Opening the door to 2019... Not for the faint of heart

"My view is that Mr. Mueller has run a colossal cover-your-ass operation for the many documented misdeeds among the FBI and DOJ in cooking up this mess starting in the spring of 2016." - James Howard Kunstler

The above is part of Kunstler's year end piece that also shares his outlook for the coming 2019.

Can't say I agree with all of it, but I suspect he's dead-on with some of the gloom-and-doom he sees ahead.

An amazing piece of propaganda

First an alarmist headline.

Teachers Quit Jobs at Highest Rate on Record

Then dig deeper, it doesn't seem such an alarming circumstance after all.

Many of the "departing" teachers are departing for other school systems, according to the Wall Street Journal article. Maybe one that pays better, maybe a teaching post closer to home. Maybe some other reason. But a significant number are only exchanging one teaching job for another.

Also note, in the article, that far fewer teachers are departing teaching jobs than is the norm in other occupations.

And, according to the Journal,  stats used to alarmingly declare "most on record" only go back 17 years.

In the first 10 months of 2018, public educators quit at an average rate of 83 per 10,000 a month, according to the Labor Department. While that is still well below the rate for American workers overall—231 voluntary departures per 10,000 workers in 2018—it is the highest rate for public educators since such records began in 2001.

In  good economy, people often step up to better jobs, ones that bring more income, better working conditions. The Wall Street Journal acts as if this is something to be alarmed over.

Used to be, the Wall Street Journal cut through this kind of B-S.

This article is spun more like propaganda than analytical reporting.

The anti-American dream

Invest a dozen minutes, take this in...

Deep State not happy with Trump

Via Twitter:

Trump's opposition to the covert CIA regime change program in Syria - in contrast to Hillary's vehement support for it (she criticized Obama for restricting it) - was one of the first & biggest reasons the CIA backed Clinton in 2016 & hated Trump https://t.co/4ZJsKOgC9T

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 21, 2018

Russian meddling. Or was it Democrats?

Via Democracy Now (a very left leaning site):

The New York Times is reporting that Democratic operatives employed covert methods borrowed from Russian cyber agents on Facebook and Twitter in an attempt to sway last year’s special Senate election in Alabama. The Democratic operatives admitted to using “false flag” operations to make it look like Russian bots were helping Republican Roy Moore’s campaign. Democrat Doug Jones narrowly beat out Moore in the historically conservative state, after Moore came under intense fire as at least nine women accused him of sexually harassing or assaulting them when they were teenagers. 

BTW, last summer, CNN was still blaming Russia for dirty tricks in Alabama.

Alas, the Senate caved, so it may not happen...

Bump stock ban

I don't have the time, patience, or energy tonight to opine on this.

So I'll link to David Codrea's War on Guns blog.

BTW, I never have liked bump stocks. I think they're ammo wasters and barrel burners. But that's just my opinion. There's a lot of things I don't like, but don't try to impose my will on others.

Let this sink in...

Via Twitter:

When Comey briefed Obama on the dossier, the then-President said, “What does this have anything to do with anything?”

Nobody believed the dossier was valid, not Obama and not his intel chiefs.

But they still saw value in using it to damage a duly elected President.

Horrifying. https://t.co/oy80CyIwsh

— Bryan Dean Wright (@BryanDeanWright) December 18, 2018

St. Mueller

How many who buy and use Mueller prayer candles also profess to be Democrats, and proclaim that theirs (and theirs alone) is the "party of science"?

I was not joking about the proliferation of worshipful objects featuring Robert Mueller's saintly visage https://t.co/EzmLbfOELH pic.twitter.com/QjTa95qXo1

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) December 10, 2018

Reality bites

"Whenever Russiagate peddlers are confronted w/ the actual facts, it doesn't go so well. Here's @RepJerryNadler asking Google CEO Sundar Pichai about "the full extent" of Russian meddling activity on its platforms in 2016. The answer: Russian-linked accounts spent $4,700 on ads." - Aaron Maté , contributor Left leaning sites like The Nation and Democracy Now, on Twitter.

Market jitters

I've been following this guy for more than a decade on various financial boards and now on Twitter... Click the Tweet for his chain of comments here...

I have spoken on this many times and this is VERY CRUCIAL POINT . I think markets have been in over-reaction mode for last decade , mostly in giddiness to upside , especially since Trump elected . It feels like many want to believe if we have slowdown , then it’s a given we have https://t.co/tizPeQP3Qp

— Dividend Master (@DividendMaster) December 9, 2018

About last Friday...

And those special counsel document disclosures...

"Despite Mr. Mueller turning the screws of federal prosecution on them for months on end, neither Manafort or Cohen has composed the narrative the Special Counsel wants, so the memos were, in effect, an attempt to run some high voltage through the screws, to goose out a last-minute change-of-heart in the two patsies." - James Howard Kunstler 

Why we're skeptical of gun "research"

A survey study released earlier this year by researchers at East Carolina University shows, in part: 

• Among those who report living in firearm-owning households, 25% have one or more loaded and unlocked firearms in their home.
• Overall, nearly one-in-ten Americans (9%) live in a household with one or more loaded and unlocked firearms in their home

I suspect it's way more than one-in-ten.

Gun folk tend to be shy about sharing their practices with pollsters.

BTW: The study deems "loaded and unlocked" as being an unsafe storage practice. I'd say the study is making some assumptions, showing some prejudice there.

Doing good to the poor...

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. 

In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. 

And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. 

-- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, writing under the pseudonym "Arator", in The London Chronicle, November 1766

Fascinates me how the American founders seem to have a better grasp on human nature than many of today's so-called social scientists.

Wanna see some spin?

How CNN pitches a poll on the caravan...

Majority say migrants in caravan should be given the opportunity to enter the country


How the actual pollster pitched the same survey...

Public Divided on Whether Migrant Caravan Poses a Threat

Get ready. Plan for the uncertain future

Many Americans have already "gunned up" in case political games freeze access to arms and ammo.

With the uncertainty of 2020, this may be last call before government gives into its tyrannical nature and chokes supply.

Provision accordingly.


Democrats target ban on gun parts kits

Democrat says if there's opposition to gun confiscation, a nuke armed military will make short work of it

Who counts the votes

Borrowed rhis from a Faceboo friend's timeline:

“I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this — who will count the votes, and how.”
The Memoirs of Stalin’s Former Secretary by Boris Bazhanov, published in 2002. Translated from the Russian, the version which, according to Bazhanov, was uttered in 1923 by Stalin

Thought on a Sunday night

The fall of America is happening before our eyes. Most of us completely blind to the build up to where we are today, others of us under estimated it. A few saw it, and we were called paranoid or delusional if we dared to say what we saw was happening.

Netflix wants to know...

I just took a Netflix consumer survey.

Among the things Netflix wanted to know:

Off the cuff assessment

Democrats retake control of the House, but I've heard mention that some of the Republican incumbents who lost have been soft on their support for the president. Ambivalent House leadership, failure to repeal Obamacare, and a series of budgets that have enlarged national deficits and debt all came back to punish the GOP House.

It appears Republicans have gained at least one Senate seat, with potential to add more, very important for Trump judicial nominations, and any treaties Trump may negotiate.

Expect the new Democratic House to fight Trump and the Republicans in far nastier manner than Republicans fought Obama, nastier than the Democrat House majority after 2006 went after Bush. Risk for the Democrats over the next two years is they become seen as the party of whining obstructionists, the party pushing division and dysfunctional government, thereby alienating those who voted for them in 2018.

That's how things look to me after awaking at 4am to catch a quick update.

It would also appear Georgia's governorship and the governorship in Florida may remain in Republican hands, perhaps giving some regional buffering to the chaos Democrats will attempt to instill by way of Washington.

The attempted coup crumbled

Now we're getting a better idea what really went on...

Rod Rosenstein doesn’t show today. Now Fusion's Glenn Simpson reportedly takes the Fifth.

At some point, we have to realize: the problem has never been President Trump. The problem is the coordinated effort to undermine him... and those who will stop at nothing to cover it up. https://t.co/KtE3b00Ki8

— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) October 11, 2018

Overthrow?

Odd choice of words,

 Alec Baldwin urges 'overthrow' of Trump and Republicans with voting

So, Mr. Baldwin, what if voting doesn't work, what if voters decide they want Trump and Republicans left in control?

Would you endorse overthrow by other means?

BTW, I've never heard of a politician being "overthrown" when he/she was voted out of office. It concerns me how readily the political left has adopted the language of coups and revolutions even in terms of everyday politics.

Here's one the Democrats didn't see coming

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford says she wants to drop the Kavanaugh matter, doesn't want to pursue a futher complaint, doesn't want more investigation, and doesn't want an impeachment effort, according to CNN. 

Meanwhile, via Twitter:

RAMIREZ DAILY SIGNAL
MUDSLINGERS #tcothttps://t.co/com2a0mPjB
Like @ Facebook:https://t.co/WeX1G9jwDl
BOOK:https://t.co/eqyzRdz8nS pic.twitter.com/sKHwbR87MC

— Michael Ramirez (@Ramireztoons) October 6, 2018

The fascists are getting restless

All smears, political and otherwise, must be believed.

Sounds suspicious

Large scale gun thefts are sometimes trafficked to Mexico, or other black market hot spots. But how did the bandits know where the guns were, how did they get access with a U-Haul truck?

ATF: About 400 Guns stolen from UPS facility in Tennessee

Smacks of inside coordination.

Four hundred guns is a lot, but not exactly enough to equip an army. To hear law enforcement in borderline panic mode makes law enforcement seem cowardly and inept.

If there's credible information of an insurrection planned in connection with the theft, that might be different.

Update: Guns recovered. They were apparently on their way to Chicago. 

Investigating Christine Ford's allegation

As seen on Facebook:

Has Jeff Flake figured it out yet?

It was an established socialist activist with media in tow who ambushed him.

Smear and intimation

In Illinois:

Vandals Deface Illinois County’s GOP Headquarters with ‘Rape’ Graffiti

In other news...

"Four arrested at Kent State University open-carry gun walk after tense standoff between gun activists, counter-protestors, police"

I've yet to find a version of this story citing who was arrested, which side of the dueling protests they were on.

The divide grows deeper, rule of law increasingly upstaged by emotion and mobs

"When Chuck Schumer states on CSPAN that "There is no presumption of innocence" then the Rule of Law and due process are both dead and he is inviting, provoking and in fact inciting civil war." -  Karl Denninger in a recent post.

Tactical omissions, perhaps

I've given the benefit of the doubt up until now. While not buying into Christine Blasey Ford's version of events, I've considered she may have confused fragments of memory, while not necessarily accurate, that she believes her remembrance (recovered or otherwise) to be the truth.

But the longer this drags on, the more skeptical I become.

I have begun to wonder if there may be tactical purpose to Ford not remembering the location or the date of the attack she alleges. By omitting such detail, Ford, the accuser denies Supreme Court nomninee Brett Kavanaugh potential alibi.

Should Ford cite a date not knowing Kavanaugh's calendar in '82, it might be determined Kavanaugh was away on a family vacation, or at a concert, or a family birthday celebration.

Longer this drags out, and the accuser's lawyers put crazed conditions (like the accused being told to tell his side only before the accusation is made), I grow exceedingly skeptical.

Late in the season sighting

We heard rustling among our muscadines Friday evening.

When we looked investigate, this fella came scampering out from among the vines, and made a dash for the woods.

We thought he'd get away before we got a phone camera ready, he'd already run cross the driveway when he gave a final look back, and we got a snippet of video. This image was lifted from that video.

The divide is now clear. But where do we go from here?

"Will America keep dividing and soon resort to open violence, as happened in 1861? Or will Americans reunite and bind up our wounds, as we did following the upheavals of the 1930s Great Depression or after the protests of the 1960s?

"The answer lies within each of us." - Victor Davis Hanson

Fear Factor

"(T)he greatest fear in America is fear of the Left — the fear of what the Left will do to you if you cross it. Not fear of God. Not fear of doing wrong. Fear of the Left. Offend the Left and you will lose your reputation and, quite often, your job or your business." - Dennis Prager, writing at National Review

Democrat don't want justice

Democrats want government paralyzed.

Democrats push for a political lynching.

Will Republicans have the moral courage to do what's right and resist them?

Or will Republicans cower in some back room and let the Democrat mob have its way?

So tired of the government employee pity parties

Lots of people seem to be ga-ga over Time's pity party for public school teachers.

Haven't read the story, but what kind of decisions, besides becoming a teacher, led to this woman's financial distress?

I've know many teachers over the years, some in reasonably well paying suburban public school systems, others in rural systems where pay was poor, but was probably in-line or better than many in the same community were earning.

None expressed or showed signs of being in dire financial straits.

Frankly, I'm more concerned how raising property taxes (typically a means to finance public schools) to give teacher raises would impact families of all types as they struggle to meet their obligations.

Property tax rates have increased significantly in the past two to three decades, as local governments promise more and better services to both the community at large and special interest communities.

I'm tired of preachy media, and government employees, thinking all they need do to dole out pay raises for their public sector darlings is to click their heals and tax the rest of us more.

Tired of cheap stuff, both big and small

I'm so old, I remember when wire twist ties had enough wire in 'em to keep a bag tied shut.

Too good to be fiction

"I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don't make it, my children will." - Barrack Obama, 1991.

Get ready for a polling blitz

We're bound to hit with a barrage of political polls over the next two months.

But I have to wonder how accurate this political polling will be.

I'm not even suggesting intentional bias, but I am sensing behaviors have changed with the polled public that may have impact on how polls are conducted.

Some pollsters added cellphones to their calling samples as people ditched landlines. But with junk robocalls now at epidemic proportions, who bothers to answer a call from a number they don't recognize anymore?

Do pollsters ID themselves through caller ID? Are liberals more likely to answer an unknown caller, or are conservatives? Or do they both have similar call-rejection/call-answer rates?

Any difference in call pick-ups based on age?

Stealthy shooting

If you're looking to shoot where it's safe and legal, but you don't want neighbors nearby to hear, consider the CCI Quiet-22.

Yes, it still provides a bang when fired in a pistol.

But in an older long-barrel bolt action .22 rifle, all I seem to hear is the slam of the firing pin, and a "thunk" when the bullet hits a thick aluminum target (old frying pan). Seems much more quiet than a spring-powered Diana air rifle.

Not a high powered round, but for plinking it gets the job done. Probably also applicable for small pests. At about 50 yards, no penetration of the pan, but a decent dent lays testimony to impact.

Beto O'Rourke shows his nature

Beto O'Rourke is what the Democratic Party wants. A spoiled Leftist brat who had a powerful daddy as a fixer to get him past young adulthood, and now emerges has someone Democrats pitch as among their next great leaders.

O’Rourke rented out a Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Navasota, TX to hold a campaign rally. According to VFW Post 4006 Commander Carl Dry, O’Rourke’s campaign insisted the VFW Hall take down its American flags.

Democrats don't want best and brightest. They want slick talkers who can incite mobs and destroy tradition.

Another day, another tele-scam call

Got one of those scam calls from someone portending to be from Microsoft security yesterday.

"You don't sound like you're from Seattle," I said, "Where are you calling from?"

"I'm calling from India," was the reply.

"So why does my phone show you calling from Detroit?" I asked.

"I don't work for Detroit, I work for Microsoft," she said.

I'd had enough, that's where I disconnected.

After my conversation, I wonder if some of the foreigners making these calls actually think they're working in a legit call center.

They don't seem very sophisticated.

I once had a "Microsoft" scam caller tell me his name was "Barack Obama" as if it were a common American name. I wondered if he even knew who the real Barack Obama was.

Democrats reveal the party's nature

It wasn't just the Democrat "fringe" who interrupted Tuesday's conformation hearing for Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh, it was the so-called mainstream elected Democratic Party senate leadership.

So far, I've only seen reporting from Breitbart and NBC bearing this out.

Democratic senators opened Kavanaugh confirmation hearing with a protest plan that was coordinated and agreed to over the weekend, people familiar with the planning tell @NBCPolitics.

— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) September 4, 2018

Others major media outlets perhaps hope you'll overlook Democrat senators involvement.

This wasn't spontaneous or a grassroots uprising in protest. It was a carefully planned series of events made with participation and endorsement by some of the highest ranking people inside the Democratic Party.

It really has started to feel this way...

Via Facebook:

We've been here before...

Thoughts on coverage of McCain's passing

Most times, when "great leaders" pass, their obits include both pluses and minuses. I see few, if any, minuses mentioned in McCain's passing.

Media telling of the McCain passing seems more in line with what we might have seen of an icon in an authoritarian state, as opposed to the traditional balance of American journalism. The man's portrayed as darn near being a god.

But then, the rules of corporate journalism have changed. So maybe this will be the new norm, as media seeks to pick winners and losers even in death.

What we're seeing in the passing of McCain is also indicative of the more incestuous relationship between media and government.

"Hooray for our side" journalism, if you will.

What are the Russians up to?

Possibility has been raised that Russians may be pre-positioning weapons in space to disrupt US communication or early warning satellites.

Imagine the advantage if an adversary could knock out communications or blind early warning systems prior to attack.

Imagine the confusion on the ground if the inflicted space-based "blindness" happened in concert with cyber-attacks impacting other infrastructure on the ground.

Time to dust off some of those old Civil Defense pamphlets?

Update on a pro-gun-control Democratic Party former congressional candidate

Pro-gun control Democrat now faces murder charge.

What a difference a year makes

Trump was mocked last year for saying Sweden had a problem with immigrant related terrorism.

Impossible to deny it now.

BTW, there's something else immigrants have brought to Sweden.

Child marriage.

Deterrent

Might cause a would-be school shooter to think twice.

Not nearly as inviting as a "gun free zone" sign.

Laurens County students, armed teachers head back to school -- https://t.co/k1zGQ9T28B pic.twitter.com/TLEiHATKfV

— WGXA (@WGXAnews) August 8, 2018

Coming out of her shell

Candidates endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez hit the skids in several Democratic primaries Tuesday.

Maybe America's not ready for the leap into openly socialist candidates after all.

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez is expanding her socialist rhetoric.

She says the upper middle class no longer exists. 

She says middle class soccer moms driving middle class don't represent America anymore. 

Ocasio-Cortez strikes me as an Obama without the decades of grooming, without the restraint to cloak ideology, or express it in ways that seem mainstream. She opens her mouth, and radical socialism gushes out.

It's not just the rich that these Democratic Socialists want to subjugate, it's also the bourgeoisie, as in middle class folk with conventional values.

That's how Lenin rolled too when he led Communist revolutionaries in taking over Russia.

Middle class folk best realize this new socialism is the same as old socialism.

Marxism isn't a friend of the middle class.

Giving Vice News an A for effort

Vice News had what I thought was a good telling of last weekend's Patriot Prayer vs. Antifa clash in Portland, Oregon.

This far-right group is trying to drag leftists into an unwinnable PR war

While not perfect, I think the Vice crew attempted to accurately portray both sides of the story, and unlike most cable news outfits, actually sought to talk to participants on both sides, and let them speak for themselves. No "gotcha game" journalism was attempted.

I didn't watch any cable news coverage of the weekend's events, but if it followed examples I've seen in the past over similar events, there was likely just enough video or live presence to attempt to create an appearance of journalistic legitimacy, but most the content was steered by in-studio commentators who were neither a part of the demonstration or counter-demonstration, and who perhaps had never even been to such an event.

I give Vice an A for effort. Again, not saying it's perfect. But what Vice delivered looked a lot like the kind of journalism we used to practice back in the day, not the club-you-over-the-head-with-bias stuff that permeates so much of what passes for journalism today.

Racism welcome at the NY Times

As long as it's anti-white racism, of course.

New York Times stands by new tech writer Sarah Jeong after racist tweets surface

 A sampling of  Sarah Jeong's tweets prior to being hired at the New York Times:

When straws are outlawed, only outlaws will have straws

Via Facebook:

Background

Last week, news outlets celebrated and defended CNN's Kaitlan Collins for asking questions when none were being taken at a White House event.

Apparently, Collins has shouted questions before. But didn't get much notice, certainly didn't see others rally around her practice, when she was working for a "right wing" outlet last year.

.@kaitlancollins, Daily Caller reporter who asked question, quickly left as others asked who she was with. "She ran away," one reporter said

— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) February 13, 2017

Rapists and murderers are in the mix

Judicial Watch: New HHS Documents Reveal that ‘Unaccompanied Alien Children’ Processed During Obama Years Included Violent Criminals, Drug Smugglers, and Human Traffickers

Lest naysayers insist Judicial Watch is a "right-wing" group, information in the write-up is based on government documents generated during the Obama administration, and obtained by way of an open records request covering a period May 1, 2014 through November 12, 2014. Used to be major news media did this kind of reporting. You don't see much of this kind of stuff from major media anymore. I'm not sure major media even remembers how this kind of stuff is done. Selective memory perhaps. This material should have come to light years ago.

Words to the wise

Via Twitter:

If you ever wonder why it is vital that Americans protect their right to keep and bear arms, remember how liberals think you should be jailed if you dare dissent from their creepy dogma.

Buy guns and ammo. https://t.co/PGMiGDLQit

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) July 28, 2018

WTF

"The entire Cohutta Wilderness is temporarily closed due to a significant number of downed trees from a major storm system that moved through the area on Saturday, July 21."

What the hell is wrong with a wilderness having downed trees?

What would Mussolini do?

Mussolini rose to power in Italy because his street thugs used tactics similar to Occupy ICE in Portland, Oregon. Italian fascists extended their influence by targeting not only opponents, but also those who dared to give them aid and comfort.

Via KGW:

Julie and Scott Hakes, owners of The Happy Camper Food and Coffee Bar, say they no longer feel safe in the neighborhood after their daughter, who works at the cart, was repeatedly threatened. They plan to sell the cart... Scott Hakes said some of the protesters told his daughter they would hurt her. He said the threats got worse after his daughter sold food to a DHS officer.

Yeah, it's doctored. So what?

Via Twitter:

Okay, who did this? I'm dying here. pic.twitter.com/fi3BUVKwii

— FluffyDogAttack 🇺🇸 (@FluffyDogAttack) July 23, 2018

Timely warning

"In the spirit of 'last call', top off your preps. Now. The chaos, violence   and unraveling of all things financial is accelerating . The Wave of 2016 put the ruling class in emergency 'take no prisoners' mode . They've taken off the mask and are determined to pull the roof down if they don't get their way." - Ol' Remus, at the Woodpile Report

Rigged? That's impossible!

Saw this on Facebook:

Whatever Democrats say now, remember:

"There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America's elections, in part because they are so decentralized and the number of votes involved. There is no evidence that that has happened in the past, or that there are instances that that could happen this time." - President Barack Obama, October 2016.

The Obama quote came two months after Obama's White House told those who advocated for counter measures against Russian hacking to "stand down."

Why isn't Obama under investigation instead of Trump?

Democrats and their aliens

"58% of Democrats believe in UFOs, but only 32% are proud to be American. Only 37% of Republicans believe in flying saucers, but a full 80% are proud of their country." - Daniel Greenfield, at Sultan Knish

Russian hackers, they say

Timing of Friday's DOJ announcement about Russian hackers is suspect.

Announcement of the indictment of Russian entities detracted from Trump's visit to the UK and his upcoming summit with Putin.

Perhaps more importantly, it gave US media an excuse to drop talking about Peter Strok's disastrous appearance before Congress.

By the way, if Russians did half the hacking they're now accused of, why didn't Obama do something about it? The Obama White House knew something big was happening.

A "stand down" order doesn't count as doing something.

Democrat flashback

'We must become the party of economic rebirth, of economic nationalism, of economic patriotism... It means reaching out to the business community of America (and) seeing business as our ally against the foreign threat. American business is not our enemy.' - Paul Tsongas (D-Ma), as he prepared to announce his candidacy for president, April 1991.

"We love our neighbors"

Anti-ICE protesters make complete fools of themselves, as they proclaim solidarity with those inside a house where ICE conducted a raid.

Police later said the raid was in regards to an investigation of a child sex human trafficking ring.

San Fran TV have the story out of Oakland.

A final thought on the 4th

I've seen this, and others similar, all over social media today.

Independence Day

Repost from Saturday, July 4, 2015

The Spirit of '76

July 4th isn't intended to be a military-themed holiday. And it's far more than picnics and fireworks.

Independence Day should honor the nation's citizens who chose to rise up, threw off the shackles of tyranny, and marched to the drum beat of liberty. And it should celebrate those who hold true to the spirit that gave birth to these United States.

Spirit of '76 parade, circa 1900
Bain News Service photo collection/Library of Congress

Behind on my reading

But this merits notation:

Everybody always wonders where the next really big war/disaster/crisis is going to be coming from. You're getting all three of the above at once. It'll be coming from Mexico. You heard it here first.

And it's not just Mexico.

Daniel Ortega's Nicaragua looks like it's already in the opening rounds of civil war.

Venezuela's down for the count.

Trump was ahead of the game. Trump wanted a wall.

Democrats and most Republicans didn't want to see it.

Actually, there are Democrats and other progressives, whether they say it directly or not, who seem eager to see the revolutionary spirits to our south spill over into our territories.

Long hot summer

From Ben Garrison at Grrraphics.com:

Things keep moving toward "hot"

The Democrats and their allies seem to be pushing it that way.

Sloppy last-minute legislation

What triggered the crush of kids crossing our border? A bill rushed through Congress by Democrats in just two weeks, and signed by a lame duck Republican president in December 2008.

The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 was introduced on December 9, 2008. It became law December 23rd.

Rushed legislation tends to be flawed legislation.

Something happening here. But not yet clear exactly what

Trump's zero tolerance immigration policy is six weeks old.

But only the past week has media and Democrat panic ensued. And much of that had to be driving by deceptively out-of-context photos, many from the Obama era, or accusations that detainment on the border is analogous to Nazi concentration camps.

Other governments have separated mothers and children pic.twitter.com/tvlBkGjT0h

— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) June 16, 2018

How long does it take a migrant family to hike from El Salvador to El Paso, assuming they're not raped, murdered, and left in mass grave along the way?

What kind of intel is available from the countries of origin, or along the migrant path.

Is it possible fewer families are presently departing, or that some who previously departed have returned on their own upon hearing of the policy change? Is that why Democrats and others on the Left are in panic mode - Trump's strategy is showing signs of success?

I don't know exactly what, but something's going on here, and we're only getting the most thin slice of the story. And even that may to be distorted.

Not just one, but three good guys with guns

When a gunman started shooting in a Walmart outside Seattle on Sunday, he found himself confronted and pursued by two armed civilians before being shot dead by a third.

Via CBS News:

Witness Megan Chadwick told KIRO-TV her husband saw an armed civilian take down the shooter. "He said he watched him (the shooter) take his last breath," Chadwick said. "There were three civilians going after him to shoot him and two of them had their guns up and then the third guy shot him through the window of the car.

Say no to surrender

Via Twitter:

Instead of asking "why do you need a gun", how about asking "what right do you have to take away people's property?" The fact that there are people who will answer that they do have a right to take your property is exactly why you need a gun. #2A #CampusCarryNow

— Kaitlin Bennett (@KaitMarieox) June 9, 2018

Free Trade?

At Fox News, Christian Whiton notes:

"All of the other G-7 countries have higher tariffs on the United States than we have on them. For example, France and other EU countries levy a 10 percent tariff on imported U.S. cars, but we only charge a 2.5 percent levy on European imports. Canada has tariffs of about 270 percent on U.S. dairy products, 70 percent on sausage, and 27 percent on beef, to name just a few." 

Mythbuster

Folks are still hashing and rehashing 2016 voter turnout.

I found this interesting. 

Trump actually won a smaller share of the white vote than Mitt Romney. He was nonetheless able to win because he won more Hispanics and Asians than his predecessors, and more black votes than any Republican since 2004.

Rise of OPEC, revival of Islamic fundamentalism

Some food for thought in this Twitter nugget:

Before 1973 many Muslim countries were Westernizing and dropping Islam, but schools using OPEC profits for 40 years have taught this generation of Muslims that the west will be their slaves once they take over. World domination is their goal. @haerycammel

— Andrea Silver (@andilnx) June 10, 2018

Stoneman-Douglas still making news

For what it did and didn't do prior to February 14th mass shooting.

No Go Zone

In Chicago, says a typically very-on-top-things cop blog.

Ewww....

Who wants to smell like a porn star?

Debatable history

Never Trumpers are at it again.

This time they accuse the president of getting history wrong, claiming he said Canadians burned down the White House in the War of 1812.

Trump nay-sayers say Canada wasn't a country, so it couldn't be a war with the U.S.  Naysayers do accurately say British troops did the burning.

But history shows the British burning of Washington DC was in retaliation for an American war party burning a Canadian town.  And while it was British regulars who actually invaded and burned Washington, it was Canada's governor general who called for the tit-for-tat retaliation.

More importantly, however, Trump didn't say Canadians burned the White House. Not by any accounts I've seen.

What Trump reportedly did was ask a rhetorical question, one that played into a widely held belief among Canadians.

“Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” is what CNN and the CBC say he said.

Canadians, it seems, have the curious notion they, indeed, were the ones who burned down the White House.

Don't take my word for it. They even have a song that celebrates their touted act.

And the video below, featuring the song, is apparently widely used in Canadian history classes.

Time out

Getting ready for a move.

Occupancy of new mountain home is about 30 days away.

New home will eventually replace both the cabin and a primary residence outside Atlanta.

Been plenty busy setting this up, and will be plenty busy with the move and with getting the existing cabin ready for resale.

Therefore, expect light and/or intermittent posting this summer. 

Lost: A case of grenades and a machine gun

Accidental losses, or something more sinister inside the active duty ranks?

The EPA is at it again

Actually, the EPA has been at it for a while now.

All hat, no cattle

Mueller frantically tries to delay a trial he probably thought would never happen.

Present day America

Too few remaining roots to our once great nation and its former productive culture.

"It’s all part-and-parcel with an American way-of-life that is not what it advertises itself to be. It’s become a cruel hologram of a distant memory of a land that sold its soul for a few decades of comfort and convenience, and ended up in a wilderness of addiction to cheap hits of pleasure. Pleasure is not happiness and the constant seeking to satisfy pleasures is not a journey to meaning. The catch is that this toxic way of life has poor prospects for continuing as a practical matter. History is catching up with our foolishness and history will prove to be even more wrathful than a lonely, confused, seventeen-year-old boy with a pistol and shotgun." - James Howard Kunstler

Don't let media fool you

Media needs Trump more than Trump needs media. 

Florida city pulls back its "zombie" alert

“I want to reiterate that Lake Worth does not have any zombie activity currently and apologize for the system message.” - Ben Kerr, city public information officer

Unsubstaniated... out right lies...

Remember how Trump was countered when he suggested his campaign was being spied on?

Facts now coming to light seem to substantiate his once-denounced claims.

What a difference a year makes.

Germany's a mess

Angie Merkle came of age in dyfunctional East Germany, so really no surprises here.

.@john_vandiver: "none of #Germany’s submarines are currently operational, only 4 of its 128 Eurofighter jets are combat-ready & the army is short on dozens of tanks & armored vehicles needed for #NATO missions" https://t.co/vynrKl91BQ pic.twitter.com/UDVgDhKuI2

— NATOSource (@NATOSource) May 16, 2018

Israel update

"Just as Guatemala followed the United States in May 1948 and was the second country to recognize Israel, it became the second state after the US on Wednesday to open its embassy in Jerusalem." - Jerusalem Post

Chicago violence updates

"Raise awareness," or prey on the ignorance of the masses? 

Art exhibit in Chicago (and CNN) play with the idea that buying a gun is as easy as renting a bicycle. (It's not, of course. But they don't let realities get in the way of propaganda).

Yes, they're still keeping count of shootings in Chicago. It's reported 84 people were shot there in a recent week. But don't worry. police say they're encouraged that gun violence is on the decline. 

BTW, it's not just gangs using guns that make Chicago's streets unsafe. But it's apparently hard to file a police report after a gang cracks your skull.

John McCain is dying

It's a shame he's trying to self-promote, and attack others, with his own expected passing. 

Think before your vote

We tend to see elections as protecting our rights.

But that's not necessarily correct.

Sometimes a candidate on a ballot advocates for subverting your rights, not protecting them.

Before casting a ballot, do some homework.  Know who you're voting for.

What if?

Saw this on Facebook this morning...

Shaking some dust off old data...

Guns are more often used to defend against crime than to commit crime. So, apparently, say the numbers gathered in some previously "lost" research that's now come to light.

What's next?

What are our vulnerabilities if Russia escalates?

Utilities at risk? Timely delivery of U.S. domestic food shipments or other necessary day-to-day commodities?

UK's Sunday Express says Russian launch of cyber warfare "imminent."

Would hacking disrupt deliveries of foreign goods at U.S. ports?

Heck, maybe your bank balance (and a bunch of others) could suddenly show "zero."

We're moving into unprecedented territory.

War and rumors of war

From the UK Telegraph:

Russia warns the US that Syrian airstrikes could spark war

I'm not sure there's many left in American media enough familiar with the Cold War era to understand how serious this might be. I'm not sure there's many left in our government either.

We're living in perilous times.

Understand the game being played

The undermining of America is being carried out by those who masquerade as working to prevent the undermining of America. 

We live in perilous times.

Update from Mexico...

...Where laws, in theory, deny most people access to guns, but where the murder rate far exceeds that of the USA...

The UK Sun notes: "Mexico’s party hotspot Cancun sees 14 murdered in 36 hours as tourist town is overrun by drug gang violence"

Trump bus enters Georgia House race

Okay, what's going on here?

The political ad (left) is from this week's Fannin Sentinel newspaper in Blue Ridge.

Can this be taken as a Trump endorsement (veiled or otherwise) of an attempt to unseat Georgia's House speaker?

The GA House 7th is presently held by Speaker David Ralston, who is very much running for reelection.

Cut through the BS

For some, it's all about undoing a constitutional election because their side lost.

The Left sees us in civil war. Or at least on the verge of one

The American political Left has apparently reached the level of arrogance where it really believes it has the power and even the right to tell anyone and everyone to sit down and shut up, and let it have its unobstructed way with America.

An example of this weekend's hottest Leftist propaganda.

Here's another, taking a more international tact. 

Odd how the Left pushes California as its Utopian success story.

Parts of California are already beginning to look a lot like Venezuela's failed socialism experiment. 

Voting with their wallets

Using the March for our Lives estimate of 202,000 cited by CBS News last month, and using stats from federal firearms background checks conducted last month...

It might safely be estimated that more than ten firearms purchases were made in America last month for each anti-gun marcher who turned up for last month's DC anti-gun march.

Oops

I next to never use cruise control.

But when I went to see if it still worked on my vintage Ford Ranger, my finger went right through the button.

Ranger's been on the road better than 18 years, so I guess it should be expected plastic parts are going to start giving way.

Thanks to YouTube, I see this is a pretty common problem. And a pretty easy fix. Replacement switch set is on order

Oldie but goodie

From 2015, but plenty relevant in the present time.

Not all demonstrations are anti-gun

There are still students who understand the Second Amendment, and who advocate for gun rights. 

Originating paper's tell of the Rockledge demonstration. 

Gun control doesn't end violence. It just makes it easier for the perps

Guy I know witnessed an attack something like this a few years back. He pulled his gun, and told the attackers to back off. The victim suffered no lasting injury.

Apparently no good guy with a gun around when this happened in New Jersey.

New Jersey law makes it hard to be a good guy with a gun.

Another refreshing night of solitude. But different

Last night at this time, silence on the mountain.

Tonight, it was wind whistling through the trees, now rain pounding the metal roof.

Had to latch the screen doors, they kept swinging open.

Now's about the time I should light a lantern or an oil lamp, just in case the power fails after nightfall.

Time tested strategy

The progressive left indoctrinates students. And then sends them forward to sway public opinion.

It's a proven path to gaining political leverage.

Via MyDailyKona blog:

The statist subvert the kids first because they are the most malleable to support the goals of the state.  For years after the Bolsheviks took over Russia and it became the Soviet Union, there was an organization that was formed to indoctrinate the young, they are called the Young Pioneers  and besides learning the tenets of Marxism, they also were used to spy on the parents and the kids would rat out their parents if they did something that violated the decrees from the local communist party commissar. 

Our schools used to teach students about the indoctrination habits of Nazis and Communists. I wonder if they still do. Now too many of our government run schools seem to largely follow their pattern. 

 

Gangs in schools... And maybe it's not just among the students

Fifth grade teacher charged in gang killings of two kids

Quiet day, taking post-winter inventory...

Quiet afternoon on the mountain. Silence except for an occasional passing jet at maybe 20,000 feet (Easy to hear with no competing sounds).

Lots of firewood left at the end of this winter season. Then again, some of those remaining stacks are still aging for next season. And there's a mess of wood to be split that should give good burning into the 2019-2020 time frame.

Striking imagery

Washington DC, March 24, 2016. 

Looks a lot like something out of  Germany, sometime in the early 1930s into the '40s.

DC rally tally

Media was full of hype over the weekend, letting us 500,000 or 600,000, maybe even 800,000 mostly student activists packed Washington DC for an anti-gun rally.

According to CBS, a professionally generated tally of march size came in much, much lower.

About 200,000.

With celebrities and the entire gun-control movement likely spending millions to make this rally what it was, it's doubtful they'll ever admit how far below expectations the turnout was.

Getting away from it all...

I've redacted the highway numbers and street names. But this is an otherwise unedited set to directions to a local real estate listing:

Hwy XXX to Hwy X  go approx 3.7 miles to a left on Hwy X. Follow for 3.8 miles to a left onto Xxxxx Xxxx Rd. Follow to T in road. Go to the right. Will be paved for 50 feet then becomes gravel.Go for 4.3 miles.Stay on this road crossing creek 4 times (not counting double ford as 2) following to a right at fork in road. (if you cross the creek to cemetery turn around too far). Following road keeping right until you get to 2nd gate. Go thru gate to home on left. (last home on left). 4 wheel drive needed

Marijuana: Gateway drug to undo your 2nd Amendment rights

Fortune reports:

If you have a medical marijuana card, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says that you can’t buy a gun.

YouTube's gonna ban gun videos

So reports Bloomberg news:

YouTube will ban videos that promote or link to websites selling firearms and accessories, including bump stocks, which allow a semi-automatic rifle to fire faster. Additionally, YouTube said it will prohibit videos with instructions on how to assemble firearms. The video site, owned by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, has faced intense criticism for hosting videos about guns, bombs and other deadly weapons.

Enforcement of the new policy is said to kick-in in April.

Understand the bigger agenda

Via Twitter:

Can someone tell me why the @NRA is being blamed despite the FBI being warned twice, local police visiting Cruz over 20 times, and there being a police officer who stood idly by while the kill occurred?

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 15, 2018

Perspective

Eleven teens a day die from accidents caused by texting and driving.

Sometimes their accidents kill others.

Where's the outrage?

Where's the national walkout against texting and driving?

Where's the movement to ban cellphones (or to at least establish an age gateway at 18... or 21)?

Elitist Democrats

Not sanitary, they say.

An abuse of taxpayer funds, they say.

Some Democrats on Capitol Hill want to crack down on members of Congress who sleep in their offices.

I think what Democrats mean is they want to limit office holders to being people of means who can afford expensive DC housing and other high costs of existing inside the beltway.

They want economic barriers to holding office to fend off potential challengers.

I see nothing wrong with a rep crashing in his/her office especially early in a first term, keeping them close to the business at hand while learning the wider lay of the land.

What he says versus reality

Via Twitter:

pic.twitter.com/tGshD6rBMw

— Mo Mo (@molratty) March 3, 2018

]

A lot different than assumptions pushed by MSM

A new narrative emerges in the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.

Nikolas Cruz was a bumbling, incompetent gunman with a cheap AR-15, only 10-round magazines, and maybe some defective ammo.

And it was a jam in Cruz's sub-par rifle that ended the shooting while deputies cowered outside.

Violence at an anti-gun rally

And they wonder why some of us don't buy into the whole disarmament game. 

Get over the notion that victims are experts

"Suffering through a terrible crime gives a person no special insight into its causes, and (David) Hogg has no special insight into its causes — or, frankly, into anything else. He’s ignorant about basic civics; he’s liable to backward reasoning; and, unable as he is to synthesize the evolving talking points upon which he relies, he has increasingly come across as slippery." - Charles C. Cooke, at National Review

Cultural tribalism

Via Twitter:

Gun control is so vicious and emotional a topic for the Left because of the disdain progressives have for the kind of people who own guns.

It’s cultural tribalism masquerading as urgent social policy

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) February 22, 2018

Survivor? Witness? Or something else?

Most the Parkland kids we see pitched as "survivors" of the Stoneman Douglas shooting may not have been anywhere near the building on campus where shootings took place. I'm not even sure it's fair to call them witnesses to the shooting, let alone survivors. To be deemed a survivor suggests overcoming an injury caused in the event or, at the very least, having been in direct and immediate peril.
Did any of the Stoneman Douglas students now making regular appearances pitching gun control even see the shooter or his weapon on campus on the day of the shooting?
You are considered a survivor of a ship wreck if the ship sinks and you are rescued. But if a limited part of the ship is damaged in a storm or by an attack, and you are on another part of the ship, are you a survivor of the incident?
How many times are soldiers engaged in battle, but are not wounded or injured. How about the support troops, perhaps at the embattled location, but not directly involved in hostilities? Do we bestow upon them the title of "survivor"?
Was every student on campus at Virginia Tech deemed a survivor of the mass shooting event there in 2007?
Maybe the term survivor is being applied too broadly in post-event reporting of the Stoneman-Douglas shootings. Strikes me, the term survivor is being exploited to elicit emotion and bestow credibility to teenage activists pushing an agenda rather than to accurately describe what role they had, or how close to the threat they were, when the actual violence took place.

I'm also curious. Was it media that first bestowed the survivor title on the young campus activists? Or is that how they pitched themselves before making their first media appearance? 

The under 21 loop hole

To raise the minimum firearms purchase age to 21 means 18 year olds will go outside the present purchase path, go directly to ways that circumvent background checks in acquiring a firearm.

After age 18, a parent no longer has access to a child's medical records, may not know what care they are receiving, or know what meds they are on.

But with age now rising to 21 for firearms purchases in some states, or at some retailers, it's likely parents will still be their buyers, as they now are for 15, 16 or 17 year olds.

Raising the gun purchase age actually obstructs the background check process rather than enhancing it.

We're not the thinkers we once were

Via Twitter:

There’s something seriously wrong at core with a society that demands always and everywhere that government “do something” when each and every day it is exposed as corrupt, arrogant, incompetent

— Benjamin Weingarten (@bhweingarten) February 26, 2018

Remember when Democrats liked guns?

John F. Kennedy, while serving as a US Senator, purchased a real combat rifle from the US military.

For his personal use.

And no one batted an eye over it.

Dick's is at it again

The gun control crowd is doing its happy dance again.

Dick's Sporting Goods now says it will no longer sell "assault style" firearms. 

Yeah, well...

Dick's said the same thing a few years back, then less than a year later was selling them again at stores using a different name.

Question is, how much store traffic, how many sales, does Dick's lose by taking a high demand, high end product from its shelves?

Sports Authority was once a thriving sporting goods chain. But Sports Authority seemed to fall on hard times once it stopped selling guns. And Sports Authority is no longer around.

Sears and Kmart used to sell guns, but bowed to pressure not to. Don't see nearly as many Sears or Kmart stores as you used to.

Gotta question the wisdom of outdoor sports stores like Dick's bowing to anti-gun pressure, and adopting policies to please the anti-gun crowd. You lose a heck of a lot of foot traffic, and repeat customers who would come back for accessories, when you intentionally eliminate a popular product for the sake of pleasing activists who may not be customers (or at least regular customers) in the first place.

I seldom go into a Dick's store. It kinda went off may "go-to" list last time it went pandering to the gun control crowd.

When caught, just deny it ever happened

On February 19, CNN New Day host Alisyn Camerota allows student anti-gun activist David Hogg to label NRA members as "child murders." Camerota doesn't challenge Hogg's statement. CNN then posts the video an online story with the headline Shooting survivor calls NRA 'child murderers'.

Here's where it gets interesting.

By Friday, February 23, Camerota denies on air that the "child murders" theme was allowed on her program.



So much for the concept of presenting news in an honest manner. So much for any attempt to curtail, or even limit, bias in presentation.

Unlike host-driven commentary shows like Maddow or Hannity on MSNBC or Fox News, CNN's New Day markets itself as a morning news program. As such, you'd expect it to play by the rules of honesty in journalism.

Doesn't appear to be the case at New Day where it appears there's no longer any attempt to counter or mitigate bias in presentation. And when New Day gets called out? It just denies it ever happened.

How 'bout it?

Via Twitter:

Dear rental car companies, If you’re going to change your corporate policy on the basis of teenage tweeters then you should also rent your cars to them.

— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) February 25, 2018

More meddling Russian messaging

RT stands for Russia Today.

It's Russian media. So probably no surprise it cherry picks in attempts to weaken our Bill of Rights. 

'It is time to have a conversation about what the right to bear arms means in the modern world' - Condi Rice https://t.co/BZcPRqLfFe

— RT (@RT_com) February 26, 2018

Doubling down on a theme...

Government can't keep you safe, sometimes it doesn't even try.

Meanwhile. in Coral Springs? Cops there seem eager to differentiate their actions from those allegedly shown by Broward County SO. 

Government can't keep you safe

Sometimes, it doesn't even try.

Guns. They're out of control!

>Satire alert<

]

Good signal out of Nashville

WSM's been heavy into Johnny Paycheck and Grandpa Jones tonight.

Gotta wonder.

How many homes today no longer have access to old school coms?

Common sense civil war?

Via Twitter:

These Democrats' proposal for "commonsense gun control" sound more like a plea for Civil War.
Kill us?
Take our children?
Raid homes?
I don't think they are going to like how that story ends.🇺🇸

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) February 19, 2018

Expect a spike in gun sales

Gun sales were in the stratosphere when Obama was president.

Sales had significantly mellowed under Trump.

But now that the Lefties are crying for more gun control, expect another spike in sales. Especially for ARs, which are plentiful and cheap right now.

It's estimated Americans spent $29.1 billion on guns when Obama was president. 

What's an average gun price?

$700?

Sure, there's far more pricey rifles and specialty guns.

But there's still lots of stuff in the $300 to $500 range in the mass market.

Rough guess, Obama helped put more than 40 million more guns on the street.  By advocating for gun control.

Unintended consequences

Fact is, every new push for gun control has resulted in firearms buying sprees where tens of thousands of additional guns are put into people's hands.

What's made the AR-15 such a big seller in recent years? The fact that gun control activists have been so adamant about the "need" to ban them.

I wonder if these activists have any idea show much cheaper ARs have become in recent years.

Typically, ARs used to start at around $800. Now, because of economies of scale in manufacturing, and increased competition among makers, they typically start at around $500 now, and sometimes can be found for less.

ARs used to be one of the pricier choices on the racks at gun stores. Now they're among the least expensive. And gun control activism has played a big part in pushing the trend.

Emoting their way through disaster where government failed to act

News report shows orchestrated student demonstrations calling for more gun control.

Do these students not realize how badly government employees botched the warning signs in the Parkland?

Between tips to teachers and the FBI, clear warnings were given of the menace. But on various levels, it was inaction by government bureaucrats, not lack of laws or reporting mechanisms, that left the path clear for Nikolas Cruz to do what he did last Wednesday.