Faking It

Back when Madonna was still a thing — i.e. in the early 1980s — she was accused of miming her concerts, with one critic memorably entitling his review: “Like A Concert”.

So I saw this listing at one of the execrable ticketing websites:

For a free box of .22 boolets, name the two acts which will almost certainly feature at least one mimed song.

HOW Much? (Part 2)

Never checked my email over the weekend because I had other stuff to do.  So I opened  the program just now, to find this in my Inbox:

It’s not the sale price that offends me (that much):  it’s becoming increasing difficult to find a decent rifle for less than a grand nowadays (sigh).

But two grand (regular price)?  For a Marlin lever rifle?

Has the world gone fucking crazy?

Then again, there’s this:

…which seems too good to be true.  (I don’t know who “SDS” is, but whatever.)  If I were to guess, that might need a few hundred bucks in gunsmithing to make it acceptable, but I could be wrong.  (I do like the lanyard ring, by the way.)

Not Just Chrysler, Not Just Manhattan

I wailed about the difficulties facing the people trying to fix up / sell New York City’s Chrysler Building, and saw the possibility of the disappearance of that wonderful structure.

Well, it’s not just Manhattan.  Heeeere’s London:

A number of major London office blocks costing more than £300million each have recently been put up for sale at the same time.

The four buildings have hit the market at a time where deals have been extremely rare due to rising interest rates and continuous uncertainty about working from home.

All the same issues facing the Chrysler.

Unlike the Chrysler, however, the four London skyscrapers are anything but wonderful:

The first three are of the Le Corbusier-Gropius-Modernist ilk — and frankly would be no great loss to any skyline, let alone London’s — while the last, the aptly-nicknamed Can of Ham, is an architectural carbuncle of the direst kind, but at least it has something of a sense of fun about it.

And while I and many others would dearly miss the Chrysler Building, these British edifices would not only not be missed, but applauded in their implosion.

So mote it be.

Fundamental Principle

I have said, many times before on this blog and elsewhere, that in America there is no such thing as “taking to law into our own hands”, for the simple reason that in America, the law has never left our hands.  Oh sure, we have deputized its enforcement, mostly to local law enforcement and (lamentably) on occasion to the federal government.

But make no mistake:  if our deputized law enforcement is unable or unwilling to enforce the law (most often the former, thank goodness), then it is indeed up to We The People to make damn sure that it is.  Which is why we have statutes like the Castle Doctrine and “stand your ground” principles;  we have every right to defend our families and properties, and that defense does not require us to “run away” in the face of such predation either.  (Of course, in some states — Massachusetts, Minnesota etc. — such prescriptions are an anathema, which is why their citizens live in fear most of the time, whereas in Florida, Oklahoma and Texas criminals commit crimes at their own peril, and the law-abiding are not themselves prosecuted for providing that peril.)

Which brings me to the next issue involving fundamental principle:  disaster recovery.

The United States, taken has a whole, experiences a wider range of natural disasters than just about anywhere else:  tropical storms and hurricanes, blizzards and deep freezes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, wildfires and floods;  you name the manifestations of that bitch Mother Nature’s enmity, and we get ’em, good and hard.

Typically, the responses to such disasters take several forms:  at state level, if the government has its ducks in a row, you have disaster preparation such as Florida having a veritable army of utility workers prepositioned to make sure that infrastructure can be restored quickly (thank you, Gov. DeSantis), or Texas having a “rainy day” fund for precisely that purpose.  And if you can take anything to the bank these days, it is the generosity of ordinary Americans to help out where they can, trucking in supplies such as water, food, construction materials and so on, quite often without asking any form of compensation other than grateful thanks from the recipients.

And then you have the federal government’s attempts at recovery assistance.  What a fuckup.  The so-called Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has proven itself most recently to be completely and utterly inept, which by the way is typical of any Big Government agency trying to address a local situation:  they screw things up.

Worse still, when Big Agency can’t provide assistance, its inherent systemic arrogance often leads to hindering and even preventing assistance from being delivered by private individuals and organizations.  (It’s a childish and petulant attitude that “If we can’t do it, then nobody can”, and it’s a typical manifestation of bad government.)

Over at PJMedia, Scott Pinsker has written a fine piece on just this topic.  Go ahead and read it because it contains all the details that I can’t be bothered with;  but at the end he comes to this conclusion:

Most FEMA fieldworkers [as opposed to FEMA management — K.] are doing the best they can.  But something profound is going on:  The American people have stopped expecting the government to help them.  Instead, they’re turning to the Free Market.

And:

The majority of Asheville residents (the ones who are still left) probably couldn’t tell you who runs FEMA. But I guarantee you they know who Elon Musk is: He’s the billionaire who’s actually trying to make a difference.

And when help finally comes to North Carolina, it’ll be from Musk — not Uncle Sam.

Keep your eyes on this: The ground is starting to shift… and not because of natural disasters.

I expect that voters are going to demand from their state governments that they (state government) and not FEMA be held responsible and accountable for disaster recovery.  What should follow after that is the state government should actively prosecute federal officials for getting in the way.

And I’m not advocating this, but I am warning of it:  the next time some FEMA helicopter “propwashes” an “unapproved” private supply dump, do not be surprised if local residents react violently.

I’m pretty sure that I’d be tempted to, in such a situation — and I’m ordinarily the most law-abiding person I know.  But catastrophe and disaster are not “ordinary” situations, and while a federal government agency may see it as just another bureaucratic exercise needing proper, orderly management, the people on the ground won’t, and shouldn’t.

Their lives and community are more important, and the sooner Big Government realizes that, the better — because if they don’t, a shit-storm will follow, and it will be their own fault.

Failed Landmark

This just sucks:

The future of the iconic Chrysler Building in New York City is uncertain as its owners face eviction – leaving the crown jewel of Gotham’s high-rise at risk of falling into disrepair.

The owner of the land on which the skyscraper stands said it has terminated the building buyer’s ground lease and taken control of the Art Deco gem in Midtown Manhattan.

To call the Chrysler a “gem” is to do the building a great injustice.  Alone among all the skyscrapers in New York, it’s a building worth saving because its beauty makes it truly a work of art rather than just another grubby office building.

The problem with a building — any building, no matter how well constructed or of what durable materials it was built — is that it needs constant care and refurbishment, which clearly has been neglected by this lovely structure’s various owners over the decades. And to be frank, all of them need to be whipped at the post.

A cursory glance at what the landowners have been demanding for rent over the years, however, may be a clue as to why the neglect has occurred.

But like all downtown buildings, the Chrysler was nuked by Covid and its aftermath of “work-from-home” and empty offices thereby.  So its chances of survival at this point seem remote, unless some super-billionaire with imagination can think of a way out.  (One thinks of the much-maligned Donald Trump, who could probably pull off the miracle;  but he has other things to occupy him at the moment.)

So the Chrysler will probably be taken down like some exhausted Las Vegas casino, except that unlike the typical Vegas eyesore, a piece of great architectural beauty will disappear, and Manhattan will lose, in my opinion, far more of its soul than it lost when the Twin Towers fell.

Might as well look at it while we still can:

Fugly Replacements

Back when I posted Fugly Houses (follow the link for the full flavor) wherein an entire subdivision in Britishland was ordered to be demolished because of “foundation issues”, I said this about the demolished houses:

“However, I will not offer odds that the rebuilt houses will look any different from their predecessors.”

And sadly, my prophecy has proved to be correct:

Ugh.  They look like the cell blocks in a Level 3 penitentiary.