From 2015.

The Narrative. – Gun Free Zone

I keep mention The Narrative and then find myself searching online to find the quote from Stephen Hunter’s book I, Sniper.  So I went ahead and created my own post so I don’t have to go crazy next time.

You do not fight the narrative. The narrative will destroy you. The narrative is all-powerful. The narrative rules. It rules us, it rules Washington, it rules everything.
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The narrative is the set of assumptions the press believes in, possibly without even knowing that it believes in them. It’s so powerful because it’s unconscious. It’s not like they get together every morning and decide “These are the lies we will tell today.” No, that would be too crude and honest. Rather, it’s a set of casual, nonrigorous assumptions about a reality they’ve never really experienced that’s arranged in such a way as to reinforce their best and most ideal presumptions about themselves and their importance to the system and the way they’ve chosen to live their lives. It’s a way of arranging things a certain way that they all believe in without ever really addressing carefully. It permeates their whole culture. They know, for example, that Bush is a moron and Obama is a saint. They know communism was a phony threat cooked up by right-wing cranks as a way to leverage power to the executive. They know that Saddam didn’t have weapons of mass destruction, the response to Katrina was fucked up…. Cheney’s a devil. Biden’s a genius. Soft power good, hard power bad. Forgiveness excellent, punishment counterproductive, capital punishment a sin.
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And the narrative is the bedrock of their culture, the keystone of their faith, the altar of their church. They don’t even know they’re true believers, because in theory they despise the true believer in anything. But they will absolutely de-frackin’-stroy anybody who makes them question that….

J. Kb. sent me this:

The assailants were wearing police jackets, impersonating officers.

Video of the attack was captured by a security camera around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 26.

The LAPD says the three victims were walking home.

When they went to open the front door, detectives say two attackers with guns confronted them, demanding money and wanting to get inside the home.

The group complied and let them in, where there were two more people inside.

Once they were in the home, three more suspects followed them.

Caught on video: 3 people robbed and beaten by suspects dressed as police | WKRC (local12.com)

Home is our sanctuary, so when we finally return to our abode, we feel we have reached the Finish line of a race and we want to immediately relax. Unfortunately, we go Condition White and drop our guard.

And that is what the bad guys count on.

Now you know that moment of arriving home is as dangerous as going tapdancing in the middle of a Bloods versus Crips turf challenge.  You do not relax till you are safely inside and double locked. You do nor approach home without carefully observing for something or somebody out of place. And if your gut starts to scream, pay attention and change the pattern, leave, make eye contact with the suspicious character as way of letting them know you know. Avoid the confrontation and call the cops. If you were mistaken, tough luck: you have been paying taxes for a long time an one call to the cops is well deserved. And do carry a decent tactical light to illuminate any and all dark places at night. Reduce the chances the bad guys have to approach you unnoticed by again, letting them know you know and the added bonus of leaving them blinded or with a reduced sight capability after you burned their retinas with 5,000 lumens (OK, at least 300 Lumens out of a Cree LED).

And, the bad news is that even that may not help you be totally safe. A crew of 6 people coming after you (5 attacker and surely a driver, possibly 2) is not an easy task to stop.

In 2009, Harrison said a call came into his unit for a two-year-old in cardiac arrest.

“They dispatched us to a road that I was familiar with, but I also knew the addresses were notorious for being out of order,” explained Harrison.

His crews tried their best to find the home. However, they were four minutes past their planned arrival time when they finally arrived.

…

Last week they launched The Locator 911, a smart LED light bulb. Since the launch, it has reached 19 states across the U.S.

“When you call 9-1-1, you just touch the app … You dial 911. As soon as you hit dial, it turns the light on the porch into that strobing beacon,” Cupples explained.

They hope this beacon will light the way for other first responders.

Former medic creates smart LED bulb to help emergency crews find homes faster | News | wsmv.com

I like any gadget or tool that can help shave seconds of delay that can go to save a life. However, don’t depend on just one item but have backups. The first back up I have personally used is my emergency flashers of my own car. The disadvantage would be you have to get in the car to activate or add noise by clicking the emergency button in your fob. But this only works if your car is parked in front of the house or in a garage with the door open facing the road. For apartment buildings, battery-operate flashing strobes will serve as beacon for emergency responders. You can look in Amazon and have your pick of what they call “LED Road Flares Emergency Lights” with three for under $25. If you live in a big building complex, you may use one on any opening of the floor you live in that faces towards the street and one in front of your apartment.

And there is always the option of having somebody actually wait out front with a flashing light and guide the emergency personnel to the location. If you have one of those tac lights with 7,000 lumens, please don’t shine it directly on the oncoming truck, they may frown on that as they crash blindly against an obstacle.

And before I forget, do tell 911 to advise responders there will be a flashing light (describe it, yellow or red or white or whatever color strobe, or guy with a flashlight or emergency lights of a vehicle and do tell color make and model) in or near the area where the emergency is happening. More information is always better.

SHOCK VIDEO: PM @JustinTrudeau answers a question from Conservative MP @MelissaLantsman, a Jewish woman and descendent of Holocaust survivors by saying Conservatives stand with swastikas.
This is beneath Trudeau and his office and he should apologize. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/cxHNEaJKGJ

— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) February 16, 2022

This is also a good reminder of why their words mean nothing.

I have watched a lot of video from Canada and I have seen no swastikas.

The CBC found one guy on the first day and I suspect they planted him just to set up the narrative.

When a Communist with a history of Blackface can call a Jew a Nazi for backing people who want to travel freely in their own country without having to show their papers, you know they throw around these words as insults with no meaning.

J Kb posted about Mr Rogers and I figured if you haven’t seen this, you should. Tom Hanks did a beautiful movie honoring him.

The man us 17% negative in a state he’s been senator of for 36 years and won the 2020 election with 59% popularity.

Sometimes the YouTube algorithm gives me something good.

You have permission to cry watching this.