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@shagbark_hick
"America isn't an idea. It's home"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T00:47Z 47.8K followers, 15.2K engagements
"If you see someone espousing anti-immigration sentiments while also being vehemently opposed to actually doing any of the things that immigrants are doing -- they're either a psyop account or someone who got "got" by a psyop. Oppose immigration sure But also take the job in Western Kansas buy the house in rural PA open the convenience store in Tuscaloosa Alabama. If the Pakistanis and Venezuelans are doing it -- show up wherever they might and beat them at their own game. Get there while the getting's good; show them how a native-born American kicks ass works hard buys up property and WINS."
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T15:47Z 47.8K followers, 1.2M engagements
"There are really only three "actually Catholic" parts of the USA: X. South Louisiana X. "La Frontera" X. New Mexico I find that other regions with XX% Catholics are generally moribund bastions of a once-great Catholic culture. The Eastern Seaboard counties Northern NY chunks of the Midwest hotspots of French-speaking culture in northern NH and ME -- the old bones of a Catholic culture do exist there but they're basically in their death throes. While isolated hotspots do exist the true bastions of living active thriving Catholic culture are mostly in one of the three regions I highlight here."
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T18:07Z 47.8K followers, 19.4K engagements
"@STDillon Ilion's just rough man. There's some really sad dark energy around there -- especially lately after Remington shut down. Now there's no reason to be there and all the nastiness of Herkimer is boiling over into that town. Sad place. I'd live there myself but I'm nuts lol"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T01:22Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"I have no idea what this Bishop has ever said or done but I do know that when I lived on the US-Mexico border in the Sonoran Desert I found human remains out in the desert several times -- including the skull of a child. Whatever you think of migration policy it's a lethal business down there with the coyotes and so forth. The desert is killing people there because of their irregular crossings. The cartel has sleepers in every US Gov't agency; you do not know who you can and cannot trust. The humanitarian thing to do is to adapt policies that make irregular crossings inconceivable -- this is"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T17:33Z 47.8K followers, 68.6K engagements
"But I'll add this: I subscribe to the "watershed" theory of culture. It's extremely real -- once you cross into a new drainage basin the people and the land change often quite suddenly. And the line between drainage to the Saint Lawrence / Lake Ontario / Black River and Lake Champlain is a major cultural boundary to me even within NY. Once you go east into Clinton County NY something definitely "shifts." Probably imperceptible to outsiders but it feels very real to me and numerous others familiar with the area. Even my wife has noticed it. If any part of NY feels "like New England" it's"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-05T13:53Z 47.8K followers, 36.7K engagements
"Across all of history at least XX% of all Christians who have ever lived worshipped Jesus Christ in the Roman Catholic Latin Mass. Likely more. This makes the Latin Mass the most common form of Christian worship in all of human history. Quite an incredible thing to ponder"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T22:38Z 47.8K followers, 52.6K engagements
"If I became Eastern Orthodox my life would get a lot easier. Could probably just start up a mission Parish right here in my village with a great Liturgy. Heck I might even be able to discern the Priesthood But my conscience will not allow it for a long list of reasons that mostly generate opprobrium when I talk about them online. I almost hate talking about it because of this but I do find discourse with the EO set to be worthwhile. Namely I am a big proponent of the Luke XX argument for Roman primacy. Simon's special role to "strengthen his brethren" seems to be of note -- and that he would"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-06T21:43Z 47.8K followers, 138.6K engagements
"It would be genuinely incredible if even a single European country went back to being a real monarchy again. Certainly would be a moment of world-historical significance. No modern democratic-nation state has ever done it but once one did others might follow"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-14T00:00Z 47.8K followers, 67.7K engagements
"Christ repeatedly admonished us to care for the poor and hungry -- but what do we do if where we live there are not so many hungry people nor any who are living in anything like the poverty of Biblical times Lately I am thinking that we minister to the lonely and suicidal. This is another kind of hunger another kind of poverty and it is killing people. Depression anxiety loneliness drug addiction and suicide are plagues on our country -- particularly among the youth. Perhaps the best way we can carry out the mission Christ gave us is to nourish the souls of those who suffer in these ways; by"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-06T17:07Z 47.8K followers, 12.2K engagements
"@MitraHispana Christ is King; we're already living in a Monarchy. If we must have civil authority let us have a leader who will make even the barest attempt at buttressing the sovereign Kingship of Christ. Democracy is a sure-shot way to increase sin in the world there is no question there"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-14T01:18Z 47.8K followers, 1184 engagements
"This is a fantastic point and a LARGE part of why Catholicism is so great for men. In many other traditions a man submits to nothing but his own private interpretation of the Bible which can vary wildly and can change. There is not a visible coherent higher authority that can take him to task if he errs or strays or does something crazy. There is no "rudder" or thread of legitimate authority larger than him. A husband can justify all kinds of insane behavior by misusing Holy Scripture; we have seen many cult leaders abusers and general nutcases do exactly this. But in Catholicism (as with"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-14T13:25Z 47.8K followers, 40.3K engagements
"OK I am ready for this "Indian Summer" thing to be over with already. It's driving me nuts. Bring on the GLOOM"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-06T23:21Z 47.8K followers, 9644 engagements
"I think it would not be theologically wrong to think of God as "pure optimism" at least from a certain angle. It may even be true to say that "blackpilling" is anti-Christian. I say this because the Book of John says that God is love; and love as shown to us through the sorrowful sacrifice of Christ is a self-emptying act of unlimited totalizing charity for even the most hopeless sinners and evil-doers. God could not have been ultimately pessimistic in the most final sense of the word if He in His infinite mercy sent His only-begotten Son to be Crucified for our sake. God's optimism was so"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T16:22Z 47.8K followers, 9095 engagements
"It doesn't matter. It's boring. Take it or leave it. Anyone could suffer an accident that permanently renders then unable to have it. We should talk about it as an ephemerality; not essential to life. And we should channel sexual energy into more spiritually durable concerns"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T17:38Z 47.8K followers, 50.8K engagements
"@kodanagain Man I absolutely loved it there. Dramatic water on the river bar great salmon perfect weather. Everyone was very friendly to me when I stayed out at Cape D"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-07T15:16Z 47.8K followers, 2021 engagements
"I'm not gonna lie some part of me would be tickled to buy a 23rd-floor riverview apartment in Detroit. They're really almost startlingly cheap for what they are"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T14:06Z 47.8K followers, 41.9K engagements
"@GB3333333333 The real question is: Can you beat them anyway even with the deck stacked against you If you're really better than them -- you can"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T17:10Z 47.8K followers, 53K engagements
"By the way folks if you're actually interested in moving to NNY don't ask me for links and listings and all of that. Come up here and have a beer with me. My DM's are open and I'm here all winter"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T20:13Z 47.8K followers, 23.4K engagements
"@williecore94956 Christ very likely wandered across Asia to preach sometime between the age of XX and 30"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-14T00:30Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"Americans if you HAD to leave the USA what would your first-choice country be to move to Mine would very likely be Argentina hands down"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T17:26Z 47.8K followers, 34.9K engagements
"Which way Western man"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-12T19:00Z 47.8K followers, 16.2K engagements
"Any enterprising American can "find work" anywhere that he has the following things: X. An extremely low cost of living X. An internet connection X. Access to the US Postal Service I have seen absolute rednecks build $150k+ online businesses by selling garbage to rich people online. I have seen guys with very basic full-remote customer service jobs save enough to buy serious real estate. I've met several guys who grow obscure plants (like rare Chinese medicinal herbs) to sell online. I've seen people create tourism businesses in the middle of nowhere out of nothing just by good marketing. As"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-16T01:59Z 47.8K followers, 11.9K engagements
"@diefortheflower Like I said -- there is no paradise on this earth. You're either shoveling snow stepping over junkies or hiding from the hurricanes. Everyone pays his pound of flesh"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T17:13Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"@waysyoucanstay What do you wax it with Just regular candle wax or what"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T23:52Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"@luke_brocks Cajun country is like heaven man. If it weren't for the humid heat I'd live there in a heartbeat. Served in the USCG in New Orleans East lived in Da Parish constantly drove out to Houma Grand Isle Abbeville Dulac"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T18:16Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"I have also had this realization and it has frankly made large portions of the USA basically intolerable to me. I just can't stand places where everything is "on the up-and-up." The places where informality rules; where a kind of haphazard 'roughed-in' cash-only quality is the going concern -- that's where the last "real" places in America are. For it to really work there does also have to be some kind of life in the place some kind of vigor. The more the better. A place where people actually do live and have kids and work and build things -- but where every element of life is just much more"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T16:14Z 47.8K followers, 27.5K engagements
"@SteveGrant1862 Can I ask how old you are I'm XX and I still feel the pull of the road. I don't think it's some stupid immature fantasy it feels very much like a natural outgrowth of the total death of my homeland"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T16:41Z 47.8K followers, XX engagements
"@Empty_America Every time you Lordsburg-post I swear you are just trying to tempt me"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T16:16Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"I know of a cabin for sale on a half-acre lease bordering state forest for $20000. And I know of a bank that would give a loan for it with XX% down at X% interest with a credit score of 650+ no appraisal or inspection required. That's $4k down mortgage of $120/mo plus $500/yr for the land lease. The Dollar General six miles away is hiring at $16/hr. Even at part-time that's $1280/mo post-tax -- enough to live on easily. The cabin has electric a well and a wood stove and is on a plowed road. It borders tens of thousands of acres of state forest on which hunting fishing and trapping is legal."
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-07T13:31Z 47.8K followers, 310.4K engagements
"@john_st_helen Basically everyone I met in the low desert had zero interest in "rising to the top" -- they mostly wanted to have yard parties with their families which is probably a lot of why people seemed so happy. Safetywise it depends heavily on the town. El Paso is super safe"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T17:25Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"@Garbagestyleman I wouldn't mind it I like Mexico. I actually like Mexico so much I had to stop myself from going beyond the border towns knowing if I went further south I wouldn't come back"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-12T23:45Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"Real Upstate New Yorkers know exactly what these lake temperatures mean. Folks living in the Lake Effect snowbelt may be in for a repeat of last winter. get ready for 12' high snowbanks in Copenhagen and Camden"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T20:31Z 47.8K followers, 6780 engagements
"@BunnyandThorton yes if you must know. There was one non-white person there visiting from Costa Rica. She was a Mennonite"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T16:06Z 47.8K followers, 3721 engagements
"So what do you DO I hear a lot of "not fair" and OK lots of what's going on is absolutely nasty and unamerican. No doubt there. But if you are in the prime of your life unpropertied and disenfranchised from attaining your goals for whatever reason -- what do you DO I have a lot of field notes on how to answer that question. There isn't just one way. But there are a lot of excellent options some of which I've tried with success. Those shooting them down never ever seem to provide anything resembling a plan of action except in the rare cases where they imagine all of these disenfranchised"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T22:30Z 47.8K followers, 19.6K engagements
"@sull1vannolan Wonder if it's worse than settling the Western frontier Would a long wagon-ride to a sodhouse in Montana be preferable"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T16:09Z 47.8K followers, 5285 engagements
"It's kind of funny to think about all the Northerners who after years of complaining about the snow here move to Florida -- just so they or their kids can eventually complain about the Florida heat and rain. Truly there is no paradise on this earth"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T16:52Z 47.8K followers, 15.3K engagements
"I've purchased an L.L. Bean barn coat from the thrift store -- now I am looking like a North Country real estate mogul. Getting a lot of nods of respect at the local gas station. I suspect I'll be getting land deal offers randomly from now on"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T22:43Z 47.8K followers, 25.1K engagements
"Indian Summer's over. 26f tonight -- hard freeze incoming. Thank God"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T22:40Z 47.8K followers, 5933 engagements
"It is as if I live in a curated Museum of Rural Collapse where the exhibits are changed every quarter or so. Here we have an old hunting camp formerly owned by an aluminum worker at Alcoa in Massena -- freshly demolished. Though it suffered no structural damage during the superlative snows of the 2024-25 winter season it was scuttled anyway. God knows why or what the owners intend to do with this rough little lot (which I believe is a lease and may not be able to be rebuilt on owing to an obscure sort of treaty with a now-defunct railroad company). Now -- a heap of trash sits in the woods"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-14T01:58Z 47.8K followers, 7146 engagements
"@dpheneghan1 True I should start handing out coloring books so we can do a cry-in about how hard life is"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T17:59Z 47.8K followers, 23.6K engagements
"The Great Loop does seem good but I'd be tempted to do a truncated version of it by trailering the boat through Lake Chautauqua to the Alleghany and Ohio Rivers. I think the Alleghany would be much more interesting than the Intra-Coastal Waterway if you could manage portaging"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-08-12T20:30Z 47.8K followers, 3928 engagements
"Possibly the wildest option on this map is Bill WY pop X. It's a town that only exists because railroads must give breaks for crew members every X hours and I guess Bill is the place for that. I really do like the idea of living in some isolated place full of transients just passing through. Bill has got a hotel-diner and that's about it. It's XX minutes north of Douglas -- and that's a 34-minute drive through absolutely desolate prairie and nothing else. If I were there I'd rent one of the storefronts turn it into some kind of a tavern with no regular hours make it a bizarro destination for"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-07T16:25Z 47.8K followers, 91.9K engagements
"This describes a lot of daily beer drinkers including me. 100-proof and I have a long dark history. When I switched to beer it was a big deal. Like "woah Hickman's cooled down isn't nuts anymore" etc. To then get chided by anti-alcohol absolutists on here for having a few beers most nights seems retarded. I'm a free man in a free country doing something that is completely normal everywhere but in neo-prohibitionist Zoomerland. I've known many men in their 80's and 90's who always drank as much as I drink. I get the sense a lot of the hardcore anti-alcohol Zoomers have no sense of how much"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-08-06T23:28Z 47.8K followers, 33.2K engagements
"@MkMrMny Sorry about Remington. Seriously sad what's happened there. The bones are really good -- it could be a great town. Praying things don't go the way they've gone in Herkimer"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T01:42Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"@FaithHo69934849 I try but I fail so much -- often I miss Mass on weekdays because I "have too much going on". So I think: OK if I need to buy a house right next to the Cathedral I will do it"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-04T17:02Z 47.8K followers, 1985 engagements
"I'm not sure that any part of the United States produces more "wanderers" than Upstate New York. It's a kind of modern-day analogue to what Oklahoma was in the Grapes of Wrath. If you sit at the gas stations a while on the major routes you'll periodically see minivans packed with belongings barefoot kids unshaven men driving U-Hauls women talking on the telephone asking "what's the weather like there right now" and so on. I have heard of at least one entire neighborhood enclave in Syracuse just pulling up the stakes and moving to one subdivision in Florida all at once. I know of Upstaters now"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T15:55Z 47.8K followers, 7259 engagements
"@SolBigdadd64070 True I know a lot of people on the East Coast used to say similar things about the Western Frontier. - Native American alone XXXX% - Scalping rate per 1000 residents: 20%+ - Chances of being a victim of violent crime: insanely high Then again those who went anyway WON"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T16:01Z 47.8K followers, 10.6K engagements
"A certain kind of American Catholic just cannot stomach the idea that the USA is not the very center of everything the Church does and says. It's the one realm in which "American exceptionalism" is just a total non sequitur and some of us find this incredibly hard to accept"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-10T15:02Z 47.8K followers, 16.7K engagements
"No more anti-Western propaganda. No more WHINING. I'm not gonna listen to spurious theories about how America Europe and the Catholic Church are "lost" or "dying" or "hopeless" ever again. Western Christendom has been the light of the world for over a thousand years. Without it the world descends into barbarism. And as long as there is a single Westerner left and a single Catholic Parish where the candles are still burning -- it is not over. The era where people proclaim that "The West is Lost" is only one long dark fever dream through which the youth of today will awaken again to the reality"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T13:58Z 47.8K followers, 21.7K engagements
"Many people seem not to realize that far Upstate NY has very little in common with New England. Far more akin to rural Ontario UP of Michigan etc. Very "Great Lakes" vibe over here. Very Catholic. Few liberals. Cheap rusty gritty -- not "Yankee Candle" quaint. The air is more humid it's more overcast the climate is. "croupy." The people are haggard. The landscapes are "blanker." While Bilbo Baggins would feel right at home in most of New England he'd probably be a little unnerved by this place. Even if things were to gentrify over here (fat chance) they'd look more like say Charlevoix"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-05T13:46Z 47.8K followers, 55.7K engagements
"Many have asked me: "Why orient your whole life such that you have maximum control of your time What's the point Isn't that just selfish" The reasons are simple: X. Daily Mass X. Time with my wife X. Time with my baby X. Serving God If you "lesiuremax" without these you will by default eventually be worse off than if you just lived the workaday life. I know this both from experience and observation. In my long career of doing whatever the hell I want all day long for years on end I have learned a great deal about this. If you're just laying around reading drinking discoursing and fooling"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-04T17:46Z 47.8K followers, 17.2K engagements
"Yesterday on the telephone my grandmother told me: "It feels like life in America has lost its color." I said: America is a very big place not all of the country is like it is here in Upstate New York. She asked: "where do things still feel lively" "The US-Mexico border" was my answer. Of everywhere I've been in the USA which to be frank is most of it there's usually a kind of pallor hanging over things. Places are either bereft of life and energy and are actively dying -- or they are hypertrophied giga-commercialized "nowheres" that seem very rich and very inhuman. The only portion of"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T16:47Z 47.8K followers, 27.1K engagements
"I am weighing the possibility of acquiring more property. I mean whatever I do I'm not gonna sell the place I'm living in now. I like it here; it's an ideal place to return to to spend the falls and winters etc. So if I keep a footprint here why not start a social club Buy the old diner turn the back half into a bunkhouse the front half into a meeting hall -- and build an IRL place for all you people from the internet to turn up at once in a while We could party down chat into the night turn it into a kind of social club with dirt-cheap dues (what maybe $20/mo). Own a fleet of canoes a 25-bed"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-08-21T22:51Z 47.8K followers, 11.3K engagements
"It may seem strange but with a few exceptions I find the scenery of the Mountain West to be fairly monotonous as compared with the East. This is because there appears to be a lower density of flora out there. If I walk the woods in NY for example there seems to be an infinity of niches -- spruce bogs red maple swamps larch stands beeches maples mixed poplar and pine etc etc. And the forest floor varies wildly as well ranging from the edges of beaver meadows to rock moss to bramble and leaf litter and so on. You can't walk a mile in almost any woods here and see the same thing over and over"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-08-25T13:26Z 47.8K followers, 18.9K engagements
"I cannot imagine setting the thermostat over 50f ever. Put on a damn sweater; it's absurd to sit around in a jungle-style terrarium half-naked all winter like some kind of ridiculous lizard. Just absolutely absurd and wasteful"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T17:40Z 47.8K followers, 52.9K engagements
"Some of the zoomers up here are a different breed. Slugging "Bucked Up" energy all day high-nicotine vapes country rap obscenely-expensive UTV's TikTok hardcore MAGA. It's a lot like my own youth but with WAY more caffeine nicotine expensive toys and gasoline"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T22:05Z 47.8K followers, 5774 engagements
"My absolute favorite thing about Upstate NY is that it is just appallingly revolting to yuppies. They move in thinking it's "Vermonty but cheaper" and on the first day with 6" of snow they see these guys riding by. They find it grotesque and literally move away instantly. I am not making this up I have actually seen it happen numerous times. They get one whiff of the cigarette-stained Tweedy Bird pajamas and the diesel and see the redneck juggalo kids in jacked-up UTV's dropping N-bombs and just get so freaked out they actually have to pack up and go back to wherever they came from ASAP. As"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T19:47Z 47.8K followers, 46K engagements
"@Schallskiiiiii @judah47 Dude Camden got HAMMERED this year I was there. Absolutely insane snowfalls. No idea why but the LE snow swung south last winter and Camden and Rome got whacked"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T20:38Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"I spread optimism because deep down I am depressed and have dealt with a strong relentless sense of hopelessness for many years"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T18:50Z 47.8K followers, 83.8K engagements
"@AwaitingTheLord Why do you "gotta fight through it" Why would I force myself to just sit here it seems retarded to do so"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T15:36Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"I currently live on less than this with a wife and a baby. The key is owning your house outright with no mortgage (only possible in isolated depressed long-winter area) avoiding automobiles and sourcing the absolute cheapest food you possibly can. Most don't want to do this so they are in a position where their desires compel them to earn more money. They want cars easy winters big houses in 'relevant' areas and to buy whatever they want at the market. That's OK it's their choice -- but such people will always be forced to generate large sums of cash money in order to cover their monthly"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-07T16:49Z 47.8K followers, 30.2K engagements
"The government is never going to save you. Been strange watching people act as if somehow in spite of all evidence to the contrary a political savior is going to "turn things around." You people ought to know better. The only one who's gonna improve things for you is YOU"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-12T12:08Z 47.8K followers, 8683 engagements
"There's nothing else like "la frontera" -- once you've lived down there nothing compares. After spending a couple years' worth of time down there I honestly don't think I have enjoyed living anywhere else as much. Perhaps the biggest reason for this is that the people are the friendliest in America at least in my experience. The culture is not "judgy;" no one really cares what you are doing but they are happy to talk to you especially if you have any Spanish. I found limitless opportunities for same-day no-obligations cash-paid labor -- really just about as much as I could ever want. I lived"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T17:58Z 47.8K followers, 30.4K engagements
"I'll say if Upstate NY ever really goes to hell (God forbid) and we have to flee for some reason Aroostook County Maine is our fallback. Quite similar in basically every respect. My wife and I love everything about it up there"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T23:16Z 47.8K followers, 8281 engagements
"And my God it feels like the most radical antipode to Upstate NY imaginable. Here everything is death just death forever. Dark sunless death old people nothing. SW civilization swings dances builds moves; it is a bright world of youth the future seems limitless. Sometimes when I am fed up with the death here (which happens about twice a week) I seriously think about joining the fun down there"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T00:29Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"Interesting observation and probably true. Hardcore ethno-nationalism and the "make disciples of all nations" charge of the Christian are basically at odds. Only exception seems to be "white man's burden" ideas about noblesse oblige to "lesser" cultures. But oddly this form of nationalism seems to be FAR less popular today than it was for most of early modernity. In fact a lot of the problems of the ethno-racialist American right of today likely stem from the death of noblesse oblige in general. If you subscribe to a basically paternalistic mentality towards your 'inferiors' you can still be"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T01:55Z 47.8K followers, 13.9K engagements
"@NHBullmoose Eh I dunno. We have very very little in common with New England. Far more in common with rural Ontario UP of Michigan etc. Very "Great Lakes" over here. Very Catholic. Few liberals. Cheap rusty gritty -- not quaint"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-05T13:26Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"If you're under XX you have basically only one real job -- and it's to avoid doing this or anything like it. You should be willing to go to EXTREME lengths to avoid doing this. Literally better off to do and try even the most deliriously insane stuff before trying this"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T17:13Z 47.8K followers, 40.5K engagements
"We got Massena all wrapped up in mom's Hospice blanket today. Still just mind-blowing that my mom's death was only a month before the birth of her first grandaughter. But good heaven ain't she cute. Looks like she's hitting us with the "bada-bing" with her little fingers today"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-10T15:49Z 47.8K followers, 13.1K engagements
"Housing market blackpillers take note: This 1440 sq ft 3bd house is for sale for $40k in Clairton PA. It's a 30min drive to Pittsburgh and in short commuting distance of an Aldi urgently hiring at $23/hr no experience required. STOP saying the American dream is dead. Yes Clairton is kind of a sad town. Yes there are problems there as with anywhere. But the crime rate is below national average and being 30min from Pittsburgh means you could easily make "real money" within a short drive. Could save oodles of cash in this house because of your low mortgage (or no mortgage) fix it up flip it"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T15:33Z 47.8K followers, 94.4K engagements
"Here's a question: As a Catholic who travels often and visits dozens and dozens of Catholic Churches -- WHY do the sung portions of the Mass seem to be sung in a different melody at practically every Church in the country Even at the same Church the melodies might change in an apparently random way week to week often without any clear reason in the Liturgical calendar. The result is tons of people mumbling along or even just being silent even during the most important "participatory" portions of the Mass. Everyone except for a couple of people who are "in the know" regarding these melodies"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T13:40Z 47.8K followers, 22.4K engagements
"Flickers of hope in this place often feel cruel; life in a dying place is a life of "high highs and low lows." Where one Church supper is a bonanza of wholesome hope another is an environment so geriatric you wonder how they put on the dinner without nurses on standby. Today's supper -- at another area Church -- was also quite packed: but it was packed with people who will certainly meet their maker in the next XX years God bless them. No kidding unlike the Mennonite Church -- by 2040 this other Church will certainly be shuttered. And the local school will have no students to teach; it will"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T00:45Z 47.8K followers, 14.8K engagements
"Up here the people look like muskrats and live like 'em too. The land looks like it forgot to shave. Everyone is so late for work they forgot to get a job to begin with. But they're OLD. The young bucks didn't ever pick up the mantle as true backwoods layabouts. Dunno why -- the pickins are good here. If you want to fart around in the woods tinkering mumbling to yourself wiping your ass with newspaper tippling a little Genny Lite on the ATV this is heaven. In an era where "no one wants to work" this shouldn't be a hard sell. Because here yeah there might be a lot of disability unemployment"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T23:03Z 47.8K followers, 15.3K engagements
"@Teianvs I'm a big El Paso fan and honestly if I moved to a large US city it'd be at the top of my list"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T17:31Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"I had no idea about this. In 1910 Manhattan's population was 2300000. In 2025 it's 1600000. That's a XX% drop. Average rent in LES in 1910 was $10-13/mo or in 2025 dollars about $430/mo. Today median rent in LES is $5398. Fascinating economics"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T01:40Z 47.8K followers, 83.1K engagements
"Man you just don't see root beer barrel candies anymore. Truly an elite-tier candy. I think it's time they made a much-needed comeback"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T23:55Z 47.8K followers, 13.8K engagements
"I was just offered an unlisted 1900 sq ft downtown storefront in a small village for $25000. New roof and siding. Interior needs some work but not much. Nice big front porch back deck upstairs apartment. Plenty of parking. This might be the social club folks. Stand by"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-09T14:12Z 47.8K followers, 13.8K engagements
"@disasterchief For me it is a little too developed for me to want to actually live in. The boomer "golf course" set that's there makes it feel a little too much like normal America IMO. I prefer the valley from Sahuarita to Nogales or for a big border city El Paso or Yuma"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T18:32Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"@GeraldcHasty I would probably have to leave NNY to find it unfortunately. We are considering it"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T20:46Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"If you're still getting your hands bloodied by the sharp fronds along the trunk of the date tree by your third day of working on the date plantation you're not cut out for the job. "Dating" just isn't your line of work"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T19:15Z 47.8K followers, 6047 engagements
"In NY ten years of "open and notorious" occupation of a property you do not own can win you title via adverse possession. I have no idea why it isn't more common especially here in the land of abandoned properties. Could be the final solution to the "housing crisis" in many areas of the US though squatting is presently much-maligned because of numerous abuses of adverse possession law. Yes -- when tenants overstay their lease do not pay rent and claim "squatter's rights" it's abominable and wrong. When squatters occupy property that is very obviously not abandoned as with camps and new"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-16T00:28Z 47.8K followers, 16.9K engagements
"If I were ever to move to New York City I'd certainly choose to live in the southernmost portion of Staten Island. I have no idea why Staten Island is so poorly rated by so many people in NYC. I used to work out there and was absolutely amazed by everything about it. Old-school ethnic neighborhoods still thriving friendly people (many with the "old NYC accents") very quiet great beaches nice pubs good Italian food relatively inexpensive housing (for NYC) and just an hour and a half to anywhere you'd want to go in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Seemed to me like an excellent way of life all the way"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-05T13:36Z 47.8K followers, 21.3K engagements
"Many young Americans are getting interested in Eastern Orthodoxy. The Roman Catholic Church should respond by opening up as many Eastern Catholic mission Churches as possible around the USA -- and they should do so immediately. If the youth want the East give it to them I say But give it to them in full Communion with the Bishop of Rome. Pictures related: Catholic Churches in the USA with the identical Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-06T23:30Z 47.8K followers, 180.5K engagements
"I think New Hampshire is proof that real freedom is the fruit of CULTURE not law. Because even though there are many unique freedoms in NH the fact is that New England people are often incredibly rulesy -- and this feature of their culture far outweighs any legal freedoms granted to citizens of NH. Compare New Hampshire people to folks in the California deserts or in far Upstate NY and see what I mean. Because though CA and NY are very authoritarian-type states the people themselves are not liable to "call you in" for anything. They're natural outlaws with no real drive to enforce any kind of"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-04T18:19Z 47.8K followers, 31.4K engagements
"Living out in open fields is vastly underrated. I've spent a lot of my life living in the woods and while it has its charms the giant ocean-like view one obtains by living in a world of pastures and fields is sublime. It's quite like standing by the ocean; there's a wistful kind of "infinity" about it. You watch the weather change from miles away and see the full spectrum from raging storms to delicate snowy mornings -- with a very humbling full 360-degree view all around you. What's not to like"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-06T14:44Z 47.8K followers, 12.1K engagements
"@TEE_nis @BigBivenski What do you make of X Cor 1:10"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-14T20:45Z 47.8K followers, XX engagements
"Absolutely nothing the Pope said here is incongruent with a sane normal border policy for a sovereign nation by the way. Many right-wing prima donnas on here seem to be screeching about this but they do so in vain. An illegal immigrant should've been granted the dignity of having a stable home country. Someone evil usually screwed that up. And once they're in the business of illicitly crossing borders for their own survival they should be treated with dignity even if they are to be deported. They should not be treated like animals in their home countries or aboard. But their right to dignity"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-06T03:24Z 47.8K followers, 54K engagements
"I actually think it'd be a great idea if they made all of our politicians live in one giant filthy trailer park on the outskirts of Ilion NY. Salary reduced to EBT levels. No politician can drive a car that can pass NYS inspection -- must have frame rot rust issues. Mice eating the trailer insulation pipes freezing periodically their kids are getting into being gothic redneck Juggaloes and smoking Seneca cigs at the playground -- the whole nine yards. If this happened America could actually get better and it might get better very quickly. For a democracy to work there can't be some phony fake"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-08T01:07Z 47.8K followers, 44.3K engagements
"Sometimes I wake up and I still can't believe my profoundly good fortune. Wasn't that long ago that I was a bachelor with no prospects broke miserable quite certain I'd die a recluse. Twitter changed that. You people changed that. So please accept my heartfelt gratitude: Without the support and encouragement you've all given me God knows where I'd be today. This site led me to my wife it led me to make great friends and it allowed us to be hosted here and there in our travels with wonderful folks all across this country. It's also unexpectedly led me to a writing career. Those of you who've"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-07-16T15:21Z 47.8K followers, 242.6K engagements
"@superfluous_man @harold_bracy Vibrant chaos in America is really almost always just "Mexico but American-style" I find"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T22:43Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"Was thinking this same thing just last night. Went to a local Mennonite Church where they put on a gigantic harvest supper for the community. There were probably over XXX people there; tons of children Amish Mennonites Catholics Baptists all mixed. Most everyone was dressed modestly -- we all said an Our Father together ate turkey and pie and ice cream. The place was clean nice beautiful and everyone was respectfully discussing local concerns family news the drought and so on. No drama no fighting nothing crazy. The choir sang a series of rousing renditions of old hymns and they sang"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T14:18Z 47.8K followers, 186.8K engagements
"This is absolutely true. The POINT of Twitter is to say wild things and to just generally let your freak flag fly. If you're not doing that and spend your time chastising people with nutty opinions on here -- you're doing it wrong"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T16:59Z 47.8K followers, 6455 engagements
"A map of where I'd move to if I for some reason had to move to a given US State"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-07T15:03Z 47.8K followers, 150.8K engagements
"@EleanorKonik Not a bad spot close to San Antonio which is really a top-5 American city IMO"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-15T16:55Z 47.8K followers, XXX engagements
"Why have I felt hopelessness Because I find it extremely difficult to make friends and see no path toward finding myself in anything resembling a stable lasting sort of community. As a boy I was a loner; as a teen I watched my family fall apart. Later I watched my town die and traveled the country only to find that a large proportion of America seemed to have become some sort of a high-tech digitized surveilled commercialized hellscape. The idea of America I had grown up with was by and large a fantasy from the distant past. When I joined the military I thought I'd find brotherhood and"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-13T19:10Z 47.8K followers, 51.3K engagements
"The funniest thing about all the "unpopular opinion meme" posts is that if you post an actually truly genuinely unpopular opinion you will be absolutely lambasted. But if you post a completely normal opinion you will do very well with this meme. Counterintuitive"
X Link @shagbark_hick 2025-10-11T17:47Z 47.8K followers, 6587 engagements