Category Archives: Politics

We live in interesting times

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In addition to being the nation’s fastest growing state, counties in Oregon and California have voted to secede and join Idaho:

Two more conservative-leaning counties in eastern Oregon, and one politically split county in California, have voted to begin the process that could lead to secession from their respective blue states.

On Nov. 8, Oregon’s Morrow County passed the Greater Idaho proposal with 60 percent of the vote and Wheeler County with 59 percent.

A similar measure in San Bernardino County, California, passed by a narrow margin, 51.3 percent to 48.7.

I would have to investigate further to be sure, but my first impression is that it would be a good thing. It would reduce some of the political tension and give the political left more rope to hang themselves with.

Expect Eastern Washington wanting to get in on the fun too.

We live in interesting times.

Why can’t they understand?

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I get frustrated with people when they don’t understand simple principles. Here is my latest example:

After their vote, Biden said, “Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love,” adding their vote made “the United States one step closer to protecting that right in law.”

Schumer also said he had “zero doubt” the bill “will soon be law of the land.”

But multiple groups disagree, arguing it’s unconstitutional for the same reasons the Supreme Court struck down DOMA. Because the court already ruled Congress doesn’t have the constitutional authority to define marriage under Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, and because ROMA is nearly identical to DOMA, they argue it will also likely be struck down.

The principle is the Federal government has not been granted the power to do anything in this domain. This is a power held by the states. Read the founding documents! It is really simple.

And while I have my blood boiling…

If you think any government has the power to outlaw guns, then you must also believe that same government has the power to mandate gun ownership for anyone.

If you think any government has the power to change the terms of a student loan and not require repayment, then you must also believe that same government has the power to change the terms of the loan and require immediate payment of ten times to remaining principle.

If you think any government has the power to give “free” healthcare to everyone, then you must also believe that same government has the power to deny healthcare (or at least make it extremely expensive) for anyone.

If you think any government has the power to take from the rich and give to the poor, then you must also believe that same government has the power to take from the poor and give to the rich.

If you believe any government has the power to deny marriage to people because they are homosexuals and biologically incapable of conceiving a child then you must also believe that same government has the power to deny marriage to people where one party is infertile.

If you think any government has the power to outlaw marriage between certain classes of people, then you must also believe that same government has the power to mandate marriage between certain classes of people. As in, “John Q. Public, you will marry Jack O. Public next Sunday regardless of what you think of homosexuality and your lack of affection for each other.”

If you think any government has the power to outlaw abortion, then you must also believe that same government has the power to mandate abortions.

I could go on for quite some time, but you get the idea.

Quote of the day—ReneeFiredUp (@livingjoyful)

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Remove all semi automatic weapons.  If we start getting them off the street, in time the criminals will find the illegal ones too expensive and too much liability.  It’s not criminals who are the mass shooters!  #GunReformNow

ReneeFiredUp (@livingjoyful)
Tweeted on November 25, 2022
[If you don’t take anything else away from this, just remember, “no one wants to take your guns.”

There is a grain of truth in this quote. Most did not have a criminal record prior to going on their shooting rampage.

But something almost all have in common is they identified as Democrats or were the children of Democrats. See the updates to this post for the evidence. This should come as no surprise as criminal prisoners who identify as Democrats outnumber all other political affiliations combined by a factor of more than two to one. The mass shooters are just fulfilling their destiny early in their criminal career.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Joe Biden

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The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick.  It’s just sick.  It has no, no social redeeming value.  Zero.  None.  Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.

Joe Biden
President of the United States
November 24, 2022
Remarks by President Biden After Visiting With Local Firefighters
[Enjoy your trial.—Joe]

Mugme street update

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I used to work in the tall building you see in the background.

Quote of the day—Jason Pollock

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Oregon faces a crisis in its criminal justice system because the leftists elements in Salem have refused to hold criminal[s] accountable for their behavior. Banning large capacity magazines will only turn law-abiding citizens into criminals. Assuming that restricting magazines to 10 rounds will make you safe is one of the most ignorant statements ever made.

Jason Pollock
Jefferson County Sheriff
November 15, 2022
Oregon sheriffs won’t enforce new gun law: ‘Infringes on Second Amendment’
[Politicians need to be prosecuted over this crap. They implement “catch and release” policies for criminal. They defund the police. Then they pass blatantly unconstitutional laws to make it difficult or impossible to purchase effective self-defense tools. It cannot get much clearer. These people are evil and/or insane.

By telling them, “I hope you enjoy your trial.” I am advocating on their behalf. This is because if they aren’t prosecuted, they risk angry mobs with tar, feathers, pitchforks, and short ropes on tall trees.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Robert Epstein

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What happened to the gigantic red wave that was supposed to crush the Democrats in the midterm elections? Every Republican in the country is blaming everyone else for this disaster, but almost no one is looking in the right place—and that’s exactly how the Big Tech companies like it.

Based on my team’s research, Google, and to a lesser extent, Facebook and other tech monopolies, not only took steps to shift millions of votes to Democrats in the midterms, but they are using their influence to spread rumors and conspiracy theories to make sure people look everywhere for explanations—except at them.

Robert Epstein
November 15, 2022
How Google Stopped the Red Wave
[What he says happened is technically fairly easy and plausible. Assuming they actually did this, I find it very irritating. It is little different than suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story. But, I can’t see they did anything illegal or that a law to punish such activity would pass constitutional muster.

It is a different case than restaurants, motels, and other public accommodations being required to serve people of all races, religions, etc. They aren’t, in this case, denying anyone service. Should the Republican party be required to send “Vote today!” email to everyone instead of just people they believe are likely to vote for their candidates?

If Google should register as a lobbyist to engage in this sort of activity, then should bloggers also be required to register? How about people with Facebook pages or a Twitter account?

Beyond boycotting them and their advertisers what might be the solution?—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ned Lamont

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I think those assault-style weapons that are grandfathered should not be grandfathered. They should not be allowed in the state of Connecticut. I think they’re killers.

Ned Lamont
Governor of Connecticut
Lamont suggests making over ‘grandfathered’ assault weapons illegal. Over 80,000 exist in CT
[From the same article:

… weapons that were legally kept in Connecticut between 1994 and 2013 — when the ban was expanded to include at least 100 additional models — and allowed owners to register those guns with the state, but not to sell or transfer them to anyone except for a licensed gun dealer or family member.

Registration is only good for one thing and that is confiscation.

I hope he enjoys his trial.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays

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Apparently there is no limit to what kind of ridiculousness the public will believe.

Once the Fake News industry convinced the country a president asking about using light therapy as a lung disinfectant was “recommending drinking bleach,” it was clear there was no limit.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Tweeted on November 8, 2022
[It is truly amazing.

I’m reminded of something from an Heinlein book:

Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser
than one man.  How’s that again?  I missed something.

Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a
million men.  Let’s play that over again, too.  Who decides?

I don’t have any solutions to the problem. I’m inclined to just sit back with a large bowl of popcorn and make snarky comments. But the issues can be, literally, genocidally serious.

Prepare and response appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Mona Charen

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Other than murder, violent crime is not up. Did you know that? Violent crime is a key midterm voting issue, but what does the data say?

Mona Charen
Tweeted on November 5, 2022
[Visit this link for more context and appropriate attribution for these comments:

  • ‘Other than murder’ is the most hilarious caveat ever.
  • Other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?
  • Imagine being so f—ked up with TDS that not only do you sell out every policy you ever claimed to care about, but you actually write the sentence, ‘Other than murder, violent crime is not up.’ Other than murder? ‘Other than the iceberg & all the death, how was the Titanic trip?
  • Murder is by far the most easily visible and free from reporting biases crime. If murder is up, other crimes are too…they’re probably just being reported at lower rates. Also…murder is KINDA A BIG DEAL!
  • I can’t believe this still needs to be said but ‘crime is down except for murder’ is not a winning or persuasive argument.
  • If you’re not dead or don’t know a family member who has been murdered, things are great!

My contribution:

No wonder she doesn’t see a problem with restricting access to guns. She doesn’t see a need for self-defense. After all, it is only murder.

And her double down response to the criticism was almost as good as the original:

All crime is bad. I’m against it. But it is also a fact that perceptions of crime and actual crime are often out of sync. That may be true now. I found the Pew data surprising. That’s why I posted.

My response to this is to go slack jawed and walk away. Someone that dense is in danger of becoming a neutron star.

If this had been a fictional movie or book the editors would have insisted it be rewritten. She would not be a believable character in a work of fiction.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Michael Beschloss

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A historian 50 years from now, if historians are allowed to write in this country and if there are still free publishing houses and a free press, which I’m not certain of. But if that is true, a historian will say, what was at stake tonight and this week was the fact whether we will be a democracy in the future, whether our children will be arrested and conceivably killed. We’re on the edge of a brutal authoritarian system, and it could be a week away.

Michael Beschloss
Presidential historian
November 3, 2022
NBC historian warns of a future where ‘our children will be arrested and conceivably killed’ if GOP wins
[Interesting…

Is this the same GOP which (sometimes) wants to:

  • Reduce government power
  • Require presidents to get approval of congress to change the law
  • Enable ordinary people to own and purchase weapons to protect themselves from individual criminals as well as criminal governments
  • Enable free speech on social media

It would appear one or more of the following is true about Mr. Beschloss:

  1. He is living in an alternate reality and only makes guest appearances here
  2. He is using some military grade mind altering drugs
  3. He is deliberately engaged in a “The Big Lie” propaganda effort
  4. Hi is engaged in the projection of his and his fellow political travelers intentions toward the GOP.

I considered adding “extreme hyperbola” to make a point, but multiplying realty by 10, 100, or 1,000 times only results in a larger vector pointing in the wrong direction from what he claims.

This is the kind of rhetoric used to justify mass killings and even genocide.

The election is only four days away. Prepare and respond appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Chris Enloe

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“As the first Mexican-born American Congresswoman, I thought the Hispanic Caucus would be open in working together,” Flores said Wednesday. “This denial once again proves a bias towards conservative Latinas that don’t fit their narrative or ideology.”

…

The caucus is composed entirely of Democrats, and its bylaws explicitly prohibit Republicans from membership.

Chris Enloe
Octotober 27, 2022
First Mexican-born congresswoman denied membership in Hispanic caucus because she is a Republican
[Someone has a problem with diversity.—Joe]

The message was clear

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Via Tracey, End of quote? @Tracey_T19:

image

And of course there was the BLM and Antifa riots, looting, killings, and arson.

The message was clear. Violence and threats of violence were the political currency necessary and fully justified to get your way…. As long as it was the political left committing the crimes.

Prepare and respond appropriately.

Quote of the day—Konstantin Kisin @KonstantinKisin

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What’s interesting is that the people complaining about @elonmusk taking over Twitter have absolutely no reason to fear censorship, bans or shadowbanning. Their complaint is that other people won’t be censored.

Says a lot.

Konstantin Kisin @KonstantinKisin
Tweeted on October 28, 2022
[It’s not quite that simple. Those people will tell you they fear “hate speech” and “bullying” will intimidate people from having their say.

The thing is that what they think of as “hate speech” and “bullying” are frequently verifiable facts which they refuse to acknowledge.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Glenn Harlan Reynolds

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Guns, and their use, on the other hand, are pretty darn real. You can’t fire a shot now for “future use.” You can’t correct a mistake in a future edition. You can’t do a write-through on a bullet.

What’s more, you can’t spin your way out of a mugging or a rape. Guns, simply by existing, are a reminder that there is another, more concrete world out there, one where reality is more fixed, and where actions have inescapable consequences, consequences that can’t be talked out of existence. I suspect that most journalists are threatened by this world, and perhaps by the sense that they wouldn’t do very well in such situations. Their hostility to guns is a way of dealing with insecurity and a form of denial fueled by performance anxiety: If you’re afraid you’re not up to protecting yourself or your family, you compensate by deriding the means of such protection. And, given that it’s a defense mechanism and journalists are herd animals, any colleague who disagrees is a threat who must be shouted down. (Unsurprisingly, of all the journalists I’ve dealt with, the folks at Popular Mechanics—where they write about real things with concrete consequences all the time— were the most comfortable with guns).

If I’m right, then there’s not a lot gun enthusiasts can do to win over journalists in large numbers. You may change a mind or two, but most of them hold their opinions because doing so is less threatening to their self-esteem than agreeing with you. Those who wield a pen have a vested interest in believing that the pen is mightier than the sword. And apparently they’ve been that way at least since Mark Twain’s time.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds
August 2020
Why So Many Media Members Are Opposed to Your Freedom
[See also yesterday’s QOTD about insecurity and performance anxiety.

I’ve read enough insider stories by fed up journalists and seen disconnected from reality reporting of gun events where I was there to know the national mainstream media is, almost without exception, delusional and/or evil. The primary exception is the Newsweek writer who attended Boomershoot (pictures here). But she had Stephanie Sailor “holding her hand” for a couple days and I’m sure that made a big difference.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sarah DiMuccio and Eric Knowles

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The present research illuminates the impact of manhood threat on male aggression in the political domain—specifically, men’s adoption of political views that communicate toughness, forcefulness, and strength. Contrary to our original expectations, our data suggest that it is liberal —not conservative—men who engage in increased political aggression after experiencing threats to their masculinity. This finding has crucial implications for the future of gendered politics in the United States, as it suggests that right-wing candidates might benefit from media strategies designed to induce masculine insecurity among liberal men.

Sarah DiMuccio and Eric Knowles
October 21, 2022
Something to Prove? Manhood Threats Increase Political Aggression Among Liberal Men
[Via a tweet from Rolf Degen @DegenRolf.

Interesting!

This appears to be applicable to Markley’s Law. Liberals attack the masculinity of their political opponents because they view that as an extremely potent attack—as it would be against themselves. They are insecure about their manhood and they imagine the same of their political opponents.

As frequently suspected, projection is strong with these people.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Miranda Devine

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That letter from the Dirty 51 had “all the classic earmarks” of a disinformation operation, all right — one designed to ensure Joe Biden won the presidency. And it was essentially a CIA operation, considering 43 of the 51 signatories were former CIA.

In the two years since, not one of them has admitted they are wrong.

David Priess at least gets marks for subjecting himself to a cross-examination on Fox News one recent afternoon. He tried to defend the letter by saying people were too stupid to understand it. The letter was “still true” because it did not use the words “Russian disinformation,” but concocted the weasel phrase “earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

He knows perfectly well that Biden and the media drew no distinction, that the letter he signed was used to censor and deride The Post’s accurate story and deny the American people the truth about one of the two candidates for president.

“It’s not my fault if people don’t look up definitions,” Priess said, smirking. “Those words are still true. It has all the classic earmarks.”

He has all the classic earmarks of a psychopath.

Miranda Devine
October 19, 2022
It’s been two years since 51 intelligence agents interfered with an election — they still won’t apologize
[Why should they apologize for accomplishing their mission without suffering any consequences for their deliberate deception? I’m certain they are quite proud of their accomplishment. They changed the course of history with a single letter. That is rather remarkable.

I think they deserve 20 years at hard labor followed by forced donation of their organs to be put up for auction for donation to Donald Trump’s favorite charity. But there is no guarantee of justice.—Joe]