Portland has become the Canker Sore of Oregon

I use to live in Portland (the largest city in the state), back about 40 years ago.

I sold my house for "$2000, and you take over the payments" on my GI Bill loan. 

Ten years earlier, $30,000 for a cottage on the East Side of Portland was (in the words of our real estate agent when my wife and I bought it) a "steal".

But I got divorced, and gave my ex-wife the proceeds from selling the house.   At the time, I regretted having give up a 2-story house with a front and (fenced) back yard, detached garage, and a basement with an extra bedroom.

Now ... I realize that I could not have foreseen what a Liberal Hell-hole Portland would become.   And I'm glad I got out while "the getting was good".

What happened to Portland is what's happening to America.  Our elected officials are allowing violence by people who call themselves "anti-fascists", but who are in fact becoming the most violent fascists in America.

What happened in Portland is fanatics who wear masks and hoodies and assault total strangers on the mean streets of our most "Progressive" city.   

It's difficult to understand what these Rebels Without A Cause want, but they are more than willing to engage in anonymous violence to achieve their bizarre purpose.

It's just a guess, but I think what they want is anarchy.   So I'll call them Anarchists; people who have no clearly defined goal but mob rule .... and they do it because they can.

The state of Oregon, the city of Portland, have made no effort to curb these Anarchists even while they commit crimes of assault against innocent passers-by.

...

I remember, back in the day, driving 'home' to Portland and being greeted by a huge neon sign of a prancing White Stag (the emblem of a well-known outdoor clothing company)

That sign was ... well, it felt like coming home to me.   It was a comfortable welcome to the Portland of my era, and I loved it.

I don't know if that sign is still up; I have passed through Portland a few times on my way up the I5 Interstate highway, but I no longer look for the White Stag sign.  In fact, I try not to look at anything but the road; it's all too gruesome and disgusting to drive through this "Major City".

Portland, Oregon: The canary in a coal mine for the violent Left:

The last time I passed through Portland, Oregon, I was treated to the sight of a bum squatting with his trousers around his ankles, dumping a huge load of poop on the pedestrian walkway of the Morrison Street bridge. 

This was not the Portland of my memories. It was a Third World hell-hole, which I had become accustomed to in Viet Nam ... but not in My America!

This was a consequence of the progressive permissiveness which seems, to me, endemic to extend "Liberality" to the point where laws are not enforced,  anarchy is tacitly permitted, and basic rules of respectable human behavior are ignored.

Forget the riots, forget the protests, and forget the concept of human dignity.

If anyone wonders why I am a convicted Conservative, it's because I think that in an America which is becoming increasingly populated by people who have no concept of "Correct Behavior" ...

I don't want to be known as a part of that America.

This is not the America which drafted me, which sent me to war, or which expected me to act like a responsible human being in a country that I didn't care whether it went communist or was free.

Because I was, and I remain, an American.   I have my standards ... and I insist that those standards are respected and accepted by every American.

Don't shit on the bridge.
Don't shit on the Constitution.

Is that too much to ask?

The NYT would rather see kids shot by invaders than to arm teachers.

The opinion column of the New York Times is always good for a "WTF?" moment.
(SEE: Below The Fold)

Despite the recent (?) spate of school shootings, NYT thinks that arming teachers would:

"... contribute to a climate of fear in schools and note that study after study equates more guns with more injuries and deaths."

It's significant that the wise editors of the NYT use the term "contribute to the climate of fear", which tacitly acknowledges that a "climate of fear" already exists in schools, after reports of predators attacking schoolchildren around the country.

When the only one with a gun is a predator,  it's difficult to imagine how an armed defender could make any student more fearful .... unless the NYT is willing to encourage students to "Pay No Attention To The Man Shooting Your Friends".    Apparently, students should not trust their teachers, but they should trust interlopers.

(Among interlopers, I'm including the sworn police officer who received reports of armed attacks on innocents, and heard the shots fired, but hid in his  police  car under a bridge until the shooting was over, rather than to risk his life defending the public.)

I'm sure there are statistics which report the number of educators who turn on their students with intentions of mass murder.

Oh, I looked it up.  I found ten reports of teachers killing students: worldwide!

Three used firearms    The rest used knives, or various forms of strangulation.   Apparently, when teachers run amok, they use the tools at hand ... some of which are more gruesome than others.  (Many of the reports note an "interpersonal" relationship; the teacher was banging  having an affair-gone-wrong with the student.)

I haven't found any reports of Mister Jones or Miss Smith Niner-ing their Junior High School class on Civics in Dubeque Iowa.

THE FOLD:

Stop Digging!

When you find yourself in a hole, and you don't know what to do, the first thing is to STOP DIGGING!

Unfortunately, the good citizens of Chicago seem to be "unclear on the concept".  They've been electing Democrats to leadership positions for so long, they apparently aren't aware of that their ballots have both a right and a left side ... they just automatically put a checkmark on the Left side. One wonders if they are even aware of the names by the box ... let alone the history of malfeasance and chicanery of the Leftist candidates.

(Or perhaps that is a prerequisite for appearing on the ballot?)

I'm not a Chicagoan,  so perhaps I am just ignorant of their thought process, but many of us who are casual observers of the workings of Bizzaro-Land  sit by in casual wonder of a people who seemingly delight in electing the most malignant politicians to represent their city, their county, and their state.

Here's the most recent news from Bizzaro-Land:

IDIOCY: Out of ideas, Chicagoland Mayor Emanuel BEGS violent gangs to cut out all the murder and mayhem:

After yet another highly publicized and very deadly weekend in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanual has come up with a plan to finally address the rising gang-related violence. Sort of. He’s essentially asking gangs to cut it out.

That's what I call "Leadership"!


Oh ... sorry, I lost my mind for a minute.  That's actually what I call ... um .. INANE?

Think of the most simple-minded soap opera on television, and double it.  That's the best view from afar that you can imagine of the historic Democratic leadership of Illinois in general, and Chicago specifically.   Are you people all suicidal?  You actually vote for these people?

Are you all on The Dole, and do Democrats decide who gets their welfare checks depending on how they voted last year?

I don't mean to be critical of Chicagoans, but .... gee, it's hard not to.  You keep voting the same crooks, idiots and Democrats (sorry to demean crooks and idiots by conflating them with Democrats) into leadership offices, and apparently nobody cares that their elected leaders are sucking on the public teat and you don't even get what's left when they're through.

And they are never through'   they just keep on sucking, and you keep on voting for them!

I probably won't actually PUBLISH this article; it's mean, and dismissive of people in Chicago, and if I lived there I would be very offended.  So I apologize for even writing it.

Still .. have you no pride?

Firearms Safety Classes: Teaching "Beginners"

It surprises me to learn that some people dismiss the challenge of teaching "Beginning Shooter" classes.

Rodney Dangerfield must’ve taught beginners | Cornered Cat:

 ... teaching beginners is the most dangerous and difficult task any shooting instructor ever faces. And yet we tend to look down on people who teach such classes. Even instructors sometimes look down on themselves for not teaching ‘real’ classes.

I've been teaching "advanced" classes for eight years, and I have never volunteered to teach "Beginners" because I'm a big coward.

Sometimes, though, it's impossible to avoid that challenge; this is especially true when beginners over-value their gun-handling skills because of ignorance, or bad habits which can be developed because they have become accustomed to handling guns without proper supervision.
Because  they over-rate their gun-handling skills, they often sign up for "advanced" courses ... and they show up at one of my "Introduction to USPSA" classes because they expect me to teach them the advanced techniques of skills they haven't already developed for themselves.

Ultimately, though, no matter how "experienced" the student population may seem to be ... we are all "beginners" when it comes to learning new techniques ... such as drawing from a holster, and competing under the pressure-cooker of a limited amount of time to competitively complete a course of fire.

This is the purpose of the first hour of an "Introduction to USPSA" class which I teach monthly; it is designed to identify and correct "bad" gun-handling practices.

Even though I'm careful to confirm that my students are experienced ...(and during the first hour ... the "Lecture" hour ... of a class, I ask each student to describe his/her experience with his pistol,, with competitive shooting and simply "Drawing From The Holster") ... I am still surprised by the occasional student who seems "Unclear On The Concept".

This class was originally envisioned as an "Advanced Course"; designed to hone skills which have already been learned and practiced, but not to the level of achievement needed to compete successfully.  Over the six or seven years I've been teaching it, the course has been modified to teach competent, experienced pistol shooters to compete in a narrow range of gun-handling skills specifically tailored for competition.

Unfortunately, it has been interpreted by prospective students as a class which would teach only 'advanced' (slightly) 'gun-handling skills' for people who have never learned to draw from the holster and engage a myriad of targets.

Well .. that's okay by me.  I can do that.  In fact, I think it's a better use of my time, because the people who already compete in USPSA classes probably already think they know everything they need to know, and this class may serve to introduce new competitors to the sport.

But I don't willingly teach "beginner" students; still, from time to time I find myself confronted by students who are unfamiliar with the controls of his/her firearm ("oh, this gun doesn't have a safety") or who do not know how to safely draw and re-holster a firearm, or whose grip is unsafe.

Even so, the class still serves several useful purposes.

Every year I have to correct the grip of at least one unsafe  student who practices the "Left Thumb Over The Right Wrist" grip, because he/she is unaware that the slide on a semi-automatic pistol WILL recoil and chew their support-hand thumb!

I suspect that these people are accustomed to shooting revolvers, in which practice it is a viable technique to manage recoil.

However, when shooting semi-automatic pistols, gripping your pistol so that your thumb is in the way of the slide-recoil is a Bad Habit because if you put your thumb in the path of a recoiling slide, you  may need to spend an uncomfortable period of time learning to shoot a semi-automatic pistol without benefit of the supporting thumb.  That recoiling slide will at least break your thumb; and that is the BEST outcome you should expect.

So keep your thumb along the side of the grip, and you won't be hiring a surgeon to replace your thumb with your big toe.

No, I'm not kidding about this.

There are several indications that The Student is not  competent to undertake an Advanced Pistol Course:

• The Student cannot holster his/ pistol using one hand, without using the other hand to find where his holster is. We can teach this, even though it may not be the most 'important' lesson;
• The Student cannot find his safety without looking, or does not automatically "safe" his pistol when holstering.  This should not be part of an advanced course, but it is still important.
• The Student is unaware that his pistol, if so equipped, has a thumb safety which must be engaged before holstering; and which must be dis-engaged up on the draw; I'm not sure that this student is ready for a competition course, but perhaps he/she missed the "Introduction" course.  Better that they learn it here than not know it at all;
• The student, when responding to commands or instruction when holding his/her pistol, pivots his/her body in such a manner as to point his/her pistol at the instructor when receiving instructions.  I'd rather this student learn from a different instructor; I get nervous when people point guns at me!

One of the most difficult of "Bad Habits which a "new competitor must overcome is the nonchalant gun-handling skills which one develops when he goes to the range in a casual environment of "shooting at the range with friends", 

This encourages them to leave handguns on the counter, to casually be picked up and otherwise handled without supervision,

Even though I invariably announce that the ("New Shooter") class will be taught using USPSA rules of gun handling, I still see students wandering around the shooting bay with a pistol in their hand, usually with the purpose of asking me a question about some semi-obscure nuance of gun-handling practices.

Perhaps I need to loudly announce: "STARTING NOW! to emphasize the onset of strict firearm safety practices on the range.  One would expect that intelligent firearms owners would understand immediately, but they have been desensitized by years of casual firearms-handling practices.

(That's what you get when you go to the range with "friends", who excuse your execrable gun\-handling habits.  They are not your friends, if they let you get away with being unsafe.Still, the course advances the purpose of training pistol-shooters in "best practices" of safely handling a pistol.)

They do not realize that the rules of safe gun-handling are in effect ANY time you are shooting.  Even in the company of close friends (who are willing to forgive you if you are an unsafe dork).

If you are in my class, and you break tis basic rule of Firearms Safety ... I won't forgive you.
In fact, I'll yell at you.  With any luck, I'll embarrass you in front of your friends; perhaps I'll convince you that you should never carry a gun.

Then you need to convince me (and yourself) that you are Competent.
That's the best possible outcome of a training session.

"It isn't Christmas until the lights are strung around the house"

I may be the Gumpy Christmas Blogger, but here's just one more reason I'm glad I don't have to string lights around the house every Christmas.

You could own all of Netflix. Or purchase 747 Boeing 747s, with change to spare. Or erase the national debts of Venezuela, Nigeria, Peru and Iceland, combined. Or, if you're Mary Horomanski, you could pay for one month's worth of electricity.

 Pennsylvania woman gets $284 billion electric bill, wonders whether it's her Christmas lights - Chicago Tribune:

Has America Gone Crazy?

Sandy Hook Anniversary: These Are the Gun Control Laws That Have Failed Since the Newtown Shooting:

What seemed at the time like the horrifying turning point in the American gun debate—a gunman in Newtown, Connecticut, slaughtering 20 children and six adult employees during the school day after killing his mother—now instead seems like the moment the United States decided no tragedy was too great to change federal gun laws. More than 200 state-level gun laws have passed since Sandy Hook, but every major attempt at federal legislation has failed, even as shootings with ever-higher body counts keep coming. 

Yes.

Madmen arise in any society; they don't obey laws, but here ... in America ... they take advantage of the freedoms which our country holds most dear.

There is little we can do about that, without infringing on our own constitutional rights.

The problem isn't with the constitution; the problem is with our society.   Will we give up the rights which our progenitors fought for, because we now realize that we have created a "sick" society?

Our system of government is deliberately "skewed" to protect our rights.  That some people abuse those rights is not the fault of the laws, nor the Constitution; it's something in our national character which promoted aberration.

It may have begun when President Reagan undermined the Mental Health System.

Reagan observed a system which regularly locked up people with mild psychotic symptoms, and determined that it undermined the civil rights of people who were "just different".  He acted to correct this social injustice, and people who were committed for no greater offense than being 'different" were set free and thus protected from the distrust of their society.

Was Reagan wrong?  Is he the cause of the slaughter we have recently experienced?

As is the case in many decisions to protect individuals at the expense of the general population, this single act may have served to ignore delusional people, who have become a larger portion of our population than was earlier allowed to remain free. 

Whatever the cause or the effect, America today seems to have its fair share of crazies who feel no compunction against acting out their rage.

And the few sane people left ,,,

 ("I fear all are mad except me and thee, and I worry betimes about thee!")

... now suffer the consequences of a society which is so "free" that the madmen are ruling the institution.

Well ... the politicians, of course. 

But I was speaking about normal people.

"Nothing can Possibly Go Wrong!"

"The Human Driver of the other vehicle was at fault ..."

When self-driving vehicles can avoid human frailties, I'll begin to believe there's a future in it.
The assertion that "the incident caused minor damage" is facetious and self-serving.

I don't want to drive on a road shared by "self-driving" vehicles.
This is such a pile of bull-shit, I can't believe that anyone would allow it.

Self-driving bus crashes two hours after launch in Las Vegas | ZDNet:

A driverless shuttle bus crashed less than two hours after it was launched in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The city's officials had been hosting an unveiling ceremony for the bus, described as the US' first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared towards the public, before it crashed with a semi-truck.
 According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the human driver of the other vehicle was at fault, there were no injuries, and the incident caused minor damage.

Folding Glock

Full Conceal's Folding Glock Akin To Magpul's FMG9 - The Firearm BlogThe Firearm Blog:

 Full Conceal had a prototype of their concept back at SHOT Show 2017. Pete posted about it here. Their original concept was a cut down Glock frame and the remaining grip/magazine would lock onto the frame making the pistol a rectangular brick. You would have to remove the grip/magazine and insert it into the gun to make it into a complete pistol.

You'll have to visit The Firearm Blog to see the pictures (and also a very short video) demonstrating the concept.   Personally, I'm a 1911 Slob  Snob  so I try not to show Glock pictures here .... even when they look like a Klein bottle as an Embryo, or something that came out WRONG in the Starship Enterprise Transport Bay 3.

Or ... like this:

march against gun violence - SFGate

Walkers cross Golden Gate Bridge in march against gun violence - SFGate:
June 3, 2017

Leelee Daschbach Cusenza walked across the fog-hazed Golden Gate Bridge Saturday, tears streaming down her face. The 62-year-old Pleasanton resident was joined by scores of gun violence survivors and demonstrators, clad in orange shirts, for the second annual march across the Golden Gate Bridge to honor National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Cusenza’s sister, Michele, went to Salon Meritage in Seal Beach in Orange County for a haircut on Oct. 12, 2011, and never returned. Scott Evans Dekraai was involved in a child custody battle with his former wife. He went into the salon that day in October and killed his ex and seven others, including Cusenza’s younger sister.

I wept when Lee Moshier was killed by a cheap hand grenade, planted in the ground of Vietnam in 1969.

Lee didn't trip the booby trap; The point man thought his combat boots had snagged on just another of the "Wait-A-Minute Vines" which dominated the ground foliage 40 miles north of Saigon.   So he just kept walking.  He didn't realize that he had just initiated a buried Hand Grenade set not to kill the Point Man of the platoon which had been working this area near Vietnamese peanut fields for two days, but to kill both the Point Man and the "Pace Man" (the one man whose duty was merely to keep track of the distance we had traveled from one salient point to another).

Three seconds later, the buried grenade exploded, pounding tiny bits of shrapnel into the point man's backpack and back, buttock thighs and legs.

One of those metal bits were among the other particles, to the rear, and it drove directly into Lee's heart.

"Doc" RAN from the back of the platoon column (we always tried to protect our medic) in the most profound display of bravery I've ever seen ... but even before he got up to Moshier, it was already too late.  We all knew that we had just entered the "Twilight Zone" of a minefield, but Doc's only priority was to save the life of a fellow soldier.

Lee was terrified; Doc tried to insert an Esophegeal Airway down his throat, but Lee was unable to un-clench his teeth.  It probably didn't make any difference; when you get a quarter-inch plug of steel wire in your heart, it's just like a bullet; you're a deader, Dude, and there's nothing that ANYBODY can do before your heart stops.

We just stood there, most of a full platoon of GI's, and watched Lee die.  And watched Doc cry, because he wanted SO bad to bring his platoon buddy back from the brink of death.

A team of surgeons in a sterile operating room couldn't stop that death.   It was inevitable.

Mosier was almost entirely un-hurt.  There were a few drops of blood on his webgear an on his weapon, but he didn't bleed much.

It doesn't take much to stop a heart, even a Very Good Heart like Mosiers, who liked to carry candy so when we stopped at a Ville he was the most popular guy to the VietNamese kids we met.  They didn't often get candy, except from GI's like Lee, who loved kids but never had any of his own.

And ... now ... never will.

We called in a dust-off, to pick up his body and carry it back to Division Headquarters.  We didn't alert the surgeons there, because Lee was past all help.

We divied up his gear, because you never leave gear in the field for Charley, even if you lose a man.

Doc carried his M16; he thought it was his duty.  Chief carried his helmet.  Stehman carried his ammunition.

I was the platoon Sergeant, so I carried his web belt; the Platoon Leader, Lieutenant Nobody, carried his pack.

I'll never forget the smell of Mosier's blood on his canvas web belt; the weight of the belt with the magazines in the carrier.  The sight of spots of blood .. there was never a "Gush" ... on the green canvas gear.

We walked for the entire afternoon back to the Battalion Base Camp, packing little bits of Mosier back home.

Two days later, we held a memorial ceremony;  his rifle was pounded into the ground, muzzle first, using the attached bayonet (which we never used except in these ceremonies).  There was a Padre to lead us in prayers which we didn't believe in.  I think we were suppose to sing along with the tenor who arrived with the Padre, but nobody sang.  Most of us wept.  An un-manly thing to be sure, but even people who didn't like Mosier didn't want to see him die.

And we all, all, stood there and watched him die.  Helpless, as Doc cried as he tried to insert that God Damned Esophegeal Airway into Moshier's throat ... and it probably wouldn't have made a bit of difference if Doc HAD managed to insert the damn thing past Mosier's Clenched Teeth because he was a gonner as soon as the grenades went BOOM!

Every body knew it.  We just tried, because that's all we could do.  Doc tried hardest, but it's hard to tell which of us cried hardest.

The next time we hit the Slop Chute and got a few beers in us and were able to alibi our tears on account of the beers.  Enlisted Men's bar, NCO bar, or Officers' bar ... it was probably the same.  I think it's a mistake to separate the three rank levels in mourning, but that's just the way it is in the Army in 1969.

I wrote to his parents, on behalf of the platoon;  I was head NCO, it was my job; and the OIC who had directed us through THAT particular strand of trees was not capable of rational discourse.

(He felt so guilty, he requested a change of unit; he was granted the transfer on what I have always though were "humanitarian basis" or whatever kind of bullshit the army used then to get an officer out of a unit where one of his men had die..  Personally, I don't blame him; I blame me.  I had been through the area the day before and suspected the woods were mined, but I didn't work very hard to convince the El-T .. Lieutenant ... to posit another egress route from our ambush site.)

The death of that young man .. a guy I never particularly liked, but he was MY RESPONSIBILITY ... has been hoovering over me like a ghost for more than 50 years.  I'm sure a few folks are like my family members who say things like "That's all past you now, let it go".

And "There's nothing you could have done."

And "How could you have known?"

I should have known.

I fucked up.  A fine young man (one that I never particularly liked) is dead because I was so glad to get out of the Heart-Shaped Woods .. a known Booby Trap area ... that I didn't demand that my Platoon Leader take us out on a route that we hadn't used before.  A route that the local villagers hadn't seen us use before.

So .. San Francisco Gate!

You fine young folks who have never had a shot fired in anger at you, who have never seen a man killed in anger, who have never had to carry his body home or answer to his family; you who never fired back at your aggressors, who never held the burdon of the life of your friends in your hands.

You're perfectly okay because you don't DO that shit!

What would you do if you were drafted into the military, and were forced into that situation?


Would you, on your return to The Real World, be quite as vociferous about guns (which allow you to return fire when fired upon, and probably break up the aggressive intents of your attackers)?

Would you believe that guns have no valid purpose in the world, after you have been fired upon and used a gun to stop the really really bad guys from shooting at you and your friends?

You do realize that bad guys will shoot at you for no reason that you would understand, right?

And maybe you even have spent some time thinking about what you would do to defend yourself when bad guys are attacking you.

I'm 72 years old;  I can't defend myself in a fist fight any more.

But I go to the range every week, and I can pull a trigger MUCH more consistently than I could when I was in a foreign war zone.

Now the war zone is HERE.  And anybody who doesn't understand the violence which is being directed toward our nation and our citizens ... is living in a dream world which has no connection with reality.

I do realize that many of you cannot accept my narrative of my friend Mosier (who I didn't like all that much anyway, but he was in my platoon).  And I don't much care what you think.  I'm doing you a favor ... I'm educating you about The Real World.

Nobody likes you very much, either.

Especially the guys from ashcanistan who have different beliefs and who believe you are a target, not a person.
So go away and ignore everything I have said, and the world is probably better after you have been blown up by terrorists anyway.   If you don't care enough to protect yourself and your family, I don't much care about your own personal genotype.

The world is better off without people who haven't inherited a survival gene.

And even if you ARE paranoid ... that doesn't mean they won't kill you first.

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire

Self-defense is now ILLEGAL in the UK - NaturalNews.com:

As reported by The New American, British subjects seeking advice about what are and are not permissible self-defense instruments found some recently on a police web site. It is sponsored by the British government's Police National Legal Database. Q589: Are there any legal self defence products that I can buy? The police answer: The only fully legal self defence product... is a rape alarm.

If a British subject picks up an object to defend against a violent intruder, that is a crime.  Even if they only threaten, and don't actually USE it against their aggressor.


The only LEGAL alternative to a rape alarm (what the heck is a "Rape Alarm"?) would be a squirt bottle of dye which could be used to easily identify the intruder after he has had his way with you, your family, and your home.

But if you squirt it in his eyes, that also  may be a criminal offense.

The intruder, if caught, will probably not be charged.  The resident will most likely be charged.

Pick up a knife?   You're toast, Baby!

Aren't you glad you're you?


Welcome to America ... Land of The Free and Home of the Saved!

Fratricide is Religious; don't f**k with my religion!

Anti-Travel Ban Lawyer Leans on Argument that Honor Killings Are Islamic:

 
The lawyer representing the State of Hawaii in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today has stated the collection of data with regards honor killings should be removed from President Trump’s Executive Order in order to “pass constitutional muster”.

In other words, it's okay to kill your sister if she acts in a manner which contravenes the strict interpretation of your shared religion?   Is that the tenet?

And if some person calls on the Constitution to justify murder because he claims it is a religious tenet
 .. that should be considered acceptable?

That is the most despicable thing I have ever heard.

The Constitution is the one thing which should never be used to justify immoral acts.

And this thing ... "honor killings" of a family member ... is the most immoral act possible.

That is not America, and anyone who leans on the Constitution to justify despicable immorality is the most horrible person imaginable.   They should NOT consider themselves part of America.

FOAD!

How Many Guns Will YOU Let ME Have?

Editorial: How many guns do you need? - Daily Press:
In 1993 ..., quote:
Gov. Douglas Wilder signed into law a limit of one handgun purchase per month. That restriction lasted 19 years, until it was repealed by then-Gov. Robert McDonnell in 2012. Mr. McDonnell had voted in favor of the legislation as a delegate in 1993 but campaigned on a promise to repeal it, citing his "duty to protect the Second Amendment."

The problem with that logic is, there is no reason sensible gun laws cannot co-exist with the Second Amendment, which cites the need for a "well-regulated militia" and ensures "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." 

The problem is, some people focus on the right to bear arms and ignore the phrase "well-regulated." The most oft-cited rationale for the right to bear arms is self-defense, and it is hard to imagine that people here feel unsafe if they can only buy a dozen guns in a calendar year.

[endquote]



The "problem"  with the quotes (above) is that the author assumes that the 2nd amendment was written for purposes of self-defense.

It wasn't.

It was written so that The People might be armed in defiance against a government which attempts to ignore the Espoused Rights .. Dictators.

Tyrants.

The Other Side Of the Coin Is:


In truth, it has nothing to do with "Self Defense", although today it seems reasonable that this is t he most frequent usage of personal weapons.


When we accept the 'common' interpretation of History, we lose track of the protections which our fore-fathers had wisely (but perhaps too confident of our character) chosen to provide as our Legacy.

Gov. McAuliffe is attempting to reinstate that limit (of how many guns we may be "allowed" to purchase in a designated time frame) it by attaching it as an amendment to a bill that has already passed in the General Assembly, but which has not yet been signed into law, pertaining to concealed carry permits. There is little chance the GA, the majority of which is Republican, will accept the amendment — even if it takes the original bill down with it.

(No, I'm not confident that I understand that paragraph. Do you?)

The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is only tangentially related to "Self Defense".

The primary purpose of the Second Amendment is to provide "The People" a means to resist an Government which has grown too big for its britches and attempts to impose unilateral laws and regulations which undermine the rights of The People.

Translation: They expected us to fight for our rights .. in much the same way as did they.

Concealed Carry Permits are also tangential to the 2nd Amendment, which neither expresses nor implies any restriction on how one is "allowed" to 'Keep And Bear Arms'.

The thing about the Constitution is that it was deliberately designed to limit the powers of The Government; the Amendments were intended only to specifically affirm the rights of The People.

Politicians imposed their bias on a law, and now the confusion allows  them to impose their bias on the civil rights of their constituents.

Legacy:

My father told me how my family survived The Great Depression.   He took the family lever-action .30-30 hunting, when there was no hunting season, and killed a deer which fed his family for the winter.

He was an "outlaw' in the face of the law-abiding, but perhaps I may owe my own life to the deer he poached "four score and seven years ago".   It fed his family; it fed my mother during a dreadful winter.

(Well, perhaps not quite that long ago, but close.  The Great Depression can't be far enough behind us to allow us any comfort ... Americans Starved during those year.  My mother could have starved, had not my father decided that "The Law" wasn't the most important thing.  And I might never have been borne, which would have been a great tragedy!  Yes, people experienced hardships from the Depression; and many children were "still-borne" because Depression Women starved.  My fathet told me stories of dressjng  deer in a closed garage in Elgin, Oregon for fear of Game Wardens who would have confiscated the carcass ... because my mother needed meat.)

But the Tyranny of Need is greater than the Tyranmy of Law.


TODAY... nobody starves.  We have social services which provide food even to those who have not the gumption to get off their haunches and do whatever-it-takes to feed their family.  
Or they desert their "partners", because they have no appreciation for the concept of a "family".
The state feeds their family ... which is, I believe improvement on The Great Depression.

What do we give in return?

How many of our rights, how much of our Proud Independence, do we concede when we admit that we cannot take care of ourselves?  When we cannot feed our family?

The Government gives to us those bounties which we need to survive.

What do they take from us in return?

Eliminate ATF? Oh, please!

What federal agency doesn't have enough work to justify its existence, so they are overstaffed and then go looking for innocent civilians to harass just to make it look like they're actually ... you know .. accomplishing something?

If you said "Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives" you  would be almost right.

(I say "almost" because, having nothing better to do with their copious free time, this agency changes its name with the seasons;  I'll just call them the "ATF", because that's what they call themselves when they're at home;  and you can call them less complimentary names if it makes you feel good.)

I think it might be a good idea to eliminate the ATF and shift its duties to other federal agencies.

The ATF (BATFE ... etc) ... is an organization in search of a job.  They don't have enough to do while enforcing regulations on alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives .....    

... (which organization, by the way, was originally established only to insure that the appropriate taxes were paid to the feds;  all this enforcement shit that made such a huge wave in the Prohibition Era was generated only because they didn't have UTUBE for self-congratulatory advertisements,  It's all about funding!.)  ...

...... so they at ATF are desperate for a way to justify their existence.

They couldn't find enough work regulating firearms, and their best years of busting moon-shiners were gone, and tobacco isn't an issue (enough smokers die every year to render ATF meaningless), and what's with that "Explosives" thing?  We all know, all you need is a pressure cooker and some chemicals from under your kitchen sink.

So the ATF (Excuse me!  "BATFE"!) is looking for some way to justify their existence.   They don't have anything else to do, to keep them busy.

Please, by all means .. eliminate the redundancy and shift their duties to some other Federal Agency which is already so over-burdened that it hasn't time or resources to harass  bug law-abiding firearms owners with meaningless and redundant regulations.

Personally, I feel really sorry for the sad sacks who can't find 'A Real Job' and have to go to work for the ATF.   They are the most despised people in this country, and they try to make themselves feel better by imagining that they are doing something which justifies their salary.

I understand that.  I did the same thing for the last 20 years of my career, when I was working for a state educational institution.

But at least I never put anyone in jail for exercising his constitutional rights.

Guns in churches?

Guns in churches? Pastors debate church security - KWES NewsWest 9 / Midland, Odessa, Big Spring, TX: newswest9.com |:

The Texas legislature is considering a law that would allow churches to hire security officers. Many Wichita Falls churches have security, but not everyone believes armed guards belong in church. "If you think you need to have a gun to go to church, or have someone there to guard you, it makes me wonder if we need to test the depth of our faith," Cheryl Murray, Pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, said. "Maybe we are just sticking our big toe in the shallow end instead of diving all in." She believes there are more pressing issues for the legislature to tackle than security in churches.

Luke 22:36 (BBE) And he said to them, But now, he who has a money-bag, or a bag for food, let him take it: and he who has not, let him give his coat for money and get a sword.

Locked In A Cell Without Charges

Hit & Run : Reason.com:
(12.30.16}

 Imagine being treated the same way a person arrested for a felony is treated—brought into jail, strip searched, imprisoned—even though you aren't arrested. Worse yet, imagine being treated that way because you might have been a witness to a crime and police wanted to interview you.

That's exactly what had been happening down in Louisiana in Evangeline Parrish (population 33,500) and its town of Ville Platte (population 7,300). According a long-term Department of Justice investigation that was just released in December, police and sheriff's offices there had a long-established practice of jailing people for days without charges or warrants as "investigative holds." The practice is extremely unconstitutional but apparently had been policy.

If the words BOSS HOGG popped into your mind, you're not the only one.

Read the whole thing.

Trump's Right Hand

Apparently I'm not the only one who finds Donald J. Trump's "hand gestures" irritating!



Geez ... if someone would replace that hand with ,,, with a ... A HOOK!

Coddling the Coeds?

Academia reacts to Trump election.   Students treated like kindergartners.

Universities offer Play-Doh, therapy dogs, coloring books, safe spaces for students hurt by election | EAGnews.org:

 “Today during my office hours, 4PM to 7PM, I will be bringing my personal coloring books, crayons, markers and colored pencils for anyone to use in order to de-stress and relax from the election results,” she posted to Facebook. “Please do not hesitate to reach for help, whether it is to me, the rest of the Community Advisor and Residential Life University Apartment staff, the Counseling Center, the Helping Center, your friends and family or your professors,” Elizabeth wrote. “None of you are alone.” At least one economics professor at Yale University is also taking it easy on students reeling from Clinton’s loss by making their mid-term exam optional, according to a copy of an email he sent to students that Yale Daily News editor Jon Victor posted to Twitter.

Wow.  A LOT of responses and questions offer themselves for examination.

(Facts about crayolas)

EXAMPLE: What kind of education are young adults receiving in University? That they can't be trusted to handle their own emotions?  That they might be emotionally 'wounded' because their preferred candidate didn't win?

EXAMPLE: What's with crayons, coloring books, etc.?  Are these students people who are trusted to vote in presidential elections?  Or are they intellectually (and emotionally) stunted MORONS who must be coddled to prevent damage to their vulnerable egos?   (That's the goal of the Liberals.)

EXAMPLE: Why has a University Professor a set of "... personal coloring books, crayons, markers and colored pencils ..." on hand for loan?
(One possible answer is that she is the infantile product of the same educational syllabus she is now offering to her students.   Another possible answer is that she is part of the Liberal goal of raising a generation of needy, easily led citizens.)

EXAMPLE:  This "Institution of Higher Learning" is making an exception to the academic rigor by making a mid-term exam 'optional'?   What kind of lesson that THAT teach our children?  That if they're having a bad day, they can opt out of their obligations?   That their education track isn't a matter of intellectual and academic rigor, but how they "feel" today?   Or is it that our children are being carefully programmed to follow the advice of their political heroes, who cleave to the Liberal mantra of  We will tell you how to think, how to talk, and how to vote"?

I don't know about you, but I've had a few bad days and on more than one of them I would have liked to have my Captain say: "Sergeant Geek, I see you're having a bad day.  Why don't you just stay in camp today and we'll let the platoon get along without you.  Whaddya say, is that a good idea?"

Um ... no.   I have responsiblities, and people who depend on me, and a family whose respect and cherish. I was taught that when you accept a job you keep at it until the job is done.

University students have probably graduated from 'Chores' ("Timmy, don't forget to empty the trash baskets today!") to "Obligations"  ("Timmy, we are proud to co-sign that Guaranteed Student Loan for your college education, but please understand that we don't have the money to pay for it if you default!").

But apparently, College Students have not been encouraged to move on up to RESPONSIBILITY!

EXAMPLE:

("Timmy, you sluggard, we can't pay for your tuition next year and you've been too busy indulging your ANGST over an election to keep up your grades!  You know, you're carrying a D- in Basket Weaving 101 and a C- in "Tin Smashing 050"?   I'm sorry, but either you spend the summer working for tuition ... and take a job during the academic year .. or your college education is OVER!  And by the way; we've rented your room to a nice veteran who is working two jobs and carrying an 18-credit curriculem.   We're thinking of adopting him."  Have a nice day, and get a job!)

Timmy Doesn't Get It!:

It may not be his fault that he has been coddled all his life, but Timmy fails to appreciate that his job during his 'University Years" is to learn to think.   He might get some perspective from his "Introduction to Western Civilization" class, but the academics are justs background.   It's good to know what "Occam's Razor" and 'Antidisestablishmentarianism" mean ... if he intends to be able to carry on a conversation with educated folks.

Arming Europe: United States Army

The biggest ammo shipment in 20 years arrives in Germany | Article | The United States Army:

NORDENHAM, Germany -

The largest single Army-run shipment of ammunition to Europe in more than two decades, more than 600 shipping containers worth, arrived in Germany Oct. 29. The Army and Air Force ammunition arrived at the port in Nordenham, Germany, where it was loaded onto trains and shipped to Miesau Army Depot, Germany, for storage and distribution. "The shipment by itself is special because it's over 620 containers," said Lt. Col. Brad Culligan, commander, 838th Transportation Battalion, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. "We continue to build up the presence in Europe. This will help with reassuring our allies, along with the common defense of Europe if needed."

SCOPE:
This is an interesting announcement.  Because ....

Standard dry shipping containers are 8 feet wide and 8.5 feet high, with a length of 20 or 40 feet.

Assuming each container is of the 'smallest' (20') length, then 620 containers lined up end to end will occupy a length of 12,400 feet .. or well over two miles.

Each "small"  container has a volume of about 1760 cubic feet.  
(8' x 8.5' x20')
For comparison, the front room of my apartment is smaller than 20'x 20' x 10'' or 4000 cubic feet.   Two containers of ammunition would fill my living room without room to turn around.

Two miles of ammunition.
That's a lot of "reassurance" to our allies ... and an impressive supplement to "the common defense of Europe".
If needed.

Somebody is gearing up for a war in Europe.

I've heard the expression before, but ....

Park cop shoots at racoon 9 times, got only one hit: his own foot.

U.S. Park Police officer shoots himself in foot after being attacked by raccoon in D.C. | WJLA: WASHINGTON (ABC7) — A U.S. Park Police officer shot himself in the foot Thursday after being attacked by a raccoon in Northwest D.C., according to officials. Police say the officer was trying to get the raccoon off him when he shot himself. The officer was taken to the hospital and police say the injuries are not life-threatening. ABC7's Q McCray reports neighbors say they heard nine gunshots and that the officer was flown to the hospital.

You got to watch out for those attack racoons.

Kaine and Able

"Clinton will look to her VP to take on the NRA"

There's a new sheriff in town.

His name is Jack Elam. *

No, I'm just kidding.   His name is Tim Kaine, really.   See ("About Jack Elam" below.)


Tim Kaine likes guns, and that could be a problem for the NRA - VICE News:

Kaine is the face of a new new kind of gun control messaging: a white dude gun owner who understands skepticism toward people who don’t like guns and who thinks the NRA has lost its way.
 “The overwhelming majority of gun owners support the kinds of proposals that we’re pushing, like background record checks,” Kaine told VICE News Tonight. “And sadly, the NRA has switched from being a representative of gun owners to being representative of gun manufacturers.”
 If Democrats are going to get new gun laws passed in a Clinton administration, they’ll need guys like Kaine to make their case.

I don't think that just because Tim Kaine "likes guns" makes him any better representative of  gun owners than it makes Jack Elam representative of bandits.   And I'm waffling about Jack Elam, who is a better actor than either Tim Kaine or Alex Baldwin are fathers.

ABOUT TIM KAINE:

Here's Tim Kaine in his very best  Alex Baldwin moment:




This is the party, you will recall, who accepted the idiotic incompetent  unforgettable  Joe Biden on the Obama ticket about eight years ago.   You might also recall how well THAT worked out.
Sorry, Mister Kaine, but you're no Jack Elam.   But you might be an Alec Baldwin.

And you're not the man to be "... a heartbeat away from the presidency ..."  (SALON said that?)

Although even he might be a better Leader of the Free World than Hillary, he doesn't exactly inspire us with confidence.

* ABOUT JACK ELAM: