Steyn: Sovereignty & Territory

From Mark Steyn:

All this week at SteynOnline, we're looking at what I regard as the key issues in this year's big vote. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so drop us a line at Mark's Mailbox. Following Monday's musings on money, Tuesday's on the new class divide, Wednesday's on hyper-regulation, and Thursday's on the shriveling of federalism, we conclude today with what one longtime observer regards as the critical question.

In the Nineties, the “culture wars” were over “God, guns and gays”. The overreach of the statists has added a fourth G: Government itself is now a front in the culture war, and a battle of the most primal kind. 


Is the United States a republic of limited government with a presumption in favor of individual liberty? Or is it just like any other western nation in which a permanent political class knows what’s best for its subjects? 


Pat Cadell, the former Carter adviser and Democratic pollster, surveying popular discontent over the summer distilled it to a single question:

Who is sovereign? The people or the political class?

To which the political class responds by modifying Barbra Streisand:

People? People? Who needs people?

In California, the people can pass a ballot proposition, but a single activist judge overrules them. In Arizona, the people’s representatives vote to uphold the people’s laws, but a pliant judge strikes them down at Washington’s behest. It is surely only a matter of time before some federal judge finds the constitution unconstitutional. It is never a good idea to send the message, as the political class now does consistently, that there are no democratic means by which the people can restrain their rulers. As Pat Cadell points out, the logic of that is “pre-revolutionary”...

Read the rest.

Does anyone hear a drum in the distance?

The Muster Drum

Do ye hear the roll of the Muster Drum
Rattlin' in your brain?
Can ye hear the tramp of Redcoat files
Comin' up your lane?
Rifle and horn and hawk ye have.
Will ye join us in The Fight?
Then find a tree or wall, Good Friend,
And mark well your bright front sight!

For they're comin', Lad, they're comin' fast,
Their bayonets agleam.
And maybe we can't stop 'em here
And maybe they'll cross your stream,
To burn your house and barn, my lad,
Put your family out in the night!
Then find a tree or wall, Good Friend,
And mark well your bright front sight!

We can harry 'em, harry 'em, in the road,
‘Til they wish they'd never come
To confiscate our powder and arms
And carry off our Gun!
We can show the World we're Free Men
Who'll Stand, Defend the Right!
Now find that tree or wall, Good Friend,
And mark well your bright front sight!

A Nation of Riflemen we can be,
If you'll enlist and arm and train!
Our ghosts are waiting for you, Friend,
On range and firing lane.
Can YOU hear the roll of the Muster Drum
By your fireside warm and bright?
Will YOU rise to find YOUR tree or wall
And mark well YOUR bright front sight?

For the need is NOW, my stranger Friend,
And it's urgent and it's plain.
The forces ranged against us
Now have everything to gain.
Take up the Call! Raise high your heart!
Answer the Muster Roll!
Stand shoulder-to with Friend and Friend.
Learn teamwork. Have a goal!

And mebbe, just mebbe, you won't be alone
Some cold and fearsome night
When to live you must find your tree or wall,
And mark well your bright front sight!!

HABCAN

To all freedom-lovers in the former USA and Canada:

Stand ready.

Betsey Markey & Other Traitors

TL Davis posts at American Rebel.

The Bad People intend to proceed, no matter what happens on Tuesday.

Resist.

Then win.

No matter what.

Whatever it takes.

By any means necessary.

And woe unto anyone who gets in the way.

Jack O' Lantern III

Happy Halloween (again), this time from Sipsey Street.

Better?
;-)

The End Of Liberty

Kill your TV cable feed (literally, if you dare) and spend 75 minutes watching this video from the National Inflation Association, courtesy of FireplaceGuy.

Then get your family and relatives to watch it.

Most will pooh-pooh its examination of the tightening noose.

Those folks, by their denial and scorn, have removed themselves from your "responsible" list.

Concentrate your efforts on the few who will get it.

HP 40: More On The Alabama RTC Rally

Read all of Alvie's speech, then contemplate where we are and how far we have to go.

Let's roll.

Video From The ATL RTC 10/30 Rally

Dan reports.

Other imagery and reports as received.

Fifteen Missouri Counties Have More Voters Than Population

Read this important story from Atlas Shrugs.

Would a snark on the theme of "'Show Me' State" be appropriate?

Your suggestions solicited below.

Happy Halloween!

Blame Maggie.

Or Sodahead.

Two RTC Reports: Horse Pens 40, Alabama & Atlanta/Little 5 Points

Reports pending on TX and NM, but all well/safe in both AL and GA.

Mike gives a brief report and text of his speech at Horse Pens 40 here.

Meanwhile, in a very diverse section of urban Atlanta amongst several street alcohol researchers:

the Georgia RTC team captured the quote of the week from an anonymous Atlanta police officer:

If you guys were here more often, our job would be a lot easier.

The ATL PD officers were completely professional, and we had numerous lively discussions with folks from all over the political spectrum. As acts of civil disobedience, some RTC members sold glasses of raw milk from a local dairy, while others hired and paid some of the itinerant attendees less than the minimum wage to keep parking issues handled.

We also had a special guest attendee: Chuck Donovan, Libertarian candidate for US Senate in Georgia, who open-carried his sidearm and spent the entire rally talking to passers-by about individual freedom.

Reports from our other two events and imagery as soon as possible.

Thanks to all for your support!

Codrea: Interview With Larry Pratt Of GOA

Read it all, please.

Neither Predator Nor Prey

From a weblog no longer around comes this entry, originally published in early October, 2005 by some  character calling himself "Cabinboy":


As much of a fan as I am of Bill Whittle, I was a little disturbed by his latest essay. Not the whole essay, mind you, just the sheep/sheepdog metaphor.

Me -- I don't want anybody sniffing around me and nipping at my heels, trying to move me in the direction THEY think is best for me. I'm much more of a  Gadsen guy myself.

That's why I am so happy that Mark Spungin, president of the  Wyoming Shooting Sports Association, has granted us his permission to republish his essay on what he believes is the proper totem for a Rifleman. The original version was published in the Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune, and I have taken the liberty just to include an Algore link from today's headlines.

I hope you'll enjoy Mark's essay, but more importantly, I hope you'll heed his message:

While we like to regard ourselves as superior to “lesser” animals, we, as humans, do share important similarities. Animals are generally grouped into “predator” and “prey” categories. Humans, for the most part, also tend to fall into one or the other above categories. For this system, animal or human, to work properly, there must be a considerable preponderance of prey species and a small number of predatory species.

However, in the human as well as the animal world, a smaller category also exists. This group consists of those humans or animals who, either through genetics or conscious thought, choose to be neither predators nor prey. It is in that third category that I tend to include myself and fellow lovers of Liberty.

Our animal equivalent is perhaps best represented by the buffalo bull. This formidable creature is indigenous to Wyoming and has been aptly selected as the state’s symbol. Generally peaceful by nature, the bull has little patience when harassed or threatened. They are also very protective of the cows and calves of the herd. In the long-ago days of the large buffalo herds and large wolf populations, the bulls would often have to surround the herd, shoulder to shoulder, in a circle. When a marauding wolf got too close, he would be gored by a bull’s horn, then flipped in the air and stomped into jelly by the bulls’ hooves when he hit the ground.

As humans, we have neither the massive strength, nor the hooves, nor the horns of the bull buffalo. However, what we do have – those of us who have chosen to be neither predator nor prey -- are our infinitely more capable brains and that wonderful product of thousands of years of technology – the major-caliber main battle rifle. Just as the buffalo bulls, we too are ready to form into a circle to protect our women and children. Being of a much higher mental order, we have also included within that circle our rights, liberties, and values, along with our legitimate hopes and desires.

Our metaphorical circle is so much stronger and more difficult to penetrate than the physical circle formed by the buffalo bulls. They acted purely on instinct, and sadly were unable to adapt to the tactics and technology of the human predator, despite their unyielding devotion to their protective mission. On the other hand, we humans act on conscious thought, and therefore are highly adaptable, infinitely imaginative, and capable of both proactive and reactive defensive measures.

Our foes – the human wolves – are both no less ferocious and voracious than their animal counterparts. They too possess much more capable brains. While they do not physically kill and eat us, their ultimate goal is to enslave us totally and eat out our substance. For them to get into our protective circle, they must first de-horn and emasculate us. This is the real purpose of gun control in general, and all “assault weapon” bans in particular. Today’s human predators know that if they can remove our most effective tools of resistance, they will have achieved a potentially decisive edge in the “tooth and claw” category.

These human wolves also differ in several important ways from their animal counterparts. The alpha male of the canine wolf pack leads by example and is at the forefront of all aggressive actions. He has very much earned his leadership position and is of great value to the pack. The survival of the pack is of paramount importance, so the alpha male who fails is quickly replaced by a more competent one in a spectacularly violent transition.

At one time in history, the human alpha male differed very little from his lupine cousin. Thousands of years of “civilization” have changed this fact, especially here in the Western world. The predatory “leader” most likely to be encountered by lovers of Liberty very rarely leads from the front. His status is generally attained through family connections and/or political gamesmanship. He is not really even part of the pack that is sent forth to do the dirty work. These “leaders” – great or small – feel no sense of loyalty or obligation to the lesser predatory minions that they recruit. In general, today’s human wolves hold their teammates in contempt and consider their fellow pack members to be both highly expendable and easily replaced. Interestingly, another important difference between predators of the two-legged and four-legged kinds is that incompetence and failure rarely leads to the expulsion of a two-legged pack alpha. Former VP Al Gore is a perfect example – so clueless that he actually had to take lessons on how to be an alpha male, yet still howling to the world as if he were still relevant to anyone outside of his own family.

As men and women who have chosen to be neither predator nor prey, we have the brains and the tools to take advantage of our foes’ weaknesses. But make no mistake: just as on the rolling plains of old, any failure to detect and defend against today’s predators will lead to our demise. If the human wolves succeed, then all is lost. The traditional values, attitudes, beliefs, and practices of our American culture will remain only as moldering dead reminders of our country’s former greatness.

If we are to avoid the fate of the long-gone great buffalo herds, we dare not ignore the predators that lurk in the shadows of today’s domestic and international political landscape.

We must not deny our responsibility to encircle and protect both our loved ones and our cherished ideals from those who would eviscerate them.

And we simply cannot tolerate those who would render us extinct, be it for political, ideological, or theological reasons.

We are much smarter, and much better armed, than our brother – the bull buffalo.

But so are our enemies.

Only if we remain equally fierce, pitiless, and unyielding as the bull buffalo will we survive – as neither predator nor prey.

If you admire the spirit behind this classic freedom/resistance essay, you will both enjoy and benefit from Mark's first novel, Neither Predator Nor Prey, as well as this JPFO interview with Mark. A sample section from the novel is here, and you can find Mike V's review here.

Ordering information is here.

The Ruckus, Part II

Kerodin posts the second part to this opener.

From his lips to God's ears...but you'd be advised to have a Plan B (and not put all of your eggs in the Plan A basket).

As part of thinking through these issues, Witchwood sent this series of vids on the Chechen rebellion via comment here:

Immortal Fortress - Part I

Immortal Fortress - Part II

Immortal Fortress - Part III

Immortal Fortress - Part IV

Immortal Fortress - Part V

Watch all five videos, then consider The Trainer's comments in the same string:

What I gathered from it:

1 - Homogenous people with strong sense of nationalism provides the 'glue' of unit cohesion.

2 - Self-concept of the average Chechen was that he was a warrior. Not so in the US. Not anymore, anyway. That will be an obstacle.

3 - Commitment is key. Dedication, motivation, and sincere loathing of one's enemy.

4 - MW against AW. Chechen MW attempted to keep the initiative which demoralized the Russians in many instances, including when Chechens could instigate fratricide.

5 - Chechen units relied heavily on "commander's intent" rather than strict orders. "Kill the Russians" was more important than strategic victory. To steal a line from a movie, they wanted to 'kill all they send' for the most part.

6 - Spiritual belief commonality. In this case, Muslim. In the US case, we must renew the sense of at least Judeo-Christian commonality in belief or there will be no 'glue'. [Editor's note: Using the Declaration of Independence as a foundational document will be an important adjunct, at the very least. I do not want to exclude right-minded folks who, for their own reasons, say 'meh' to the J-C framework but do live by recognizably-common ethics; e.g., Sikhs.]

7 - Spritual beliefs defeated fear.

8 - Force multiplication and 'OJT' training team deployment to 'new' groups idea.

9 - Scavanging of newly taken positions/equipment essential.

10 - Tactical errors by AW forces magnified by significant lack of preparation compounded by 'conscription force' mentality.

This is a great documentary to demonstrate what can be done to repel an invading force.

Hope for the best.

Plan and train for the worst.

Other suggestions welcome.

Chuckie's Coming...

Codrea explains.

Bring it.

Really.

Steyn: The Decrepitude Of Liberty

Another killer entry in Mark Steyn's pre-revolutionary look at the stakes in Election 2010.

Gravity and habit are tough to reverse.

Especially when, as with many of our "countrymen", you're too dim to know it.

Denninger: The Tea Party - Again - On MSNBC And Elsewhere

Denninger continues to scourge the institutional/astroturf Tea Party and its refusal to accept Dead Elephant culpability for much of the current disaster.

The "GWB was a great American" crowd are part and parcel of the problem.

And it's not getting fixed by the incoming clowns.

So, all you serious folks who can face facts?

Best to be ready at a minute's notice.

The AR Party's coming....

(illustration here by Brian F., with thanks!)

The Ruckus

Alvie posts an excellent article from Kerodin at Memento Mori.

Just remember: those in the crowd used to the taste of government teat are going to see you and treat you as exactly what you are:

A mortal threat to their existence.

The Democrats' Final Recourse: Massive Vote Fraud

Read it all.

And download your copy of the SBYV comic here.

The Six Trillion Dollar Problem (Is Just The Beginning)

Sinclair links to this recap article on Foreclosuregate.

Use it to get others a baseline understanding of the issue and its consequences.

BTW, here's the latest unofficial count on the indebtedness of the entity supposedly "big enough" to corral Foreclosuregate; official count is here.

Do you understand yet?

Baugh: A Plus B Equals Your Worst Nightmare

Baugh's back, and he explains one of the many possibilities awaiting a country whose elites have savaged hundreds of millions of people across the world.

Read it, and know that the scenario he paints is just one to be filed under "Earned Retribution".

More Info On Alabama RTC Rally This Saturday At Horse Pens 40

Mike sends.

Details on all four RTC events here.

See you there.

More Steyn: The Republic Of Paperwork

Read Mark Steyn's latest entry in his current pre-revolutionary series.

He gets it.

You ready?

The Efficacy Of Anti-Materiel Raids

The NY Daily News explains.

Things that make you say "Hmmmm...."

Wasn't this approach mentioned in a book from a while back?

The Hayseed Rebellion

First read this piece from The American Spectator, then read Willie Stark's speech from All The King's Men.

And remember: what you do after Election Day is one helluva lot more important than what you do on November 2nd.

Help Fight For Free Speech

Gates of Vienna has the story on Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff's fight in Austria for Western values, along with an update.

Donations of any size should be sent per the instructions here.

The transnational collectivists and their Islamic masters are the joint enemy of all mankind.

Please help to fight and destroy them, both now and in the future.

Today, with dollars.

Tomorrow, by any means necessary.

The Anger Of The Honest, Parts I & II

A two-parter from Charles Hugh Smith at Of Two Minds:

The Rot Within: Our Culture of Financial Fraud and the Anger of the Honest

U.S. Financial Markets: The Well Has Been Poisoned (Anger of the Honest Part II)

Read them both, along with their embedded links.

Best rig for the long retreat, comrades....

Restore The Constitution Rallies: Round Three

Be there this Saturday at a variety of RTC armed rallies in several locations around the country:

Atlanta

Luna, New Mexico

Brownsville, Texas

Horse Pens 40, Alabama

What's the point?

1) To practice gathering together while armed.

2) To show friends, foes, and neutrals alike:
- what can be done
- to what extent Second Amendment rights can be used in a peaceful but communicative way, and
- to know where those friends, foes, and neutrals stand on actually taking any kind of action -- even legal, peaceable action.

3) To bring attention to the fact that the Constitution is being violated in multiple ways. It’s one thing to debate online; it’s quite another to speak to the public or the media while carrying a weapon.

Hope to see you there.

2081

Hat-tip to Maggie's Farm for pointing to this review of this FreeFor independent movie.

Trailer here.

The Bad People have their plans.

Do you?

On Government & Suck

Mark Steyn gives you the long version.

Billy Beck gives you the short version.

The moochers and looters insist that you love them as they eat out your substance.

Have you had enough of these vermin yet?

Shenandoah: Anything But Lame

Read John Galt FLA's latest.

As I noted in comments:

Watch and do what?

The Dems know that the Rs do not have the cohesion, brains, or courage to do mass repeals of lame-duck legislation.

They also know that the Mighty Kenyan will veto any attempt to do so.

Spend the session finishing your preps and training.

You’re gonna need it.

Steyn: It Starts With The Money

From Mark Steyn:

All this week at SteynOnline, we're looking at what I regard as the key issues in this year's big vote. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so drop us a line at Mark's Mailbox. 


We're starting today with the most basic issue of all: We're broke.

I’ve spent much of this election season overseas, a long way from internal polls for this or that House district, so I’m not too focused on the fortunes of particular Republican candidates or particular Democrat incumbents. But nor is a big chunk of the electorate: A Republican victory is not the end but merely the means. The Tea Party and other members of America’s beleaguered productive class decided that this time round it suited them to work within the diseased husk of the GOP. This is really the last chance for the unloved Republicans. If the party establishment is sufficiently dimwitted to see November 2nd as the restoration of the 2004-2006 GOP, they will be setting up the conditions (as Rush has already argued) for a serious third-force challenge in 2012. That would be less convulsive than a remoter though still possible scenario: If the Democrats manage to hold onto power by openly funding spoiler candidates, they would be discrediting the entire electoral process, and setting up pre-revolutionary conditions. In other words, it would be very easy for both parties to confirm the suspicion of a very disenchanted electorate – that the system no longer allows for serious course correction.

And, without serious course correction, America is doomed. It starts with the money. For dominant powers, it always does – from the Roman Empire to the British Empire. “Declinism” is in the air these days, but for us full-time apocalyptics we’re already well past that stage. In the space of one generation, a nation of savers became the world’s largest debtors, and a nation of makers and doers became a cheap service economy. Everything that can be outsourced has been – manufacturing to by no means friendly nations overseas; and much of what’s left in agriculture and construction to the armies of the “undocumented”. At the lower end, Americans are educated at a higher cost per capita than any nation except Luxembourg in order to do minimal-skill checkout-line jobs about to be rendered obsolete by technology. At the upper end, America’s elite goes to school till early middle age in order to be credentialed for pseudo-employment as $350 grand-a-year diversity consultants (Michelle Obama) or in one of the many other phony-baloney makework schemes deriving from government micro-regulation of virtually every aspect of endeavor.

So we’re not facing “decline”. We’re already in it. What comes next is the “fall” – sudden, devastating, off the cliff. That’s why this election is consequential – because the Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending spree made what was vague and distant explicit and immediate. A lot of the debate about America’s date with destiny has an airy-fairy beyond-the-blue-horizon mid-century quality, all to do with long-term trends and other remote indicators. In reality, we’ll be lucky to make it through the short-term in sufficient shape to get finished off by the long-term. According to CBO projections, by 2055 interest payments on the debt will exceed federal revenues. But I don’t think we’ll need to worry about a “Government of the United States” at that stage. By 1788, Louis XVI’s government in France was spending a mere 60 per cent of revenues on debt service, and we all know how that worked out for the House of Bourbon the following year...
***

Read the rest.

Got tumbrils?

More Spewings From The Idiot Dwarf

Mike explains.

And folks, please draw the implicit lesson from the Memphis exercise:

The State Security Forces use constitutionalists and other freedom activists as "mock" terrorists because they can.

Muslim terrorists as the subject of a drill?

Oh no. CAIR and others would eat DHS alive.

MS-13?

Muy problemo.

EarthFirsters and that ecoterror ilk?

Not a chance.

DHS and others can do such drills against "domestic terrorist" boogeymen, because the FreeFor has no credibility in its protests against such calumnies.

No credibility.

They do not fear you in the slightest.

Think about what that means as the temperature in the water increases.

Volk On Freedom

(click to enlarge)

An early-voting Election Day message from Oleg.

Denninger: Let's Face Facts - America Doesn't Want Tea

Denninger's latest once again shows him tracking 12-18 months ahead of the pack, this time on the impending failure of the "Revolution of 2010".

Read another piece of his from this weekend and think hard about what it will mean when even the slow kids understand that there is no longer the rule of law in America.

It's been a good run....

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you:

Zombieland rules.

Two New Books From Claire Wolfe

Details here.

The Jamestown Foundation

From a reader, suggesting review of this resource:

Mission

The mission of the Jamestown Foundation is to inform and educate policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information. Utilizing indigenous and primary sources, Jamestown’s material is delivered without political bias, filter or agenda. It is often the only source of information which should be, but is not always, available through official or intelligence channels, especially in regard to Eurasia and terrorism.

Origins

Launched in 1984 after Jamestown's late president and founder William Geimer's work with Arkady Shevchenko, the highest-ranking Soviet official ever to defect when he left his position as undersecretary general of the United Nations, the Jamestown Foundation rapidly became the leading source of information about the inner workings of closed totalitarian societies.


Jamestown's work has contributed directly to the spread of democracy and personal freedom in the former Communist Bloc countries. In the 1980s the foundation assisted such key experts as former high-ranking Soviet diplomat Arkady Shevchenko, and former top Romanian intelligence officer Ion Pacepa, whose revelations about their governments -- which then directly challenged the United States -- were unprecedented and singularly important.


Jamestown ensured that both men published their insights and experience in what became bestselling books. Shevchenko's Breaking With Moscow revealed the details of Soviet arms control strategy and tactics, and diplomatic moves, at the height of the Cold War. And even today some credit Pacepa's revelations about Ceacescu in his bestselling book Red Horizons with the fall of that government and the freeing of Romania.


Over the past two decades, Jamestown has developed an extensive global network of such experts -- from the Black Sea to Siberia, from the Persian Gulf to the Pacific. This core of intellectual talent includes former high-ranking government officials and military officers, political scientists, journalists, scholars and economists. Their insight contributes significantly to policymakers engaged in addressing today's new and emerging global threats, including that from international terrorists.

Added to the blogroll, with our thanks.

25 Years Worse

Background.

In 1986, a $2 trillion FedGov debt was an outrage.

Now?

Three From RTC

Dan at Restore the Constitution posts a three-part series you should read:

Part I: The Sheeple

Part II: The Monkeys

Part III: The Bad People

More to follow soon.

Codrea: Vanderboegh's Challenge

Go and read.

I have it on reliable authority that Mike's friends have pledged to cover his costs to travel to and return from any domestic venue named by the Bad People.

Do they have the balls to take him up?

OpFor Views On The Constitution

At Shenandoah, JohnGaltFLA links to this Newsweek article.

Read both articles, please.

Do you understand yet?

Another Highlight Of My Retreat At The Monastery

We chanted every day, based on this wonderful compilation at The Borderline Sociopathic Blog For Boys.

Try it yourself, as you strive for enlightenment and bliss.

As Distant Muskets Near

TL Davis at Washington Rebel gazes upon multiple faces of the polygonal battlespace.

Use his musings to help stiffen the sinews of those in your tribe who don't yet understand the current and near-future threat matrix.

Dreamers and other fuzzy-thinkers will not help you in the coming struggle.

Bet on it.

Quote Of The Week

They [the Bad People] understand that normal folks are afraid to break the law, let alone break shit and kill people. Until normal folks get over that fear, the bad guys have free rein. It's that simple.

-- A senior monk earlier this week

Denninger: Another Rant On The Tea Party

KD drives it home.

Remember - there are two tea parties:

1) The Republican stalking-horse FreedomWorks/Dick Armey operation, and

2) A bunch of pi**ed-off Americans.

#1 is NFG, unless you count the few folks with brains who awaken to the scam and bail.

#2 is embryonic, but may be fatally infected with silliness like the "democracy" and "Constitution" fetishes.

#2 is also a fertile ground for recruiting folks based on a realistic plan for unscrewing the current situation.

Anyone got one?

Late To The Party

Donald Sensing's post today is essential.

In your daily round, look at all of the people in your AO who would go ape-crazy if a true limited-by-the-Constitution government were installed.

No unconstitutional spending means those people will howl.

And their vote cancels yours.

Suggestions?

Word

H/t Insty, from Hot Air.

More

Details.

A Koan From The Monastery

"Koan" explained.

Examples:

The spear is not the point.

The point is not the spear.

Meditate on the meaning of this wisdom.

Really.

A Concise Compilation: Is America On A Burning Platform?

This article from Zero Hedge nicely captures the yin and yang between the bubblistas and reality.

Your Monday bonus question:

In a cage match to the death between fantasy and arithmetic, where does the smart money place its bets?

Unicorns are ineligible for this contest. So sorry.

Rather Touchy, Eh?

(click to enlarge)

Insty explains.

Anyone surprised?

For bonus points, see if you can draw the correct operational lessons from the coverage's following quote:

***
"He got a lot of calls out of his place of business that he said he was fine with. When things got out of hand and people started calling his wife, that's when he decided to go ahead and take it down," says Blake Brueggeman, owner of Integrity Auto Repair. Brueggeman leases property from the billboard owner...
***

Your essay answers should not exceed 200 words.

Your test period begins...now.

Got Monks?

Offline starting today through Thursday evening.

Time for contemplation and prayer, and the monks aren't big on connectivity.

Stay low.

Keep moving.

See you in a few.