The latest madness came in a post by a journalist named Kit Knightly, who wrote: "Have you ever made a prediction and wished you'd recorded it? Last week, in a phone conversation with a family member, they happened to mention growing their own vegetables, and I said in reply, 'Enjoy it while you can, they're gonna start claiming it's causing climate change soon.' Literally four days later …"

The article he linked to was a Guardian piece entitled "Carbon footprint of homegrown food five times greater than those grown conventionally." The majority of the emissions, states the article, do not come from the growing of the food itself, but from the infrastructure needed to allow the food to be grown, including raised beds, garden sheds and pathways. Their conclusion? Leave the farming to the professionals.

But wait, there's more! Now we find the U.N. is secretly working with banks to destroy the farming industry. (I wish I were making this up, but I'm not.)

The article states: "A group of top officials representing twelve U.S. states has raised the alarm after discovering that the unelected globalist United Nations is secretly working with banks to destroy the American farming industry. The banks are using the U.N.'s Marxist 'environmental, social, and corporate governance' (ESG) criteria to score and penalize farmers. Traditional rural farmers who are not considered 'woke' enough, according to ESG scoring, are being 'de-banked' – having their accounts shut down, without notice or explanation. The plot seeks to throttle the agriculture industry to eliminate all those who fail to comply with the globalist 'Net Zero' agenda of the World Economic Forum (WEF). As part of the effort to wage war on the food supply, banks have teamed up with a United Nations-organized group called Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA)."

But wait, there's more! Wood stoves and pellet stoves are also in the crosshairs. Both these home heating options are widespread in rural areas where electricity is often undependable (pellet stoves often come equipped with battery backups to continue operating during power outages). Firewood harvested sustainably from one's own land ensures that rural people never have to depend on the grid for heat. Now, how long will it be until insurance companies won't insure homes equipped with wood heat, even if the stoves have Underwriter Laboratories approval?

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At first glance, these articles seem like the wildest of conspiracy theories. But I'm sure you've heard the expression "The difference between a conspiracy theory and reality is about six months." We're heading for a time when producing food and heating with wood and even living outside the 15-minute cities may well be illegal.

Now recall a few years ago during the pandemic lockdowns when Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer prohibited the sale of gardening tools and seeds. "If you're not buying food or medicine or other essential items, you should not be going to the store," she said when announcing her order. The governor was fine with purchases of lottery tickets and liquor, but not gardening tools and seeds.

On the surface, there seemed no logical reason for this action, but many people saw this as a "beta test" for wider restrictions on food independence – evidently with good reason. Control the food, control the people.

This is a subject near to my heart because my husband and I have spent the last 20 years learning the intricacies of self-sufficiency. On our last homestead (we downsized about three years ago) we had nearly achieved our goal since we produced our own organic beef, chicken, eggs, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, fruits and vegetables (grown from open-pollinated seeds, of course). We also harvested firewood sustainably from our own woodlot. We're striving for that same level here in our new home. (For added measure, we also live as close to a zero-waste lifestyle as possible, and as "green" as we can be. What can I say, it's a challenge I enjoy.)

For the elites to start bleating about how our efforts are bad for the planet – while they fly to conferences in their private jets and dine on Kobe beef – would be hilarious if they weren't so serious.

Kit Knightly continues in his post: "Since we started with a prediction, let's end with another one: This is just the first step. … They are never going to make growing your own vegetables illegal, they are just going to make it increasingly difficult. It will start with licenses, for food safety purposes or something. Maybe an outbreak of a disease will be linked to people sharing food from their allotments. Licenses will be increasingly expensive, and come with restrictions. You'll only be allowed to use seeds from specific approved vendors, seeds of GMO plants which 'mitigate the impact of climate change.' These seeds will likely be 'terminator seeds,' meaning they are sterile in the second generation. And, in that fashion, growing your own vegetables will no longer be an individual and independent experience, but just another corporate subscription service."

If these developments have done nothing else, they have spurred us to work faster to build the infrastructure necessary to make our little homestead as self-sufficient as possible. We already have our fruit in production (blueberries, strawberries, apples, peaches, plums, blackberries), our wood cookstove installed, and a huge woodpile stacked and covered. By spring, we'll have our raised-bed garden in place and fenced against deer. By summer, we'll have our beef and dairy cows and I'll be back in full dairy production. By fall, the chicken coop will be completed. By winter, the hand pump for our well will be installed. Conceivably we'll never need to leave home to have all the necessary components of comfort.

Don't get me wrong, these are things we planned to do anyway – it's just the lifestyle we prefer to lead – but circumstances are goading us to ramp up our schedule and make sure we can place ourselves apart from government overreach if necessary.

They say everyone should know the hill they're willing to die on. This is mine. To all the WEF elites out there, both foreign and domestic, listen very carefully. Lean in real close so I can whisper it in your ear. Ready? HANDS. OFF. OUR. FARM.

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An article came out this week entitled "Policymakers blame homeschools for the mass exodus from public schools." Yes, educrats are distressed that parents aren't pleased with public schools. Therefore, in the twisted logic of the district bureaucrats, it's the fault of homeschooling parents that public schools are failing so badly. If those awful parents didn't yank their kids out in droves … why, those schools would be flourishing! Thriving! Booming!

Instead, districts are floundering. "If you were to drill down into the individual school districts," the article notes, "you would see an enrollment loss in specific schools anywhere between 20%-65%. Those numbers are unsustainable."

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Yet if public schools were teaching to high standards of academic excellence, would parents be so eager to remove their children?

Meanwhile, here are three articles I plucked off the internet in the span of five minutes, literally without even searching. These illustrate some of the reasons parents are disgusted with what schools are shoving down their kids' throats:

• School children told to "declare independence" … from parents: "A government schoolteacher in Maine asked students to confess their 'unconscious biases' and gave a homework assignment asking them to write a 'Declaration of Independence' from 'something problematic' in their lives such as … parents." (Ironically, the one word that was banned from these declarations of independence was "school." And yet homeschoolers are to blame for failing schools.)

• Declining academic standards mixed with DEI is a recipe for disaster: "The continued embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM combined with a broad decline in academic standards is producing a generation of scientists who are less capable than their predecessors. … From easier math classes in high school to the elimination of standardized tests to extreme grade-inflation to DEI tropes that elevate lived experiences and ways of knowing over facts and data, the trend represents a pressing problem for science professors working to protect STEM and preserve its standards and meritocracy." (And yet homeschoolers are to blame for failing schools.)

• Segregation by any other name: "School segregation has risen from the grave – disguised under a different name. An increasing number of school districts are offering 'affinity classes' that cater to specific racial groups. … In reality, 'affinity' is just a newfangled term for 'segregation.' Schools that support such racial sorting insist these classes are opt-in, benign programs that don't violate anti-discrimination laws or the Constitution's equal protection guarantee. They're wrong." (And yet homeschoolers are to blame for failing schools.)

Unsurprisingly, the leftist lapdogs are taking notice and demanding more oversight of homeschoolers. An opinion piece in The Washington Post laments, "Where there's no oversight, there's no guarantee that children will learn skills considered foundational in public education and essential to adult life."

This comment would be hilarious if it weren't so serious. Really? Is teaching children that they're the wrong gender or making them suicidal from "climate anxiety" essential skills for adult life? Is the obsession with sexual perversion and pornography a life skill?

"Many public schools are making the exact point, only in reverse," podcaster Dean Bowen notes. "Where there is government oversight, there is no guarantee that children will learn skills considered foundational and essential to adult life. Some would say where there is government oversight, there is a guarantee that the children will not learn those skills. Parents who love their children are going to be sure their kids have the skills necessary to live a full life."

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Or, as one person put it, "It's all the parents' fault! They want their children to be able to read, write and do math! How selfish of them!"

Ryan Walters, formerly a popular high-school teacher and now the elected superintendent of Oklahoma schools – in other words, someone who has seen the entire school system from the inside – has become one of its biggest critics. Since taking office last year, Walters "labeled teachers unions as terrorist organizations and said that radical leftists have turned schools into an 'Epstein island' of sexual predators, as he has waged a verbal war against what he sees as a dangerous 'woke ideology' infecting public education."

I hardly need remind you that, once upon a time, the American educational system was the envy of the world. The massive transformation and subsequent decline started in the 1960s; but in the last 10 years, quality has fallen off a cliff. Why? Because the extreme leftists have seized absolute control and blatantly admitted they're indoctrinating, not educating.

But it wasn't until the pandemic lockdowns that many parents finally woke up. Actually seeing what their kids were being spoon-fed was horrifying – and millions seized upon the opportunity to do a better job by educating their children at home. Now the left is desperate to stem the time.

The one thing the left fears above all is losing their control of the next generation. To that end, they would forbid homeschooling if they had their druthers. Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Bartholet flat-out called for a presumptive ban on homeschooling, because – well, because she says so.

Having made the mistake of not making homeschooling illegal from the get-go, the left is taking the back-door approach by making homeschooling difficult through increased regulations and oversight. In the more restrictive states such as New York and Massachusetts, many parents simply up and move to a friendlier state so they can educate their children without nosey school districts breathing down their neck.

To all you clueless educrats, try to wrap your mind around this simple concept: PARENTS DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU'RE TEACHING. That's why they're yanking their kids out of your indoctrination centers. If schools are failing, it's your fault.

This is why educrats fight tooth and nail against school choice. Monopolies hate competition, which implies accountability. Above all, they don't want to be accountable for their rampant failures to educate.

And so homeschooling will increasingly come into the crosshairs by hostile authorities. Homeschools will be blamed for everything from the decline of public schools to dust bunnies under the bed. Parents, you've been warned.

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These pearls of wisdom come from Jojo Mehta, co-founder, CEO and key spokesperson of Stop Ecocide International. According to Ms. Mehta, any activity that results in food – fishing, farming, hunting, etc. – results in "mass damage and destruction of nature" and therefore should be stopped. Not just stopped; these activities should be legally recognized as "a serious crime" and punished accordingly. The central goal of her organization is to make "environmental murder" an international crime before the International Criminal Court.

(The logical questions of what Ms. Mehta eats, and where or how she obtains her food, have yet to be answered.)

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To clarify, "ecocide" was the term coined to recognize environmental destruction as an act of war (think Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War). Last I checked, farmers weren't engaged in warfare.

She intones, "What our organization and other collaborators aim to do is to have this [food harvesting] recognized legally as a serious crime. … If you're campaigning for human rights, at least you know mass murder, torture and all of these things are serious crimes. But there's no equivalent in the environmental space. Unlike an international crime like genocide, that involves a specific intent, with ecocide what we see is actually what people are trying to do, what businesses are trying to do, is make money, is farm, is fish, is do all of these things that produce energy and so on. But what's missing is the awareness and conscience around the side effects, around the collateral damage that happens with that."

Mehta argues this ecocide can be prevented through legal "deterrence and prevention" measures. By introducing legislation against ecocide, the international criminal courts (as well as national governments) could go after energy companies, agriculture, and others deemed to be offenders and prosecute them for future disasters that will allegedly occur.

In other words, farmers, ranchers and fishermen must be punished for the crime of growing, raising or harvesting food. "The designation of farming and fishing as ecocide, and then the criminalization of ecocide, is just one of many efforts designed to prevent average citizens from producing or procuring food," notes this article.

Since Ms. Mehta throws around the term "genocide" so casually, let's look at what "genocide" is. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, genocide is defined as "The systematic and widespread extermination or attempted extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group."

Now take away farming and other food production methods, and what do you have? That's right, a lot of dead people deliberately killed by famine. In other words, genocide. Methinks logic is not the strong point of Jojo Mehta; or, more likely, she is so drunk with power for global domination as to think genocide is just fine as long as it saves the planet and doesn't involve her.

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The WEF is obsessed with controlling what you eat. It advocates for increasing insect consumption, reducing rice production, eliminating meat and dairy, and banning fertilizers and pesticides. Now, apparently, it wants to criminalize food production and harvest. What are these people smoking?

Aside from animal-based foods such as meat and dairy, rice (which is a staple food for more than half of the world's population) is under particular scrutiny by the agricultural experts on the WEF panels.

In their article "This is How Rice is Hurting the Planet," the WEF states: "Global rice production is releasing damaging greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, doing as much harm as 1,200 average-sized coal power stations."

The article takes exception to the method of flooding rice paddies to control weeds (putting aside that this is possibly the single most planet-friendly weed-control method possible): "Microbes that feed off decaying plant matter in these fields produce the greenhouse gas methane. And because rice is grown so prolifically, the amount being created is not to be sniffed at – around 12% of global annual emissions."

Their solution is to offer a "balancing act" of precise amounts of water to be used in the paddies, without admitting that such modified techniques are likely to drastically lower rice production, making rice far more expensive (especially in third-world countries). Believe me, rice (or other kinds of) farmers aren't stupid. They've spent anywhere from centuries to millennia figuring out how best to maximize production while minimizing costs. For the yahoos at the WEF (who probably never even grew a tomato plant on their patio) to start lecturing farmers about their expertise is condescending. No, let me correct that: It's evil.

Why evil? Because it's obvious what the ultimate goal of the WEF is: to reduce the global population. If Disease X won't do the job, then interrupting or lowering food production and (with their matchless logic) branding farmers as mass murderers might do the trick. Y'know, genocide to prevent ecocide.

The soulless Yuval Noah Harari, one of the top advisers of the World Economic Forum, claims we are moving toward a world where humans are nonexistent: "We just don't need the vast majority of the population because the future is about developing more and more sophisticated technology like artificial intelligence."

Supporters were quick to point out Harari's words were taken out of context; but really, is it too far outside the realm of possibility to believe the notorious control freaks of WEF hate humanity and want us all dead? Part of accomplishing this goal is to criminalize farming, fishing, livestock production and other forms of food harvesting. Eliminate the food, eliminate the people; and hey presto, problem solved. Just think how fast "ecocide" would be averted if humans weren't around!

Needless to say, the Davos elites are exempt from the restrictions they're desperate to place on the rest of mankind. They won't be asked to give up heat, lights, transportation or luxurious foods. But even the most ardent vegan among them must eat; and unless and until they're competent at growing their own food, they're full of sh … manure (which, let the record show, makes for terrific compost).

The World Economic Forum has been called the greatest threat to humanity. Frankly, it's hard to disagree with that sentiment.

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"What's behind the increase in homeschooling?" Weingarten posted on X (formerly Twitter), referencing an article on Axios with the same title. This apparent cluelessness drew snorts of derision from parents all over the nation, who didn't hold back on their responses by the thousands – so much so that Weingarten turned off replies to her post.

After stating, "The answer is in your mirror," Townhall columnist Phil Hollaway questioned why Weingarten turned off comments."Are you afraid of the answers you'll get? You and the teacher unions with help from [former CDC director Rochelle Walensky] sent public schools into a death spiral from which they may never recover."

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Another poster responded: "A person touted as the country's top teacher asks a question then turns off replies to keep people from answering it. That sums up pedagogy in public schools right now."

It wasn't so much the refusal to acknowledge the problems endemic in public education that homeschooling parents found objectionable in Weingarten's remark; it was the deliberate playing dumb: "Golly gee willikers, little ol' me has NO IDEA why anyone would want to homeschool their kids!"

In the past, various prominent politicians have been dubbed "Gun Salesman of the Year" after involving themselves in gun-control legislation. The same sentiment can be applied to the upper echelons of public education officials, who cannot seem to grasp the concept that parents want their children educated, not indoctrinated. When public schools were closed during COVID, millions of parents learned they could educate better at home, and never looked back. New meme: "Randi Weingarten: Homeschooling Sponsor of the Year!"

From sociopolitical commentary to romance writing! Patrice Lewis branches into the world of Amish inspirational fiction. These clean romances are wholesome enough for Grandma to read. Check out Patrice's available titles.

The numbers are impressive; and the bluer the state, the higher the interest in homeschooling. In California alone, over 1,400 public K-12 schools lost more than 20% of their students since 2020, with homeschooling up 78% between 2017 and 2022. Upending the narratives that homeschooling is done only by religious or wealthy families, a 2023 analysis by the liberal Washington Post admitted homeschooling's surging popularity "crosses every measurable line of politics, geography and demographics."

As often happens when faced with such drastic declines in enrollment, the public school systems make fretful attempts to lure parents back into complacency, usually in the form of hiring more teachers to lower teacher-to-student ratios. Ironically, this itself has proven difficult, as teachers are (understandably) leaving the profession in droves (here and here and here), concerned about violence, disrespect and other classroom quarterbacking that interferes with teaching academics.

Additionally, fewer and fewer people are entering the profession to begin with. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there is a massive drop in college students seeking degrees in education to pursue jobs in teaching. This decline has been going on for decades, but has accelerated in the last few chaotic years.

This creates something of a doom loop. The teachers who remain get burdened with even more tasks and responsibilities, which leads to more burnout, which leads to more teachers leaving, etc. Faced with these challenges, it's no wonder there's a teacher shortage in America. Who would want the job?

But what academic experts fail to see (or, more likely, refuse to admit) is what parents find most objectionable about public education: The content of the curricula. As long as public schools ignore academics in favor of grooming and indoctrination, parents will continue to withdraw their kids for academic alternatives.

So, faced with such drastic declines in enrollment in failing public schools, officials are falling back on what they often do when faced with homeschooling's indisputable academic superiority: Ramping up regulations for homeschoolers. Usually this increased regulation begins by conveniently citing the rare case of abuse, then spinning it into the wild extrapolation that any parent who homeschools is doing so to hide the bruises.

Citing a Washington Post smear piece against the booming homeschooling movement, Casey Chalk wrote in The Federalist, "To support the claim of exploiting 'lax home education laws' to hide abuse, the Post cites a 2014 study that found that of more than two dozen tortured children treated at medical centers in five states, eight of 17 victims old enough to attend school were homeschooled. You read that right – the most damning evidence The Washington Post can cite to support the claim that homeschooling is facilitating widespread abuse or neglect of minors across the United States is a study with a sample size of 17 children.

(Keep in mind, there were about 3.1 million homeschool students in 2021-2022 in grades K-12 in the United States, or roughly 6% of school-age children, and yet the Post could only drum up 17 examples of abuse from nine years ago.)

Meanwhile, the extreme-left Southern Poverty Law Center has classified parental rights organizations as "hate groups." And of course, the U.S. Justice Department famously documents and investigates concerned parents attending school board meetings.

Ironically, as one commenter pointed out, "Homeschoolers are held to a much higher standard than are public schools. Case in point: Oregon has suspended standards for graduation from a public school but still requires testing for homeschool students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 to make sure they are getting a 'good' education."

Meanwhile public education continues to decline in quality. In Illinois, just 32% of high school juniors could read, and 27% do math at grade level – and yet the state opted to kill school choice.

Schools are now being dubbed "knowledge-free zones."

Educators can play dumb all they want, but of course we all know the real reason behind the hostility toward the homeschooling movement: The manic desire to keep children within their clutches. For this reason, I pray every parent in the nation finds some way to educate their children outside of public schools. Only by starving the beast can their agenda be disrupted.

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When you milk cows, the one thing you end up with is a lot of cream. One of the best things to make from this abundance is butter. In the past, I've used a blender to make butter, but my cardinal rule in life is to always opt for the low-tech hand-powered version of any tool, if one is available. That's why I've always coveted a hand-cranked butter churn, and why I was so thrilled to make the trade.

"You're such a Luddite," my husband teased in response to my giddy delight.

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Luddites, for those unfamiliar with the term, were (to quote Wikipedia) "members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers which opposed the use of certain types of cost-saving machinery, often by destroying the machines in clandestine raids. They protested against manufacturers who used machines in 'a fraudulent and deceitful manner' to replace the skilled labour of workers and drive down wages by producing inferior goods."

In modern parlance, today's Luddites are viewed as technophobes who look with suspicion on new technology. While most don't choose to live like the Amish, as a group they are reluctant to rush out and embrace the latest whiz-bang electronic marvel. As a result of Luddites' refusal to get a smartphone (guilty) or acquire any other smart item (again, guilty!), they are frequently the recipient of sneers and derision. The term "Luddites" is often lobbed as an insult, but those of us who pick and choose which technology to incorporate in our lives accept it as a compliment.

"To be a Luddite is seen as synonymous with being primitive – backwards in your outlook, ignorant of innovation's wonders, and fearful of modern society," observes Joel Abrams in a piece called "I'm a Luddite. You should be one too." "This all-or-nothing approach to debates about technology and society is based on severe misconceptions of the real history and politics of the original Luddites. … Luddism was a working-class movement opposed to the political consequences of industrial capitalism. The Luddites wanted technology to be deployed in ways that made work more humane and gave workers more autonomy. The bosses, on the other hand, wanted to drive down costs and increase productivity."

In fact, if you avoid shopping on Amazon due to its inhumane exploitation of workers in massive warehouses driven by automation – and, not incidentally, which line the pockets of incredibly rich men – then you, too, could be considered a modern Luddite.

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But, warns, Paul Roehrig in a piece called "Modern Luddites and the Growing Techlash," "The house money never bets against new technology in the long run. In no case have we collectively decided to simply turn the machines off. In every case we have collectively chosen to move ahead with the new gadgets. That's what humans do."

That's why critics will censure me for my interest in using a hand-cracked butter churn rather than using a blender – or buying butter from the store.

Naturally, as a child of the modern age, I have the luxury to pick and choose which conveniences to embrace and which to avoid. On our farm, we like having low-tech versions of modern conveniences for times when those conveniences go down. It's why we have a wood cookstove, a hand pump for our well, an outhouse and other alternatives for life's necessities. We don't always use them (notably the outhouse) unless we need to, but having them available makes for great peace of mind. It's why I've coveted that butter churn for so long.

But this logic eludes those who mock Luddites. "Tantruming technophobes who were attacking the very notion of progress," sneers this article. "The rebels embraced the label."

Yes. Yes we do. But here's the thing: When the power goes out, we can still stay warm, see, cook, entertain ourselves, use the toilet and (incidentally) make butter. I fail to understand the problem.

A few years ago, a man named Tim Wu wrote a brilliant piece in the New York Times entitled "Tyranny of Convenience." In this essay, Wu outlined why "convenience is the most underestimated and least understood force in the world today."

"Convenience has the ability to make other options unthinkable," writes Wu. "Once you have used a washing machine, laundering clothes by hand seems irrational, even if it might be cheaper."

Wu continues: "[W]e err in presuming convenience is always good, for it has a complex relationship with other ideals that we hold dear. Though understood and promoted as an instrument of liberation, convenience has a dark side. With its promise of smooth, effortless efficiency, it threatens to erase the sort of struggles and challenges that help give meaning to life. Created to free us, it can become a constraint on what we are willing to do, and thus in a subtle way it can enslave us. It would be perverse to embrace inconvenience as a general rule. But when we let convenience decide everything, we surrender too much. … As task after task becomes easier, the growing expectation of convenience exerts a pressure on everything else to be easy or get left behind. We are spoiled by immediacy and become annoyed by tasks that remain at the old level of effort and time. … Today's cult of convenience fails to acknowledge that difficulty is a constitutive feature of human experience. Convenience is all destination and no journey. But climbing a mountain is different from taking the tram to the top, even if you end up at the same place. We are becoming people who care mainly or only about outcomes. We are at risk of making most of our life experiences a series of trolley rides."

This, dear readers, encapsulates in a nutshell why I wanted a hand-cranked butter churn for so long. Laziness apparently is at the heart of things. "Smart" features are the lazy man's way to go about his daily business. Clearly, a low-tech lifestyle isn't sought by many, however. That's why fighting against it is viewed as stupid at best and suspicious at worst.

Look, I'm not suggesting everyone needs to give up technology and live in the 19th century. We'd all be dead from lack of modern medicine anyway. What I am suggesting is that just because something can be "smart-ified" doesn't mean it should.

As I write this, our power has been out for 16 hours after a heavy snowfall, and temperatures are slated to dip to -10 F tonight. Inhabitants of "smart" homes around here are freezing right now, yet we're warm and comfortable. Luddites unite.

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Consider this NPR article that appeared in early October, innocuously titled "These 5 big purchases can save energy – and money – at home." I clicked on it because I'm always interested in frugal suggestions.

I should have known better. This being NPR, their agenda is clear and their logic mediocre. The article begins: "Driving a car, making dinner, heating water and turning on the air conditioner – our everyday actions emit some of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. But sustainability experts say there are ways we can make these daily tasks more climate friendly. By using home appliances and vehicles that run on electricity, we can help reduce our carbon footprint and leave more fossil fuels in the ground."

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The article promotes a book entitled "Electrify Everything in Your Home" which, as the name suggests, wants everyone to convert to the wonders of electric everything. Forget wood. Forget propane. Forget natural gas. It's electricity all the way, baby.

The article continues, "Making these upgrades to your home and lifestyle will cost money– and you will need to plan ahead. … So don't feel like you have to change out your appliances overnight. Instead, buy them as your existing machines wear out. [The book's author] offers a catchy phrase: 'When it starts dying, get electrifying.'"

No. I refuse. I refuse to make ourselves more vulnerable.

The article touts the "dangers" of any other fuel option except electricity (even though these other fuel sources have been used anywhere from generations to millennia) and promotes such things as induction stoves and electric vehicles.

But all their persuasive arguments fail to address the one logical question, the ginormous elephant in the room the electrifiers refuse to acknowledge: What happens when (not if, but when) the electricity fails? It doesn't even have to be a big event, but merely a winter storm or a high wind that can take down power lines and leave people unable to heat, cook, drive, see, or otherwise function in the modern world.

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And make no mistake, America's grid is frighteningly fragile. California's grid alone is so delicate that the logistics of plugging in millions of new electric vehicles being pushed by government mandates would be enough to topple it irrevocably. Yet this logic eludes the bureaucrats.

As one reader of my blog pointed out, "In my state electricity is made with gas. So how do they think that's 'green'? Somehow they need to figure out where the electricity comes from!" This sentiment is echoed by another: "It is baffling that these otherwise seemingly smart people do not realize that most electricity takes coal, diesel, etc. to generate. Do they really think we are that stupid?"

Yet another reader addressed the unspoken understanding behind this electric push: "And with smart meters, all those conveniences can be shut off at some bureaucrat's whim. Remotely. Like when your usage is judged excessive, or your politics controversial."

The all-electric push is (in)famous for failing spectacularly. Consider just two examples:

• Biden's electric school bus program faces a big hurdle: inadequate utility power. "President Joe Biden's signature $5 billion program to convert the nation's school buses to an electric fleet has collided with a formidable challenge: a lack of charging infrastructure and power generation from local utilities. 'The [Environmental Protection Agency] may be unable to effectively manage and achieve the program mission unless local utility companies can meet increasing power supply demands for electric school buses,' the inspector general reported candidly, blaming in part agency officials for not putting more early emphasis on school districts coordinating with their power companies."

• Town falls back on diesel fleet after none of its electric buses work. Jackson, Wyoming, purchased eight electric buses, all of which have broken down and will no longer run. In warm weather, the buses ran all day. But in cold weather they suffered a "degradation of performance" and needed a midday charge, at which point a diesel bus will replace them.

To achieve the net-zero emissions economy by 2050, as Biden has pledged, will require three impossible accomplishments:

• Transport will have been electrified;

• Industrial and domestic heat will have been electrified;

• The electricity sector – generation, transmission, and distribution – will have been greatly expanded in order to cope with the first two projects, and will have ceased to use fossil fuels.

According to the expert who wrote the above article, to accommodate these requirements the grid in 2050 will need to be more than 60% bigger than its present size, and costs (including retrofitting existing buildings) would be anywhere from $20 trillion to $35 trillion … which America patently doesn't have. (The article is worth reading for a full breakdown of the physical and financial impossibilities involved.)

This push to electrify everything before the infrastructure is in place to support it seems criminally blind on the part of the government. Or is it? One article observes, "It has been clear for some time that the elimination of fossil fuels before there is an adequate power supply to take its place will endanger the safety and security of Americans. It is also obvious that this has been engineered to happen this way. The people planning a lack of supply ahead of replacement electricity sources are smart. They know what they're doing. Their policies will destroy our national security and will endanger the lives of our people. It will seriously damage our wealth as a nation." [Emphasis added.]

It's no wonder a recent survey on what concerns preppers isn't a world war or climate change or anything else the government is pushing. Instead, it's the failure of the power grid.

We ourselves are far too dependent on electricity for my comfort, even though we heat with wood, cook with propane and never use a clothes dryer. My quest is to continue to look for ways to wean ourselves further off the grid, rather than becoming more dependent on it.

So this catchy slogan ("When it starts dying, get electrifying") makes me laugh. Nope. I refuse.

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One such prediction came from economist Harry Dent of the HS Dent Investment Management firm. In an interview with Fox New, he said: "Since 2009, this has been 100% artificial, unprecedented money printing and deficits; $27 trillion over 15 years, to be exact. This is off the charts, 100% artificial, which means we're in a dangerous state. I think 2024 is going to be the biggest single crash year we'll see in our lifetimes."

Dent remains firm that an "everything bubble" will burst in this upcoming year. He further predicts the results will not be an economic recession, but a full-blown depression.

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Dent isn't the only one. "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" author Robert Kiyosaki offers similar warnings on how the Biden administration is sinking the U.S. into unrecoverable debt. "All you do is look at history. Every time they printed money, the empire went down."

Historian Victor Davis Hanson is calling 2024 "The Year of our Reckoning." "In some sense, the country for recent years has been cruising on the fumes from prior and likely better, wiser generations and institutions," he writes. "In 2024, the tab for our current apathy, toxic politics, and incompetence will come due."

Then there's CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge, who made a dark prediction that 2024 will produce a "Black Swan Event" that will shock the world. Her concerns focus on international affairs and how they will impact America.

And, of course, I hardly need to remind you that 2024 is an election year, with all the political and societal chaos that implies.

Most people are feeling some sort of unease about the future. Many have a nagging feeling in the gut that something wicked this way comes. If the prospect of a third world war doesn't bother you, then rising costs, stagnant wages and urban decay do.

But not everyone agrees. Looking at some of the comments on these articles confirm how many people believe everything is just ducky, thanks. There will always be those people who suffer from the delusion that nothing could ever disrupt the comfortable and dependable world in which we live. As my husband is fond of pointing out, the greatest conceit of mankind is, "It can't happen to me."

This is a typical Normalcy Bias, which Wikipedia defines as a mental state that "causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects." It's sometimes called the "It can't happen here" syndrome. The assumption is that since a particular disaster has never occurred before, it never will. Any disturbing indications that something bad may happen are dismissed or trivialized.

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When we hear the mainstream media assuring us in soothing, condescending tones that we're in an economic "recovery" – despite all evidence to the contrary – we want desperately to believe them. We don't want anything to disrupt our ordinary, comfortable lives. We genuinely believe that if we cling to our normal way of life and habitual methods of doing things – despite overwhelming proof that something dangerous is looming – then everything will be OK. It can't happen here.

But as Ayn Rand so memorably put it, "You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."

The fact is, very little happens that doesn't give some sort of advanced warning. All it takes is vigilance and a determination not to depend wholly on the mainstream media, which tend to filter world and national events to support their agenda.

Some say we're already in a Silent Depression. Consider this short video comparing the costs of homes, rent and income between 1930 and 2023.

In 1930, during the Great Depression, the average home in America was $3,900. The average car was $600. The average monthly rent was $18, or $216 a year, and the average salary was $1,300 a year. Fast forward to today. It is $436,000 for the average home, $48,000 for the average car, and the average rent is $2,000 a month or $24,000 a year, and we have a $56,000 income for the average American right now.

"So if you look back to the Great Depression," says the narrator, "the house was only three times the average salary. Now it is eight times the average salary. The car was 46% of the salary. The car today is 85% of the salary. And here's the craziest part. The rent was 16% of the average salary. It is now 42% of the average salary."

So yeah, in light of these numbers, 2024 could be a very interesting year indeed.

So what can be done about all these dire things? Well the first thing to do is strip away your Normalcy Bias and acknowledge that the smoke on the horizon means a fire is coming. Awareness, as they say, is half the battle.

But most people won't. They'll have endless excuses why it's not necessary, at least not yet. They'll remain in denial. They won't do anything. Then they'll be shocked – shocked! – when something happens that affects them personally.

As I see it, it never hurts to lend half an ear to such predictions and take sensible precautions. The Great Depression started with a dramatic bang – the stock market crash – but not every incident of economic turmoil begins like that. Many traumatic events begin with a whisper, which seems to be the case here. Whispers don't make it any less painful for those affected, but it does make it more deniable by those with a political ax to grind.

In short, 2024 is shaping up to be a very interesting year. I don't know if it will be a year of sunshine and roses, or of darkest despair. All I know is a lot of high-ranking national and international people are acting increasingly desperate to control the masses. Where that ends is anyone's guess.

But there is a silver lining: Forewarned is forearmed. Even hard times can be weathered if you're ready for them. Brace yourself.

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Ha ha, fooled him. Our house, cozy? Silly man. I wrote back, "LOL – our home is a fixer-upper with half the walls stripped, unpainted, or missing. If you look closely at the panel behind our friend's head, you'll notice it's actually not there. What's showing is pink insulation. One of these days we'll fix it up. ..."

He wrote back a scolding note: "Sheetrock doesn't make a home." He related the story of a wayward child who had caused him much heartbreak through her bad choices, but who had straightened out her life and returned to the fold, to his great joy. "Trust me," he concluded. "That beats the heck out of Sheetrock any day."

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He was right, of course. Absolutely positively dead-on right. I needed the kick-in-the-pants reminder.

You see, sometimes I fall into the classic trap: That externals count more than internals. That things are more important than people. That happiness is defined by income, not relationships. That a beautiful home supersedes those who live in it.

After all, you can be the richest and most successful person in the world, but if your personal relationships are shot to pieces, then what good is wealth and fame?

Advertisers are very clever at making us feel inadequate if we don't have the Perfect House, the Perfect Tree, the Perfect Presents and other Perfect things during Christmas. Madison Avenue shows us beautiful, skinny people dressed in designer clothing surrounded by adorable and well-behaved children opening beautifully wrapped gifts under a tree laden with exquisite handmade ornaments in homes that could be lifted from the pages of Architectural Digest.

They never show people sitting around in ratty sweat clothes with toys scattered on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink and major decorating defects like decades-old avocado-green appliances or scarred walls. They never show a lopsided Christmas tree under which are inexpensive gifts wrapped in brown paper grocery bags with bows saved from last year. They never show walls with missing Sheetrock or no paint.

It's the job of advertisers, after all, to make us feel defective, because only then can they convince us our defects will be cured by buying their product. As soon as our living environment achieves the shimmer and sophistication of the images they project, then we'll be … perfect.

What no advertiser can admit, though, is that without a peaceful relationship with family, friends and our Maker, no amount of "perfect" will ever cut the mustard.

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We have some low-income neighbors who live in an insulated metal barn. There are seven of them crammed into 1,400 square feet with a concrete floor and only two windows. The home is decorated with recycled finds from thrift stores and yard sales. Everything is cramped and crowded to accommodate the needs of children ranging from 2 to 19, all schooled at home (except the oldest who now works as an EMT).

Yet people line up to visit this family because of the love, warmth, happiness, joy and hospitality that spills out of the structure and envelopes the neighborhood. When we visit, I'm invited to sit in a shabby chair near the wood cookstove, drink tea from chipped china cups (picked up at thrift stores), smell the cookies or bread or pot roast or soup that are always in the works, have my shoelaces chewed by their Newfoundland puppy, watch their toddler bump his head on a corner (and be comforted by siblings and mama), and generally sink into the happy clamor of a warm family life while having a lively conversation with the mother about world events or family matters. What a blessing.

Would I prefer to sit on designer furnishings in a home out of Architectural Digest with its unsociable children and a coffee table you can't prop your feet on? Ha. Don't make me laugh.

After all, what good is expensive furniture if your teenager is sullen, on drugs, or sexually active? What good is a perfect house if your 8-year-old is an out-of-control brat except on Christmas morning? What good is a big-screen TV or diamond earrings if you hate your spouse?

In this time of economic adversity, the last thing we should be worrying about is whether our homes, possessions, or jobs reflect the absurd and unrealistic expectations of society. We should count our blessings instead. Even those facing dire financial situations have more good fortune than they realize. We should be nurturing gratitude for the tangible miracles we do have – food, clean water, shelter, medicine. We should be cultivating firm discipline in our children and warm relationships with spouse, family and friends instead of worrying how we're going to pay for those diamond earrings or that big-screen TV we didn't need in the first place.

Remember, folks, it's like the Grinch said: Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas – perhaps – means a little bit more.

Or as Solomon said: "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."

So even if your floors are ratty and your walls lack Sheetrock, if your paint is peeling and your laundry is piled high, I wish you every happiness this Christmas with your spouse and children, your friends and relatives. I wish you the bubbling joy and goofy laughter that comes with being with those you love. I wish you the richness of homemade Irish cream, the beauty of a candlelit service and the majesty of hearing the second chapter of Luke read out loud. I wish you the shelter from the storm our homes represent, and the love of our Savior during this Christmas week.

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• Thousands of blue state residents flock to Idaho, bringing conservative politics with them

• "Escape Liberal Hell": Oregon, Washington Republicans flee Pacific Northwest, join California conservatives in Idaho

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Speaking as a boots-on-the-ground resident of this state, I can attest to what's happening. Property prices in Idaho have exploded almost exponentially in the last four years. Younger people can no longer afford starter homes because property is in such high demand.

We've lived in Idaho since 2003. Before that, we spent 10 years in southwest Oregon (just north of Medford); and before that (shhh, don't tell anyone) we came from California. My husband and I like to joke that we led the wave of people leaving blue areas and moving to redder pastures.

We're self-employed, so when we decided to leave Oregon in 2003, we were free to move anywhere. We carefully examined Washington, Idaho and Montana as potential destinations. We had no pre-existing opinions on any of those states; we were open to moving to any of them. What tipped us into focusing solely on Idaho were its homeschooling laws … or rather, the lack thereof. Literally, that was it. The freedom to school our children (who were 5 and 7 years old at the time) – without government bureaucrats harassing us every step of the way – was enormously appealing.

We've never regretted our decision to move here. We lived for 17 years in our first location (a 20-acre homestead) in the Panhandle; three years ago we downsized to a smaller home and property (also in the north) and continue to enjoy the beauty of this state.

While the Panhandle has its liberal enclaves (notably Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene and Moscow), the rest of the northern part of the state is deep, deep red. It's almost guaranteed that neighbors will be what the left likes to call "right-wing extremists." Over the years we've noticed a trend of "leftugees" – conservative people fleeing their blue-state hellholes in search of the simple ability to live their lives free of government bureaucrats harassing them every step of the way.

While blue-city reports like to mock the real-estate ads that have been cropping up in their areas ("Time is not on your side, flee the city NOW before the coming collapse!" "Escape liberal hell!") and focus on the fringe element, we are witnessing what's happening in real time. And the truth is, conservatives are fleeing the hostile climates of West Coast blue cities such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. In droves, folks; they're fleeing in droves.

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"Thousands of conservative-leaning Washington residents fled the deep blue state for neigboring Idaho, voter data published by the Gem State shows," reports Fox."Data published by the Idaho Secretary of State's office shows that out of the nearly 119,000 people who recently moved to the state, 65% registered as Republicans, compared to just 12% registering as Democrats."

Of course, it's not just Washington. Out of the nearly 40,000 people who left California for red states (not just Idaho), a whopping 75% registered as Republicans.

Based on the progressives who left comments on these articles, the left is delighted to see the Republicans go. We're just as delighted to welcome them here.

Many years ago, I remember there was a movement to "take over" a state and make it a conservative stronghold. Conservatives were encouraged to move there and take over positions in schools and government to shift things to the right. For whatever reason, Vermont was chosen to accomplish this deed. To say it failed is a massive understatement, as Vermont is among the most progressive states in the nation.

But somehow it happened in Idaho, and in a very organic (meaning, non-planned) sort of way. We moved here because of (at the time) affordable land prices and amenable homeschooling laws. Others moved for their own reasons of freedom. In fact, whole chunks of other states (eastern Washington and eastern Oregon) want to move to Idaho too, by breaking off from their western progressive urban centers and widening the Idaho boundaries to encompass vast new areas (it's called the Greater Idaho Movement).

And, in an extremely tidy secondary benefit, this demographic movement is proving useful in keep progressives out. I mean, who wants to move to such a backward and inbred state in the first place? A state that's full of (insert sneer) Republicans? To say we couldn't be more pleased with this development is to engage in the drollest understatement. Yes please; by all means, stay away. Keep our state red. Don't turn it purple. You wouldn't like all its natural beauty anyway.

"The reality is that conservative states are becoming more conservative, and they are gaining political clout at the same time," notes fellow Idahoan John Green."The people moving about the country aren't missionaries going forth to spread socialism. … They're escaping the blue states in search of the America of their youth. … They're political refugees."

There are even hints that Idaho might – again, in an organic, unplanned way – develop a parallel economy in which we cultivate independent critical infrastructure (food, energy, etc.) untethered to other states. Whether or not that happens, the concept is intriguing.

Interestingly, the progressives commenting on these articles are happily mocking Idaho residents as rubes and rednecks (samples: "Adios. The people heading there have nothing going on" and "Bye! Enjoy Idaho. We'll see you back here when you get pregnant"). These are, of course, the people who are blind to the hellholes they turned their own blue cities into. And, from a personal standpoint, I hope they never leave.

In fact, as a loyal Idahoan, I feel compelled to add: Idaho is terrible. Tell all your friends they would hate it here. See the YouTube song below as proof.

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I found my favorite hand lotion on sale for a lot less money than what it sells for in our local grocery store, so I bought a bottle. I wish I'd had enough money to buy 20 at that price.

Why 20? Well, my logic goes like this: Hand lotion has a long shelf life. I will always use this brand of hand lotion. Therefore it behooves me to stock up when the price is right, especially since storage space isn't a big issue for us.

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Keep this in mind for a moment as we turn to the faraway country of Belarus, specifically when its currency was devalued back in 2011.

"The devaluation of currency," noted Sovereign Man, "is, without doubt, positively devastating for a society." He discussed how President Lukashenko controlled 80% of the economy through state-owned entities and demanded "total servitude from his people." Earlier, Lukashenko had ordered his central bank to devalue the Belarusian ruble by 56%.

As a result, people rushed to put their remaining currency into something. Anything. Food. Toilet paper. Hand lotion. Anything tangible. Because here's the thing: Once those items were purchased, they were forever after immune from inflation … whereas money (cash) most assuredly is not.

I have no doubt the Belarusians would have bought 20 bottles of hand lotion if they could.

This concept – stockpiling tangible goods now as a hedge against inflation later – is the premise of a book called "The Alpha Strategy" by John Pugsley, published in 1980. The book is an economic primer on currency, inflation and monetary devaluation, as well as a strategy for protecting one's assets by purchasing tangibles.

Coming on the heels of the 1970s double-digit inflation, the Alpha Strategy ought to be wildly out of date now in 2023. But you know what? It's not. In fact, it's more relevant today than it was 43 years ago. Back then, the economic dire straights outlined in the book were merely theoretical; today they're real. In the 1970s we merely faced staggering inflation. Today we face an economic collapse.

The basic idea is to purchase the items you need at today's prices before those prices inflate. Those who don't put their trust in banks or stocks and instead stockpile necessary assets will weather hard times better than those who don't. "The best solution is the simplest solution," notes the author, "and the simplest solution is usually the easiest to overlook. … It would be wonderful if you could stockpile everything that you are ever going to use for the rest of your life."

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Wonderful, yes; but not very realistic. First of all, how many bottles of hand lotion am I likely to need over the remainder of my life? I suppose I could keep track of my usage and extrapolate how long I'm expected to live. Then I could go to Wal-Mart and purchase 80 (or whatever) bottles of hand lotion, and in so doing forever lock in the low on-sale price. But then I'd have to store that hand lotion. As well as dish soap. And toothpaste. And everything else we use on a regular basis.

And while it would have been wonderful to stockpile gold and silver before the price of metals skyrocketed, what about other things with a limited shelf life? It's not like I can purchase a lifetime supply of lettuce or gasoline or dog food or anything else that will eventually go bad.

Even John Pugsley admits the Alpha Strategy is not a perfect solution since we cannot stockpile everything we will ever need until the end of our life. Primary reasons include a limited shelf life, technological obsolescence (typewriters, anyone?), fashion (polyester bell-bottoms?) and of course – the biggest consideration of all – space. As the author puts it, "It might cost more to store a 10-year supply of toilet paper than the inflation protection would be worth."

Stockpiling tools and skills is a reasonable alternative. "You can buy a sewing machine to make shirts, or you can buy shirts," notes Pugsley. Possessing the skills to make shirts are just as important as possessing either the sewing machine or the finished product. "This investment in education and tools is the very best investment anyone can make," says Pugsley. "Once you have invested in an education, no one can take that investment away from you."

I'll clarify that "education" doesn't have to mean a university degree with a huge student-loan price tag. It can mean the skills to make shirts or knit socks or build a chicken coop. In other words, "education" refers to the ability to produce goods or services that are in demand by others. The author also urges people to become skilled in more than one area. Since no individual job or skill is immune from a market downturn, the more skills and flexibility you possess, the less vulnerable you are to unemployment.

To this list, I would also urge everyone to stockpile intangible assets such as independence, morals, character and a work ethic. In a bad economy, those who are flexible, frugal, sober, creative and charitable are more likely to survive and thrive.

And the one remaining asset everyone should stockpile is a relationship with their Savior. People who cultivate this asset are the most prepared of all. Stockpiles of beans, rice and hand lotion are fine; but in the end all the strategies in the world will ultimately prove fruitless when we are called to join the majority. What will happen to you then?

The nice part about this final strategy is that it is completely safe from theft and inflation; it costs nothing because it's a gift (freely given) and requires little to no storage space.

And the value is priceless. That's why I call this the Alpha and Omega Strategy.

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