Worth noting...

Ohio's governor apparently remains locked in a progressive mindset, a self imposed type of ignorance.

WATCH LIVE: Gov. Kasich says “we may never find out” what caused Somali-born Ohio State Univ. student to attack https://t.co/duNDp7KwlK pic.twitter.com/R5KmjWxgsX

— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) November 28, 2016

This too worth passing along...

CNN seemingly remains in pro-Islam activist mode...

CNN Anchor: Americans Should Wear Hijabs To Show Solidarity With Fearful Muslims

Woodpile Report - November 29th edition

Looked for a highlight to post from the latest from Ol' Remus...

But there's so much good stuff there on a variety of topics, why not take a peek at the whole thing?

Lack of warning

There's a compelling video on YouTube where a guy documents his escape from a community where he was surrounded by wildfires. During the video he says a couple times that there was no warning. It wasn't "on the news," he says.

Fact is, there's less local news coverage in some rural areas than there had been in years gone by.

Back in the day of mom and pop run radio stations, in an emergency, local operators would have been on the air around the clock disseminating vital information. Whether they had a formal news team or not.

Today's centralized corporate media has relocated many of the formerly rural FM stations closer to nearby cities. Smaller stations in rural areas are often just jukeboxes playing songs off computer, or playing syndicated talk shows with little actually staffing in the community.

There's also today's phenomenon where many people bypass local media, choosing to be informed or entertained by online, satellite or cable sources that won't break in when there's a local event unfolding.

I can't speak to how local or hyper-local media in or near Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge performed as fires began expanding to threaten populated areas, but the fast spread underscores why access to local public safety radio frequencies can be vital to keeping the general public safe for those who take the time or effort to be savvy listeners. And if local government leaves those resources in formats the general public can tap into.

I've mentioned before that since coming to the north Georgia mountains, I've dusted off an old '80s era police scanner, and can again hear local public safety agencies.  Sitting here on the mountain, I can hear most every fire call, illegal burn response, or report of downed trees blocking roadways for a two county area. Because I can eavesdrop, I'd likely know if something big was heading my way.

In many communities, often at prodding by Homeland Security, public safety radio coms have been upgraded to include encryption or other means intended to deliberately block citizens from accessing direct information that might save their lives.

In some cases, even media is blocked from eavesdropping on police and fire nets.

Is government's obsession with secrecy in this area really something that's in the public interest?

Tennessee wildfire coverage

MSM has recently attempted to distract from its own sad state by harping about "fake news." There was real news in Eastern Tennessee last night and continuing on into this morning. Where were the alleged MSM, specifically the cable news outfits?

BTW, social media provided excellent platforms for live Tennessee wildfire fire coverage.

Live streams from local Knoxville TV also provided some excellent coverage of the situations in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and surrounding areas. And yet, best I can tell, national cable news nets chose to stick with political based programming last night and overnight.

To be fair, I didn't bother to check out MSM cable nets last night, so my assessment of their non-performance is based on critiques on social media.  I have limited access to cable news on the mountain and, besides, I found streaming coverage from the Knoxville stations to be be outstanding..

Something to be said for getting your news from people who actually know the region.

How many network news anchors based NYC have ever even been to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge?

Getting one step ahead...

Something I've learned being on the mountain, when the wind kicks up, and the sun's gone down, go ahead an put a small battery operated lantern on the mantle, and turn it on. Low setting's fine. Makes adapting much easier when the lights go out. And they do go out up here more than you might imagine.






Update: Awakened before dawn. Power was out. Little lantern going strong, and made it much easier to recover my glasses and a flashlight for a quick look around before going back to sleep. Power was off several hours, best I can tell.

They say it's gonna rain

Supposedly some monster scale rain is coming tonight. Suddenly realized my Ranger pick-up was parked front first on a a downward sloping driveway, meaning the bed would flood if the rains do come. Tried to back it out, and wheels just spun atop all the leaves that blew down today. Eventually managed to rock it out, and pull rear-first into our more established parking pad.

Some serious wind on the mountain tonight. I think I recall riding out hurricanes that weren't quite this noisy.

We've had no appreciable rain in more than a month. Maybe it's been two months. So, I'm looking forward to the forecast overnight downpour. However, watching weather radar, it seems most the rain is tracking to the northeast out of Mississippi and Alabama, much of it appears to be escaping up into Tennessee before ever reaching the Georgia line.




Update: First of the rain began hitting my location about 10:20 pm EST, kinda strange hearing rain on the roof. Haven't had any rain in a significant way since summer.

Hoping and praying what rain missed us ends up over Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN. Mandatory evacuations there tonight because of wildfires whipped into a frenzy by today's winds.

Yikes is right

Via Twitter:

This gun safety class was taught by a retired deputy in CA.

Yikes. pic.twitter.com/dNQex2brvv

— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) November 21, 2016

When a culture is deprived of access to guns, it seems logical the customs and practices of safe handling of firearms will suffer. Even among those who are supposedly knowledgeable of such things.

Democrats are losing it...

Seen the latest from Maxine Waters?

She's appalled by the idea of a rising stock market. 

Nope. It's not from a fake news site.

As if from an alternative universe

Here's an NPR segment that had me in stitches Friday afternoon.

It's not supposed to be funny, but heaping helpings of progressive bias combined with the smugness of NPR pseudo-intellectual delivery can be oddly entertaining.


These folks still seem to worship the ground Obama walks on, they seem to long to sample the air in a room in which Obama's exhaled.

Calls for boycotts

Some Democrats continue to whine over the election. Some still call for boycotts of companies where owners or executives supported Donald Trump's candidacy.

As seen on Facebook

I kinda got a laugh when a Facebook friend turned this around on a pouting boycott advocate, and asked her how she'd feel if these companies refused to do business with her, or refused her service. 

Autumn in Georgia

Thursday had sunny skies, afternoon temp was 76 just outside Atlanta.

And the lake was smooth as glass when I put in around one o'clock.

New Jersey hoplophobes at it again

Seen the latest out of New Jersey?

Via Breitbart:

The New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI) recommended lawmakers revamp rules on ammunition purchases to require two forms of identification before a person is allowed to buy a box of bullets.

Won't this disproportionately disenfranchise minorities? Democrats claim it's beyond the grasp of many minorities to obtain even one ID, let alone two.

Weed and guns don't mix

More states are legalizing marijuana in one way or another. 

Some now okay  recreational use, some only relax their laws to allow for marijuana's medical use.

Florida's the latest to widen the gate to use of medical marijuana.

"But what few people are talking about is how using marijuana  – medical or not – strips you of your gun rights. Florida can pass all the pro-marijuana laws it wants, but pot’s still a Schedule I controlled substance under Federal law – and Federal law trumps state law when it comes to drugs. And guns." - Attorney Cynthia Clark, at The Gun Writer

Advocates for medical and recreational marijuana push state by state for change at the state level, often with mainstream media cheering them on. Seldom mentioned by either the activists or the media is the "gotcha" that's cooked in by the conflict with federal firearms law.

The media just needs to get over it

The sense of media self-importance continues to amaze.

"Trump goes to dinner without alerting the press" is a real Breaking News story on @MSNBC! hahaha pic.twitter.com/qA7q4EACrf

— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) November 16, 2016

Update: Mark Dice's sarcastic commentary is too good not to share...



Also to be noted, Trump's move isn't unprecedented as the panicked news anchors claim.

I don't recall "breaking news" coverage those times Obama ditched the press pool.

Happened more than once.

From April 2010:

Obama left the White House at 9:20 a.m. Saturday to go to his daughter's soccer game, an event that was not scheduled with the president's traveling press pool, which travels with the president wherever he goes to document his actions for the public record, The New York Times reported. The White House quickly gathered some reporters together and left the White House 23 minutes after the president, but they were unable to join up with Obama, who returned to the White House at 10:17 a.m.

May 2012:

According to the pool report, Obama left the Andrews Air Force Base golf course without the press vans that accompany him everywhere. The vans proceeded back to the White House on their own.

Armed intervention

Passerby shoots, kills suspect seen beating a Lee County, Florida deputy. 

The passerby, who had a Concealed Weapons License, exited his vehicle and told the suspect he’d shoot him if he didn’t stop beating the deputy, sources said. After noncompliance from the suspect, the passerby shot the suspect three times, sources said. The suspect later died.

Nationalist

For the record, the term "nationalist" is not synonymous with "racist." In the present political climate, the term "nationalist" is easy shorthand for those who counter "globalist" ideology or agenda. Nationalist also seems applicable to those opposing "open borders."

I'll give Google credit, type "nationalist", and this is the definition that shows up: "a person who advocates political independence for a country." Seems a fair definition.

Because Trump policies are sometimes described as "nationalist," don't be surprised when those on the Left attempt to redefine the word with smearish overtones.

Yes, there have been groups in the past who used the term.

There have also been "progressives" who purged African Americans from federal employment.

Anyone have a problem with the government of Taiwan? It's also been known as Nationalist China when it sought differentiation from Communist China on the mainland.

Irony

Saw this on the Internet:

Imagine if you will...

How America would look if Anti-Trump protesters were in charge of things...

Can You IDME? Riot Vandalism Suspect https://t.co/AfynIElcbz #CanYouIDME pic.twitter.com/c92umDftsm

— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) November 12, 2016

Its own worst enemy

Why did Clinton lose? 

In part, because her campaign literally treated some states as "flyover country."

"The Clinton campaign did not respond to questions about whether it had a rural strategy. One source said a staffer in Brooklyn was dedicated to rural outreach, but the assignment came just weeks before the election." - Politico. 

Brooklyn?

Yeah. That Brooklyn.  

First person observations

I was out shopping in a clothing store with my daughter for a brief time yesterday. I'd say a third of the people in the store might have been immigrants (accents and attire were my cues). A couple of women were wearing hijabs. Plenty of cars in the parking lot, some had Trump stickers.

I didn't witness any hostility, or tenseness.

Most everyone seemed quite cordial. Strangers expressing kind words to one another as they dealt with this Saturday afternoon shopping crowd. Cashiers were conversational and full of good cheer as they processed long and diverse lines of customers checking out.

Gotta wonder how many of those caught up in the present anti-Trump hysteria have even ventured out since election day.

---

And on Sunday evening...

Out to dinner. Mexican restaurant. Light crowd. Mix of Anglos and Latinos. No identifiable sense of anti-Trump hysteria. Didn't hear his name mentioned by either Spanish or English speakers.

They sat us in the room where an NFL game is on TV. No one is watching the game, I'm thinking this would be unthinkable a year ago.

Life goes on.

Aw. It wasn't supposed to end like this...

Pollsters promised.

Via YouTube:

The mask comes off

Saw this via Facebook:

Some post election reflection and analysis

"It’s midnight in America. The day before fifty million Americans got up and stood in front of the great iron wheel that had been grinding them down. They stood there even though the media told them it was useless. They took their stand even while all the chattering classes laughed and taunted them." - Daniel Greenfield, writing at FrontPageMag

Another essay, long, but worth reading, written by someone on the left, explains how smug liberal mentality clearly worked against Democrats this time.

If American government is to restore itself, and function as intended, it must divorce from the concept of elitism, and restore itself as a true reflection of the American people.

Funny in some ways. Other ways, not.

What's not so funny is the levels of arrogance on display here.

Elites too blind to see the movement that swept America.

HILARIOUS: Compilation of democrats and media pundits saying Donald Trump will never be President. 😂#ThursdayThoughts #America pic.twitter.com/JAdP4obhnE

— Asa J 🇺🇸 (@asamjulian) November 10, 2016

The next phase

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton chose to speak with politeness in post-election comments, but perhaps the conciliatory words were nothing more than window dressing intended to give plausible denial prior to organized socialist mobs taking to the streets across America.

Where it goes from here

Last night on CNN, when it became evident Clinton lost, Van Jones almost immediately began insisting on concessions from the Trump camp, in the name of reconciliation.

Democrats will still make some plays, trying to control agenda. Big question is, will Republicans show backbone, and back Trump. I'm not sure Dems would blow what's left of their political capital if they know it will be wasted.

And while the first post-election 24 hours is critical in setting tone, Democrats and MSM really do appear to be blind sided by what happened last night. They're still in shock. We won't know how they'll play going forward until their numbness wears off.

Obama too, may help set the tone for Democrats. Will he use his final months to stir more discord? Or does he decide he wasted enough of his legacy trying to prop up a flawed candidate like Hillary Clinton?

Sad to say, there's some Democrats who will deliberately trash America if they can't see America remade along the lines of their progressive whims. Others may welcome a chance for a more pragmatic, less ideology driven government.

Anybody hear from Pelosi yet?

---

How many Republicans in DC are ticked off this morning, knowing their party now has to lead rather than fund raise and campaign exclusively on blaming a Democrat president?

Gaga's pro-Clinton appearance

Some say Lady Gaga wore something akin a Nazi uniform when stumping for Hillary Clinton.

Looks more like a Michael Jackson costume to me. 

More important point: Clinton seems to need celebs to fill her rallies.

Donald Trump packs in supporters as a stand alone act.

Night before election day thoughts

Third World, Banana Republic, in a downward spiral. Welcome to our fundamentally transformed USA. Too bad we didn't take this stuff more seriously a few decades ago, a couple decades ago.

Naw. We were too busy. Jobs, families, recreation...

We let the professional politicians handle things. And look where they got us.

Where do we take it from here?

Not your daddy's Cold War

This morning's headline from the UK Daily Mail:

NATO puts 300,000 troops on 'high alert' in readiness for a confrontation with Russia as fears grow Putin is preparing to attack the West 

The Alinsky style bluff and bluster strategies used by Obama and Clinton have moved the world closer to WW3.

Last call

"Hillary is a waddling, half-sloshed constitutional crisis just waiting to happen. She is evil, and she hates people like you and me. She wants to enrich herself and her cronies while hurting us – those are the key drivers of her policy schemes. She will push and push, never imagining the consequence of her campaigns to impoverish us and steal our freedoms is that it will inevitably provoke her victims to push back." - Kurt Schlichter

And no, I don't think he overestimates the damage a Clinton administration can inflict on America.

Off the hook once again

Via the UK Daily Mail:

The FBI has announced it will not make any changes to its July decision on Hillary Clinton's emails, meaning the Democratic nominee will not be charged.  

So what's in play here?

Based on the dynamics and disclosures to date, this smacks of a political decision not to shift through potential evidence, for fear of what might be discovered.

Might help Clinton short term. But what's the impact longer term on the legitimacy of the U.S. government?

Rally didn't go as planned?

Obama. Yesterday. Fayetteville, NC:

Making a list, checking it twice

How many more insults will Hillary Clinton try to hurl at those who don't support her between now and Election Day? The list of disparaging terms, it seems, keeps growing...

Kinda hard to keep 'em all on one name tag...

Ever hear of a "bailer bucket"?

For those who have well water, or at least access to a well, have you spent any time considering how you might access water in a long term power outage?

Even water in most narrow pipe wells can be accessed with a bucket, if you have the right bucket.

But for most folks, that's a big if.

A decent bailer bucket can be made for little money compared to store bought options. And by store bought, I mean ordered online. Can't say I've ever seen one in a brick and mortar retailer.

There's several instructional videos on YouTube for those inclined to explore the idea.

This one covers the basics well:

Lynching - Redefined

The term lynching may take on new meaning if used to describe the actions of present U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Based on the outrageous conduct of Lynch's DOJ to shield and protect the interest of Hillary Clinton, lynching is likely to become a term to describe enabling of corruption among political elites, even outright obstruction of justice to protect a partisan political class, by those who were supposedly sworn to protect and uphold the law.

Just another example of Obama's fundamentally transformed America. A nation where tradition, and even words, have been turned upside down.

Fightin' words

Clinton continues to pick a fight with about half the American people.

"I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and behavior of people who support Donald Trump,” she says.

Is it the presidency she wants? Or civil war?

Got ammo?

Online ammo seller SGAmmo put out a sales pitch letter Wednesday that said it's seeing ammo supplies tightening on the wholesale level. 

SGA specifically cited 5.56/.223, 7.62x39, and 9mm.

Have you topped off your own stash yet? 

You do have a stash, don't you?

A war in Washington

"Over the weekend, the astounding news story broke that the FBI had not obtained a warrant to examine the emails on Weiner’s computer and other devices after three weeks of getting stonewalled by DOJ attorneys. What does it mean when the Director of the FBI can’t get a warrant in a New York minute? It must mean that the DOJ is at war with the FBI. Watergate is looking like thin gruel compared to this fantastic Bouillabaisse of a presidential campaign fiasco." - James Howard Kunstler

Yet another paper heard from

"Has the media been biased against Trump? Yes, we believe so, especially lately. Trump's every utterance, no matter how innocuous, is now parsed, analyzed and criticized by a litany of political pundits. The wire services that the Daily Commercial subscribes to churn out stories almost daily that fact check Trump, which is warranted given his penchant for exaggeration and duplicity. Yet those same services turn out so few stories that fact check Clinton, who also has a strained relationship with the truth." - Editorial in a Florida newspaper

Weapons grade stupid

See this celeb's comment around buying a gun. 

Meanwhile, Don sent this: Fox Biz News reports that 9mm is the most popular pistol gauge.

Violation of principles

"USA Today, a newspaper I helped found in 1982, and which enjoyed a reputation for honest and fair reporting, last month departed from 34 years of no-endorsement policy and told readers, 'Don’t vote for Trump.' It was a violation of its founding principles. It is not the job of the news media to tell people how to vote." - Richard Benedetto, writing in the Utica Observer Dispatch

Hitlary parody

These things never seem to get old. This one especially has lots to work with:


H/T: MyDailyKona

How far and how fast can she unravel?

Hillary Clinton herself, wia Twitter:

U.S. intelligence has confirmed the Russian government is directing cyberattacks against the U.S. to influence the outcome of our election.

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 31, 2016

And as seen via Hope n' Change Cartoons:

And then there' s the Ragin' Cajun, sounding more unhinged than usual...

James Carville accused FBI Director James Comey, the KGB and House Republicans of working together to "hijack an election" in a bombastic interview on MSNBC. Carville also berated network anchor Thomas Roberts for "making excuses" for Comey.

When Democrats start bitchin' about bias at MSNBC, you know they're in deep trouble.