Peggy Noonan

Peggy Noonan defended Biden again in the weekend edition of the WSJ. Quelle surprise. Do you think she would have given Trump the same pass?  Not a chance. I appreciate her frustration in pointing out that Biden was in a difficult position having to comment on the Uvalde shooting, but to suggest that he was “emoting” when he said “ when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” is to politicize the issue and imply that the gun lobby is indeed at fault. Rubbish. And stating that “he doesn’t mean to be divisive” is just, well, disinformation. The old warhorse then goes on to state that she’s all for “deeper background checks and longer waiting periods” not because they will solve the problem but “might get us an inch on the yardstick”. An inch on the yardstick going where, Peggy?  Of course, “move to ban assault weapons again, those sinister killing-machine weapons of war”.  Really. Where to start?  Anthropomorphizing a semi-automatic rifle as a “sinister killing machine” conjures up images of futuristic android terminators and is just plain silly.  So called assault weapons are modernized semi-automatic rifles dressed up to look like their fully automatic military counterparts. Pull the trigger and it goes boom, one at a time. Just because you paint your Kia red does not mean it performs like a Ferrari. Even with that ridiculous wing on the back. And recall we tried the assault weapon ban back in the Clinton years with the opposite effect. Gun crime increased. So much for that. You only have to look at Chicago to glean the results of total gun bans. Responsible citizens are left to the old government standby of “duck and cover.”  Nothing says stupid like repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Why not choose something that has been proven to be effective, like incarceration, perhaps? And she even wades into psychiatry by announcing that “we are in the middle of a mental health crisis”. But in a deft reversal, rather than addressing the crisis, she faults republicans for continuing the practice of “putting long guns in the hands of young men.” So if some people are nuts we should take dangerous things away from everybody.  Guns today, chainsaws, knives, fertilizer, diesel fuel and pointy sticks tomorrow. And when I think about long guns in the hands of young men, by free association I think of our military. Peggy ends  her screed by declaring “we must evolve.”  She certainly has morphed……by apparently devolving to the left. 

My Head Is Exploding

Nothing illustrates the democrats’ agenda for undermining the second amendment more than the fact that Chuck Schumer blocked a Republican proposal to establish federal school safety standards, instead countering that they should support further gun control legislation. There you have it. Safety is not the issue; incremental laws to prevent access to firearms with the ultimate goal of a European-style gun ban is more what they have in mind; always has been. Never mind the overwhelming evidence that clearly shows that gun laws are ineffective, rarely enforced and only serve to inconvenience the law-abiding. Abortion, gun control, January 6, white supremacy, tax and spend. Blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile in other news, our economy contracted in the last quarter, inflation hit a 40 year high, gas prices are at record levels, the stock market flirted with the bear, our southern border remains porous, we are sending tens of billions to Ukraine, North Korea is lobbing missiles into the sea, and we have to import baby formula.  Oh yeah, and Hillary was behind the Russia collusion scam. Nothing but crickets from the media. My America is disappearing before my eyes!

Uvalde Incited

Here it comes. This demonizing of the NRA, which has become so fashionable with the left, is beyond preposterous. Scapegoating an organization that promotes the rights of law-abiding gun owners and teaches gun safety is like accusing AAA of being responsible for the increase in motor vehicle accidents. And I don’t recall any of these heinous mass murderers being card-carrying members of the association. Further, all these calls for conservative politicians to boycott the NRA annual meeting is yet another attempt to link the organization to gun crime. By not showing up, you are therefore endorsing the opinion that they are somehow responsible. Post pandemic traffic deaths are up, so naturally, I’m going to boycott NASCAR because they promote driving fast. Absurd. And Beto O’Rourke’s embarrassingly self-serving performance at the Uvalde press conference should make even a staunch progressive blanch. Standing on the backs of dead children to further your political ambition is, at best repugnant. Any liberals looking for white privilege need look no further. El Paso-born Beto is a product of notoriously liberal Columbia University, where he briefly entertained a career as a bassist in a rock band before pursuing a career in business and then politics. Really. Think AOC, a self-aggrandizing politician, but without the horse eyes, with equally annoying head wagging gestures. We have to stop this partisan posturing and address the real problem, or as the left likes to say, the root causes. There is something wrong with our culture, with our youth, something that is producing criminals without a moral compass and politicians without conscience. 

Uvlide Aftermath

Before we all become passengers on the gun control train, perhaps we should ask some pertinent questions before we punch the ticket. Unlike President Biden, for example, who had a chance to be unifying and presidential but instead chose to deliver shrill partisan talking points before he had all the information. For example:  how exactly did an eighteen-year-old purchase two assault rifles with what appears to be a holographic sight on one of them, a fore-end grip, and 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition?  And I’m not talking about the red flags that should have gone up when the gun dealer noticed this kid creating a small arsenal on the first day he could legally buy them. Further, I want to know how this kid plopped down what would probably be $2000 for the rifles and accessories and, even if he bought the cheap bulk stuff, would have paid over 50 cents a round, or nearly $200, for the ammunition. Plus tax. Paper routes must pay better than they did when I was a kid. And where exactly are the parents of this little psychopath?  Two long guns and 375 rounds of 5.56 don’t exactly hide in your sock drawer. Didn't anyone notice?  What was his home situation, and who exactly was responsible for supervising the little cretin?  Medications? Drug use? And in this day of the ubiquitous cellphone and the intrusive internet, a world where you can’t trip in public without having it captured by some purple-haired, pierced, tattooed, cellphone wielding Gen Z influencer, why were none of this kid’s online rants, harassment and gun posts brought to the attention of law enforcement?  Wake up children; it’s not all about what will get you hits on tik-tok. We keep talking about how we need the FBI to monitor the internet for signs of these miscreants going off the rails, when in fact we have an entire generation that does nothing but scours the internet in search of clickbait. Millions likely saw his screed but chose to ignore it in favor of the latest Kardashian dating scandal. Face it, kids, you have to develop some societal responsibility because you are the new neighborhood watch. As more information leaks out, we will get a better idea of what we are dealing with. Gun bans are like putting a bandaid on a tumor and more often punish the law-abiding, whereas evil will always find a way. This will continue to grow and morph. More effort is needed on identifying these tumors before they grow and metastasize. A pattern is developing: the lone wolf, the social outcast, a teenage male, threatening internet posts, exposure to violent images, and often mental health issues. And they always strike the soft targets, the most vulnerable. Identify the source, harden the most likely targets, protect the vulnerable and treat the disease. Gun bans will be popular, especially in the blue states, but beyond being expedient, and allowing politicians a platform on which to grandstand, they will do nothing to solve the problem.

The Uvalde Tragedy

Again another inappropriate response by our divider-in-chief. Invoking the NRA and firearms manufacturers as being the cause of mass murder, implying that this doesn’t happen in other countries because of their more stringent gun control, is patently absurd. Israel and Sweden have an armed citizenry, and these atrocities, do not happen there. Perhaps we should be turning over different rocks, the ones our mentally disturbed youth are hiding under, and find out exactly how social media, Covid isolation, depression medication, violent video games, and readily available recreational pharmaceuticals are contributing to the carnage. Biden and his minions never let a crisis go to waste that can advance their agenda; distract from their failings.

Hypocrisy On Parade

“We know from many studies around motor vehicles and drinking and other common types of injuries that this age group is still developing its frontal lobe, impulse control, judgment," says Megan Ranney, an emergency physician and academic dean at the School of Public Health at Brown University. 

A quote repeatedly used of late to support legislation to prevent the purchase of semi-automatic rifles by an 18-year-old in the wake of the Buffalo shooting. I’m not going to argue the medical opinion. Not at all. I just want to know why the left fails to recognize these facts as they apply to their unfettered support of allowing children to decide on having irreversible gender affirmation treatment, or allowing abortion access without parental consent to minors, or subjecting children below the third grade level to LGBTQ sex education. How does that collate with the underdeveloped frontal lobe premise? Questions the left should answer. Look out; your hypocrisy is showing. Again. 

Georgia On My Mind

Listening to NPR on my way to work this morning almost prompted to drive into a bridge abutment. Today's propaganda exercise was interviewing Georgians in growing suburban counties of Atlanta. One red, one blue. Artful editing allowed them to feature a transplanted white liberal who claimed that the issues that would affect her vote were “the big lie” and abortion rights. Seriously sweetie, have you put gas in your car recently? Have you been to the grocery store?  They also disparaged Redistricting that “allowed” legislators in Republican controlled states to construct districts to favor republicans. No mention if the blue states that gave engaged in gerrymandering to such an extent that the courts had to intervene. New York ring a bell?  And of course the “great replacement” got air time as well in the wake of the Buffalo shooting. On one hand they ridicule it as preposterous right wing conspiracy theory but in the next sentence congratulate themselves on the influx of immigrants from Latin America that has changed the demographics of the district. Call it what you will, but your hypocrisy is showing. The last laugh may be that the Hispanic vote is not as blue as you suspect with conservative values and religion resulting in many immigrants leaning Republican. And as a parting shot they did manage through leading questions put to one immigrant from Venezuela to compare Trump to the strongman dictator Maduro. Remind me again why my tax dollars fund NPR. Oh yeah, to act as a vasopressor.

Know who The Culpret Is

Not only is the Buffalo shooter deranged, but apparently, he is also a moron with no knowledge of firearms. His online manifesto bragged about his choice of the “assault rifle-15,” implying that AR is an abbreviation for an assault rifle. Uh….wrong. AR stands for Armalite, the manufacturer who developed the platform. He also inflated his expertise by claiming he “modified” his rifle to accept a high-capacity magazine. Wow. So, in other words, he took out the smaller capacity mag and inserted a larger one. Impressive skill set. And he didn’t even have the originality in selecting a manufacturer other than Bushmaster, the weapon of choice for the Parkland miscreant. This trade name has been repeated ad nauseous by the media drones. In short, this dope is a product of the internet, a copycat spurred by media coverage and inflamed extremist coverage on both sides of the issues, especially race. I’m also willing to bet that his training consisted of hours of Call Of Duty, Halo, and other like-minded video shoot ‘em ups. And pushed into the background once again is mental health. Depression and anxiety the calling cards of this generation. What meds was this kid on? And lastly why, after interfacing with law enforcement and psychiatric care a year ago was he allowed to purchase a firearm. Once again the system has failed us all. 

The Spinning Of A Tragedy

Another weekend of shoot ‘em up-, and here we go again. When these high school age crazies say they’re going to shoot the place up, when are we going to start to take them at their word and either incarcerate them or at the very least disseminate the information to law enforcement rather than just put them on a “medical watch list.” Foremost should be preventing these products of the Covid/cloistered video game-addled generation from purchasing a firearm. This would not be that difficult for law enforcement to do. But alas, it allows Biden another opportunity to pander to his base and distract us from the abysmal performance of his administration. With the addition of gun control to the still simmering abortion issue, they hope these two long-standing  Democrat talking points will prop up the party as they head into the midterms.

Let the People Speak

The sanctity of our three independent branches of government staying in their lanes of authority as granted by the Constitution is under constant pressure by anarchists, in their many stripes to be politically blurred. They fail to realize the die has been cast as to how our democratic republic is to be governed. The rules of that governance are clearly spelled out in its Constitution with specific provisions for amendment and deletion, sans any desired political deviations by their respective memberships. We, the people, decide what laws govern us, not the government’s political bureaucrats. If those who are so bent on legalizing abortions put it on a referendum and let us the people vote on it.

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