Secret Voters

The Hill has an intriguing article on what author Douglas MacKinnon is calling "the secret majority." I think he nailed it on the head. Read the piece and see if you agree.

I remember the "silent majority" of a half century ago. That's how President Nixon referred to conservative voters. But, as MacKinnon astutely notes, in those days you wouldn't get fired, have your business shut down or your children expelled from school if you voiced a different opinion. Today's conservatives have learned to be not simply silent, but completely secretive about their political and cultural viewpoints. It's the only rational course of action if one wants to live life in relative peace.

But, as I often say, this used to be a free country. I think there are enough Americans who would like it to be one again, and I also think they are going to make a big difference on November 8. I spent more time than usual reviewing my ballot and researching candidates, especially the judicial ones. The remainder of the ballot was very straightforward for me.

I've already submitted my vote. It's been received and counted (so the Country Registrar's office tells me), but I really can't discuss it any further.

It's a secret.

Loads of Lies

It's difficult to choose only ten untruths, but I gave it a shot (is that still a permissable term?) and came up with the following list of whoppers from coverage of our daunting current events: 

Ten of the Most Outrageous Lies Being Fed to Americans

1.  Voters in Georgia are suppressed.

2.  The U.S. economy is "strong as hell."

3.  January 6th was worse than 9/11.

4.  The southern border is secure.

5.  There is only a "perception" that crime in New York City is "out of control."

6.  Biden's release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is "not politically motivated."

7.  We're not in a recession.

8.  There are more than 70 genders. Make that more than 80.

9.  Big Oil is price gouging us at the gas pump.

10.  "No one is above the law."

All of the above lies are insulting to Americans, but Number 10 is a real heartbreaker. It is text directly from of the U.S. Bill of Rights. But, sadly, most of us know it's no longer true.

Food Preparation

A railway strike seems like something out of the distant past. Not many people, myself included, pay much attention to freight trains and rail travel these days. 

But consumer goods move on trains as well as on trucks. A rail strike could get ugly for us very quickly.

Consider how sad is the current state of our supply chain. I don't look for a favorite brand anymore when I shop; I buy whatever I see on the mostly empty shelves. For me, this grab-whatever method has recently applied to such varied items as toothpaste, dishwashing soap, pasta, bread, and paper napkins.

We all remember the toilet paper panic at the start of Covid-19. I was grateful that I had enough of that particular product in my home. But during the lockdown, I began to wonder--what other types of shortages might pop up in the coming months or years? There was no predicting where the craziness might lead.

In 2020, there was a wide expanse of empty wooden shelving lining one wall of my garage. Once upon a time, it had housed countless tools and materials for my husband's building projects. Those items were all disposed of years ago, leaving yards of empty shelves. So during Covid, I started what my mother would have called my "larder."

Mom's larder had been in our home's basement, and my siblings and I teased her endlessly about her piles of tea boxes and groupings of mayonnaise jars. But I remembered that those stockpiles had come in handy many times, often amidst the drama of a fall hurricane or winter blizzard. And who knew what kind of storm might follow Covid? (Well, now we know. I'd hate to have to replace my larder at today's prices.)

So I began to fill those garage shelves with food. In each weekly shopping trip, I'd buy an extra of any sale item--tuna, cereal, rice, beans, coffee, tea, you name it--and stow it in the garage as my backup reserve. I also bought soaps, cleaners, and paper products. Today, those garage shelves are once again packed solidly, floor to ceiling.

The kitchen cupboards are also full to the edges. If Biden's "Armageddon" strikes (and if I survive it), I've got food and supplies to last me several months.

It takes some practice, but I've got it down now. All food in the garage is stored in order of expiration dates, and I rotate new items into the mix straight out of my car's trunk after a shopping trip. If my grandkids can't find their favorite snack bars in my kitchen, they know they'll probably score if they check the larder. I think Mom would be proud.

Photo: Better Homes & Gardens

A Warning in Our Wilderness

If you aren't following Victor Davis Hanson, you should be. You can find his website, The Blade of Perseus, linked here (and on this blog's sidebar). Here's a caveat that if you start listening to his regularly posted podcasts, you'll receive so much solid information that you'll rapidly become addicted to his next offering.

Hanson's latest written piece, "The Thinnest Veneer of Civilization," is a sobering analysis of just how much trouble our society is in. The rot within our nation is in our faces, everyday.

As a recent example, consider the murder of FDNY EMT Lt. Alison Russo Elling, a first responder on September 11, 2001, who was looking forward to retirement. She was stabbed to death as she walked in uniform, one block from her station house, to buy lunch.

As Hanson often states on his podcasts when discussing such brutal events, "This is unsustainable." He is one brave voice crying out in our wilderness of chaos.

If you listen to Hanson, you'll know history. And if you know history, you'll know he is right.

The body of Lt. Russo-Elling with FDNY escort

Faith, Family--and Fear

Italy's newly elected prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, had a campaign theme that promoted "God, Family, Country." Yet she's being incessantly tagged by legacy media as a "far-right" extremist, even as a "fascist" sprung from the last century's Mussolini. When reading media accounts of Meloni's victory, it's helpful to keep in mind that "fascist" and "racist" are today's preferred-by-the-Left's adjectives for anyone with a differing viewpoint.

Since when did love of one's faith, family, and native land become dangerous traits? Only since the would-be globalist tyrants started trying to take over today's world.

If you notice, we're always being informed that conservatives of any stripe are "a threat to our democracy." Another favorite battle cry of the Lefties is that "our democracy is at stake." The word "democracy" is never defined; neither are the epithets of "fascist" and "racist" that are hurled about with such regularity.

Here's a fun word game for you. Every time a left-winger refers to "democracy," substitute the words "my power." It's very telling.

Nancy Pelosi gave a speech last spring on how to "preserve democracy." She went on to refer to the Capitol as a "temple of democracy." Hmm.

Try it with Joe Biden's reaction to Meloni's election, keeping in mind that she was freely chosen by voters and that Italy is a NATO ally: "...democracy is at stake." Always ignored is the fact that the United States is a representative, democratic republic--not a mob-rule "democracy." But you get the idea. What they're really talking about is "power."

It's obvious that the Left is terrified of this woman, and no wonder. Meloni's 2019 speech at the World Congress of Families was enough to send any Communist into heart spasms. Below are just a few quotes:

• "Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening?"

• "There is a single answer...Because it defines us. Because it is our identity, because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves."

• "They said all sorts of things about this congress. They said we want to go back to the past. That we're losers. That we're embarrassing. That we're un-enlightened. They said it's scandalous for people to defend the natural family founded on marriage, to want to increase the birth rate, to want to place the correct value on human life, to support freedom in education and to say no to gender ideology."

• "I say the losers are those who have nothing better to do than come here and insult us."

• "I can't define myself as Italian, Christian, woman, mother" but instead must be defined as "citizen x, gender x, parent 1, parent 2..." 

• "I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators." 

• "Each of us has a unique genetic code that is unrepeatable. That is sacred. We will defend it. We will defend God, family and country, those things that disgust people so much..."

In a different speech, Meloni said, "Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death, no to the violence of Islam, yes to safer borders, no to mass immigration, yes to work for our people."

Wow. This woman has no problem speaking her mind, even in today's oppressive climate. Well, I must confess that I agree with her common sense positions. I guess I'd be described as a "far right" extremist, too.

Meloni favors free nursery schools for mothers employed outside the home. She states that Europe's low birth rate as "the biggest problem facing Europe. If we do not address this, everything else is pointless."

I can't speak for you, but I wouldn't mind living in Italy right about now.

Giorgia Meloni - New Prime Minister of Italy