunately, the people in Wyoming didn’t share their progressive views on life. So that was kind of too much to overcome.
My sister finally left Colorado Springs and moved back to Iowa so that she can afford to buy a house before she retires.
Unfortunately, the people in Wyoming didn’t share their progressive views on life. So that was kind of too much to overcome.
Lucky Cheyenne.
I visited Alaska only once, spent a week there six years ago. That was probably the most exciting trip I’ve ever had. Every day had something new and totally amazing: Brooks Falls, Barrow, Kenai Peninsula, Denali highway, Denali national park, Mount McKinley when the summit finally cleared up. Thanks, Animal, for writing about it. Good luck with moving to Alaska.
Good luck on the move!
When did Animal’s avatar get scarier?
My wife and I dropped our son back at college in SC yesterday. Now we are on our way to look around WV to see if that is a decent place to escape to. I’d love Alaska but I probably couldn’t convince my wife to spend a winter there.
Get a place in Arizona for the winter.
And raise rabbits?
I thought that was Montana. And is his wife thicc enough?
Arizona is trying to drop off my list right now.
Hows that, just by being on fire?
West VA is not bad at all.
The girlfriend keeps wanting to take a trip to Wheeling, WV for some reason. She says she’s never been to WV, even after I pointed out that we went through WV on our way to my cousins wedding. Even never having been to WV, I can’t even think of a reason to want to spend time in Wheeling.
There used to be a burrito truck in downtown DC in the 90’s (before food trucks were a thing). Best goddamn burrito I’ve ever had. Vegetarian, too – never missed the meat. Anyhoo, they ran afoul of DC’s food regulations and decided to close up shop and move to Wheeling.
I believe this is the same folks: https://www.yelp.com/biz/salsa-garden-wheeling
(looks like they shut their doors. Damn)
If everything goes well this weekend, it will be the fifth consecutive weekend with a match or something similar, and I’m loving the hell out of it. I just wish I had started this sport 30 years ago, I might have wound up being good at it. Even now, I’m leapfrogging quite a few people in that “real shooters” club.
Yesterday was a USPSA event — two stages, each shot twice. Figuring out the way to game them results in increased scores but I’m not entirely sure if it’s making me a better shooter. I’m generally proud of my accuracy, but the second time through a close range/low movement stage I decided to just point the gun vaguely at the target and pull the trigger as fast as I can. I went from 18 As and 6 Cs to 12 As, 9 Cs, and a D. However, I also went from 17.98 seconds to 14.90, which in USPSA scoring is a big improvement (5.78 to 6.03). An increase in the standing, but is that teaching me to spray and pray?
The other stage had a lot more movement, so I tried shooting it while moving instead of stopping at a good location and being solid. Once again, accuracy went to shit, but enough seconds were gained to more than make up for it. I think being able to shoot while in motion is a valuable skill to have though.
There’s a wonderful tension between precision, accuracy, and speed – and shooting is one of those activities that puts it right in front of you every time.
My old boss was brilliant on this subject: “No one ever got to the highest levels of car racing without scraping some walls and bending some meta; you won’t – and don’t – know what your top speed is until you’ve actually exceed it.”
You’re finding out about ‘threshold training’ and it’s such a mindfuck. And it’s true of soooooooo many activities – basically anything that has time as an element.
Here’s a great analogy: someone once asked my boss about the best way to get a 7 minute/2,000m row. He used to answer this way: “You can get on a rower every day, set it for 2K, punch the stopwatch and row until you vomit, and just keep doing X times per week that until you get closer and closer. It’s tough and it’s a grind. You could also set the rower for 7 minutes and do the same thing – see how many meters you come up short each time. Lather, rinse, repeat. In one you prioritize the time and the other the distance. People ask me which they should do and my answer is always ‘Yes’… plus add in some intervals and some long, slow rows, too.”
Now just translate that to shooting. Don’t be afraid to try shooting the way you did, while also adding in “slow is smooth, smooth is fast” training, too. Ultimately, they’ll converge to better times PLUS accurate shot placement. Glad you’re enjoying yourself, Neph. Shooting is fun as hell.
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/08/17/beretta-92x-compact-in-depth-review/
Buy one! Don’t pay close to MSRP. Wait for Gunbroker to be flush with them again and get the G version.
^ Always buy the G version.
Unless they don’t have it, in which case drop $50 on the conversion kit and install it yourself.
I honestly don’t know why they even make the unsprung versions anymore.
I think I still like the PX-4 with the rotating bolt better.
https://www.wvtm13.com/article/woman-drives-car-inside-home-depot-in-trussville-steals-merchandise-then-flees-scene/33611100
I mean, why not?
She was just liberating unused capital. She’s a Keynesian trying to get the economy rolling.
Social distancing in action?
‘just here to pickup my online order’
Anchorage is a lovely town in shoulder season before/after the tourists and cruise ships but while the weather is decent. I think the last time we were there was four years ago. Good municipal drinking water and great breakfasts at Snow City. Miss reindeer hot dog carts.
Thanks Animal! Good luck and best wishes on your move. Kenai isn’t as bad as further north, but the reduced/lack of daylight gets to a lot of people.
Alaska?
Nyet.
The daylight swing from summer to winter was bad enough going from near 33° to Portland, OR (at 45°), I can’t imagine being above 60°N.
I remember one winter when I was much younger and working insane hours that I literally didn’t see the sun for two weeks. Even here on the 45th parallel the days were super short and I was going to work super early and leaving late. During the day, I was working on a floor where all the windows had been covered during construction, so no sun there. And lunches were brought in so we could keep working.
Then I left work on a Sunday around 1pm and while driving home, I realized I hadn’t seen any daylight for two weeks. And there were about 8 other guys in the same boat as me.
Question for the gun fiends here. I was thinking about assembling an M14 from a kit as an alternative to buying one and as a fun project to learn the basics of operation and assembly of such a rifle. Well, I balked when I saw the cost of such an endeavor. A gun that costs $1200 assembled is roughly $2200 if I buy a disassembled kit. I get that there are likely some upgrades in the kit, but this isn’t a match gun we’re talking about. it’s GI spec.
What’s up with that price differential? I expected, at worst, that it would be equivalently priced, if not moderately cheaper. Nearly 2x the price was a shock.
There is an old joke about it costing 5 times as much to buy all the parts to make a car as it cost to buying the car.
The OEMs pay one price for piece parts, the wholesale/retail market pays a higher price.
Better parts? Stock M1As aren’t super accurate. Maybe 1.5 moa. I would assume the after market parts are for more accurate match rifle.
this is what I came across
It mentions some upgrades, but I doubt it’s $1000 of upgrades.
Rarity/historical value?
Shop for the parts separately, and see how much it costs?
Also, you might want to consider an AR-10, as it’s a parts gun.
I thought about the AR-10, but when it comes down to it, there’s something about the old school walnut stock and the stamped metal that just gets my motor running in a way that my AR doesn’t.
Ruger mini-30?
Or get a mini-14 and an M1A, both in walnut stocks.
*drools*
This was my response to the COVID lockdown.
https://twitter.com/abigailmarone/status/1295351741857267719
Joe Biden can’t even get through an interview with Cardi B. There is absolutely no way he debates trump or does a live sit down interview with any talking head where there’s a snowballs chance in hell that he gets asked a “tough” question.
Two things jump out at me watching that.
1 – Think the Dems aren’t desperate for the black vote?
2 – Think the Dems don’t think little of black people?
If the rioting, the “I will pick a woman of color as VP,” and reparations talk weren’t enough, now you’ve got the Dem candidate for President of the United States doing interviews with this slag. How low will they go? We’ve got two months more of this to go.
This is all the evidence I need to tell me how the Dems’ own internal polling shows SlowJoe doing, as well as how Trump is doing among blacks. They HAVE to have that vote locked down, at something like 90%, in order to win. And so they think trotting out Cardi B is the way to electoral victory with blacks. THAT is what Dems think of black people.
I almost beginning to think part of the reason for the focus on Mail in voting is there are actively going to try to suppress in person voter turnout because of how disastrous the black and latino vote is polling for them.
This has become blindingly obvious. The guy’s handlers are terrified beyond words of letting him do any appearance or interview that isn’t very tightly controlled and managed because they are completely aware of the fact that his brain, never sharp in even the best of times, has turned to jell-o.
I know the polls say what they say, but everything the Dems are doing screams of desperation. They don’t remotely seem confident of victory. There would be no reason to gin up this absurd post office hysteria if they were.
The more and more I think about it the more and more I think you’re right. Why the fuck would you go this scorched earth if you were confident you had it in the bag? If you thought you had any shot at winning or thought anything beyond your job Why wouldn’t you go with a more palatable vp choice in a state that was an actual tossup? This mail in ballot thing is going to be a clear disaster, I think they have internal showing they are in bigger trouble than we know.
I still wonder if they’re even trying to win or if they’re just throwing the fight on purpose so they can campaign during the midterms on “Oh no, we have 4 more years of Bad Orange Man, vote for us so we can stop his terrible agenda!”
Without watching the whole interview, (something i’m not going to waste my precious time on this earth doing), those changes in lighting seem easily to have been able to happen with changes in the cloud cover. The Editing of the clip means that they could have grabbed any time during the interview and put them together. Unless those two clips are they have stitched are how the actual interview went.
Attack of the Kovid Karen.
CALIFORNIA: Multiple people arrested for not wearing masks
A few people decided to walk into the Mother’s grocery store in Costa Mesa without a mask
The store manager then locked them in & called the police
who came in & arrested them for being in public without a mask
I smell a lawsuit.
If they are smart, they wait till this all blows over, and then seek restitution by suing the manager and store for False Imprisonment and Kidnapping.
The store manager then locked them in
How does this work? As if they were shoplifting?
I don’t know. I thought a “Citizens Arrest” is only legal during the active commission of a Felony. Seeing as i don’t think the mask mandates are even valid laws in most locales, i don’t know how this is anything but Kidnapping and False Imprisonment.
Is it legal to imprison people like that because that’s what that is, even if for a very limited period of time. What a piece of fucking shit snitch…just tell them to leave.
LOL
Muh MAILBOXKKKS!
Mad Maxine is mad.
“The President of the United States of America is unbelievably divisive. The president lies. He’s pitting people against each other, going back to the old birther argument that they attempted to use against Obama. This is a president that is the most deplorable human being that I have ever encountered in my life. And he’s undermining our democracy,” Waters said during an MSNBC interview on Saturday. “We cannot take any more of this president. This president is not only attacking the person that was just appointed or selected by Biden to be his vice president, and he is not hesitant to do it. This man has no shame. The name-calling, he called her nasty, on and on and on. I don’t know how much more the American people can take.”
“As a matter of fact, when you couple that with what he’s doing, undermining our democracy, tearing up our post office, I believe that it is time for Section 4 of Amendment 25 to be put in place and his cabinet should send to Nancy Pelosi, the speaker, as identified in the Constitution, that this man should be removed from office. Section 25 should be put in place,” she explained. He is dangerous. He is tearing up, again, this country, undermining our democracy. And I want to tell you something, I’m getting more complaints about what he’s doing to the post office than I have on any other issue in my district. He cannot have our post office. He cannot do this. we’ve got to stop him.”
He dismantled the post office?
“The President of the United States of America is unbelievably divisive.”
Whenever I read this type of thing I think of a Benny Hill skit. They were interviewing a celebrity’s maid (Benny Hill). “They were always a cussin’ and a feudin’ and a fightin’. If it wasn’t me and him it was me and her.”
I love Alaska, but the mosquitoes and winter would be deal breakers for me long term. The wildlife would be a deal breaker for my wife. Carrying a shotgun to the outhouse isn’t her thing.
I’m betting outhouse is the bigger dealbreaker than the shotgun.
It has a solar power seat heater! Problem is, sun hasn’t been out in 3 months…
Frozen shit don’t stink.
Alright I found it, here it is peak covid retardation.
https://twitter.com/ThomasEWoods/status/1295206329750097921
Honk Honk.
I don’t think you get such clear sounds out of instruments that have been stuffed with cloth.
If they pull the cloth, do more and more keep coming out?
https://twitter.com/michael_david41/status/1294129542294941696
Don’t know if ya’ll have seen this. But it is Bad. Harris once again shows her conceitedness in being totally unprepared to answer a question anyone in her position should know was going to come. Colbert asks her “How do you square being VP with the guy you called racist/sexist etc” and all she can say was “It was a Debate!” and laugh like that is supposed to mean anything.
I know i’m not keen on what the average joe thinks, but i’m pretty sure that Joe Non-Partisan sees this and says: “Oh so you’re lying snake who will say anything to get power”.
I don’t even understand why there are conservatives who are still even bothering to point out the double standard. These people have dropped all pretenses. They are craven power hungry fuckers who do or say anything to retain the slightest bit of power and the press are just sycophants at this point.
^^ I used to get very upset about Hypocrisy. Now i just get that that is how it is and is just evidence that they are illegitimate.
at this point if someone hasn’t been red pilled yet over the last 6 months nothing will ever red pill them.
Yeah, my only reaction now is to idly wonder whether the person knows how hypocritical they’re being, or whether they’re so delusional they’ve convinced themselves they aren’t. Harris knows what she’s doing, someone like AOC strikes me as dumb enough to believe in what she’s saying
It’s a distinction without a difference.
^^ This. Your rights disappear just the same whether it’s a true believer or a power hungry cynic who takes them away.
I think CS Lewis had something to say on the difference.
You know, I’ll say this for AOC: she’s not one of the “I went from an elite unversity straight to a ~70th percentile job in finance/tech/law/ government/media” progressive. She’s a moron, her ideas are dangerous, but I can get how trying to make it on a bartenders pay in NYC despite having a degree would sour you against the economic and political system that exists.
Cori Bush in St Louis is another example. I don’t like socialists of any stripe, but I’d rather engage with a “one year of college, then went to nursing school” socialist than Lacy Clay, this spoiled American prince who’s daddy handed him his House seat when he retired.
“In his teenage years, Clay attended public schools in Silver Spring, Maryland, and graduated from Springbrook High School in 1974. He subsequently attended the University of Maryland, College Park, earning a degree in political science and a paralegal certificate. Clay is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He attended Howard University School of Law, worked as an Assistant Doorkeeper of the United States House of Representatives, and worked on his father’s Congressional campaigns.”
I can get how trying to make it on a bartenders pay in NYC despite having a degree
Why would you try that if the degree was worth anything?
The mistake is in believing that life owes you anything.
It does not.
Sure, I’m just saying I have a little more respect for AOC than I do for someone like Abigail Spanberger.
From her wikipedia:
“In 2002–2003, Spanberger taught English literature as a substitute teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy.[4] In the early 2000s, Spanberger worked as a federal postal inspector on money laundering cases, as well as intercepting shipments of illegal drugs into the United States.[5]
In 2006, Spanberger joined the Central Intelligence Agency as an operations officer.[6] She worked overseas on classified matters of national security that included intelligence gathering on terrorism and nuclear proliferation.[7]
Upon exiting the federal government, Spanberger entered the private sector and was hired by Royall & Company (now EAB) where she worked to help academic institutions diversify their student bodies.[citation needed]
She was appointed to serve on the Virginia Governor’s Fair Housing Board, which serves to ensure an adequate supply of affordable housing around the Commonwealth.[8][9]
Abigail Spanberger has never once in her life generated wealth. She’s spent 20 years sucking at the tit of the taxpayer. Give me a commie bartender over a spook turned diversity counselor turned “fair housing board” member.
this.
Huh. From that snippet, I would say that Spanberger was a 50/50 chance of being a mole inside the USPS and CIA.
It also says a lot about the left that they consider calling your opponent a racist to be a valid debate tactic.
Congratulations, Animal. I’ve been to Alaska twice and it really is the last frontier. Amazing and beautiful place – may it remain so.
The cold and “dark” part of the year is a non-starter for the missus and I can’t say I blame her, but still…
Glad to hear you’re getting to live out the retirement you wanted. Let us know when you’re ensconced and accepting
visiGlibitors.18 to 24 months. We’ll have guest quarters, anticipating many visitors.
In case anyone was wondering, Dave Weigel is still a massive cunt.
If it wasn’t for looking down on people, Weigel would never see anyone else at all. His act was stale at TOS and hasn’t freshened up an iota since. ENB is Murray Rothbard compared to him.
It is kind of amazing that he feels like he’s in a position to look down on anyone
I would have called ENB Julia Child.
JC could actually make a sandwich though.
I haven’t been paying much attention to what our betters think lately, but what is this about boats?
Also, anyone with a bit of self-awareness would start wondering why deplorables with only a HS education had disposable income while smart people who went to college can’t afford things like a boat. But no, they seem determined to mock and belittle people who decided to get a job out of high school (maybe in one of the trades) and are happy and have money.
https://youtu.be/BZ7rjwM9Q64
Would.
They hate them because they made all the “wrong” choices and are largely successful. They project that these were the kids that made fun of these fucking nerds in high school and these guys just can’t get over it because they are fucking self important losers.
One of my close friends are like that. I love the guy but he was one of those people in college who thought that getting a degree made him more intelligent than the average Joe. But he was sorely disappointed when he graduated and saw that he paid all that money towards college but yet had a hard time finding a job that paid well enough to help him pay off the massive loans he borrowed.
The specific trigger for this conversation between Weigel and Hayes about boats is the pro-Trump boat parades that have been going on.
BTW, I have to say I’ve enjoyed the stories based on leaks from the Obama camp insinuating that Obama thinks Biden is a useless dolt.
Biden is a useless dolt
This is why Barry picked him in the first place. Didn’t want a number 2 that could outshine him.
That was half of the equation. The other half was wanting a safe Dem establishment who would be reassuring to the Lexus-driving white gentry types. Slow Joe fitted perfectly.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/kennedy-hits-back-at-markey-over-attacks-on-family/ar-BB183XH7
Maybe I should vote for Markey in the primary. Kennedy is not running for re-election in his congressional district. If he loses this primary, Kennedy’s political career will face a major setback.
Can we just euthanize the entire clan? Four generations of imbecile Kennedy’s is enough.
How fun and exciting for you! As always, your descriptions are worthy of a prestigious literary prize.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/2-men-indicted-in-2002-killing-of-run-dmcs-jam-master-jay/article_c96a4b9b-5476-5263-9d80-ed5ea398485b.html
18 years later.
My prediction: Seeing as how the Dems are able to hide Joe away in his basement and the MSM will paint it as a positive (not recklessly killing people with the Rona), they are going to shit can Joe and replace him with Max Headroom. Why not go with the pure virtual candidate?
If we are gonna get a virtual candidate, can we at least get Mr. House?
I don’t know why they just didn’t stick a mask on him and just have voiceovers from the jump. Definitely would have wargamed that out.
Think of how funny it would have been to have a perfectly erudite and concise Biden with the media insisting it was actually him.
No way they can trust Joe not to take the mask off at some point while the dubbed tape is going. Or even worse, the dubbed voice would try to seem authentic and challenge Trump to a pushup contest, but Joe would forget what was going on and would think someone had challenged him. Then in the middle of the debate we’d all be watching Joe having a pushup contest against himself.
Worse, though, would be in the post debate spin where the MSM would try mightily to paint Joe’s breakdown as a Profile in Courage and Leadership.
I really hope we get a a debate because I can’t wait for the profile in courage articles when Biden shits his pants on the debate stage.
You don’t have the SOLID BRASS BALLS to shit your pants on stage in front of BILLIONS of Virtual Americans, you pansyass nancyboy.
I’m really disapointed in America. I mean since the 90’s i thought we had come a long way, but it seems that even still the nation isn’t ready to elect a mentally deficient President. My Great Grandfather needs a role-model, and what am i supposed to tell him when he asks me “Do you think i could be president one day?”. You should all be ashamed.
You know, I hadn’t thought about it this way, but this makes perfect sense:
Hence the perpetual panic mode the Democratic Party has been in for five months now.
It’s a gamble. If things get worse they can keep on blaming Trump’s mismanagement. But as of right now, it looks like it’s eased off and a lot of people are ignoring all the restrictions. If it keeps going this way, and more people realize that sending kids to school and living your life normally don’t result in a pile of bodies, it only helps Trump.
well yes.
Some nice examples of how honestly the various state govts have been treating CV data
The Kansas mask chart is particularly funny because it went unchallenged by the journalos. Any kid with a HS diploma should have been able to figure out that the chart was misleading as hell, but people who got their 4 year degree at a J-school were totally bamboozled.
I hadn’t realized that Kasich had been whoring himself out to CNN since his failed ’16 run. Now he plans to give a speech at the Democratic convention condemning bad orange man.
All of that work as part of the establishment, and then, no establishment to support him, to fend off the outsider. I suppose I would be one bitter bitch as well.
From the local news regarding Kasich. He’s probably really pissed off that he wasn’t Governor instead of DeWine during the lockdown.
I remember when Kasich was portrayed as some kind of budget cutting deficit hawk in Congress. What a joke.
He would cut budgets, but that wouldn’t stop Orange Man Bad! So, he must ally with those who will expand the budget, for our own good!
Name me one Republican ever in a position of power that followed through on smaller govt.
Lincoln?
The Confederacy cut it in half, so Lincoln was basically trying to double the size of the federal govt. Odd definition of “smaller govt” there.
Be nice, the man’s father was a mailman for Chrissakes. The man’s above reproach.
I’m really happy for you, Animal! It sounds like you have the right plan, the right attitude and, most of all, the right woman!
At the moment I am sitting in CO enjoying the sun. We moved my daughter into her dorm and, despite the bullshit, I really like this place.
We will leave MN for the west, especially if the kids stay out here. That is really the biggest factor for us.
Please keep us updated on your progress. A great goddamn adventure!
Mind giving me that address 😉
Local people were whining that FedGov was ignoring the derecho that wiped at least half of the trees in Cedar Rapids. {look at google satellite view of you want to understand what that means}
Now may facebook feed is filled with snarky assholes complaining that Trump is actually coming here.
KCRG-TV9 has confirmed that President Donald Trump will be in Cedar Rapids Tuesday to tour damage following the derecho that moved through the state a week ago.
On Monday, the President announced he had approved a federal Presidential Major Disaster Declaration following a request from Governor Reynolds over the weekend.
Just another campaign stop in a purple state that went Trump in 2016.
Our power was out until Saturday – still people in our neighborhood out. I was proud that most people started cutting downed trees/limbs immediately after the storm cleared – all the manageable debris was neatly lined-up near the curbs within hours.
My daughter was out with a handsaw Monday cutting up the trees in her yard.
I was over on Tuesday morning dragging it out to the street.
She was lucky that the big trees fell in the yard and not on the house.
We had some pretty solid storms blow through last night. A solid 5’x5′ patch of shingles blew off the roof. It’s the first time I’ll wholeheartedly hop on the ‘glad to be renting’ bandwagon.
I’m on the “prepper with a whole-house generator bandwagon”
Great article, Animal. As primarily a flat lander I got off the plane in Ancorage, about the same time as you on your first trip. Turned around and saw the snow covered mountains, took my breath away. So beautiful, so National Geographic but it was us, Mrs F and me. Several friends had gone to work on the pipeline and never returned to MN, we visited 3 on the first trip and asked them the whys and why nots. The next time we went to Juneau, Seward to fish and Kodiak for a week, took tours, etc. The last time we drove up, to see Canada and went north to Dawson City and crossed into Alaska. We were hooked, I repeatedly said if I was 35 I’d have packed my bags but alas, at post 60 I wasn’t sure.
The Soldotna-Homer area was my preference, now if I was 35. Alaska and the people we met seemed so much different than other places I have been and lived. Much more independent.
Good luck, don’t wait too long. Thanks for reminding me, a nice trip down Nostalgia Lane.
Much more independent.
The ones who weren’t died or were evacuated.
Not communist enough.
Today, I cast my DNC ballot and voted NO on the proposed platform. I constantly hear from constituents demanding we push for a single-payer system and away from this for-profit system that is leaving people to suffer and die just because they cannot afford health care.
As a party, we must push for a future where every resident has the ability to thrive. That means we need a platform that works to rid our society of oppression and greed. Unfortunately, in my view this platform does not do enough.
See, I want a society rid of envy.
Equality of outcome is the most important kind of equality. Venezuela here we come.
“I keep getting rid of these greedy humans, but everyday a new baby is born. #SupportPlannedParenthood”
Except roads. I immensely enjoy going for a ‘Sunday drive’ with no destination and just randomly turning down different roads. I’d feel trapped without that. That’s why I can’t live in the Libertarian Paradise that is Somalia (that and I don’t want to be blowed up).
I don’t drive, so anybody else knows more than me, but I bet Offroading is actually legal in Alaska and Somalia.
is actually legalisn’t prohibitedBut, ideally, all that land to off-road on should be privately owned, so unless you own a big chunk, that’s a lot of trespassing.
How bout everybody just die. No roads, no trespassing, no problems.
Anyone recommend a good shotgun condiment?
North To Alaska II – Animal Gets Hit By A Bus Next Week
sry, *SPOILER ALERT*
brutal
He’s the one who had to go and write an article about his 20yr life plan. I didn’t make Life the way it is.
I guess the mask debate is over.
The French government plans to send riot police into the Marseille region to help enforce mask regulations in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced on Monday that 130 police officers will be sent into the region, west of Nice on the Balearic Sea. The region has recently expanded mask rules to include all farmers’ markets and outdoor areas.
“France has seen scattered incidents of violence by people refusing to wear masks. Paris expanded its mask requirements Saturday, and other towns around France started requiring masks outdoors on Monday,” the Associated Press reported on Monday.
Why do they need masks in France? Only the United States has failed to control the plague.
Bad Orange Man’s menace knows no bounds.
From the bottom, Australian police shot a driver who refused to pull over for allegedly breaking curfew. Maybe they should have tried speaking their commands in English, instead of German?
I cannot even. The guy and the trans woman getting robbed and beat to the point of serious head trauma and brain damage by the mob of sociopaths unleashed and protected by these Democratic hell holes seems just the tip of the toxic iceberg from the last 24 hours.
I’m past giving a shit about fairness or due process. I want to see crew served weapons used on the insurrectionists and I want to see the city and state leaders abetting this insurrection to hang for their crimes, along with the ones supporting it from behind the scenes.
The Washington Post explains how the guy probably had it coming:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/17/truck-crash-protest-assault/#comments-wrapper
Reach for the sky, Animal. That’s an excellent plan, and I really hope it all turns out well in the long run.
OT: so it begins. Within my lifetime, we will have a progressive wealth tax akin to the current income tax code. Saving is slavery.
Death to slavers.
All i can say is: Fuck. You.
That’s got to be challegened in court. There’s no way they can be allowed to keep taxing people who aren’t there anymore.
If i was a dumb, but enterprising Governor, I’d work with the state AG to ensure that no such Taxes were paid from residents of my state to California. But that would only work to invite the same people who brought this destruction into my state.
“We’ll help you keep your income if you forfeit the your vote for the next 10yrs.”
Why do both of the guys in that picture look like human weasels?
Unbelievable. And good luck trying to make that stick.
At what point are people going to just tell these people to fuck off?
Right after the WEAR THE MASK Riot Police crush their skull, would be my guess.
How’s the intertooz in Alaska? Cause we ain’t got no Sky Link yet.
I suppose I could handle he cold, I just wouldn’t go outside for 9 months of the year. Keeping everyone safe from the commie flu you know.
I have to say that living in the country in Alaska would take some bravery and adventurism. Beautiful there and all, I mean from the internet, never been there, but way too cold for me.
Who has time for the internet, get back to chopping firewood, only another cubic football field to go, slacker.
As tested for $188k
2020 BMW M8 Competition Convertible: It’s More Fun When It’s Parked
Not mentioned is that this two door GT weighs 4,600lbs. For reference an AWD four door battery containing Tesla Model 3 Performance weighs 3,500lbs and is faster. Mind you the BMW is much nicer, but given BMW reliability and the number of computerized controls I’d expect similar if not worse reliability.
Sorry RWD 3,500 AWD 4,100.
WD40 Hardest Hit?