Prologue, Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
As soon as the light on the camera went red, the President looked off to her left.
“Are we off now?” She nodded her head by way of question. There were thumbs up and she heard “yes, ma’am” from behind the camera. She strode off the dais as the young woman with the page-boy cut ran up with a cappuccino.
“You were great, Ma’am. Totally in control. Very Presidential.” The young woman gushed.
“Mm.” She took the cappuccino, sipped it loudly, then walked toward her National Security Advisor. “Well?”
“We’ve finished the Insurrection Act paperwork, Ma’am, just as we discussed. The active duty components have been ordered to begin immediate deployments to major cities, particularly here around the Capitol, Madame President.”
“Good. I want the people who did this, General. I want those fuckers to hang. And where is the Speaker of the House, for fuck’s sake?!”
“We still haven’t been able to get hold of her, ma’am. There- the District is- the situation is very chaotic right now.” He looked at his watch. “It’s still only 4:45, so we’re hoping-”
“I thought you were sending people to her apartment?”
“We did, ma’am, but there have been some problems getting to her. The routes have been blocked, and there have been some firefights –”
“Jesus Christ,” the President fumed, then started walking toward her office. This was the worst part of it. She waved her hand at the General and he stayed behind. She couldn’t even deliver her address from the Oval Office, the symbol of Presidential of power. She’d had to look weak, away at Camp David, while the District burned.
“Who’s got my phone?!” She yelled at anyone.
“Here, Ma’am!” an effeminate man’s voice called and footsteps came shuffling up. “Here you go.” He held out his hand and the President grabbed her iPhone. She caught a glimpse of missed calls and text messages, but looked up to see the man, who was wearing eyeliner, still standing there. The President stared at him and finally he said, “excuse me” and ran off.
She looked back at her phone, unlocked it, and saw the missed calls from Kendrick. A chill went down her back. There were two texts: one from Kendrick and one from a number she didn’t recognize, a 202-area code. Kendrick’s text said simply, “You’ll want to look at this” with a link, and then “Call me after you’ve had a chance to read it.” The President tapped on the link and waited while her phone showed a timing circle that the link was loading.
The President waited a moment until her patience wore thin.
“Does this fucking shithole have internet?! Does anyone have cell coverage?” She continued to walk toward her office, as her staff bustled about. “And where are my Cabinet members?? Do these fucking people not know what Emergency Meeting means?!”
The General came striding up again.
“Ma’am, in the Chief of Staff’s, um, absence, we’re recommending that-” The President interrupted him.
“What’s the fucking WiFi password!? Does someone have that? This fucking piece of shit phone wants the WiFi password again.” This had been a recurring problem in recent weeks and the President’s simultaneous reliance on, and disdain for, technology were legendary.
Astrid came walking up. “I’ve got it, Madame President!”
The President handed her phone over and took a sip from her cappuccino while the young woman pecked out the password. The President held her hand out and Astrid handed her the phone. The President turned and continued walking to her office for some silence so she could think.
The link hadn’t loaded, so the President looked at the second text. It was a video file and the preview showed Calvin Jefferts from the shoulders up. His expression was wild-eyed and he was splattered with blood. It was apparent he had tried to wipe it off of his face.
She pushed play on the video and there was a pause and every screen nearby, including the ones in her office, went dark and then the video popped up on it.
“Madame President, Madame President,” he began hurriedly, his breathing ragged. Calvin Jefferts’ voice filled the entire complex, his Caribbean accent light, but clear. There was another glitch, where the video seemed to skip, and Jefferts appeared to have bent over, then he stood up, and now his eyes were wide-eyed, gleeful, and his teeth showed. He was laughing maniacally.
“Ahhhhhhh, Madame President! How are you this fine morning? By now you’ve declared martial law and events are in motion that none of us can predict or stop. The cancer that is – or was – your administration, is about to come to an end. In fact, the entire PSA as you know it will cease to exist before long. I just wanted you to know that it was me.” The President could hear gasps from outside the office, low murmurs from people, and someone shushing everyone.
“A number of governors will refuse to provide troops, most of them won’t respond to your orders, and those that do… will be dealt with.” Jefferts paused and someone from off-camera handed him a towel. He wiped his face of some of the blood and threw the towel back offscreen.
Jefferts’ demeanor shifted. “Did you know that after Frederick Douglass escaped slavery, he first began writing articles and most people didn’t believe they were authored by him? The articles were considered too well-written, too intelligent, to have come from a Negro.” The President of the PSA stood behind her desk and tried to reconcile what she was hearing. It took a moment before she realized that his accent was gone. There was none – he sounded like he was from the Midwest, no hint of any accent at all.
He smiled.
“El Unico controls this city in the ways that matter –” the President heard a gasp and a moment later realized it was her own. “– and he has the backing of a number of governors. I suggest that you listen when representatives contact you to negotiate, ma’am. For your own sake and everyone else’s.” There was a pause, a brief glance off-camera, and then a new accent, a dead-ringer for Brooklyn. “And if y’play ya cawds right, y’might gitta keep some of yaw… a’thawity on behalf of the cities… and turf yaw pahty controls, aiight?”
He licked his lips.
“Moral sanction, Madame President. El Unico has given the people moral sanction.” Now it was the Midwest accent again. “Kendrick was the symbol of your reign and authority, of unearned leadership, the ultimate member of the neo-aristocracy.” Jefferts nodded his head over his left shoulder and the camera panned right, then slowly zoomed in, where Harmon Kendrick’s body still kicked and twitched, and barely, she could hear low moans, more animal than human. She had gone to Spain one summer during college and had been convinced to see the spectacle of a bullfight. She managed to witness the destruction of one particularly worn animal after the event… and that’s what flashed into her mind – Kendrick sounded like that bull: labored breathing that was barely certain to take the next one, lowing… bleating…
She covered her mouth with her hand.
The camera zoomed back out and centered in on Jefferts.
“Now the people have been set free to express their heretofore impotent rage.” He nodded his head a few times. “Sign and countersign. Message and reply, Madame President.”
A smile creased his face, the white teeth gleaming, some spots of blood on them where it had dripped down his lips. Then the video ended.
The President of the Progressive States of America heard chaos outside her office, but it came from a distance, muffled, as she slumped back into her chair, put her head in her hands, and began to cry.
Damn, but this is great stuff, Ozy. Prescient, maybe?
Nostra-mandias?
I’d bet a quatrain on it.
Ozy has me sitting in the office just outside of the president’s office with this one.
And away we go! Great stuff Ozy!
Agree with Animal (and I’m sure others). This is terrific stuff, Ozy. Have you thought of expanding it into a full novel?
Yes, wd, but I’m conflicted about it. There is more story in my head to fill out what I wrote – probably enough for a novel – but I wrote this in a particular way and style, trying to be sparse and leave a lot “offstage”.
We’ll see over time if I have to come back to this, but I’ve enjoyed the characters and the whole “place” enough that I’m likely to write something else involving this “world.”
And I’m getting started on proofing it today.
Yay!
Thanks, Moj. I know you just had a procedure, so it’s appreciated.
And no more changes! I’ll wait for your edits and formatting fixes.
We’ll have to chat about where this gets published.
I wrote this in a particular way and style, trying to be sparse and leave a lot “offstage”.
I like. Too many authors are too verbose. The magic of fiction is giving the reader enough to go on, and enough room to fill in the blanks/details themselves.
Somehow, OZY, it’s like deja vu, all over again. Always good, thanks (again)
Hahaha. The ending you got is a little different than what will be here next week, Mr. 4×20, as I mentioned.
Maybe that’ll make your copy a collector’s item someday?
Groovy.
Way too much fun Ozy!
Glad you’re enjoying it, JI.
Last chapter next week.
Damn. That’s good stuff.
Fits my mood as I sit in the driveway outside my house waiting for a final load of laundry and a full recharge on the car so I can make good my escape from California on Saturday.
Let California stand as a warning to others so we don’t get to the PSA…
[failing to suppress urge to say I told you so]
I know, I know. I *did* make good money here, so it served its porpoise.
Mmmmm, Dolphin sashimi…
Considering how much of the rest of them gets used, cetacean skin must make shitty leather. You’d think it’d be naturally waterproof. Then again, I never noticed cows getting upset at having to stand out in the rain.
Good on you for making the move, HE. Inertia is a helluva drug.
*checks personal email, sees hayeksplosives hasn’t replied, haz sad*
No worries. I know you’re busy. I’ll be in Pahrump next week – ping my personal email if you want to meet up.
I replied to your email.
(These people and their demands!!)
—strongbad
a full recharge on the car so I can make good my escape from California
The most California of escapes, even.
That would be the one place and time I could really see rolling coal the entire way out of the state.
She’s rolling coal, lot’s of it, it just converted to electrons,
But it’s artisanal coal from an Indian reservation, so it’s all good.
Well Baker has a gigantic recharging station…
Yeah, we’ve planned a stop there on the way 🙂
Let the cat walk a little, stretch our human legs too.
Watch the large birds…I almost lost a kitten there when it was stretching its legs.
There used to be a good jerky place there, but it has since closed down (thanks COVID). Now its just Alien Jerky. They do have a Madam Trump carnival thing there, which is fun.
The Greek place was good, but also think it closed.
Dammit. Now I want gyros.
The local greek place opens at 4:30.
But it’s not the best greek place I’ve been to even in the area.
An OPFOR tradition was to go to the that greek place from the backside of FT Irwin halfway thru the rotation to have one of their shakes/malts.
They were the fucking best.
The Mad Greek!
Google says it is only ‘temporarily closed’.
I’m happy for you HE. A change of scenery can do wonders.
Amen, brotha.
I’m ready to move to the little fuck-off non-town of Pahrump.
Congrats!
My family escaped from California in 1990. Unfortunately, most of them fit the stereotype of Californians who leave the state due to the taxes, crime, etc. and immediately vote for exactly what made California what it is. I’m the political black sheep of the family.
Whenever I tell people here (Ohio) that I was born in LA, they get all flabbergasted and ask “what the hell are you doing here??!” Um, let’s see… Easily affording a nice roomy house, having a lawn, easily finding parking wherever I go, not sitting in gridlock every single day, not worrying about violent crime, not dealing with homeless people shooting junk up their arm on the sidewalk, should I go on?
LA people should shut the fuck up about tacos.
We always got the same reaction when we told people we were from Florida.
Good that the move is happening.
Though admittedly, the coming hack to the network is obvious.
Sorry, it’s hard to “write” technical infiltrations AND do it subtly.
No need to apologize, you let the Jeffords question hang and then resolve nicely.
bah – Jefferts
If you don’t know by now not to click on unsolicited links, you deserve what you get.
yuuuuup
Moar, moar!
Like civilization, the veneer of authoritay is much thinner than it looks.
Sorry, but next week is the last chapter, Gustave!
Dammit, man!
Awesome stuff, Ozy!
Thx, WTF. Good-looking doggoe in your avatar.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
That sense of entitled incompetence among your administration characters is just perfectly portrayed.
Only because your immersion in Randian caricature has rendered you utterly insensate to the good intentions of Top.Men. [excuse me, I have to pick up the pile of guts I just spilled while laughing]
I look forward to this every week. Your fictional work is almost as good as the real work you do.
I’m glad you’re on our side, sir. Thanks for your work in both realms.
Thankee, Bones. Very kind of ye. We all do what we can.
I look forward to the final installment.
Cool! I was wondering if it ended here. Looking forward to another.
I hope Madame President doesn’t simply get a bullet in the head. Something more like the fate of Hitler in Heywood’s “The Berkut” would be more appropriate.
If she does, I hope its somebody from the Help Desk pissed off because she got phished and shit all over his/her/its network.
OT – Work in progress
Not done, and not the best photograph, but I’m burning lunchtime to take the picture.
For scale, that dude is one and a half inches tall.
Do you paint under magnification?
Nowadays I have to.
/poor eyesight.
Hey Buddy, stop doing that.
Nice work UCS! I miss doing that,
/no room
Thanks, man.
Very nice! I could see purchasing that for my tchochke cabinet.
The weapon in the right hand, the shoulderpad, the greaves, and the base are incomplete. And it looks better in person. In the picture, you can’t see the glossy armor.
So you’re saying I’ll need to up my offer? JK, can’t wait to see the finished product.
I keep making progress. Slow and steady will eventually reach the destination.
::quick peek during lunch half hour:: Wow! Love the effect on the red, however you achieved it!
There are two red effects, I’m guessing you’re referencing the large area. That’s a basecoat of Evil Sunz Scarlet with a layer of the contrast paint Flesh Tearers Red poorly slopped on it.
The smaller area is just a basecoat of Evil Sunz Scarlet.
Wow, that’s looking very nice! If I tried that there’d be paint everywhere.
There is paint everywhere. You can’t see any bare plastic, can you?
I can’t help but notice that the Thursday Universe pays much less attention to Astrid’s breasts.
I read that bit as SF trying to win back her fans, after he ruined the character. Yeah, I said it. Ruined.
?
It was established early on that she had the biggest rack in the intern pen.
So the collective decision for her to transition was filled with envy?
That was my take on it.
Envy/Perversion.
I make myself clear my inbox before I indulge in these, Ozy.
Always worth the wait. Thank you!
Ah just what i needed to recharge my batteries. I am in a foul mood; my son woke up with a cough this morning and was forced to go for a Covid test by his employer. I’m not particularly concerned about him, he is young and healthy (and vaccinated, therefore immortal), but…
My wife has an important diagnostic imaging procedure scheduled for Monday, which she will have to postpone if son tests positive. How foolish of me to think that this would be more important than the “safety” of the staff at the imaging facility.
My dark side would enjoy seeing this story play out.
And if he refused?
No workee. It’s his first post-college job; he just started this job two weeks ago and needs to establish himself.
My Dude is getting sick. His twice-yearly bronchitis. While we’re moving.
Jeez. I’d ask “what else could go wrong?”, but I’d rather not tempt fate.
Thank you for abstaining.
Man, Newsome has been on an effing tear ever since his “mandate” was confirmed….
“Plug it up! Plug it up!”
Free, hmmm? So when someone wants out of school, just take the entire supply and flush it, while jamming the handle…
Instant flood.
Plug it up!
It’s about bloody time.
He won’t let anyone cramp his style.
It’ll be over in a few days, then come back again in a month.
This doesn’t have to get bloody.
Step 1: Men have periods too!
Step 2: Free period products in schools!
Step 3: Resale market!
Does that include men who menstruate?
That rules this guy out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqDwqdSF6Ec
No need to rag on him, man.
You just need to get ova it.
No need to egg him on, man.
Hey, I’m just going with the flow!
So we were all a bit agog about the Loudoun County Public Schools and the must-report standards being ignored. Turns out the VA legislature and governor gave them top-cover for exactly that.
The VA Dems went batshit crazy in the last session and Northam just signed anything that came across his desk. The timing on the revelations are perfect for the election.
I did predict that the transgender bathroom mandate would bite them in the ass this November since it quietly came into effect in September not as law, but as a regulatory pushdown on the school boards.
Seems a similar pattern emerged in CA.
The Democrats signed new laws to allow public school officials to cover up rape”
-ad that won’t be run because Republicans are thoopid.
Republican messaging would be a million times more effective if they just ran unedited clips of the crazy shit Democrats say and let it speak for itself.
If it isn’t effective, then it is definitely time to flee.
Lee Atwater, is that you?
So the teachers union… wants to give principals… authority over whether or not crimes get reported…
Am I overly cynical to believe that this is one giant mutual blackmail society? Or maybe principals are part of that union too.
I’m starting to think that the pedo conspiracists may be on to something.
1700 accommodation requests so far, and we haven’t even come up on the hard deadlines yet.
They say our vaccination rate in our LOB was ~50%. FAA as a whole? 60%….
I suspect a bloodbath.
The state is trying to hide the noncompliance rate among state employees. I suspect there’s a lot of holdouts, else they’d be touting the numbers in every meeting and announcement. The CTO is actually sounding pissed off and off his rocker over the matter, so I’m guessing he’s unaccustomed to hearing ‘no’. The only reason I want the asshole promoted to CIO is that there’s a regular turnover there and I’d be rid of him.
Same…those were internally leaked numbers. Its not what you know, or even who you know, its what they are willing to give up in terms of information.
All my peer managers sound like beaten dogs cause they are expecting to lose 2-3 people each, retire, quit or terminated for non-compliance. One manager said he has told his employees “better get vaccinated or you will be suspended and recommended to remove”. His employees might benefit from a nice fat payday on that statement alone.
So, my friend wants to know if it is better to ask for accommodation now, or wait until closer to the deadline?
I don’t see an advantage to going early. There will be a big dump of last minute requests, there might be some advantage to being part of the herd.
Its two fold. Get it in early it will probably take 20-25 days for our ‘tiger team’ to make their recommendations. If approved, then the FLM has to come up with what the accommodations will be. If denied, employees have the right to appeal.
Now..where people are waiting is that while the RA is under determination, no disciplinary actions can be taken. This is why people are waiting. Drop the RA request on Nov 8th, it stops the clock. Many are doing that because they have a ‘best date’ for retirement and this buys them the time to meet that date (or closer to it).
I dropped mine yesterday. Its either going to be granted or not. I have confidence it will be, knowing now our numbers are looking..lacking.
Great stuff Ozy, I am really enjoying the series and don’t want it to end.
Someone posted FedUpGrump link here a while back and those were good as well. Unfortunately it seems the twitterverse has determined that those types of fictional tales are beyond reproach and his account has been suspended. Wish I knew who he is, it would make for some excellent stories here.
For Ozy – OPM is saying they have the authority to claim not getting vaccinated is an act of misconduct and thus, falls under the penalties that lead to removal.
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2021/10/discipline-for-unvaccinated-federal-employees-can-start-on-nov-9-opm-says/
I find it interesting they are conflating federal workers to deployments of sailors as their reasoning.
I find it nuts they’re relying on the anthrax vaccine mandate when a federal court later found that those orders were illegal.
They’re just following orders! That’s a valid defense, right?
GW, This is just sad. You don’t have anyone who knows your own setting?
Ozy, really loving these stories as of late.
Cheers, Ed!
Hahaha, the Lincoln Project has been respun – we must elect Democrats to save the Republican Party!
I can’t really blame them for continuing to work their marks for more money.
You get more of what you reward.
Huh, it’s almost like they aren’t Republicans at all.
I’ve truly started to suspect over the last 6 months or so that the Dems have a very clever strategy of infiltrating primaries and planting candidates who are just barely conservative enough to appease Repubs and get elected, only to turn full heel when they are in office.
Because it’s a numbers game and they know it’s damn near impossible to get an incumbent out of office, no matter their voting record. That’s how Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Cheney and their ilk keep getting reelected.
I have to give it to Dems, I think of them as very dumb people, but man their strategies run circles around the hapless GOP.
I’m willing to bet that some Democrats voted in the 2016 Republican primaries thinking there was no way Trump could beat Clinton.
There is a special election coming up for the NH State House to replace a state rep that retired.
A Democrat re-registered as a Republican to run in the Republican primary.
CNN runs a masturbation-a-thon.
Still trying to figure out how he plays into this all. Are they saying he was the general that hatched the failed coup?
He’s a bit-part player in a political theatrics production. Dress rehearsal for the show trials. Does the audience eat it up?
Also..seems they realized that saying it was worse than…checks notes *9/11 and Civil War* didn’t pan out. Now its 1812!
They’re going to eventually slip up and say it’s as wrong as our Revolutionary War.
Bannon wasn’t at the White House when this happened, so why is he even involved? If I was Bannon, I wouldn’t even bother to show up but if somehow I was forced to show up would be as dickish as possible.
“Feinstein, I thought you were dead, you sure as fuck look like the cripkeeper.”
“Senator Booker, how’s your beard, I meant girlfriend Rosario Dawson doing? Is it true that Latina women smell like salsa down there?”
Just be a dick the whole time and treat these jackals as the pieces of shit that they are.
Why personalize it?
Every answer “You’re a corrupt asshole.”
Every answer, plead the fifth, no way to say what is illegal anymore.
“Would the witness state his name, please.”
“I’m pleading the Fifth Amendment on that. If standing outside the Capitol or attending a school board meeting gets you a federal criminal investigation, I no longer have any idea what is illegal any more. Better safe than sorry.”
They aren’t interested in his answers. They’re interested in him sitting in front of them, and them giving him a self-serving stream of sound bytes that will fire up their base. Even Rand Paul does that.
Some days I think the loonies who drop off the grid are right.
Some days? If I could drop off the grid and still eat, stay dry, and feed my hobbies, I’d do it in half a heartbeat…
It makes me tired just thinking about it. I’d rather find a solution that allows for AC and grocery stores…
But yeah, I hear you.
My dream at one point was to cut as many ties with “society” as I could.
That’s looking like a pretty sweet option these days. But I think a more realistic option is to live way out in the country, produce as much food as I can on my own land, acquire the skills to build/repair/maintain your own infrastructure, and be prepared to “cut the cord” if worst comes to worst.
It wouldn’t be fun; we’d probably be living like humans did for most of history: hot in the summer, cold in the winter, doing a lot of hard physical work, subsisting on small portions of grain and vegetables with occasional meat. But it would probably be better than the alternative.
But I think a more realistic option is to live way out in the country (check), produce as much food as I can on my own land (in progress), acquire the skills to build/repair/maintain your own infrastructure (a garage full of woodworking tools mostly collecting dust, but it’s a start), and be prepared to “cut the cord” if worst comes to worst (yup).
Cutting the cord is the hard part.
It will be time to replace out HVAC in a year or two. We are thinking of going geothermal so that we are 100% electric and then installing solar panels.
I need to do some due diligence on solar. Tucson is a great location for it, and I am very concerned about rising energy costs under both inflation and the green policies that DC is spewing. Most of the offers out there are to lease it, which I am wary of. They just feel scammy.
I will be claiming the tax credits, so if the Dems pass their monster bill with better solar tax credits, yay me. I guess.
The problem in Iowa is cloudy winter days. I would need something to supplement solar. Small-scale wind perhaps.
Solar panels are a lousy deal. They don’t pay for themselves without subsidies.
EXCEPT, if you buy them now before hyperinflation kicks in and all forms of mass-produced energy spike up.
So, I’m probably going to buy them even though I hate them.
I’m not all that thrilled with current-gen solar, either. But its looking better, as I suspect energy prices are going up and staying up.
I’m not thrilled about putting them on the roof, either. I have a flat roof, which is already not the most reliable. Punching a bunch of holes in it to mount solar is not attractive. We do have a spot that I think would work for ground-mounted solar, but I need to check the HOA rules and (more importantly) Mrs. Dean. If I go with solar, it will likely be next year – the Dems will either have better tax credits, or not, by then, and I want to get all the big spends out of the way before I retire.
Where’s my Mr. Fusion, dammit!
I think next year it is.
There will be some lag if the Dems pass any new subsidies, so get in before the demand spikes.
My heating bill will be 50% to 100% this year. So, it’s already going to shit.
I’m seeing the attraction of that. More and more.
With solar power being a thing, I’m not assuming I will be living a pre-industrial life, either. I expect the Dean Retreat would, in fact, have A/C, electric lights, hot water, even flush toilets.
A lot of it seems to require significant investment up front. I think the wife and I have decided to gradually become more self-sufficient, but stuff like solar panels still required a lot of money.
There’s just a weird irony in requiring fistfuls of cash to try and get away from relying on fistfuls of cash.
Plus, I still like a lot of modern stuff.
Bah, Ozy, these things are great. They make me think of all sorts of weird stuff. If I said half of what I think when I read these episodes I probably would wind up on a domestic terror list.
Narrator: “He’s already on one.”
Narrator: “And so are the rest of you.”
Massie has a good movie on Amazon about off the grid life. He often stresses how stupidly expensive it is. And this is a guy who repurposed batteries from a crashed tesla and designed the system himself.
We mere mortals probably need 2-3x what he spent.
Seems like it depends on what kind of lifestyle you’re hoping to maintain “off the grid”. If you still want all your conveniences, it’ll be expensive because you’re rebuilding all the infrastructure in miniature. If you scale back your expectations, you should be able to live cheaper. But not a lot of people are going to be happy living “free” if it means a hand pump well, pit toilet, growing/hunting/preserving all your food, etc.
Capital v expense. Spend the cash now so you don’t have to later.
She caught a glimpse of missed calls and text messages, but looked up to see the man, who was wearing eyeliner, still standing there. The President stared at him and finally he said, “excuse me” and ran off.
Awwww… she has an admirer.
Good installment.
More like a very needy bottom.
I wonder if he gets that far.
Doctor Sanjay Gupta is such a worm. Joe Rogan wasn’t trying to trick him, he was totally straightforward and this guy just squirmed and squirmed.
He knows who signs his paychecks.
This is the part no one ever wants to confront: he weasles and squirms because, like a child, deep down he knows what he’s doing is wrong.
That’s what evil really is – it’s just a measure of your levels of self-deception. How much are you willing to lie to yourself to justify doing what you want without care for the consequences to others?
Robot dogs. With guns.
Yikes.
You want skynet? ‘Cause this is how you get skynet.
What could possibly go wrong?
So, there was once a company called Tippman Arms (or similar) that made subscale replicas of M1919 and M2 Browning Machine Guns in .22 long rifle. Cute little scale model fully functional rimfire beltfed machineguns. In the early 2000s, a guy bought up Tippman’s IP and inventory, and made some cool toys like a beltfed .22lr upper for the AR15/M16 platform. In 2006 or 2008 or so, he had on display at the Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot a solenoid-fired version that was designed to be mounted to lightweight flying drones–that’s a yikes. I don’t know whether they had any commercial success with the concept, but that’s also a “yikes” moment when you see that and realize what it’s for.
A note of sadness: This past weekend was the last Knob Creek Machinegun Shoot.
I was going to go but so many people were already there that traffic was backed up for mile and a half out on 31W (the main drag, which is another couple miles from the range).
25K showed up!
I am working on writing a post about it. I was there last weekend.
Ed? Ed-208?
Not yet. This is the ED-202.
https://ktla.com/news/california/nearly-100-rattlesnakes-found-living-under-santa-rosa-home/
That’s a lot of snakes.
Who rescues rattlesnakes?
When Pater Dean found a rattlesnake den on his property (final count – around 200), it was crystal clear that the snake wrangler he called was going to turn them into meat and skins. As God intended.
+ Dozens of fancy boots
Maybe milking them for anti-venom production? But since it is close to the Bay Area, I’m sure such exploitation would be condemned and protested.
“Hug a snake for the environment! Right through this curtain!”
Me.
Rattlesnakes are important predators of rats and similar diseases carrying vermin.
Can we sic the robot dogs on them?
This could apply to the people gluing themselves to the road, too.
Why did it have to be…snakes?
They’re gluing themselves to the road.
L O fucking L
With pics.
So, if they’re glued to the road, they really can’t do anything if you, say, piss on them or dump garbage on them? I have an ample supply of dog shit – I could see making a slurry of that and pouring it over them.
Put a truck in gear a few hundred yards up the road, and hand them a hacksaw…
You might have heard already that things are not going totally well over here in the U.K. We’ve got a few things on our plate right now, such as the ongoing shortage of truckers to drive trucks with fuel or even food to shops and gas stations, as well as massive increases in gas and electricity prices.
Plus we are running out of french fries and burrito coverings.
Who removes them from the road? Just let the sit there and turn the thing into an inadvertent hunger strike. Without practice, those don’t last too long.
After the first hard freeze the problem will solve itself.
Holy cow. That’s epoxy! What a bunch of nutters!
“Brussels, save us!”
Sod off, you twit.