Coping: With Jade Helm and Tool Sluts

So far, none of our citizen-journalists have reported anything unsavory having to do with Jade Helm – that military operation down here in Texas and surrounding states.

Typical of reports we get is this one from up in the Kansas City area….

Greetings George,

Enjoyed your posts from your vacation. Now lets get the link out of the way first.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article27369094.html

I am not one to waste much time on reading many news rags, especially this one. I find it’s best use is to mulch between the rows of my tomatoes after I have separated out half a ton of slick ads and other trash. My wife insists we maintain the subscription but I don’t get a vote on it anyway. Get to the point Fairless….

I threw it up onto the front porch this morning as I was leaving for the place that sucks the life out of you (office) that I am counting the days to retirement from. And as usual it is still there when I get home this afternoon which is another issue since I know that at least 3 other people have stepped over the damn thing at least 6 times today and didn’t pick the damn thing up! Anyway, there on the front page is the article linked to above. Now imagine that, this left leaning rag actually printed this article about Jade Helm. Unbelievable.

I don’t have much in this theory even though I can see somewhat how it has been perpetuated and all. I do tend to lean towards a couple of your thoughts re: prepping for a showdown in the SW and such but the martial law, come take our guns stuff is too far out there to loose sleep over.

But remember, never say never.

Back in my day down in the beautiful Piedmont area of North Carolina we called a similar exercise “Gobblers Woods”. Panama may know something of that.

Just some thoughts reading the daily columns. And an excuse to not mow the grass……

Peace.

Yes, people do tend to get worked up over things like Jade Helm, but so far – at least in my circle of friends, there’s been no sightings, no massive convoys, no suspension of civil rights, and so far as I know, there’s been no one trying to take over the local airport.

On  the other hand, I am deeply suspicious of what it means, like everyone.  Yes, we have concern, especially because there are plenty of places where war games can be played without focusing so much on getting off the (military) reservations.

Of course, as you’d expect, the largest military base in the US is Fort Hood here in Texas.  It weighs in at 158,706 acres.  Being 640 acres per square mile.  This pencils out to 248-square miles.

You can get a lot of people into that much land before spilling into the countryside.  

For Left Coasty types, Manhattan is under 34 square miles and boasts a population of 1.6 million, plus or minus the transients.

What the Helm?

We are pretty much where we were previously on the matter of WHY Jade Helm is sited where it is.

The leading choices include:

1.  It’s really a warm-up for a coming border war with Mexico.  You saw the other day yet-another drug lord was sprung from a Mexico prison?  We have a good Border Patrol and ICE force, but they are mis-directed from the top and that’s why home invasions, murders, rapes, and so on by the worst of Mexico’s low-life just throng to the land of opportunity.

A lot of people don’t know how abusive the Mexican government is, but in a knowledge-based world, Mexico plain sucks.

As was explained to me, everyone born  in  Mexico is entitled to a free public education.

Sounds good, right?

But when you drill down into the “born in Mexico” part, you find that people who are not “papered” (as in having a doctor-signed birth certificate that has been registered) are not included. 

Just as the U.S. once upon a time had institutional discrimination, so does Mexico.  So from the standpoint of parents, do you want your kids growing up in the exploited slave class?

Or, do you pack them some sandwiches and point them at the US border?

We may not like the reality on the ground, and certainly the clowns on the hill and fearless leader hisself aren’t doing dickus about the problem:  They have other issues like who will work in the poultry operations and who will we use as an underclass to fill up all those for-profit prisons?

As my buddy Oilman 2 pointed out this week:

Took this picture at a red light on the way to a clients office yesterday – for those who think that Mexican drug crazies are not going to be a problem…

Oilman2

Add to the mix that the US has turned down water deliveries to parts of northern Mexico (as is totally within bounds to do because of the drought) and we have an unpleasant situation that keeps sliding from bad to worse.

Yet the silver lining to all this is that it means the prison corporations will continue hiring, the law enforcement equipment sales will keep rising, and drones are coming to save us all.

And if you believe it’s not a conspiracy at the highest levels, you need counseling.

Another possibility for the Jade Helm operational testing is to see how well the military could respond to massive civil emergencies that aren’t yet on the public horizon.

Two examples spring to mind: 

One was that New Yorker article about what the impacts of a major rip of the Cascadia subduction zone would entail.  There, Yellowstone, or a major mess around the Mississippi – like New Madrid – could leave over 10-million homeless and needing water overnight.

Another would be the impacts of the California and West Coast drought.

There’s a glimmer of hope today as Time reports that there is some possible precipitation on the way.  But that expectation is based on a minor change in the El Nino cycle and its only in computer models.  None of the wet stuff is hitting the ground yet.  In Washington, the fools on the Hill are still playing dances with lobbyists on funding for drought relief.  Everyone has their hand out.  Some for favors, others offering them.

Taken together, massive earthquake damage – of continuing drought – has the potential for mass dislocation of the civilian population which would be ironic.  Years ago, someone forecast a global coastal event and had visions of huge displacements of people as a result.  But the call was massively premature and we still don’t see it.

Yet.

Timely matters, though, or predictions are of little value.  Knowing when in a half billion years the sun blinks out in a supernova is not exactly actionable intel.

The Other Helm Options

Obviously military.  There are plenty of contested hunks of real estate in the world where a climate (and heat) similar to the Jade Helm theater could be encountered.

Many of these tracts are being swarmed by Islamic extremists who will kill or convert anyone who gets in their way. 

Passage of the Iran deal is up in the air, too.  So if it comes to it, Iran territory looks a lot like Texas in some regarded:  Hot, rocky and barren in places and with a lot of oil infrastructure.

Is Jade Helm a kind of “all-purpose” operation?

Likely so.

It’s a chance for the FedCorp to ignore the prohibitions against the use of American military on home soil…get out and show the people who’s in charge.

But as to actually suborning theft of rights?  Maybe not.  We’ll have to await reports.

But could it turn into a takeover by the FedCorp of the Republic of Texas?  No, not hardly. 

But in the age of alarmist and ratings driven “news” we’ll keep to the longer view unless reports from the field justify our less paranoid views. 

Remember, even with no abrogation’s of civil liberties in the target states,  there is still much to be learned of what’s going on at the organizational military-mind level from calmly observing and looking for signs and portents.

Like reading tea leaves, the details of this exercise may be far more revealing that the overall perspective.  And there’s been precious little data collection of the detail level, so far.

A Word for Tool Sluts

There are some interesting developments on the home shop front that you may now be aware of.

First – if you are new to home remodeling and improvements, there are two outfits where you can really get lost “dream shopping” for hours at a time.

One is Northern Tool.  Reader Randy H up in Wisconsin thought you might like to see the portable worktable they have on sale for $80 bucks.

The other place that is long on tools is Harbor Freight.

They currently have a good deal on their  12 in. Double-Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw With Laser Guide System.  The catalog price is fair ($195) but where the deal is may be found in the coupons they issue.  With the one in Woodworker’s Journal this month, the price is $134.99.

Much as I hate coupons, I hate spending $50 I don’t have to, even more…

A new tool manufacturer has popped up on the radar, too: www.grextools.com. I haven’t had time to go through their whole catalog (that’s best done over a leisurely cup of coffee and leisure is on vacation this month), they they seem to be an air tool specialty outfit.

I like air tools a lot.  Unlike electrical tools, if the compressor is out of the weather, it makes working in the rain safer.

No compressor for air tools?  Another HF coupon will land you a small compressor for $39.99.  Pancake type.

General Tool and Instrument is fun to wander around.  They have a nifty palm sized inspection scope and a 15-in-1 screwdriver (#8140) that look interesting.

Grizzly Industrial tools is a really neat place.  Their president makes guitars and this week’s deal is a 48-inch reloading table for $129  and they have a few assortment of gunsmithing items.  things like Viper Venom  cutting oil that I haven ‘t been able to find on Amazon and such.

Grizzly’s outlet section is worth a visit, too.

There!  Boy, do I feel good.  I probably just shaved 1-hour or more from your actual productive work time, today.

But look at the bright side:  Weekends are when you need all the parts and tools on hand so you can actually get something accomplished.

When I go by Lowes or Home Despots on Saturdays, I am amazed at the number of people there.

If Americans had even 10% of the inventiveness and planning capacity we once owned as a nation, those big box stores would all be chock-a-block full on evenings and empty on weekends when people would be using precious large blocks of personal time to do the big projects start to finish.

Oh…wait.  We’ve become a nation of idiots.

How soon I forget.

Write when you break-even,

George  george@ure.net