Tag: Politics

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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?

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Well, lost another friendly acquaintance today…

No they didn’t die.

We were riding in my car and happened to pass by a F*&K BIDEN sign.

My passenger muttered, “fucking Trumper.”

I chuckled then asked, “What makes you think that household is a Trump household?”

My Passenger replied, “That Fuck Biden sign.”

I pointed out that simply not liking Biden doesn’t mean someone is automatically pro-Trump. It could just as easily be a commentary on the job Biden has done in the past 18 months.

“Nah, Biden is so much better than Trump”, my passenger said.

I posited this, “If you remove emotion about Trump from the equation entirely and evaluate only Biden’s performance. Are you better off now, 18 months after Biden took office than you were prior to Biden taking office?”

That got my passenger thinking, but they didn’t reply.

I continued, “For example, The day Biden took office, one of my small 401Ks was worth 17K, almost double what the original investment was. Today that 401K is worth 12K. So in 18 months The Biden Administration policies have disrupted the economy sufficiently that I’ve lost almost all the gains. Even during COVID at the tail end of 2019 and through 2020 that 401K investment continued to gain in value.”

My passenger retorted, ” Well COVID hurt the entire country.”

I replied, “To be sure, COVID did have an effect. But why has that effect catalyzed in the first 18 months of The Biden Administration? Further why has the economy faltered so dramatically? Why are we looking at a recession? Why has the supply chain not recovered? Why have base fuel prices, not just gasoline, but diesel and other petroleum goods risen so dramatically? The previous Administration had one full year of COVID as has the Current Administration.”

My passenger said, “Well Trump made a mess of the government and Biden is fixing it. That is going to take time.”

I said, “Okay, then by your logic Trump somehow screwed up the government and the economy, effectively creating a house of cards waiting to fall, that Biden needed to fix?”

“Well yeah,” my passenger said.

I offered, “There are two ways to deal with a house of cards. One is to tear it down and start over, the other way is to leave it the hell alone.”

“So you’re a Trumper?” My passenger asked.

“Nope. I’m a fucking realist! If you don’t understand something, don’t fuck with it! That’s one of the more simple rules of life. If the Biden Administration didn’t understand whatever machinations Trump may or may not have put in the government, they shouldn’t have started hacking away at them. Beyond that, I’m very concerned that our country has gotten to the point that simply being critical of Biden elicits the assumption that whoever is speaking critically of The President, must automatically be a Trumper. That kind of polarized thinking is exactly the kind of thinking that leads to civil wars, or violence in the streets.”

My passenger said, “There can’t be a civil war here.”

“Oh? Why not?” I asked making a right turn.

“The military is controlled by The President. He wouldn’t allow a civil war to happen,” came my passenger’s reply.

I replied, “That, by definition, would be a civil war. Just FYI… The US military, and I don’t have exact numbers, is probably outnumbered 30 to 1, or more by able bodied, and armed, people of the United States. Some units may stand down in the face of an illegal order to fire on the very people they exist to protect. The Biden Administration giving such an order would likely cause chaos in the ranks, resulting in more units standing down as they questioned whether they were serving The Constitution, and The Republic, or a dictatorship. The practical upshot would be that their effectiveness would be further reduced. Also consider our military is very effective in a wide variety of engagements. But our military and in fact, most militaries fall short in urban / guerrilla warfare. Vietnam and Afghanistan underscore that point nicely. Generally speaking, the people of the United States would have the home turf advantage, since it is unlikely US Military units would be locals to the areas they’d be called in to quell.”

“They’d have to follow orders,” my passenger said.

“Or what? They’d be shot by their own comrades? Imprisoned? Either way their effectiveness would be reduced, and the rage of cold, hungry, broke, homeless citizens would be further inflamed at the atrocity being committed in their name. It’s a no win scenario for The Biden Administration to call out the military.”

We passed another 4 F*&K BIDEN signs in people’s yards.

“Why are there so many Trumpers in this town,” My passenger asked again.

“Because they’re not Trumpers. They’re exercising their First Amendment Right to express themselves. There are more of those signs everyday because more people disagree with the policies of President Biden. Two of the last four signs weren’t there last Thursday.”

“They should be taken down by the police. They’re disrespectful!” My passenger asserted.

“So you’re a communist?” I asked.

“NO! How could you say that?” My passenger demanded.

“Well, you just said criticisms of The Leader were disrespectful and should be confiscated. Isn’t that one of the hallmarks of Communism or Dictatorships?” I asked.

Continuing, I said, “I’ve been thinking, I may have to get one of those signs. I’m extremely displeased with President Biden’s performance too.”

We rode on in silence.

My passenger did have the courtesy to thank me for the ride as they disembarked. I don’t think they’ll be riding with me, or speaking to me, in the future. Of course, since I’m a decent human being, if they were to ask and offered to pay for gas, I’d get them where they wanted to go.

Possibly with a F*&K Biden bumper sticker affixed to my car…

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Hard Choices

I remind you, that it is not immoral to secure your oxygen mask, before helping others with theirs.

In a disaster or industrial accident, It is not immoral to save those who have a good chance of survival by providing medical resources to them, while providing pain killers, but not wasting medical resources, to those who are suffering but who will not survive.

These are admittedly stark choices. Yet we’re all familiar with them. During the COVID pandemic doctors and nurses essentially made these decisions in hospitals nationwide.

We accepted this without question.

The talking heads on our screens went so far as to say, those who did not comply with masking, vaccines, and isolation… Should be left to die.

That these “Journalists” weren’t called out on such statements and their disappointment that millions of (R) voters didn’t die is a sign of how far “Journalism” has fallen in this country.

Why, given these harsh but acceptable realities do we refuse to accept that we cannot help every single less fortunate country?

Our farming community is warning that there will likely be more food shortages in the coming months.

Yet we continue to send grain to other countries. We continue to allow people to swarm the southern border, are we condemning these poor souls to starvation?

Inflation and high fuel prices are predicted to be with us until at least 2023. It will cost more to heat our homes in the winter. It will cost more for electricity and water, year round.

Getting to, and from work, will cost more. Bus fares, taxis, or train fares, will all go up regardless of how they’re powered.

As we’ve seen, gasoline for automobiles has skyrocketed, making commuting to work more expensive, and working from home more desirable.

Median housing prices have topped $400,000 according to Consumer Affairs. This will drag rental prices up, further pricing low middle, and low income people out of decent housing.

These folks will not be able to buy a home, and as their rent increases they’ll be pushed further under water, making it hard for them to simply hold on to what they have.

Can you really work from home if you’re sharing a one bedroom apartment with 5 other people? How’s that important teleconference going to work with people coming and going in the background?

Adding millions of immigrants with varying skills, literacy, and language abilities, to the population will only increase strain on state and federal resources. Additionally, doesn’t this fuel rental scarcity and rent increases?

Would a landlord prefer to evict people already in apartments who may occasionally have trouble paying their rent on time, for a guaranteed income paid for by Government aid to house immigrants?

There is a growing scarcity of medical professionals. More skilled doctors are retiring all the time. Some cite burnout from COVID, others cite stresses imposed on them by insurance bureaucracies and lack of qualified staff.

Will newcomers to this country soon be adding to the hoards of people already waiting for care in emergency rooms? What effect does that have on already stressed medical professionals? If the burnout among medical professionals increases won’t the quality of healthcare be diminished as a result?

Will hospitals and Emergency Rooms have to add full time translators to their staff just to communicate? What will these realities, and those I can’t imagine, do to cost of medical care?

Our government’s solution to the problem is to keep taking people in, and spread them around the country. That works in the short term. But longer term, unless the inflow is stopped, all the current solution does is create desperation, ghettos, and hopelessness.

The tragedy is that many of these people have traveled thousands of miles at great personal risk, some of them taking on incredible debt to criminal organizations, only to be put right back in conditions similar to those they left.

How disheartening must it be to go through all that hardship and suffering only to end up in a place that looks exactly like where they left, their job prospects are the same or worse, everything is more expensive, and they don’t understand the culture or the language to boot.

This is why, until recently, most first world nations had very strict immigration quotas and enforced them. It wasn’t about cruelty or malice. It was the practical realization that groups of immigrants (illegal or otherwise) need time to assimilate into a new culture. Time to find productive employment, and time to move out of assisted housing to stand on their own.

That these same first world nations so vehemently criticized our nation’s attempts at curbing illegal immigration is another matter.

Now that they are being overrun themselves it would be easy to smile and tell them, “See, we told you so…” That would be counterproductive, fair, but counterproductive.

It will be interesting to see what these countries say to our nation when they start their deportation flights. At least one, maybe two EU countries are doing exactly that. They’ve seen they can’t help, and are trying to send people back to their points of origin.

A better solution would be for the United States, and these EU nations to make it known;

“DON’T COME! Your situation will be no better here. Don’t risk your lives or the lives of your family. You’ll only be deported, and what money you spent will be wasted.”

For the US, we need to complete the border wall. There are those who’ll say people find their way around and over the wall. Yep, they do. But not hundreds or thousands in a month.

The wall won’t stop the flow entirely, but it may reduce it to a manageable level. A level that allows proper hearings, proper evaluation of asylum requests, and a way for the system to work as it’s intended. This would allow those who legitimately request asylum to be housed, fed, integrated into communities, and welcomed.

The time is coming when we’ll have to accept it’s time to put our own oxygen masks on, and leave the fate of others… In their own hands.

It’s not fair.

The antelope on the African savanna doesn’t think it’s fair the lion is eating him. That doesn’t stop the lion. The lion doesn’t think it’s fair that he’s been hungry for 5 days either.

Life rarely deals out equitable outcomes. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we’ll be able to make changes that will allow us to help those we can help.

This is why I’m in favor of immigration control. I think it’s cruel to allow people to believe in a dream of The United States, strive to get here and then destroy them with the reality that they’re no better off.

Afghanistan had a major earthquake. Sorry!

The Taliban…

The Fucking Taliban! Is asking for aid, a.k.a. CASH to help with their recovery efforts.

I wish I was in a position to tell them two words via diplomatic channels.

“FUCK OFF!”

Clean up your own mess. That’s what a functioning government does. If you can’t take care of an earthquake, you don’t deserve to be in power.

For me, it’s that cut & dried. I’m sorry a thousand innocent people lost their lives, that’s where my largess ends.

We fought you terrorist assholes for 20 years. Biden left you 80 Billion in arms and equipment, (which is now showing up in black markets around the globe).

You assholes have more than enough assets to clean up the mess. That is, if you can take 10 minutes to write a check, or a month of black market profit and put it into your country, instead of your pockets.

Why should America or any other civilized nation prop up your failed government? It’s far simpler and cheaper to allow your people to see what kind of failures, and how corrupt you are.

Maybe someone will loan your people a bulldozer to shove all your body parts into a mass grave full of pig offal. Because when they figure out you’re stealing bread from their tables, they’re gonna rip you apart with their bare hands.

We have problems of our own. Our politicians, who may not be much better than the Taliban when it comes to corruption, will be looking to cover their own asses if shortages continue, or increase in the civilized world.

Tell you what Taliban… Call Venezuela see what they can do for you.

Until then, you Taliban jackasses better sleep alone. It will probably be the women you take to rape, that slit your throats.