The First Time . . .

By
eric
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I am an Elvis fan and so know his more obscure work, including a lachrymose (but powerful) ballad he sang called The First Time Ever I saw Your Face. It’s a fitting theme song for a muse about the first time I ever didn’t see a face – and perhaps for you as well since we’re now about a year into the disease process of weaponized hypochondria.

I was seated inside  the coffee shop where I used to spend a few hours almost every day, working on my laptop in the company of other people – a once-normal thing since made abnormal by people afflicted with engineered fear about a virus that isn’t even 1 percent Hantavirus (which results in death – not “mild symptoms” or a “positive test” – in about 40 percent of those who contract it) but which they insist must be feared as worse than Hantavirus.

And which they believe – the correct word, as thinking does not apply – can be warded off by wearing a reusable piece of cloth over their portals.

A year ago at this time, almost no one wore this strange device – precisely because it was a strange device – like a Hare Krishna’s saffron robes – and the wearing of it made the wearer look . . . strange.

Stupid, too.

In the first place, for believing that a piece of cloth covering their portals served as an effective palliative against a purportedly highly infectious and extremely dangerous aerosoled virus. This being of a piece with the belief of Dr. Van Helsing that a crucifix wards off the undead. In the second – and more substantive place – for not being serious about what they pretend to believe is an extremely dangerous aerosoled virus.

If they really believed it, would they risk buying a cup of coffee in a cafe full of possibly virus-suppurating people?

Do they place such little value – about $2 for a cup – on their lives?

Apparently so.

That’s what I thought to myself as I watched this woman approach the counter with a piece of cloth covering her portals, the strange device we know today as the Holy Rag, the vestment of the Sickness Cult. Everyone else in the cafe watched, too. It was like watching Michael Jackson order coffee because at that time no one else except that sad freak and a few others so afflicted behaved – and looked – like this. The sight is both curious and alarming, precisely because of the pathology it radiates.

This person is sick – psychiatrically speaking. Hypochondria is a serious mental illness.

One feels pity for them but also unease – because people who aren’t wired right are unpredictable and sometimes dangerous.

As we all know now.

The effaced woman got her coffee – and stayed inside. Sat not “socially distanced” (that pathology was as yet unknown) from others at her table, her faith in her vestment’s protection far more powerful than any actual protection it afforded.

As the saying goes, ask your doctor (not Fauci) about the effectiveness of wearing a piece of cloth over your portals prior to a tour of a Hantavirus ward.

Would you enter a Hantavirus ward with nothing more than a “mask” over your portals? One from a box that said on its side it offers no protection against aerosoled viruses? A bandana?

But then, Hantavirus doesn’t require faith in its potency.

The curious thing, from a psychiatric perspective, is that the people who manned the counter at this coffee shop – Sweet Donkey, in Roanoke Virginia – also thought it was odd and also silly.

Initially.

Before they were programmed to believe differently or at least pretend they did.

I knew these people on a friendly basis (I later found out I was mistaken regarding the latter) because I was a “regular” and had gotten to know them and they me. We’d exchange friendly banter as I ordered my coffee and sometimes a snack. They seemed reasonable and nice, as most Americans one met casually seemed reasonable and nice only about a year or so ago.

But there was an underlying pathology there, soon to percolate.

The same people who raised an eyebrow and expressed pity at the sight of a freak wearing a cloth over their portals were in just a few months’ time ferociously wearing them and demanding the same of others, so that everyone would look like a freak – in order, I suppose, to efface the freakiness of this freak show by making it appear universal.

I was excommunicated from the cafe for not being willing – for outright refusing – to express faith in the absurd by placing a piece of cloth over my portals. I don’t dance around a sombrero, either – especially if they don’t pay me to do it.

Now, a year later, I am the “freak” – along with the stalwart few who are immune to sickness psychosis but nonetheless forced to deal with its disease process, in the manner of having a crazy uncle in the attic except the crazy uncle is on the loose – and has the backing of the government.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. Not Sequestered
  2. Diaper Report 9/24/20
  3. Paying Cash For a Cup of Coffee a ‘Potential Indicator of Terrorist Activity’
  4. Another Diaper Departure
  5. Don’t Eat at Carl’s

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92 COMMENTS

  1. I know someone that likes wearing a bandana , sunglasses, and a hoodie into stores , but not for corona reasons. He doesn’t like cameras. It looks intimidating.

  2. Eric, funny that you bring up “Star-Fucks” (Starbucks) as an example of how, what the late HL Mencken would have called the “Great Boobsie”, can be so Gott-Damnerunged “Leichtglaubig” (Gullible). Some time ago, not far from my own castle, at the corner of Fair Oaks and Madison in the suburban ghetto of Sac Town, was an Arby’s, which was closed. It was replaced by one of those accursed places with the sign of the Green Bitch pushing her alleged “coffee” on idiots willing to shell out four or five bucks on a “Venti”. Yesterday, after helping to set up the local LDS chapel for the ‘social-distanced’ gathering that our ding-dong governor, “Gabbin Nonsense”, so graciously “allows” we “proles” (while he dines with his fellow criminals in a posh wine country eatery that serves “Frog” cuisine), and having snarfed some dee-licious, politically incorrect breakfast burgers at a local Carl’s, observe the “Kooky Koffee Klatch”, kitty-korner across the street, and while waiting in line for my chow, count the number of vehicles in THAT line…27! No shit! Twenty-seven of those moronic lemmings, waiting “Gawd” knows how long for that over-sugared coffee…taking, likely, several times as LONG as if they’d simply brewed up a pot of coffee and poured some into a Thermos, the way my now 87 y.o. Dad, career Air Force, did for his morning “lifer juice”. Of course, Dad wasn’t into that fancy, bullshit designer coffee, but simply got a can of Maxwell House or Folgers at the Commissary (later on, he’d just nuke a cup of Taster’s Choice in the microwave, he says it’s just as good), have a cup when he got up and brewed that pot, have another with his customer oatmeal or an fried egg on a “shingle”, and pour the rest into a Thermos. If the weather was freezing, when I was a kid, he’d have a hot cup with him as he’d scrape off the windshield while warming up the Volkswagen, and once in awhile he’d forget the cup on the roof…and yes, we’d see a cup of frozen coffee, stuck to the roof of the Vee-Dub!

  4. Eric wrote ” I think it is critical for those of us on the sane side of the aisle to establish networks and build upon them.”

    I was thinking how nice it would be to spend a few days at a beautiful Virginia mt campground with other honest decent folks.
    Kind of like a family get together.
    We could bring our campers, mini-bikes, muscle cars guitars etc. A nice little mountain summer vacation for sanity.

    Maybe a crazy idea but I would sure would show up.

      • We live in NC but spend much of our free time up there in the blue ridge mts.
        camping, riding our motorcycles and playing on the lake with our RC boats. 🙂
        I swear its one of the prettiest places.

  6. So, I don’t remember the first time I saw a diapered person in this years-long (15 days to flatten the world) fiasco, but I do remember seeing people in surgical masks here and there around this city. I always wondered what the hell that was about.

    I, myself, would wear an N95 if I was caught in one of Phoenix’s apocalyptic haboobs (enormous dust storms). N95s are actually quite effective at keeping out dust and dirt, which here carries a fungus responsible for the disease “Valley Fever”, and THAT can cause ANYONE considerable and possibly chronic problems, eventually leading to lung-scarring, and possibly infiltrating your nervous system and other organs.

    Know what, though? Most people thought I was crazy for doing so. Why? Because the TV didn’t tell them to worry about Valley Fever. Hell, they used to send their reporters out into haboobs, unmasked.

    The people wearing surgical masks, however, were always quizzical. Surgical masks don’t do shit to protect you from Valley Fever, nor viral infections for that matter. Maybe they didn’t like the pollution, here, but surgical masks don’t do a damn thing for that either.

    Now, I was good and pissed off yesterday after hearing that douche on the radio suggesting we should need vaccination cards to enter businesses. But, I finally couldn’t take anymore when some punk on a skateboard, wearing a huge surgical face-diaper over nearly his entire face, nearly skated right into the grille of my truck, completely oblivious. I had to swerve hard or he would’ve been road pizza. After THAT, it was time to drink!

  7. Ah, yes, I remember it well. I was working at the store just about a year ago, people unloading our shelves of all the toilet paper, when this couple with their newborn, all covered up, came through my register. They were wearing N95’s and complaining about how many germs were flying around. The good old days.

    I have a feeling that it’s never really going to end, at least not for a long time. Far too many people buy into the bullshit and won’t give it up, no matter how many of us walk around with bare faces and don’t die. I have little hope that it will get better.

  8. I don’t remember the first mask, but I remember what happened one afternoon at the office vividly. We have a large TV in the conference room, and the owner (architectural firm) told us all to come in and see the news. I went in there to see what all the fuss was about and lo and behold, the “authorities” were announcing that they were closing all non-essential businesses.

    Seems I was the only one in the room that understood this unprecedented move and the ramifications that would follow. I was seething with rage and expressed it. To my amazement, all around me were blank stares from sheep. “Why, they must be closing things down for our safety! It’s just for 2 weeks!” They looked at me like I was insane.

    I shouldn’t have been surprised. It seems that all my life I have been able to see things that others cannot or will not. Blessing/curse.

  9. Elvis: Hail to the King. We could use him now.

    Also Peter Steele and Type O Negative, who would be a powerful force against “wokism”.

    I couldn’t handle it anymore and got horribly drunk last night. Feeling just capital today, a a consequence.

    The world is a sick parody of itself.

    • Tequila? Whiskey? Rum and coke? A good merlot? Don’t leave us in suspense, BaDnOn.

      It is okay to get smashing drunk every once in awhile, it helps you forget the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

      On Friday nights in my household we have margaritas and nachos or crab legs and beer. Since we had crab legs last week this week is nachos and tequila. Quite fun since when we include a game of ping pong highly buzzed. 😉

      • I too have been making it a new habit of downing 1 or 2 shots of Patron tequila once every week or two when I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.

      • Raider Girl,

        Had to have a nap, haha.

        Usually I indulge, these days, with a couple of tall-boys and a few shooters of various 99-bananas flavors. For beer, I enjoy Bud Light Platinum, Corona, or any of the many IPAs. I love IPA.

        Otherwise, I used to drink more vodka, but not so much these days. I also like dry wines, with chardonnay and rose being my favorites. I also make my own wine, the last and possibly next brew being made from grapefruits off of my grapefruit tree. The last batch was 15% ethanol, but still tasty, and put you on your ass in no time!

        • The grapefruit wine sounds delicious. One of my favorite beers is Schofferhofer grapefruit beer. It is very easy to down three in a sitting. 🙂

          • Hi RG,

            I like wine – but wine does not like me! I get a bad headache practically every time I have more than a glass; the kind of headache that fistfulls of aspirin won’t take care of.

            But the harder stuff imposes no such penalties. Go figure!

            • eric, sounds like me and vodka. Killer headache and feel like shat. 100 proof Evan Williams settles fine and so does Shiner Black.

              To address the face diaper, I have asked people if they know the size of a virus. They never do. I tell them it’s 100th of the width of a human hair so how do they think a mask can stop it. It’s the blank look slowly turning into that mad face. How dare I use physics to make them look like fools when one of the worst men alive (Fauci)goes back and forth.

              I’ve researched masks to a great degree. Starting in the early 80’s, various experiments were performed with masks and no masks. They didn’t use them in the OR and saw no changed in the surgeon or the patient. Several very good hospitals have run these tests. Same result from every one.

              But that makes no difference to almost everyone. If govt. says to wear it, then, by god, they’re gonna wear it. If anyone says anything about wearing a mask I just growl and they leave me alone. Once I replied “Ever heard of HIPPA laws?”. That shuts them up quickly.

              It pisses me off to just discuss it. Idiots, out in the middle of nowhere masked up, like their city counterpart driving masked in their car. Most of them are in cars with dual air filters. I think I’ll go pour a beer and have a shot of Evan. Good day all.

        • Hi Badnon,

          If you have any extra grapefruit wine, I would love to purchase some. And it would be good to meet a fellow free man in this struggle (if we don’t already know each other lol)

          Feel free to email me at my burner email GrapefruitWineIsTheBest at protonmail dot com

          • Mike,

            Not at this time, but that may change in a month or two…

            I’ll drop you a mail, though. That reminds me that I need to re-acquire a Protonmail. I used to have one, actually when it was invitation only, and I forgot one of the damn passwords, haha.

            If I brew something good, though, I’ll keep you in mind. I reckon I could just give you some, along with a handshake, so that we might remember the Old World. 😉 Keep in mind, I’m not an overly social creature, though, so don’t expect too much!

    • The late Elvis Presley actually disliked being called the “King”, though he appreciated his many fans. I recall him telling someone call him “King”, and Elvis gently remonstrated him, saying, “I am NOT a ‘king’, but let me tell you about who IS my “King” “, and commenced to witness to the fan about his faith in Jesus Christ.

  10. The only person I know that wore masks before the rona, is one of my neighbors. And yes, she is a kook. Her late husband was normal and was nice (he hated the masks). I often felt sorry for him because she no longer was the woman he had married.

    I am guessing about 30% of people will continue to wear masks, even if we somehow shut this nonsense down. I know for one banks want them gone, as most have closed their lobbies to the general public.

  11. For me i recall the first time and it was a complete shock to the system. Once the weasle gov of new jersistan decreed adhearance to the new diaper religion i kind of took a time out for about a month. I didn’t really leave the house except to go to the office and at the time i was the only one in the office, the security guards don’t police the diaper useage even now i walk in daily sans the diaper. Once i hit my floor its a different story for anothet time but lets just say i decided to give it a month in the hopes that sanity would prevail. Boy was i wrong.
    My first experience with the holy sect of the diapered occurred when the 10 gallons exterior paint i was using to paint my house was all used up and i had to go to depot for another 5 gallon bucket. I had already planned my “medical exemption ” excuse, the medical exemption being i was too sane to go along with this hysteria but they didn’t need to know that. I always kept a decent supply of food around for emergency situations and the wife always handled the paper products so we had more than enough to live on for 4 weeks without having to go get anything but bread and milk, which i allowed my wife to do since i was in denial of the stupidity going on around me at the time. Anyways, i get to depot and there is a line outside and these sheep in the line all more than 6 feet apart were diapered. I couldn’t believe my eyes and it was at that point i knew this was not going away any time soon. Anyway, the only place i have voluntarily diapered after a long conversation with the owner has been my local firearms store. I was fully prepared to go with the medical exemption excuse but the owner talked to me and i saw his point. In new jersistan the state is looking for any and all reasons to destroy the firearms industry and will use the diaper excuse to shut these stores down 1 at a time if necessary. I told him i would still walk in without the diaper but would if asked by him and his staff to put on the diaper to avoid him being targeted by the state. All locations other than doctor’s offices in am ready and willing to fight and no longer use the medical exemption excuse

  12. Me: So this virus, It came from where?

    Simpleton: A bio-lab in China.

    Me: So, this virus got bast all the safety protocols at a bio-lab?

    Simpleton: It must have.

    Me: So, this virus escaped a bio-lab, rapidly spread around the world and you are thinking you are stopping it with a piece of handkerchief? Sorry, TWO pieces of handkerchief?

    Simpleton: Um. Yeah.

  13. I don’t remember the first time I saw a masker, but I did see two double maskers in the last week. They have that blue diaper you see a lot of them wearing plus a cloth one over that. I’m waiting for lord fauci to decree three mask (if two is better than one three must be better than two). Imagine the fear these poor souls live with. The problem for us is fearful people can become very dangerous.

    • There have already been three mask suggestions from some morons at the helm.

      Again, plastic bags. Just point out that they are entirely impervious To ‘Rona. A simple fact. Don’t even have to suggest they wear one. That bright idea will dawn on the correct people naturally.

      • The thing about the bags is you can’t push the idea at all since by law that would be coercing someone into suicide and that’s only OK when the government does it

    • I’ll add that at the begining of this last year we did order two high quality ‘Guy Fawkes’ masks. Have not had to wear them yet but one stays affixed to each of our passenger side head rests in our vehicles.
      It can look a little creepy seeing Guy sitting in the car, but I think it makes a statement. 🙂

  15. At first I’d wonder if maybe she was actually sick and wore it as a courtesy thing, cuz I’ve seen that in Roanoke before all this began, if people with the flu or some other bug really had to leave the house for something. But then why risk going into a coffee shop at all.. most likely was just a virtue-signaling early adopter. She did it first so now she gets to think she was right to be so bold, lol.

  16. I’m not sure what month it was, but it was at the beginning of tis charade. I was walking through a grocery store, and spied a morbidly obese fellow riding around on one of those fat people motorized carts the stores provide for their overweight clients. This man had a child sized blue mask plastered to his face. The mask was too small to cover his mouth and nose, so his nose poked out the top. Not only that, the man had a full beard. No way in hell that mask was doing any good, even if it was capable of doing anything. I shook my head in amazement, and wanted to laugh out loud at the pure stupidity of the sight. Now, I would be amazed to see a maskless person in the grocery store. I have not seen another maskless person in a long time, except for quick stops at 7 Eleven.

    • Got a good one for you Eric. Had to go to the office of a company I do some contract work for in Tysons Corner NoVa (aka 6th circle of hell – DC itself is the 7th). Office has been all remote since last March. Fear porn signage in the building everywhere. By the elevators sign says limit 2 and stand at opposite corners on blue circles. IN the elevators there is a sign “Loose lips spread COVID-19”. WTF?? This is serious psychosis. I have entered the serious Twilight Zone not sure how much more my sanity can stand. Trashed 2 of these signs (nearly empty buildings have their advantages!). Felt…liberating

      • Hi Metal,

        Oy vey! I grew up in Fairfax, in Vienna – just down the road from Tysons – so I know that area very well and it is for exactly that reason I’m no longer living in that area. It’s a Hot Zone, all right. The disease is probably incurable. I recommend the treatment I applied, which is to get as far away from it as you can.

        • I am out of this area by the end of the year hopefully. I am fortunately in Loudoun not Fairfax county it seems less awful once you cross the county line. As for Tysons Corner, I am convinced that they are creating a dystopian “smart city” there. Used to be a cool place 20 years ago now to be avoided if at all possible!

        • I am out of this area by the end of the year hopefully. I am fortunately in Loudoun not Fairfax county it seems less awful once you cross the county line. As for Tysons Corner, I am convinced that they are creating a dystopian “smart city” there. Used to be a cool place 20 years ago now to be avoided if at all possible!

          • Hi Metal,

            Tysons was ok back in the ’80s… a million years ago. I used to cruise Chain Bridge Road in my Camaro; hang out with the motorheads at the McDonald’s near Madison High. Glad you’re leaving. There’s not much worth staying for.

  17. I purposely do not wear a “face diaper” anywhere and have been successful in warding off any challenges to my lack of a “face diaper”. I purposely ignore the directional arrows in store aisles as well as refusing to obey the “six-foot” rule for “social distancing. When I see another “face diaper refusenik” I acknowledge them and thank them for not complying.
    Recently, while in my local grocery store sans face diaper, a customer remarked on my lack of a face diaper to which I sternly told her to “mind her own business”.
    End of story.

  18. I don’t know if I’d call you guys, “lucky” or not for seeing your First Mastika Monster, I didn’t get that experience. I was stuck at home for some of January and almost all of February, when I finally got to go to a store it was like walking into a different world -Bizarro World – Every single stinkin’ type, age, and kind of person in the stores were suddenly voluntarily wearing a face diaper. I was so creeped out by it all, especially with no state mandate people wear them.
    I haven’t been the slightest bit sick in a year while not wearing any face covering while out: shopping, eating at a mask-free bar/restaurant, paying for gasoline at the full service mask-free gas station, or hugging some 95% hypochondriac family members, or shaking a few normal hands of true human beings.
    Last Christmas I tried to tell some family members this was a plandemic, evidence for that being more people died overall in 2018 than in 2020. The party line response was, just wait til x-mas is over, then there will be more. …And, here we are. I haven’t seen the latest yearly overall Feb. to Feb. comparisons of 2020 with other years, a quick search with mostly MSM sources shows the data is as clear as mud, that said, I haven’t seen any bodies in the streets to justify the mass panic.

  19. I don’t recall seeing anyone masking in the wild until it was decreed by the once-great state of Colorado’s governor. Before that it was pretty much just on TV, mostly pics from Asia.

    One of the justifications for the holy rags is because of their supposed effectiveness in South Korea and China. While I would guess there’s a slight amount of truth to that, the reason people wear masks in Asian countries is because of the air pollution, from two cycle scooter engines and dirty coal plants, than because they want to prevent disease. The exception being Japan, where people who must venture out when they have a head cold wear masks as a courtesy to otherwise healthy people. This somehow got twisted up with the “asymptotic carriers,” which I doubt has ever been studied before now, spreading their unclean breath far and wide.

  20. My first time was near the end of last January in Midway airport. A young man, maybe in his 20s, wearing a face diaper and also bringing along a small terrier-like dog that was wearing an orange vest that said “comfort animal.” I was so angry and stunned beyond belief and wanted to kick this eunuch where his balls used to be. Was the most surreal thing I had ever seen to that point of my life. Little did I know.

  21. Roberta Flack offers a far more solemn and apt version of this tune.

    I miss faces. I miss smiles. I miss politics being a side conversation. I miss car talk. I miss my friends.

    I miss freedom.

  22. I honestly don’t remember the first time I saw someone without a mask. I refuse to allow any headspace to these freaks and their perverse ways. I can tell you though every place I have seen an unmasked person since May, every conversation with someone that I could see their whole face, every time a restaurant or store let me in and said nothing about my lack of mask. These are the memories I hold in my mind.

    From this entire Plandemic I do remember something very clearly and it completely changed my outlook and how I became a prepper . At the end of March I remember taking my weekly run for groceries. I hit my local chains (Aldi, Lidl, and Martins). I walked down every aisle completely aghast of the lack of food – no milk, no bread, a few egg cartons, no paper products at all, picked through fruits and veggies, the bare minimum of canned goods, etc. I had started at Aldi and was surprised at the lack of food, but my thinking was “I will run over to Lidl, they will have it.” When I saw the same thing awaited me there I almost cracked. I remember being on the verge of tears. I just kept thinking we are Venezuela. My country is Venezuela.

    I went home that night with a total of $80 of food between three stores. For a family of four that usually spends $200 to $250 this was my wake up call. I went home and pulled up every local farm and farmer’s market within a 50 mile radius. I completely redesigned a basement shelving system to hold food instead of books. Over the next two months I hit every Big Lots, Target, and grocery store sale that I could find and began storing food. I visited every farm near me that would sell meat, chicken, seafood, and pork and began buying (and freezing) extra reserves. I expanded our garden and made plans to erect a greenhouse.

    There are episodes in our lives that change our mindset and how we view the world. This was one of my biggest.

    • This is excellent, RG – thank you for the healthy perspective!

      I also began to seriously prep around the same time and have done much as you have. I intend to do more, soon.

      • For cold climates and winter, I highly recommend,

        https://www.amazon.com/FSGTEK-HollandStar-Spectrum-Vegetables-X5-1500W-White/dp/B07TH7D3YH/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=1500w&qid=1614361014&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-9

        I have two of these COB and a 1000w ‘Burple’ type in a 8’x6′ room. Over winter they keep me in fresh herbs and veggies. Costs about $1/day for electricity.

        Note the 1500w and 1000w is ‘equivalent’ and not the actual power draw.

        Come springtime I get everything started very early for the greenhouse. The greenhouse lets me put stuff out a month early and the grow room means what goes out is already 1 month ahead, so gives huge yields compared to direct in-ground spring planting.

        Just watch your eyes. These things are crazy bright.

          • The Burple came with some cheap plastic shades that they suggest you wear. Very dark.

            Not an eye doctor but pretty sure the UV is the big one to block so good sunglasses should work. Just like the sun, never look directly at the lights. What little work is required in the room, I try to do when the lights are off. I run a 16 hour on, 8 off cycle.

    • Same here, RG. Before last March I kept just a minimal amount of food in stock. Now my cupboards are always full and refrigerator packed.

      Not long ago people made fun of preppers and conspiracy theorists. Not anymore.

      • It is a scary feeling. I never had much trust in government, but I naively believed the supply chains would hold. They didn’t. Most of my thinking is now followed by “what if”. Hopefully, the worst case scenarios never appear, but “prepping” should never be considered a dirty word.

        • My favorite conversation was with one of my wife’s true believer friends. Early on in this with the way stores were being cleared out she generally thought we were heading to a societal breakdown. She was so proud of herself for buying up all this frozen meat and chicken and fish.and stocking her freezer full. I asked if she had a generator, sufficient fuel to run the generator and a means of protecting that generator, food and fuel from people who would see it as an opportunity. Her answer to all of those question was no with an absolute disgusted no response for the last question. But i must have peaked her interest because then 2 brain cells fired in her head and she asked why i would ask those questions. My reply was simple, if society breaks down one of the 1st things to go will be power. So now how is she keeping all that food from spoiling? Also if society was going to breakdown there would be no agw’s to respond to her please for help as people came to liberate her food, gas and generator…. funny thing is, this is one who partially(only partially she still is a diaper zealot) saw the light. Next thing i know she is asking my wife for my help in getting her and her husband guns for protection. He and her husband’s eyes were opened even more when they began to learn the roadblocks nj puts up for people attempting to exercise their 2nd ammendment rights. Sometimes you can open the eyes of those who would rather remain blissfully unaware but even with that it has its limits.

          • Hi Antilles,

            That is a good story. It is always great to hear people seeing the light. Being in the country a generator is pretty mandatory out here, unless one wishes to be down for 3-4 days due to an ice storm, wind damage, etc. We always seem to be further down the list when it comes to the turning the lights back on. She would have been in for a nasty surprise if she lost all of that meat.

            I have been watching what went on in Texas last week (I find it pretty interesting on how the entire system just been kaput). People were complaining that they were losing their food. My first thought was they have all of that snow – find some large tote containers, coolers, etc. and fill it with snow and store your most expensive refrigerator/freezer items in it. I don’t think most people think outside of the box much anymore. Watching the Houston and Dallas news it seemed most citizens were ill prepared. If three days in you are out of water and food then decisions were not properly made. I believe all of us need to be ready for such a scenario.

            • Dallas and Houston, you are probably talking about 25-40% cali transplants who never saw temps below 45 degrees in their life unless they went skiing. It shocked me seeing Texans that ill prepared. The one thing though is those even with generator power i think many of those homes in TX use heat pump systems which don’t do much of anything when the temps drop into the single digits . And yes as a resident of a an area that can see temps belowe freezing from mid dec well into mid march i have become adept at keeping food and beer cold in coolers on the back porch when the fridge ocassionally overflows. And i’m never afraid to use the almost 35 inches of snow across 5 storms we got just this February as my ice.

              • I am sure the news focused on the worst scenarios and those that were unprepared for such a storm (that is why people watch the news, I guess), but I always thought Texans to be a hardy and self sufficient bunch. I noticed they didn’t interview any farmers. They were the ones that had their driveways paved, sitting inside with the generator going from their 1000 gallon underground propane tank, and a greenhouse full of food out back.

    • I got into serious prepping after the 2008 financial debacle, but those preps didn’t account for the highly visible masked vs unmasked scenario. I’ve had to make some adjustments.

      • Hi cjm,

        That was a whole different prep. 🙂 Hubby and I put our finances in order after that one – paying off debt, starting an emergency savings account, investing in precious metals, etc. I hated those years and I thought we probably made it through the worst – had no idea what was to come.

        • The event may have been different, but many of the threats were the same. The financial event opened my eyes to how monetary systems work and I realized inflation/hyperinflation was a real threat. In looking at case studies on countries that have gone through hyperinflation, one can see that supply chains and infrastructure were threatened and that stocking up on food and other goods would be wise. Also, becoming more self-sufficient in services usually contracted out to others is a good prep for (hyper)inflation.

    • Smart. I hope, RG, that you’ve also stocked up on AMMO…b/c it’s hard as hell to find ANY now…and there ought to be NO damned reason for common loads (.45 ACP, 9 mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, .223 Remington, .22 Long Rifle) to be in stock. Shortages induced by panic buying are typically quite short-lived, as manufacturers, jobbers, and retailers will gladly crank out more stock while prices are high to swell their coffers. There’s a REASON ammo ain’t out there…now wait until, all of a sudden, the scene you saw about a year ago is repeated…and MUCH deeper, to the point where there’s rationing and RIOTS.

      I foresaw this long before the “Rona” and have my food storage, as my faith (which admittedly I’m not the strictest in observation) counsels us to do, enough to not only feed my fat ass, but also help out #1 son and step-daughter and THEIR families. The FIRST thing, though, IMO, to make sure one has on hand to weather a crisis, is….WATER! Safe potable water is a modern miracle that so many take for granted. It takes about a gallon, per person, per DAY, to GET BY…you’d be astonished as to easily one goes through water. Having just two weeks worth for each member of your family and you’ll be way ahead of the idiots who get caught going thirsty or risking contamination, in case of a REAL epidemic, or terrorists poisoning wells, or even a “limited” nuclear conflict. A food-grade plastic 55 gallon drum will serve a family of four for about two weeks. Another method, somewhat more moveable, are the “Aquatainer”, a 7-gallon jug, which, when filled, weighs about 50 lbs, so an adult can lug one into a car’s trunk if you have to “bug out”.

      • Excellent point regarding water, Doug!

        I thank the gods I’m on a well – and so have my own water supply, independent of most external vicissitudes. Yes, the pump is reliant upon electricity but I always keep extra fuel on hand for the generator; limited use of that keeps me in water for months if necessary – time enough to rig up other options. I intend to wire up a solar-powered back-up as well as solar water heating and those two things take care of the biggest things for me. I can heat and cook with wood – cut on my land. We are laying out the garden for this year already – and I just got give new ducks to add to my flock!

      • Hi Doug,

        I have the ammo covered. Got very, very lucky in Feb 2020 visiting a gun show in SC. Hubby suggested stocking up, I didn’t argue.

        Good point on the water. I have been looking at rainwater harvesting over the last few months. I am still deciding if I want an above ground system (about 300 gallons) which I will collect from the downspout or go all in and put in a 3000 gallon storage tank underground.

        I regret not having one in place already especially with all of the rain we have gotten recently.

        • It might be a good idea to make sure that the RW collection setup is not visible from outside the property at all; and, if practical, concealable from where, say, an AGW or an Code Enforcement Officer, walking up to your front door wouldn’t be able to see it in “plain view”. Some states or municipalities (including my home state of Cali(porn)ia and Placer, Sacramento, and El Dorado Counties, all have laws/ordinances that prohibit collection of what rainwater falls on your property. Yep. The “Gubmint” has ALL water rights, including what “Gawd” whizzes down on what’s supposed to be YOUR “Terra Firma”. Another manner by which private property has been rendered moot.

          • Are you kidding? The government has rain water rights?!? I understand you are serious, but that is ridiculous. We have a huge privacy fence otherwise there is no other way we could have done what we have done to the backyard. ;). My faithful vicious canines roam the territory during the day so only a fool who is looking for a hospital visit would climb it.

            • Check your state laws and/or local ordinances. Those of us “stoopid” enough to remain in the People’s Republik of Kal-lee-forn-Ya have endured the “Water Nazis” for decades. During periods when THEY declare a “drought”, you can be fined or even JAILED for “excessive” watering of your grounds. There’s been a gradual push to get all residential properties on water meters, and, naturally, the water bills go up…a LOT. I’ve seen mine triple in the past ten years, and I’m on a municipal supplier, not that quasi-governmental boondoggle known as American Water Corp (which has about a third of the residences in Sacramento County, which itself is a jumble of water purveyors).

              Of course, in the first few months of the Plandemic, some places, like Los Angeles County, for example, actually threatened to shut off water for businesses and/or residences that would not “voluntarily” comply with their edicts intended to put everyone effective under house arrest. Given that many modern water meters have spread-spectrum or 802.11(b) wireless technology, intended so they could either be read by a network of wireless routers, used by other utilities and/or LAW ENFORCEMENT, or by vehicle-mounted roving readers, with the ostensible intent to reduce data collection costs (so the issue of your dog likes to take a chomp out of the ‘meter reader’ has become moot), it hasn’t been a stretch to also built a motorized ball valve into the meter, to facilitate remote shut-off of the water. Who’s to say this might not be employed to correct “wrong think?”, especially since a crony of the current POTUS suffering from obvious Alzheimer’s declared LIBERTARIANS as likely “terrorists”?

  23. I am racking my brain to remember. It shouldn’t be that hard. I guess because from Day One I determined to ignore this nonsense, as long as I am left alone, so the first masker didn’t register. (I also have a friend who has masked for years bc of her dental issues. I don’t know where she stands on the rest of the world masking, but at least she finally fits in.)

    When we were first told by the guv that we were being “locked down” – I smelled BS. I remember sending a email to a group I was working with that I am out and about a couple of days a week if anyone wanted to meet up. My innocent gesture was met with {crickets}. That was my first clue that this was going to be a long ride.

    • The lamewads were probably thinking “How dare you not take this seriously, anon? We’re in a PANDEMIC. If they’re locking us down it must be IMPORTANT.”

  24. I heard/read about it long before I saw it, so I don’t recall my first exposure to the COVID cult of masking. I’m a bit reclusive, so when I go out, I tend to stock up so I won’t have to again for some time. Often more than a month. What has truly shocked me is how many have joined this church that tells no one exactly what it believes, nor can it factually support any of its proclamations. The entire charade is based upon no evidence at all, except that our Psychopaths In Charge lie to us. Which we already knew. Is it not remarkable, how practically anyone you ask, who is not a politician or a beneficiary thereof, will say “no, I don’t trust politicians”, and turn right around and pretend they’re telling the truth, or that this one is better or worse than that one. There are no “better” ones, just as there are no honest ones.

  25. I remember it well. The post office in mid March. Guy standing in line in front of me with a bandana tightly over his portals. I jokingly asked him if he was there to rob the place. Little did I know I was about to be robbed by all levels of gov’t of my livelihood, humanity, and civilization. Now some folks at John’s Hopkins are proposing we might be allowed “immunity nights.”

    https://www.targetliberty.com/2021/02/medical-experts-call-for-immunity-nights.html#comment-form

  26. ‘[some] thought it was odd and also silly. Initially. Before they were programmed to believe differently …’ — EP

    Ditto for the larger cultural reprogramming underway: the ghastly campaign of erasing our actual past and replacing it with a cheerfully, candidly fake Truman-show version continues apace.

    After the hideous urban vandalism of removing Robert E Lee’s statue from New Orleans in May 2017, now even Lee Circle where the disappeared statue’s barren pedestal stands is to be ethnically cleansed and culturally sanitized.

    ‘Next, the City Council will consider the proposals for new names on 37 streets and parks that honor Confederate officials and segregationists.’

    https://www.nola.com/news/politics/article_8f26117c-76ef-11eb-b071-b7834391c853.html

    ‘At their final meeting, the commissioners changed their recommendation [for renaming Lee Circle] to Égalité Circle to honor the spirit of the French and Haitian revolutions.’

    Fetishizing sanguinary violence, in other words: the blade; the tumbrils; the moldy forgotten mass graves.

    And how did that Haitian revolution work out for y’all? It remains the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

    One wonders when the long knives will come out for Elvis, who was from Tupelo, Mississippi (inherently bad, if you’re white) and worse, culturally appropriated some musical traditions and shimmying stage moves from African-Americans (unforgivable, and grounds for statue removal).

    Graceland will have to be renamed for George Floyd … to defeat white supremacy, or something.

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