Someone Finally Said It

So, Dave Spaulding has an excellent video over at Bearing Arms entitled What The Hell? Mr. Spaulding's point is that too much training for civilian gun owners and concealed carriers is of the "tacticool" variety that has no real relevance to the uses of lethal force in defense of yourself and your family. He is right. Battlefield tactics, and James Bond gadgetry really don't meet the needs of concealed carrier going about his routine tasks.

Starting at 1:40, Spaulding states, quite correctly, that the experts in pistol fighting are in fact in law enforcement, where the primary weapon of the policeman on the beat is a pistol of some sort.  But he also points out that ideally you don't shoot someone to the ground, if shooting is even called for.  Ideally, you shoot for a visual effect, then evaluate.  Remember the so called double tap, followed by evaluate whether the attacker is giving up his attack?

Spaulding also talks about the trend toward wearing 5.11 pants and other "tacticool" items.  I was taught to dress as I normally dressed, finding ways to conceal a handgun in my clothing.  In the winter months, for example, I wear a service sized handgun at the 3:30 position in an outside the waistband holster most of the time. I either wear jeans or slacks with an untucked shirt.  When I go to church, I wear a smaller pocket pistol in a pocket holster.  All the clothes I wear are off the rack stuff you can buy at WalMart, or one of the department stores.  In the summer months, Hawaiian shirts are perfect over a pair of shorts,

At 2:25 he speaks briefly about the physical, psychological, and fiscal costs of taking a life.  While I have never taken a life, and pray to God that I never have to, I have read and heard enough to believe that he is correct on this as well.  The costs of taking a life are incredibly grave, as they should be, for a life should only be taken in the gravest extreme.  God gave that life, and only God truly has the right to take it.  Even soldiers in battle must first dehumanize the enemy, or most will not kill him.  So, looking at the battlefield for your self defense solutions is looking in the wrong place.

While I share Spaulding's generally low opinion of youtube and other internet sources of training, I do think you can do worse than the training you get from the U S Concealed Carry Association. Note, I have no financial interest in the association, but I have seen their work, and they are generally pretty solid.

The ATF's Dog Ate the Documents

Katie Pavlich is reporting today at Townhall.com that Mexican Cartels Used Fast and Furious Guns for Mass Killings. Meanwhile, justice turns s l o w l y as a federal judge just last month ruled an "executive privilege" claim made in 2012 was apparently not legitimate after all. So, now the DO(i)J (Department of in-Justice) must release fast and furious documents.  Except, some other tactic will be used.  Perhaps their email system failed at the same time the IRS system failed and everything was lost?  Or, maybe they could try the old standby, my dog ate it.

I keep reporting things as I find them about fast and furious because I believe getting to the bottom of it is important, and putting those responsible in prison is important. You see, some people will obey the law because it is the law. But...dare I say it...a majority of people obey the law only when it serves their purposes, or when the consequences of disobeying are sure and swift.  But when justice drags on so long, justice is truly denied.  That laws were broken by people whose job was to ensure they were followed, and people died as a result, is not mere politics.  Keep in mind that the very laws designed to prevent criminals from obtaining guns by straw purchases were violated, at the request of the ATF, and then the guns were allowed to walk,  The fact that the whole scheme was designed to create the impression that U.S sourced guns were being used as crime guns in the War on Drugs and that therefore more gun control was needed, makes this even more tragic.  People have been killed to serve an agenda.  No one has been charged or tried.  Am I crazy to think that someone should pay a price for this horrendous negligence?

The Ultimate Shoe Shining Technique

You all know I like to keep my shoes  well polished.  I do like to spit shine them, but sometimes I don't have time even for just brush shining my shoes.  What to do then?  Actually, there is another technique that puts a beautiful shine on your shoes, and that shine is more durable than spit shine.  Its called fire shine, though you don't actually use fire.  Shoe polish is flammable, and you don't want to burn up your expensive shoes.

The only piece of equipment you will need in addition to your shoe shine kit is a heat gun, or a hair dyer blower.  You don't want to do more that soften the polish on your shoes. The hair blower will be a bit slower, but polish melts at a fairly low temperature.  So, here goes:

The first step is to polish your shoes as usual, swirling the polish on with a dauber brush.  You do not need to use a cloth since you will spread the polish out with the heat.  Don't forget to get the outsides of the sole, and put some polish between the sole and the uppers.

Next, turn on the heat gun and point it at your shoe until the polish begins melting.  At this point, move the heat gun over the shoe fairly rapidly.  You want to melt the polish all over the shoe, but then rapidly move on to another part of the shoe to avoid overdoing it.  This should take less than a minute per shoe.  The polish will immediately re solidify, but will be smoother.

Nest step is to buff the shoe with your buffing brush.   You will be amazed.  As an added benefit, the fire shine is longer lasting.  Another benefit is that you can polish other leather goods such as holsters, belts, even leather jackets and the polish won't rub off on your clothing.  Summer temperatures in North Carolina can get up over 100 degrees with humidity.  Leather goods are exposed to a lot of sweat with its attendant moisture and salt.  Polishing you leather goods will extend their life, and leave you with more money for ammunition, and fire shining puts a hard shell polish on your leather goods.

California's Kim Jong Uns

California used to be a beautiful State.  I lived in Southern California for a few years in the mid 1980s in Ventura County and worked at the Pacific Missile Test Center, now renamed and its mission downgraded.  California then was a lovely place.  I remember the year round 70 degree temperatures, flowers blooming in January, the low humidity.  But leftist politics has made California a hell hole.  The latest is the recent spate of gun grabbing as reported by Matt Vespa at Townhall.com here.

Leftists seem to always think that controlling the tools a criminal uses to do what criminals do will somehow keep criminals from...well...doing what criminals do. It is an insanity that defies logic.  For example, what is to keep someone from going to Nevada, purchasing ammunition, and then returning to sell such ammunition on the black market?  What about reloading ammunition?

Well, I don't want to give away any more ideas either to the criminals, who can figure "work arounds" on their own, or to gun grabbers, who clearly have not noticed the words in the Constitution that reads "shall not be infringed."  No, instead, let me say to anyone living in California, your State government does not trust you.  They view each and every one of you as a potential terrorist just waiting for your chance to take out your fellow citizens or...gasp...the rulers themselves.  Their behavior and attitude seems to resemble that of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.  That should worry you.  It certainly worries me.

Why the Full Court Press for Bathroom Access

So, why has the Left (read Progressives, Socialists, Communists, Fascists, and so on, because they change names at the drop of a hat) decided to push bathroom access on a very reluctant public now?  The answer may surprise you.  But Richard F. Miniter has the answer in a piece at the American Thinker entitled What the Restroom War is Really About. Miniter:

The answer is that liberals are not only drawn to the issue like salmon to their home stream, but that they’re afraid to leave it be. But not for the reason you think. Indeed, they couldn't care less about the hurt feelings of the sexually confused.

What they’re targeting is the mindset of those men who aren’t at all confused. After all, you have to remember that their goal has always been a state of being which doesn’t admit any identity for oneself other than that provided by the government...

It always comes back to this, that the Left wants to substitute the State, with themselves in control of the State, for God. The State is not all powerful, but He is. Just as Obamacare has been a disaster, in that we still have 30 million people without insurance, and insurance rates are rising faster than the did before Obamacare for those that do have it, so Bernie will not be able to deliver on his promises of free stuff. Someone has to pay, and there aren't enough billionaires and millionaires to soak to pay for this his free stuff. As Margaret Thatcher said, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples money." No, the Left is not God, and they can not give you what God can, and they know this. That is why they work so hard to keep Christianity out of the public square, and why they are so enamored of Islam.

Read the whole thing at the link.  It isn't long, and it will tell you everything you need to know about the issue, and every other issue too.

Gun Control and Thug Culture

The problem of gun violence, or indeed, violence period is the thug culture, which has been glamorized by Hollywood and the "music" industry.  Whether it is the television series Empire or Rap "songs" with misogynist lyrics extolling violence, the thug stereotypes are based in reality. Bob Owens, over at Bearing Arms has an article about it entitled Thug Culture Stereotypes are Rooted in Cold, Hard Facts. Those who believe in the thug culture, view the rest of society as their prey. These are the wolves. They roam among us, and seeming strike at random. Owens:

We’ve held time and again that thug culture is the single most recognizable source of criminal violence in this nation, because this subculture both justifies and popularizes violence as an acceptable way to get ahead in life. It is echoed in thug culture music, movies, and in daily interactions where they view their fellow human beings as prey, and themselves as predators.

Gun control supporters attempting to reclassify themselves as opponents to “gun violence” (as if other forms of criminal violence are acceptable) keep attempting to skate around the thorny issue of thug culture, but thug culture has an ugly way of refusing to go away when ignored.

Apparently the 3 men involved robbed and murdered another man in order to "flash cash" at a concert they were attending, in an effort to appear more affluent than they actually were. Don't have money? Steal it. Don't have a gun? Steal one. Going to prison? It just adds to your street cred, as they say, and you get an advanced degree in thug culture. Liberals would have us believe that these people are acting out of hopelessness. But in fact, it is intellectual laziness coupled with gross nihilism that is at the heart of thug culture. Thugs may never have read Schopenhauer or Nietzsche, but they have absorbed the lessons none the less.

Something Different-Motorcycling in NC

I am riding my motorcycle more lately, after pondering selling it and settling into old age gracefully. I have decided to ride it as long as I am able, but not to trike it if I become unable to ride on two wheels. The motorcycle in question is a 1998 Honda Gold Wing SE. The wife bought it new for my Christmas present in early 1999. I had been riding a used Honda Gold Wing Interstate, GL1100. I rode the 1100 down to the Atlanta area where we sold it to a friend, then drove over to Lawrenceville and picked up the brand new GL1500SE. The next day we rode it to Northern Virginia. It was January, and cold, but I had had enough experience of touring by then to keep warm during the whole trip. Of course, after that initial ride, I had to take it to my local mechanic for its 500 mile oil change.

We have ridden all over the Commonwealth of Virginia, to Lake George, NY, to Northern Ohio, to Greenville, SC, to Springfield, MO, to Dallas, TX, then on to Cripple Creek, CO, at which time we made trips to Wyoming and down to the Four Corners. The wife in all this had the worst of it, riding behind my motorcycle on a Yamaha Virago, but she never complained. I think she has ridden with me on the Gold Wing only once. After a long trip she rode in the back seat to a restaurant for dinner and back. We rode back from Springfield, MO through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, to Atlanta, then onto Northern Virginia the next day. Of course that doesn't count the countless poker runs and visits to other chapters, and various charity events. I think I would have toured more then, but I was working and didn't have the time.

I was the safety officer for Goldwing Road Riders Association, Chapter VA-A for three or four years, and in that time of writing monthly safety articles, I did accumulate some knowledge and statistics. For example, a motorcyclist is 24 times more likely to die in an wreck than a car driver. That grim statistic can be mitigated by wearing proper clothing, jacket, boots, and a full face helmet. It can also be mitigated by constantly working on your motorcycle operating skills, and riding defensively. Oh, and don't drink and ride, and only in moderation when you do drink. There are old motorcyclists, and bold motorcyclists, but there are no old bold motorcyclists.

Motorcycle riding is a perishable skill, and one needs to practice it often to keep fresh. A new rider is most likely to crash during the first 3000 miles of riding. I consider that when you switch brands, or styles of motorcycle, that 3000 miles starts again. Also, most motorcycle accidents happen within 3 miles of home. What that tells me is that a lot of motorcyclists figure that going to the store for a loaf of bread or something is not a big deal, so they don't take the precautions that they might take when going on a longer trip. A lot of motorcycle accidents are one vehicle accidents. A motorcycle rider is not up to riding that day, and his mind wanders, or he is worried about an upcoming meeting and so he doesn't watch the road ahead. For motorcycles, you need to lean the bike into the turn, and because you are using more of your available friction to both keep you going forward and turn the bike, you must get below the speed in the turn before the turn. If you brake in the turn, you may well use up your available friction, with the result that you and the motorcycle may start sliding toward the edge, and if the edge of the road is a drop, well...Motorcyclists need to always stay in the moment.

Something happened when we came to Raleigh, NC. The summers were incredibly hot and muggy. It is like living in someone's arm pit. My old leather jacket is too hot to ride in during the long summer. Even my AeroStitch Darien jacket, with all the vents open, is too hot. I have finally settled on a Firstgear net jacket, and that has been working for me since the weather turned warm. I don't feel as secure in this gear, but I have made the compromise for the sake of at least riding. Most NC riders I see are wearing short sleeved shirts, sometimes shorts as well, and tennis shoes. Such would never have done where I learned to ride, but I do understand.

Motorcycle touring is a specialty all of itself. One can go fully rugged, camping in a tent, and cooking over an open fire, or one can go the motel route. I prefer the motel, with a comfortable bed, air conditioning, and a hot shower to start the day. Coffee is nice too. Today I plan to go no more than 300 miles a day. I have gone as far as 600, but I was beat at the end, and today I would have to rest a day before continuing. If you are one of those people who packs everything but the kitchen sink, motorcycle touring will turn you into the quintessential light packer. You will be amazed what you can live without when on the road. It may have been years since you stepped into a laundromat, but you can wash your clothes there and keep going. Many hotels have washing facilities also. I have washed out several pairs of briefs in the sink and hung them to dry overnight. Then too, you can mail yourself, care of the postmaster at some distant location, pick up your supplies, and mail your dirty laundry back home. People pick up tee shirts from rallies they attend, wear them for several years, until they shirts are pretty worn out. So, they wear these old rally shirts along the road, tossing them in the trash at the end of each day, and pick up new ones at their destination.

I have tried many solutions to the inevitable rain. Most riding suits are rather worthless. However, FroggToggs do indeed work, are light, breathable, and keep a person dry. Of course, if it is raining a frog strangler, it is best to take cover and wait it out. If the weather looks to be an all day rain, stay in the motel, or plan a walking trip to visit local sights. Remember that a road trip on a motorcycle is not a sprint, and the journey is more important than the destination. A first aid kit, and knowing how to use it is good insurance. Some reading material is also a good idea for those days when you are kept inside by rain. Having a plan for what to do when things go sideways is also a good idea. Many of us have AAA or other roadside assistance insurance. But these guys are not going to be of much help when a motorcycle breaks down. Goldwing Road Riders Association has roadside assistance and you can call on members pretty much anywhere in the United States, Canada, Mexico and some European countries. One final tip on touring: don't plan to take the Interstate if you can map out a route along US highways and State roads. You may not get there as fast, but your route will take you through more interesting places. For now, most of my riding is around town, as I get back into it. You have to work up to riding say, 6 or so hours. If I can, I would like to go to the Wings Over the Smokies rally. To prepare, I plan to have several shorter trips to this summer starting at around 2 hours, then 3, then 4 to build up endurance.

The Force Left

I am not sure who came up with the term "Force Left" as distiguished from the older freedom left, the people we generally called "liberals." But it is brilliant in that it clarifies for us exactly what we are talking about. Kevin Williamson over at National Review has an article entitled The Brute Force Left making the case that the Force Left is not interested in debate, but in control. And the only way to control another person is to intimidated them, or kill them. In the 20th Century, various forms of the Force Left, whether Communist or Fascist, killed 110 million of their own citizens.  The ultimate proof of the facts concerning the Force Left was the Berlin Wall, put up by East Germany to keep its citizens from escaping to West Berlin.  Not only were they walled in, but if someone tried to scale the wall, armed guards would shoot them to keep them from escaping.  No one knows how many would have voluntarily left had they had the chance.  Kevin Williamson:

All of those are relevant, but consider one further, broader dynamic at work: The Right is finally coming around to the understanding that what mainly distinguishes it from the Left is not its general preference for muscular foreign policy, its not always convincing defense of the Judeo-Christian tradition, or even its relatively faithful reading of the Constitution, as important as those things are. Rather, the fight between Right and Left is about coercion.

That the Left has become much more intensively coercive in recent years has not gone unnoticed among conservatives. In Liberal Fascism and elsewhere, Jonah Goldberg has popularized a longstanding view of the left-wing philosophy that in the United States calls itself “liberalism” — though we cannot in good faith call it that — that connects it with the nakedly coercive, antidemocratic, and anti-constitutional tendency of Woodrow Wilson and the progressives of his era, and with the various nasty totalitarian movements that inspired them and were inspired by them in turn. It’s not that we expect Robert Reich to come marching up Fifth Avenue wearing jackboots (the Pride March ain’t what it used to be) but that managerial progressivism is fundamentally corporatist in the sense that Mussolini et al. used the term: It conceives of formal political power and economic production as a single unit to be kept working in harmony, like a well-tuned engine, by such experts as the state recognizes as suited to the task. In theory, these men are to be guided by evidence meeting scientific standards — they are to be the sort of disinterested and dispassionate pragmatists that exist mainly within the narrow confines of Ezra Klein’s cranium.

The problem, as various capital-”F” Fascists and National Socialists and Communist politburos and Vox readers all discovered in their turn, is that even if these dispassionate and disinterested existed — and they don’t — bureaucracies do not have the collective cognitive firepower to replace markets, or even to intelligently guide them. From the Soviet five-year plans to Obamacare, all central-planning exercises begin in hubris and end in chaos.

The Force Left has discovered that using political correctness and other cultural tactics either will not get them over the hump, or at least will not get them there fast enough, has now turned to criminalizing unpopular thoughts and actions. For example, 17 State Attorneys General are proposing to prosecute climate skeptics under theories that the reason people keep denying climate change is because they are profiting from racketeering.  Other examples come from Dustin Howard's article at Conservative Review entitled Gun Taxes, Thought Policing, and the Triumph of the Force Left. Howard:

The totalitarian temptation is proving too much for the left across America. Daniel Flynn, in his book A Conservative History of the American Left, contrasted the “Freedom Left”, the benign old-fashioned liberals, versus the “Force Left”, the descendants of Marx that malignantly oppose fundamental rights in pursuit of their radical aims.  The Force Left has successfully seized control of their movement, and their fundamental transformation is manifesting in current events daily as we watch their struggle for ever more power.

The left as a whole has long been hostile to the Second Amendment, but has been divided of the regulatory means of mitigating its effects. Background checks, registries, magazine limits have all been incrementalist “salami tactics” to limit gun ownership, and according to them, limit violence.

The latest tack is to levy taxes against weapons and ammunition — some more confiscatory than others. In Seattle, it is 25 dollars per firearm, with a nickel tax on ammunition over .22 caliber, and a 2 cent tax on smaller calibers, which the National Rifle Association is litigating against. In the Northern Marianas Islands, to compensate for losing their handgun ban in court, their Governor imposed a $1,000 “excise” tax on the importation of firearms.

The latest massive iron fist to hit is the letter sent to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory demanding that he, not the legislature, rescind the so called bathroom law. Mark Hanna has the story over at the American Thinker entitled Obama's Toilet Revolution:

His most recent stunt to this end is to use North Carolina’s “bathroom” law, or House Bill 2, as a springboard for the U.S. Justice Department to issue a sweeping dictate in the name of social fairness and civil rights. House Bill 2, which requires individuals to use the public bathrooms and showers that correspond to their birth sex, was drafted and passed in order to negate an unconstitutional Charlotte city ordinance that forced different sexes to share public accommodations.

What’s most ominous about Obama’s latest maneuver is that the letter sent by the Justice Department to North Carolina governor Pat McCrory stakes out a position for the federal government that would apply to every business in America, as well as all universities and colleges that receive federal funds, that are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Pat McCrory seems to understand that he is now locked in battle for the 10th Amendment rights of States. The States existed prior to the Federal Government. Each State was sovereign, and within it borders, made laws which seemed good to them. Each State could create currencies, and set the value thereof, could raise armies to defend its borders, and could set tariffs on goods imported from other States. Indeed, a State could ally itself with a foreign country against another State. It was chaos. In 1791, the States agreed to give up some, but only some, of their powers to a body to be called the Federal Government. The Federal Government would deal with things like setting currency for all the States, expand free trade among the States, and provide a national defense. The States remained sovereign, however, and to show good faith, the 10th and final Amendment was added to the Constitution.

People who say that what the Fed is doing is no different than what the State did in upending Charlotte's bathroom ordmance have not thought about it.  The State chartered the City of Charlotte, and can uncharter it as well, not without consequences to itself.  Indeed, a recent example of the State taking over a city was when the State of Michigan appointed an Emergency Manager to oversee Detroit finances when that city defaulted.  The City is a creature of the State, and its right to govern itself exists within boundaries set by the State.  The Fed is also a creature of the States, and if a State begins to feel that the Fed is no longer in its best interests, the State still has the right to secede.  For now though, the North Carolina and the Fed will fight it out in court.

Update:  Also at the American Thinker is this blog post from James Longstreet entitled  The Guidelines for Federal Coercion The problem that now faces North Carolina was foreseen by the Anti-Constitutionalists at the time of the signing of the Constitution. It is probably why the 10th Amendment was inserted in the Bill of Rights. Governor McCrory and the State Legislature may ultimately face a grave choice to forego certain funding to which they are entitled in order to remain free.

Should Convicted Felons Get Their Gun Rights Back?

Currently, convicted felons are prohibited from buy, selling, or possessing firearms and ammunition.  But should they be?  Over at the War on Guns, David Codrea has a saying that anyone who can't be trusted with a gun should not be trusted without a chaperon. The obvious implication is if these individuals are released into society to walk around among the rest of us, they must be able to be trusted. Now comes Barton Hinkle over at Reason.com saying the same thing. He asks Should Felons Get Their Gun Rights Back?

Hinkle points out that Virginia governor Terry McAuliff has put out an executive order that some 207,000 felons will now have their voting rights restored. If voting rights are to be restored, what about other rights, like gun rights? It is a fair question, and while I am sure that Progressives will have a lengthy answer, I am equally sure that it will make no logical sense.

Hinkle writes:

The order restored felons' rights to vote, to hold public office, to serve on juries, and to act as notary publics. But it explicitly excluded one basic American right: "Nothing in this Order restores the right to ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms."

That might seem like simple common sense—a precaution so obvious it needs no explanation. But it does require explanation. In fact, it needs not only an explanation, but a great deal of justification.

Republicans have slammed McAuliffe's order as nothing more than political chicanery. But while they might have a point about the politics, they are wrong on principle. Having paid their debt, felons should be able to rejoin civil society as full members in good standing. As Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) put it the other day, responding to GOP critics: "The right to vote is a right. It is not a privilege."

The same holds true for the right to keep and bear arms—and the right to self-defense. So why shouldn't the same principle that applies to voting rights apply to gun rights?

We have seen the courts extend the right to free expression to unimaginable limits, while shrinking the right to religious expression to almost a private matter. They have in many cases done similar things to the right to bear arms, and under either Trump of Clinton, we can expect yet more infringement.

Frankly, the answer should be yes.  If you can trust them to roam about among us, you can trust them with guns.  If you can't trust them with guns, they should still be locked up.

Getting over Trump? Not so fast.

After yesterday's post, I tried very hard to get myself on board with the Trump nomination.  In the end, I could not.  I have been too invested in the idea that if we returned to the Constitution, many of the issues our country faces would resolve.  I also believe that if we returned to the Bible, that our issues with Islam would also resolve.  Alas, these were not to be.  Despite my best efforts, I could not.  So, it was interesting to see that others are having the same issue. C. Edmund Wright, over at the American Thinker asks Get Over What, About Trump, Exactly? Mr. Wright writes:

So if the "get over it" posture is your position, may I inquire if this the standard Trump supporters will apply to themselves on the morning after Election Day 2016 if Hillary Clinton wins? Hey, she won. No biggie. I'm "over it." Yeah, right.

For the record, I'm not among those who think that Trump will certainly lose to Hillary. I believe Hillary is capable of losing to anyone, Trump included. 

So if that happens, for example, will you apply that same quickie "get over it" standard the day President Trump suggests replacing ObamaCare with something worse because he's "gonna be fantastic for women's health care" and conservatives are "cruel and heartless"? Or signs a bill funding Planned Parenthood after "making a deal" with Chuck Schumer? Or sics the Internal Revenue Service on companies in your 401K portfolio because he doesn't like where they make products? Or extends ethanol subsidies so your gas and your food both cost more while the corn distillate destroys your engine? Or plays golf with his big buddy John Boehner and a day later gives Nancy Pelosi everything she wants? Or for that matter, when he does anything that flies in the face of his "position papers" on his website -- words he clearly never read, let alone wrote? Words he contradicted every time he was in front of an open mic? Will you merely get over it?

These are serious concerns about Trump, and they remain today. And if any of us who opposed Trump were over it today, then that would be a sad commentary on our depth of understanding and commitment.

I see polls all the time where people self identify as conservative, liberal etc. The problem with such polls is that no one ever asks if the conservatives are also people who want to return to the Constitution, as originally understood. If some think that the principles laid down their are out of date, they are not conservative. They are not liberals either, for the Constitution was designed to protect us from meddlesome busybodies who want to inject their notion of how other should live. That is a very liberating idea!

One of the things the Trumpsters seem to want is revenge.  They have had epithets hurled at them by ignoramuses for so long, they just want some payback.  I understand.  It is human nature to seek revenge.  Many have been out of work, and despite the glorious numbers coming out of the administrations official book cookers, unemployment stands at a not very glorious 10-18 percent.  We can't really be sure because of the way the books are cooked.  Many of them are tired of seeing crooks get off while they no that if they did half of what the crooks do, they would be put in jail and the key thrown away.  Note to Mr. Obama and the MSM: No one was fooled by your Benghazi story that a film was responsible.  No one has ever been indicted for breaking US and International Law in the case of Fast and Furious, and we know that.  They are boiling mad that Obamacare has never been repealed.  I get it; they want revenge.  But revenge is a poor tool to use in deciding who our next Commander in Chief will be.

The problem is Trump has no principle, other that what is good for Trump is good for all.  Cruz has priniciples, very strong ones, had has shown a willingness to not compromise them.  So what if he is not a good orator.  So what if he isn't someone you would want to have a beer with.  You don't have to.  Congressmen consider it meritorious to have legislation on the books.  All well and good, but the truth is there are too many Federal laws as it is.  We really need to prune the Federal Register and get rid of a lot of these laws.  Cruz would have performed a valued service if the only thing he did was to veto the crap coming out of Congress, and got rid of a bunch of Executive branch agencies, or at least got rid of about three fourths of the people in them.

So, no, I will not soon be getting over the defeat of a good and principle man by a sleaze bag like Trump.  America had its chance, and it blew it.  May God help us all, because we have proved to be unable to govern ourselves.

Cruz is out of the race. God help us all.

So, unless divine providence interferes, and it seldom does, Trump will be the Republican nominee. Like the Supreme Court under Roberts, the Creator of the Universe does not view his job as protecting men from their own folly.  I shed tears for what used to be the United States of America.  I had hoped to fly my flag proudly again, but I can not. I understand, of course, why voters find Trump appealing. People out of work, and desperate for jobs, security, and a feeling of self worth turn to someone who promises these things despite the fact that he can not deliver on his promises. When times are tough, people long for a savior, but what they get is a tyrant instead. History is replete with them. The Constitution was supposed to be a bulwark against exactly what is happening. But the Constitution has been so shredded by Progressivism, that few people seem to understand it, or to trust it. So here we are. Like the Medieval witch burners, Pogressives now want to figuratively burn climate skeptics for heresy. Gun owners are sure to follow in the Progressive cross hairs.

Make no mistake, Trump is as Progressive as Hillary. Now, when I call where we live now the Former United States of America, I do not mean that there will not continue to be a place on the map called United States of America. Of course there will. Rome remained after the Roman Republic fell to the Caesars. Like Rome, we will continue to have "elections," though they will mean less and less and will consequently become sillier and sillier. Bread and Circuses, in the form of sports and celebrities will continue to occupy the minds of more and more people.  What I mean is that the idea of the United States of America as a land ruled by laws that bound all citizens, including the Congress and the President, will cease to exist. Instead, we will have a land governed by the whims of men. You will not know from day to day what is legal and what is not, for things will just pop up, seemingly out of nowhere, much as the transgendered bathroom issue popped up. One day no one is talking about it, the next you will be accused of being a bigot for opposing it. People who speak out will be jailed, or "disappeared" and their place in history will be erased.

Mike Vanderboegh once asked in his blog over at Sipsey Street Irregular "Where is your line in the sand?" We are all going to have to decide soon, because things are going to get bad real fast. He also said that when democracy fails, he still gets a vote (because he is armed). Keep your powder dry.

Bob Owens, over at Bearing Arms has a great piece on the difference between Cruz and Trump on the Second Amendment entitled Cruz Schools Trump Supporters on Trumps Horrible 2nd Amendment Racord. Unfortunately, it is all true. If you are low on ammunition of if you think you need another gun, now is the time to buy, before the panic sets in. The mainstream media will obviously be in the tank for Hillary, so will eventually bring out Trumps record on guns. They will also bring out that Trump agreed to put a liberal justice on the Supreme Court. So, I predict that panic buying will set in some time this summer, and anything gun related will be in short supply and expensive. If you have been buying all along, now is the time to top off your needs for the next 4-8 years. If you are just starting, well...good luck.

The Secret Racist History of the Democratic Party

I have been aware of the racist history of the Democratic Party for many years, after reading about the racist history of gun control some years ago.  By controlling who could get guns, and who could not, Democrats hoped to be able to control who votes, and who does not.  In North Carolina, the infamous permit to purchase a handgun was just such a measure.  The permit, which cost $5.00, required the local Sheriff to determine who was of good character, and thus deserving of the right to purchase a handgun.  Naturally, if a person was a white, tax paying citizen, a permit was easily granted.  But if you were a...what is the term of art these days?  A person "of color" or what is now called "white trash," itself a racist term, you were denied.  Not that it actually kept anyone from obtaining a gun.  Gun control never prevents crime.

Kimberly Bloom Jackson has written a piece for American Thinker that covers some of this history that was new to me.  She points out that you must go to original sources to find this material, as the history has been erased from the textbooks.  Indeed, the Democratic party, so proud of their history, has erased it from their own telling of facts, lest, I suppose, someone might read it and start asking embarrasing questions.  You can find it at the American Thinker entitled The Secret Racist History of the Democratic Party

Now, if you showed this to your Democratic friends, most of them would say something like "Well, that was then, but now we are all for civil rights, for everybody (except maybe those intolerant Christian bigots). But you Republicans hate everybody."  Yes, I have had this conversation, They deny it up and down, then change the subject.  But without this history, in all its ugliness, neither a person, nor a party, can have that cathartic soul searching that leads to repentance and a change of heart.  In their haste to cover it up, one suspects they have not changed their minds, just cloaked themselves so as to appear as sheep rather than the wolves they are.  If I were a black man, that is what I would be thinking.