New Mexico Going On Lockdown

 Just got a call from my younger son, who lives in New Mexico.  It seems that their Democrat governor has ordered a two-week lockdown.

I have said before, and I'll say again, that whatever the legacy of these governors, we should remember that they have presided over the most severe contraction of personal freedom since Reconstruction.  

I pray that once this thing is over, (and it will be at some point)  that those same governors expend as much energy and focus on expanding liberty across their states.  This contraction of liberty is un-paralleled in US history and cannot be allowed to go unpunished.

I know that Covid is real and will extract a price from us.  I wonder if the price it will extract will be a return to bondage, or a revitalization of the American dream.

Tucker: Anarchists are working to tear down America

Tucker Carlson's monologue for 9/12/2020 

Most of what we're seeing on the streets today is utter bullshit.  It's not about justice.  Justice is reasoned, peaceful, and respects everyone's rights.

I also notice that most of these riots occur in places where the malcontents don't have to worry about armed citizens.

Black Residents kick BLM out of Chicago Neighborhood!

It looks like some of the citizens of Chicago are starting to push back against outside protesters.

This is good news, and I sand with the residents of Englewood.

The New Prohibition

 There is an article over at Reason magazine that talks about business during a pandemic.

It appears that government-imposed restrictions on travel, business, and social contact don't become more palatable with age. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to simmer, the one competency that officials have consistently displayed is in tightening the screws, using the licenses and permissions they require as enforcement tools. For people tired of being bossed around, the obvious response is to carry on without the government's imprimatur—and they're doing so in droves. It's an attitude likely to live on long after the crisis has passed.

Earlier this week, I talked about a Denham Springs restaurant who is doing business in direct violation of government orders to shut down.  And business is booming.

Belle and I were talking about his the other day.  Belle is an RN and understands why the health department has to inspect restaurants.  I'm a libertarian, and don't want government involved in very many human decisions. So, there is a natural tension between the two belief systems.

Government at all levels is using the business license as a cudgel to enforce compliance.It's happening in Louisiana and it's happening in Texas, and I suspect that it is happening all over the US.  But, government forgets that the last great prohibition spawned, in great degree, the rise of organized crime in the US.

That the rebellion among Texas taverns is alive and well is obvious from a desperate-sounding open letter issued last week by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). "Recently we have spoken with business owners who tell us they don't intend to follow the orders," wrote A. Bentley Nettles, the commission's executive director. "When a business tells TABC it doesn't intend to follow these orders, you leave the agency with no option but to revoke your license and shut you down."

The regulators may pull the license, but whether the business shuts down is a matter of claim.  It may simply go underground, like the speakeasys of the 1920s.  It's one thing to tell people that they can't do something, it's another thing entirely whether they do it or not. Governing against human nature is always a bad idea.

Lest we forget, there was another group of Americans who penned these words in a document that celebrated our independence.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

Let reedom Ring.

Passive Revolt

 So, there is this whole coronavirus thing, and there's this whole government thing, with a mask mandate and restrictions on occupancy.  Then there is this thing called Freedom, and sometimes they collide.  They are colliding inn Denham Springs, LA.  Denbam Springs is a suburb of Baton Rouge and one restaurant owner has had enough.

It seems that the owner of Firehouse BBQ, a restaurant, is not abiding by the mask mandate, claiming that it has causeed health issues with her employees.  She is running a "mask-optional" restaurant, and she is not turning away customers.  And business is booming.

Well, our petty tyrant governor can't have people making their own decisions, so he pulled her license.  And she kept operating anyway.  Then, the governor had a district court judge issue a Temporary Restraining Order, forcing her to shut down, but the restaurant is too busy to close, and is still serving her delicious BBQ.

And business is booming.  She claims she's too busy to shut down.  It's a great story.  It's part of the American tension between government and personal freedom.  The business owner is in passive revolt.  She is simply not complying.  It's a story as American as apple pie.  And I applaud her for it.

But, it leads to some interesting legal questions.

Peaceful is One Thing. Rioting is not Protected

Senator Cruz is right.  Peaceful poests are one thing, rioting is another thing altogether.

Crime in the City

It seems that the Minneapolis police department is telling residents to be ready to comply with violent criminals.

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) told residents they should “be prepared” to hand over their phones, wallets, and purses to robbers.

If tis sounds odd, or out of touch with common practice, recall that Minneapolis is going through a "defund the police" spasm, and the activities of the Minneapolis police department have been severely curtailed.  As a result, violent crime is on the rise.

 Police in the city’s Third Precinct alone have received more than 100 reports of robberies and 20 reports of carjackings in just the last month.

The idea of complying with criminals is repulsive to me.  While the Minneapolis PD may be doing what they have to do to try to keep the citizenry alive and unharmed, it is still repulsive to think that a citizen should be forced to cower in the face of violence.  Rahter, I'd prefer that the criminals cower in the face of outraged citizens.

“If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it. The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury. Therefore what he must be taught to fear is his victim.”

I was a police officer for 37 years, and I've learned that by-and-large, the police are seldom in a place to end a violent encounter.  We generally show up a few minutes later.

Still, it rankles me that the Minneapolis PD are telling citizens to comply with criminals.

Bel's New Normal

Our petty tyrant governor, John Bel Edwards, says that his his mask mandate is going to be with us for a while.

“The mask mandate, that’s just part of the new normal,” Edwards said.  “I think people need to be prepared to continue with that.  And by the way it remains a small price to pay to protect the health of our neighbors, our loved ones.”

It's a mandate, Governor, and mandates rankle freedom-loving people.  If masks were a good idea, people would wear them without your tyranny.  Shoes, for example, are a good idea, and nearly everyone wears a foot covering without a mandate.  It simply makes sense.

I wear a mask when I am out-and-about.  I keep several in the car.  I don't tell anyone to wear a mask, as hat should be a personal decision.  But, as a governor's mandate, it rankles, it pisses me off every time I put it on.  It may be a small price to pay, but any price, however noble, is a tyranny when it is mandated by an over-bearing government official.

And, the petty tyrant in the Governor's mansion still doesn't get it.  Wearing a mask will, to me, never be normal, just a representation of unchecked government power.

I will once gain challenge Governor Edwards:  When this public health crisis is over, (and it will certainly be over at some point), I challenge you to expand freedom in Louisiana with the same vigor that you collapsed freedom during the pandemic.  Reduce regulation, cut taxes, come up with a dozen creatie ways to make Louisiana the most free state in the union.

But you won't do that.  Simply because you're a petty tyrant.

Mostly Peaceful Protests

Does this look like a peaceful protest to you?



It doesn't look like peaceful protests to me.  This appears to be rioting.  Democrats are in deep denial.

Getting Woke

Inn the past couple of years, "woke" had become a thing.  Someone who was living their day-to-day lives, trying to make a good life, suddenly has a revelation about one thing or another, and wakes up to an uncomfortable fact or two.  Generally "woke-ness" has been described in liberal circles.  We may decide to modify behavior based on new knowledge, or to be perceived as being one of the cool kids.

There is another kind of woke-ness going on right now.  The sudden realization that our world is not as safe as we perceive it to be, and that the police may not be there when we need them.  That the radical, violent left wants to impose their will on the rest of us. 

Lots of folks are waking up to the simple fact that they may need to defend themselves.  A simple review of the NICS checks show that a lot of people are buying guns, and a sizable percentage of them are first-time gun buyers.  We should welcome them to the fold.

If a formerly anti wants advise, give it.  Preach safety.  Safety in all things.  Take them to the range, if necessary.  Help them make good decisions.  Teach the Four Rules.

Lots of folks are waking up to the 2nd Amendment.  We need to help them along.  They are getting work, and that's a good thing.

Consequences

I was taught as a child that everything I did had consequences.  Some good, some bad, but always consequences.  It's a central tenet of civilized life.  Thinkers have been telling us this fact for millennia.  David Crockett apocryphally said "Make sure you're right, then go ahead."  More recently, Jordan Petersen cautioned us to not try to change the world until we put our own hose in order. 

In this digital age, it's even more important to learn that actions have consequences.  The near-total infatuation with digital communication has certainly changed life in this century.  But, the old rules apply.  Actions have consequences.

Like most of connected America, I use Facebook.  But, I learned a long time ago that using it can be toxic, or it can be liberating.  It all depends on how you use it.  By and large, the digital giants (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc) tend to chronicle life in ways that don't lend themselves to thoughtful discussion.  It's all instant and unfiltered.  In some ways this is good.  Instructional video is instantly available if you need to solve a particular problem. 

In other ways, it's bad.  The rights and privileges of our society holds some warning, not the least  of which is found in the Miranda warning.  You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.

Federal authorities are currently searching thousands of videos to ferret out looters, arsonists, and assailants. Perpetrators who are caught are shocked that the evidence that they once posted online in triumphant braggadocio is now being used to charge them with felonies.

It's a cautionary tale.  We live in complicated times, made more complicated by the technology that has revolutionized the way we communicate.  In every revolution there are casualties.

Carnge

Like many of you, I woke this morning to a Monday morning after the Independence Day celebrations, to be stunned by the amount of carnage on our city streets.  It seems that these protests have gone sideways, resulting in the deaths of innocent life, in many cases of children.



In Chicago, with 78 shot, including 14 killed, and some of those were children, we see Mayor Lightfoor is blaming guns, not the culture of murder that pervades that city.

In Atlanta, where an 8-year-old girls was shot while riding in her mother's car, the mayor says that we can't blame the police for this.

Policing the cities is the job of the mayors and governors.  President Trump says that he is willing to help, and has identified assets that can be used, if asked, to restore calm.

These Democratic mayors need to step up and get a plan to end the violence in their cities.

It Bears Repeating

I was stunned, stunned at the lack of available firearms at the local retailers this week.  I've bee buying guns, off and on, for most of my life, and I've never seen the shelves this bare.  I'm not the only one who noticed.

If soaring gun sales are a guide, millions of Americans are with the McCloskeys. This week the FBI announced a record 3.9 million background checks for June, the highest monthly total since the FBI began keeping the statistic in 1998. Adjusting to reflect checks only for gun purchases, the National Shooting Sports Foundation says this works out to 2.2 million, a 136% increase over June 2019. NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva says about 40% of these checks are for first-time gun buyers.

This correlates with what my local merchant told me.  People who, ninety days ago were anti-gun, or ambivalent,  are buying guns in unheard of numbers.  It's the first-time gun buyer who is driving the shortage.  Most of the rest of us have our guns.

We should remember on this Independence Day weekend, that we are  Americans, slow to wrath, but generally self-sufficient.  If it appears that society is going through an upheaval, then we take our safety into our own hands.  Not the law, which applies to everyone, but our own safety.

This is a warning to the Defund the Police movement about unintended consequences. The more progressives push policies that mean cops won’t be around when people need them, the more they are inviting Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights to protect themselves.

As Instapundit often says, "The police aren’t there to protect the public from criminals, they’re there to protect criminals from the public."

That is a powerful distinction, and those who would do us harm should remember it.

Independence Day

Independence Day

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Happy Independence Day.

Seen On Facebook

I got out today, ran a few errands and hit a few pawn shops.  The handgun cases are positively empty.  One that I frequent had  several revolvers and one pistol in .22LR.  No Glocks, no Smiths, no Sigs.  No Rugers, for that matter.

The counter-guy told me that there has been a run on handguns, and he simply hasn't had time to re-stock.  He did have one old Webley in .455, marked at $1200.00.  I passed.

I came home and found this on my Facebook feed.

I did go over to his Twiter feed and find the post there before I put it here.  And, I'd like to tell Piers that if that depresses him, it thrills me.  Heretofore, we thought that Obama was the greatest gun salesman in history.  Now, we learn that Antifa and BLM have put him inthe shade.

USA!  USA!! USA!!

Fifty Years

Belle and I were sitting in the manse last night, she reading something on her tablet, me scrolling through YouTube, and she looked up and said, "Martin Luther King is probably spinning in his grave."

I took off my headset and looked at her carefully as she continued.  "All Dr. King tried to do was further civil rights ii this country, and he did it  all non-violently.  He worked to ed segregation and to fight white supremacy, often going head to head with racist governors, judges, and cops.  And he did it all in such a manner that no one could accuse him, or the movement, as violent."

She continued.  "These protesters today have st his movement back 50 years."

I pondered that for a minute, and she turned back to her tablet.

This morning, I see at PJ Media that Dennis Prager agrees with her. 

According to the make-believe world of the left, we are experiencing a great moment in American racial history. For the first time, the story goes, more whites than ever are coming to realize how racist America is, how racist cops are and how systemically racist everything in America is. Only now do many Americans understand just how racist Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima, Ulysses Grant, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, “whitening” agents, meritocracy, Western culture, Christianity, jailing Blacks and the NFL are. The bestselling book in America is about alleged “white fragility” — the term for any rational response to the irrational charge that all whites are racist.

All this is supposed to be good for America’s Blacks. 

 But none of it is. In fact, it is all destructive.

The pendulum swings in both directions.  It swung one way for Bama and another way for Trump.  We're seeing it swing right now, and while many Americans feel that it may be swinging a little too far to the left, we should remember that it can swing back,  It always does.

The St. Louis Couple

I'm sure that you've heard of the St. Louis couple who faced down a group of malcontents whle protecting their property with a rifle and a handgun.

Calm down, no one got hurt, but it sure shows how a singe middle-aged couple can turn away an angry mob who violate property rights. 

The conservative twins have added their comments, and I have to tell you, I love these guys.



The only thing I have to add is that the couple should really take the time to get some serious weapons training.  The muzzle discipline made me cringe.  But, it was effective.

Yeah!

Parsing The Phrase

Occasionally, phrases come into the American political lexicon.  Some make sense, some bale me, and recently, the phrase "black lives matter" has entered the political arena. I admit I was rather baffled by this statement, thinking that it was self-evident, so startlingly apparent that it didn't need to be verbalized.  I was raised to believe that every human life is precious, so of course black lives matter.

Revently, the phrase has become  a political bell-weather.  If you don't verbalize it, you are immediately branded as a bigot, or worse.  This week, our Vice President, Mike Pence was cornered by  a reporter who asked why he wouldn't recite the platitude.

“Forgive me for pressing you on this, sir,” anchor Brian Taff said to Pence, “but I will note you did not say those words, ‘Black lives matter,’ and there is an important distinction. People are saying, of course all lives matter, but to say the words is an acknowledgment that Black lives also matter at a time in this country when it appears that there’s a segment of our society that doesn’t agree. So why will you not say those words?”
“Well, I don’t accept the fact, Brian, that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees, in the preciousness and importance of every human life,” Pence said. “And it’s one of the reasons why as we advance important reforms in law enforcement, as we look for ways to strengthen and improve our public safety in our cities, that we’re not going to stop there.”

I recall when I was a soldier, and aa police officer, and I had black friends, associates, and brothers-in-arms.  Some were black, some were white, some where Latino, some were indistinct.  Their lives mattered to me, very much.  The idea that a soldier's life mattered more or less depending on his race was abhorrent.

The phrase has become a "woke" mantra, and I'm not really good at mantras.  When the BLM crowd starts actually believing the words, adn acting on them, decreasing the crime and corruption in places like Chicago, and worrying about the huge number of innocent black lives that Planned Parenthood suffs out every year, then perhaps I'll start believing that they mean what they say.

Until then tey sould not ask me to mouth meaningless words just to placate the mob.

Pedicure

One day last week my daughter called.  I had been joshing about getting a pedicure, and she told me she was making an appointment.  did I want to go?  "Sure", says I.

Ohmigod, guys.  You gotta do this.  My feet hadn't had any professional care since induction physical into the Army.  This little lady washed trimmed, groomed, lotioned, and massaged my old broke-down feet.  At one point, she even took out a dremel tool.

That was the best $28 I've spent in a long time.  My boots even fit better.

I plan to put a pedicure on my regular grooming rotation.  Next time I may even get my nails colored.