Whew, I tried to take a break

There is just no getting away from the insanity.

My 4th of July peace & quiet was shattered, as was the nation’s by the Highland shooting. The other half got a BBC notification on their phone.

WTF? Of course the media jumped on it, gleefully rubbing their hands, “If it Bleeds it Leads,” and they were all practically salivating that the shooter was white and used a rifle.

I imagine the newsrooms all over the country were spinning up their white supremacist tropes. That fell apart pretty fast as more came out about the shooter. But the media still got their licks in about guns being a problem in this country.

Then someone remembered that Illinois has very restrictive gun laws. RED Flag Laws, State issued licensing to purchase a gun, certain weapons banned, etc. You know, kind of like the law Biden just signed…

As more information poured in, it turns out that the shooter wasn’t listed as a RED FLAG, even though he should have been. The shooter had threatened to kill his family and the police had removed his collection of knives from his home.

That didn’t stop him from getting his Illinois issued FOID permit which allowed him to purchase guns legally. It appears that he’d even purchased his guns in the state of Illinois. OOOPs there goes the gun show, and the out of state or straw purchase narrative.

As the week progressed, we heard that his mental health was questionable. That was kinda of a “Duh,” right from the start. Now folks are asking some of the right questions. “Why wasn’t he RED FLAGGED?”, “Why wasn’t he getting some kind of help?”, “What made his so very angry?”

These are all good questions and there are no easy answers. But it’s good that the questions are being asked.

President Doofus wasted no time telling America that this is the reason that we need stricter gun control. Again he shot his mouth off without having all the information. If I’m recalling it correctly he opened his pie hole before the police had even brought Robert E. Crimo III, age 21 to heel.

But this is what we’ve come to expect from this President.


Remember the Border patrol officers accused of whipping Haitian migrants illegally crossing the border?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection mounted officers attempt to contain migrants as they cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, into Del Rio, Texas, Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Biden said, “To see people treated like they did, horses barely running over, people being strapped — it’s outrageous,” Biden told reporters, making a whipping motion with his hand. “I promise you, those people will pay. There will be an investigation underway now and there will be consequences. There will be consequences.

At the time I wrote a blog post saying what the CBP jackasses have now also said in their copious report about the incident. The Head of CBP has said, “no evidence” that Border Patrol struck Haitian migrants with their reins or used whips in Del Rio, Texas, last year”

I’m not much of a horseman, I’ve been astride horses many times in my life, I like horses and would enjoy having enough space and money to own one, implicit in that would be getting to be a better horseman.

I’ve enjoyed rodeos, and seen a variety of reins and saddles. Mostly, I have experience with mucking out stalls that horses occupy when they’re not being ridden or wandering around a corral.

That being said, as inexperienced as I am, I knew looking at the pictures that CBP agents weren’t whipping migrants.

The thing is, CBP is still going to punish the officers, for other infractions. One of which is using harsh language. Harsh Language? Get the fuck out of town!

The entire article is here. It’s from Fox News it popped up in my Apple News Feed.

One thing that struck me as I read the article was that the agents appear to be at fault for having insufficient training for the situation. To which I say, “WHAT THE FUCK?

Our government placed these agents in the situation. Then is holding them responsible because they didn’t have the right training to deal with the untenable situation the government placed them in?

The agents wouldn’t have been in the situation if President dipshit hadn’t opened the damn border in the first place.

Talk about a no win situation. That kind of thinking isn’t going to have the Border patrol’s recruiting office overflowing now is it?

Sure you’re going to have this job but you’ll be constantly under scrutiny from assholes who have no idea what the job entails and they’ll throw you under the bus at a moment’s notice for their own political gain. Oh, and by the way, if one of these politicians demands punishment you’re totally fucked. Even if you did everything by the book.

Welcome to CBP. Have a great career.

People wonder why we’re losing Law Enforcement personnel at unheard of rates? Why the military isn’t going to meet its recruitment goals? Why Border patrol is woefully understaffed?

None of these factors are making any of us more safe. Our politicians don’t see the problems they’re causing…

But it is driving record gun sales.

Long ago folks realized that if they could rely upon police to be present, to arrive in a timely fashion, and take care of crime, that it was better to allow the police to deal with problems.

It was easier that having to explain, and dispose of, the body of a criminal from your living room, or on your lawn, or why you dropped a piece of shit in the middle of town.

Now, with the police stretched so thin, and neutered by conflicting laws, people are coming to the conclusion that their only option is to be armed. Where I live, the sheriffs are 30 minutes away on a good day.

That’s provided they don’t have some jurisdictional conflict about whether the sheriff, or the Highway patrol is supposed to deal with an issue. For that layer of confusion I thank politicians, and lawyers. The officers, even though they want to help, are constrained by those jackasses.

Why does it take years to deal with a drug house, or a house of prostitution operating in a neighborhood? What about a person that routinely assaults their neighbors for no apparent reason?

The reason is that average “normal” folks are expected to put up with the shit. Not just expected, but constrained by rules, regulations, jurisdictional rivalries, lawyers, politicians, boards of supervisors, interpretations, and all the bullshit that gets in the way of a simple question.

Was a crime committed?

If the answer is “Yes”, then the perpetrator is hauled off.

If the answer is “No” then folks will have to deal with it.


Then there were the shrieking harridan protesters who thought it was their right to make everyone uncomfortable at a Mortons Steakhouse because Justice Kavanaugh decided to have a meal there.

This was another What the Fuck moment for me.

I walked out of a StarBucks once when some protestors walked in raising hell. (I forget what the hell nonsense they were protesting about,) all I remember is that one of two things was going to happen. Either I left without my damn coffee, or I was going to incite a riot by saying something.

I also knew that none of the morons in the Starbucks were going to have my back but they’d film me getting my ass kicked.

I haven’t been to that Starbucks since. It was near a college. We all know how the college crowd is about whatever the liberal bullshit of the day is.

Shortly after, Starbucks in California started saying cops couldn’t come in if they had their guns. That was the beginning of the end of my relationship with Starbucks.

Anyhow, Mortons released a statement that made me want to go spend money with them.

They said, “Honorable Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh and all of our other patrons at the restaurant were unduly harassed by unruly protesters while eating dinner at our Morton’s restaurant,”

I get that the protesters were outside, on the sidewalk. The police couldn’t do anything about it since they weren’t trespassing. Okay. They’re exercising their first amendment right.

But, in these situations I always ask what about all the other people’s rights that these protestors trample on? The right to peace and quiet? The right to a nice dinner with family or friends?

There are reports that the protestors were calling the restaurant demanding that Justice Kavanaugh not be served.

What about the months of protests outside Kavanaugh’s home? The protestors are raising a ruckus in front of his house, but the whole fucking neighborhood has to suffer, what about their rights to privacy, to peace & quiet, to live their lives without fear or inability to get into or out of their homes?

The White House was taken to task by Peter Doocy and got a completely bullshit answer from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. The article is linked here.

There was another article that mentioned a twitter account offering to pay cash for information about the conservative Justices movements within D.C.

Rebooted my brain…

That’s beyond the definition of stalking. The Folks in D.C. don’t seem to have a problem with it. BUT THEY WOULD, if a similar account was set up. That followed Pelosi, or AOC, or Harris, or Schiff. Then it would be 24/7 OMG how is this allowed?

Imagine what the response would be if any of the people I mentioned above couldn’t go into a restaurant without being hounded by angry conservatives standing outside on a sidewalk screaming at them for running the country into the ground.

What if their neighborhoods were turned into protest zones 24/7?

We’d never hear the end of it.


The LA Times reported that the LA County Supervisors want the ability to remove the LA County Sheriff (In case Villaragosa wins his election). They’re not interested in any of the other eight elected positions, only the Sheriff.

Hmmm that sounds vaguely familiar. Wasn’t there something similar in Washington D.C. on January 6th 2021? I can’t quite recall…


The thing is, if the erosion of law, and indeed human decency and respect continues we’ll have anarchy.

I’ve thought for years that our country is a powder keg and the polarization,” us against them” mentality espoused from the highest levels in our government isn’t helping.

What happens when average, “normal” people decide they’ve had enough and decide to take matters into their own hands?

What happens when the people say they no longer agree with the first paragraphs of The Declaration of Independence, saying, “NO! We The People withdraw our consent to be governed.”

Where will we be then?

Starts to look a lot like Mad Max, doesn’t it?

Prime Time Hearings?

I’ll admit I completely missed it.

Further, I’ll admit I don’t give a shit.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the “Truth” about the Jan 6th Riots won’t come out in our lifetimes. I further believe that whatever “Truth” will be the sanitized carefully massaged version written by the victors.

As with all history… It becomes what those in power want it to be.

I’m to the point in all this where I agree with Ilhan Omar. “Some people did some things…

I just threw up in my mouth a little typing that. Jesus! How can it be that I agree with Ilhan Omar about anything?

I am curious to see what the ratings were for the hearing. I wonder if I’m alone or if the majority of my fellow citizens are right there with me.

The people in power have spoken about the radicalization of citizens toward terrorism. I can’t think of a much better tool to radicalize average people than the tone deaf responses on real issues, that are coming out of Washington D.C.

So whatever happens from here on out is on them. All of them, regardless of party.

Reports about the guy from California who was arrested outside a Supreme Court Justices home. Armed, and with tools to enter the home has been squelched. Apparently, the man was threatening harm to a sitting justice over Roe v Wade and gun control. According to Bill Maher an article can be found in the New York Times, on page A20.

The irony of demanding more gun control was apparently lost on this individual, since he was carrying guns to harm a conservative Justice. The man is apparently a liberal, progressive, Democrat… This is probably why the story is buried on page 20. Had this moron been a Republican going after a liberal judge… The story would warrant 24/7 news coverage Front page across the planet.

Even Bill Maher called out the NYT on its bias. How biased do you have to be to have Bill Maher take offense?

At the same time a credible threat was being booked at the police station, Congress decided against providing additional security for the Justices. This while protests in front of the Justice’s homes are being permitted.

In violation of the law!

Here’s a question. How does anyone know where the Justices live in the first place? I’d imagine that bit of information would be somewhat protected, or there’d be threats all the time on a justice and their families.

There was a time when I was a boy that society taught us all a few basic things.

No matter how much you dislike or disagree with the President you will end up in jail if you threaten him or her.

You cannot threaten a member of Congress, or the Judiciary unless you want to end up in jail.

You should not attack someone physically over a difference of opinion, even if you think they’re so wrong as to be sitting to the right hand of Satan himself. That too was a quick ticket to jail.

Protests are fine, when it looks like things are getting out of hand it’s time to go home. Staying for a riot was a ticket to jail.

(As an aside, My parents told me they wouldn’t bail me out of jail for stupidity.)

These weren’t all laws… (Some of course are,) these were compromises that insured the society didn’t devolve into anarchy and the inevitable blood bath that accompanies anarchy.

We were taught that it was okay to express disagreement with the President, Congress, or the Judiciary, and that no-one could take that right from us. We were taught that the law would even protect us while legally, (Peacefully,) expressing our opinions.

My how things have changed!

I know that The Slippery Slope argument is a fallacious one. There is no way to predict all the possible outcomes of a given action or series of actions.

That being said, I would argue that The Slippery Slope argument has some merit in that it may help define a set of probabilities. One or more of those probabilities may prove false but they may also prove true.

An extreme example: If you release a known serial killer of women into a population of women and by some miracle the killer doesn’t kill. Releasing 10 serial killers of women into the same population based on a sample of one, is a slippery slope. The probability is that one or more of those killers will kill again.

In that example, no-one should be the least surprised when women start turning up dead.

When we allow people to make threats, and take no action on those threats, we shouldn’t be surprised that more threats are forthcoming. Nor should anyone be surprised when someone makes good on their threat.

When we allow months of rioting to happen and see police standing by, observing destruction, arson, and looting, and doing nothing about any of it. Should we be surprised when angry people protesting, turns into a riot? The place and reason for the riot are irrelevant (non-partisan if you will).

By allowing riots for other things without taking action, we have tacitly approved of riots, and therefore fallen down a slippery slope. Anyone could have seen what was going to happen on Jan 6th.

The onus is upon those who failed to take action based on easily predicted outcomes.

Regardless of what Then President Trump said or didn’t say, or when. Regardless of your (or Congressional leaders,) like or dislike of President Trump.

The Jan 6th riot was not only easily predictable, it was equally preventable.

President Trump himself reportedly offered to call up the National Guard to provide additional security for the Capital. He did this while encouraging people to come and express their opinions.

This implies the President Trump had made a logical prediction based on the numbers of people that were showing up. He knew he was on a slippery slope and that mitigation was warranted.

The speaker of the house Chose to put personal animus above security, and refused the National Guard presence.

Here, President Trump failed.

Regardless of The Speaker’s refusal. President Trump should have ordered The National Guard to take posts securing the Capital and the city anyway. Just in case.

By Jan 6th it was too fucking late. Had people coming into the city seen The National Guard positioned to take action, it’s probable the events of Jan 6th would have gone much differently.

Having hearings, subpoenas, contempt of congress, and all the surrounding bullshit, the Jan 6th committee is engaged in, is nothing more than trying to find someone to blame.

This all could have been resolved simply.

Realize that blame is useless. Accept what happened, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

President Biden was declared the winner of the election. It’s a done deal. Move the fuck on.

The members of the Jan 6th committee would have been better served returning to their offices and making sure that riots were no longer to be even tacitly approved. For any reason, at any time or place.

They could have served the people of this country by conveying that the full weight of the law would come down on anyone engaged in rioting after the events of Jan 6th, and the previous summer.

Give everyone a pass, with the proviso “Never Again!

They could have admitted, without admitting, the blame lay with them and the permissive attitude of the previous Summer. They could have in a bi-partisan way, told the people of the country that this behavior would not be tolerated. Then actually started laying the groundwork for the much vaunted healing President Biden promised.

They needn’t have spent 8 million dollars destroying the perceived enemies of one political party. In doing so, to my eye, they have painted themselves in a not too different light than Stalin’s show trials.

I suspect they’ve offended a lot of Americans like myself who cannot believe what they’re seeing.

Congress is looking a lot more like they’re trying to usurp the Judiciary and a lot less like lawmakers. The questions raised about limits on Congressional power are very concerning to me personally.

From the transcripts I’ve skimmed, this is shaping up a lot like the Trump Impeachments.

Then, as now I was thinking… Big Deal, So WHAT?

Personally, I’d love it if one of the witnesses stood up and told the committee, “Sit Down! Shut Up! Now get to work on dealing with real issues you political hacks!”

That won’t happen. But I’d pay to see it!

I thought I’d skim more of the transcripts, Now… I don’t think I will.

I’m done. This country is lost, thankfully I won’t live long enough to see it flush itself down the shitter. 10-15 years tops and while this place will still be called America… What that once meant will be lost.

The day they come to take everyone’s guns. Make no mistake they will. Is the day that the US Constitution will finally be nothing more than toilet paper and this land will descend into a marxist totalitarian regime.

Nikita Khrushchev said the communist party would win. I think he was right.

Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” ― Loki of Asgard

This just in… Only 19 million viewers, across ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CNN, watched the hearing. I guess I’m thinking just like the majority of American Citizens.

Apparently, most everyone had something better to do…

Oh… This is getting So out of hand.

The other half got a haircut yesterday.

You’d think something as mundane as that wouldn’t be fraught with controversy…

You’d be wrong

We live in a mad mad world.

The stylist was talking with another stylist about a customer she’d had the day before.

The customer in question, was apparently transitioning from one gender to the other. “Okay, this is probably going to go off the rails,” I think.

As the story unfolds, apparently the stylist referred to the customer as a “She”. OMG! The horror!

The customer corrected the stylist’s use of pronoun defiantly proclaiming the proper pronoun was “IT”.

At this point in the story I’ve got my “What The Fuck” face on. The other half ignored me and continued the story.

The stylist, of course apologized explaining that she meant no offense. This wasn’t good enough for the mortally aggrieved customer. (He/She/It… whatever) Continued to manufacture outrage over this insignificant incident, turning everyone’s trip to the hair place into a crazed social justice nightmare.

A) How was the stylist to know “It” was the preferred pronoun?
B) The Stylist did the professional thing by apologizing.
C) The aggrieved customer had all the social decorum of a turd in a punchbowl.

The other half was laughing and said to me, “All I could picture as this story was being told was YOU sitting in a chair during the actual incident.

Good Point!

I wouldn’t have been able to let it pass. I hate shitty behavior and the shitty people exhibiting it.

The first thing that popped into my head was that since “IT” didn’t have their pronoun tattooed on ITS forehead how was anyone to know? I’m sure that my expressing that thought would have added fuel to the fire.

The second thing that popped into my head is that “IT” usually refers to an object. Then I remembered being a boy in the Deep South.

The first word I ever learned to describe a Black person was the “N-Word”. But the context was that one went to get the “N-Word” to clean up a mess.

For Example: “Bill, please go get the broom to sweep up this mess on the floor.”

My childhood memory has the statement from my Grandfather telling me, “Hey boy, go get the “N-word” to clean up that mess.”

In my experience the “N-Word” was used to reduce a kind thoughtful human being, (Eddie would tell me jokes and ride me around on his shoulders and we’d laugh the whole time,) to nothing more than an object on par with a mop or broom. (For the sake of clarity, Eddie was an employee of my Grandfather, and I probably wasn’t more than 5.)

As I thought about the implications of a human being demanding to be called “IT” I couldn’t help but notice the similarity.

What completely astounds me, is that any human being would willingly demean & diminish their own humanity in this way.

People like the aforementioned customer, would loose their shit if I, a white CIS male, were to refer to an African American as “IT”. They’d be saying I was racist or any number of other ugly things. (Then again, most of the ugly words they’d call me have lost much of their former impact and meanings.)

Then they’d turn around and make a spectacle of themselves in a public place demanding to be called “IT”.

All the while annoying the rest of us “normal” people who use pronouns based in history and languages dating back 5 thousand years or more.

The other half is right…

It’s a good thing I wasn’t there for the incident itself.

Depending on how screeching they were, I could easily see myself leading off with,

“Nobody gives a fuck about your pronouns! Now sit the fuck down and shut the hell up. There are actual humans in this business, trust me they do not consider themselves the equivalent of a dildo or pocket pussy. Both of which, by the way, are ITS.”

No, I don’t think it would have ended well at all…