I Voted

Did my civic duty today and voted in the primary for the least evil candidates.

Distinct from the lesser evil I get to vote for come the election, because the least evil candidate never wins the primary.

I Can Think Of Several Finer Groups Of People

Pat Harrigan (R-NC) wants LEOSA style carry for current and former Special Forces personnel.

He says he can think no finer group of people...

First, fuck you Pat.

Second, I can think of a finer group who is far more deserving of national reciprocity.

Everyone.

I've been opposed every and all LEO sop law ever proposed or passed.

We don't need more "only ones" legislation.  We need more everyone's.

I especially love the quote, "If enacted, the law would represent a significant expansion of gun-carry rights for service members and veterans, creating a new nationwide benefit not currently available to most civilians."

Let me amend that:

If enacted, the law would represent a significant expansion of gun-carry rights for SOME service members and SOME veterans, creating a new nationwide benefit not currently available to most civilians. 

An infinitesimally small portion of service members and veterans, I might add. 

Should Have Kept It As It Was

The more DSA candidates win in the primaries, the more I think we shouldn't have let Germany reunite.

We should have kept East Germany as it was as a living history museum so that when anyone started to forget that every political party with socialism or socialist in the name was evil, we could point them at the Democratic Republic of Germany so they could marvel at it's success.

Of course, like all political groups with socialism in their name, the real goals are not the stated ones.

Sharia is the more apt 'S' in the DSA name.

You only get to use the D a limited number of times before they lock the gate behind themselves once they obtain enough power.

It creates the classic situation you can vote your way into and have to shoot your way out.  And they do love themselves some gun control, don't they?

I also notice that DSA shares a trait with another socialist in the name group.  They hate the Jews.  They have a lot of overlap on the political Venn diagram with "conservative" bigots there.

Dunno if we're going to dodge this civil war.  Our luck has to run out eventually. 

Jeff, You Cleared Up Any Doubt For Me

FOP is constantly on the wrong side of freedom and liberty in Florida and this scare tactic is bullshit since funding for fire, law enforcement and schools is guaranteed.

In other words, Jeff is lying through his teeth and he knows it.

Again.

I remember FOP and their position on conceal carry, open carry, campus carry, 18-21 year olds carrying, waiting periods, bump stocks, and anything NFA.

So, pardon me, if I just vote for my self interests and tell the help they can suck it up or find productive employment. 

If You Have Nothing To Hide You Have Nothing To Worry About

I do so love being able to toss this back in the faces of the Democrats.

They're busted and they know it and that's why they're scared of the SAVE America Act.

Their objections at state level attempts to clean up the voter rolls were not the reaction of a group that's innocent of the charge. 

Missed Opportunity

Babylon Bee is sleeping at the switch.

They should have had a headline, "Trump, taking inspiration from Mars Attacks 'addresses Congress'."

Area woman says, "he killed Congress!"

Film at 11. 

Ah

I found the section in the Take Care of America's Veterans act that has all the big names in a tizzy against it.

It's deunionizing the staff at VA hospitals.

It was never complaining about future veteran's care, it was all about lining the union pockets.

AFL-CIO and SEIU are against this bill.

My kneejerk is to be for it now. 

But I Remember

The Veterans of Foreign Wars is all in a tizzy about veterans benefits being cut.

They care about ALL of us now?

Because I remember, back in 1992, when what my paltry 10% service connected got me was dramatically reduced.

You now need to have a 30% serviced disconnected disability to get those benefits.

The VFW didn't give two shits about me back then.

The Cold War didn't count, see.

To see the power the VFW had, look at the difference in benefits Nam ERA vets get compared to anyone serving from the end of Vietnam to the beginning of the War on Terror.

I'm not opposed to them fighting this fight, but I remember when they didn't care about me.  They still won't support me directly because my DD214 doesn't reflect my entire service.

There still isn't a single veteran's organization that represents all of us.

The smaller VSO's are geared more to discourage us from making claims.  Ask me how I know.  I am discouraged, they are successful. 

If you're about to ETS, look at the dates CAREFULLY on the DD214 they ask you to review.  You have that moment and 90 days after that to fix any errors.  If you notice that someone typed 89 and not 90 as your separation date, and you notice in 01...  It's a nightmare to get fixed inside the VA's system and you will NEVER get a new DD214 showing the correct dates.

"I was popping percocet like M&Ms when I ETS'd," is not grounds for missing the clerical error! 

Don Is Coming To His Senses

The Iranians never stopped firing so it wasn't really a ceasefire, ceasefire is no longer in effect. 

The Iranians were lying?  PERSIANS lying?

OMG!  Did the sun come up in the East?

Is water wet?

Does fire burn? 

It's Baked Into The Language

The paper that was posted on the white supremacist site (much to the author's chagrin), and I can't find it posted on a non-racist site, focuses on how most African languages have no concepts we consider bedrock ideas in Western Civilization.

Without these concepts, you cannot be a true member of Western Civ.

The sooner you are exposed to these concepts, the easier it is to learn them.

And the question becomes the old nature vs nurture debate.

I believe that the average African-American can learn these concepts and be successful in American society.

I base my hypothesis on the fact that they used to be successful members of American society before the Democrat party actively hamstrung them.

In fact, it often seems as if every time racism is almost dead and black Americans are poised to become full members, some Democrat comes along and fucks it with a dick dipped in resin and rolled in ground glass.

I believe that race has nothing to do with their circumstances because the same failures are present in Appalachia.  Thomas Sowell has mentioned the similarity more than once.

That similarity has the "fucked by Democrats" in common. 

Property Taxes

Harvey found an article saying that Governor DeSantis' proposed change to the homestead tax exemption from $50k to $250k, with a slow increase to $500k amounts to a sop to the "ultra-wealthy," whom would be the only beneficiaries.

I am shocked to find I am part of the ultra-wealthy, because I will most certainly benefit from this increase in the exemption.

Facebook is full of Democrat politicians and spokespeople decrying the tax breaks, warning that this will lead to numerous programs being defunded.

Interestingly they don't name which programs, they just imply that it's something that I care about.

I don't think they are correct about that when the governor has repeatedly stated that he wants to make sure that core duties are funded, like roads and infrastructure.

I care about those.

I think that the scare tactic doesn't name the programs threatened by a reduction in funds because they know that many, perhaps most, people will say something like, "we were paying for that with our taxes?  No, I think we can do without it."

And, as always, if there's a program you feel that people cannot do without, there's nothing from stopping you from forming a non-profit to provide that program and collecting funding from donations from like-minded individuals.

Rather than taking the money from them under false pretenses under the threat of property confiscation. 

You're Going To Have To Be More Specific Drew

Drew Carey says Angelenos shouldn't vote for Spencer Pratt because he's a "serial scammer."

He doesn't, however, say how that distinguishes Mr Pratt from the other candidates. 

I guess he tried by saying, "I understand being angry/unsatisfied, but at least get behind someone competent and not some serial scammer without a soul or moral compass."

Again, how is Mr Pratt different from the other candidates? 

Worth Your Time

If you're like me and Libertarian adjacent, this article is well worth your time.

It's long.  It might set you off a bit.

Gut it out. 

It codifies why the hair on the back of my neck rises when either of the Pauls spoke.  It identifies the wrongness.

Read the whole thing. 

Mox Nix

Politicians want credit for passing the same bill that gets passed every year. 

What this does, and has done, for as long as I can remember is tie the increases to veteran's compensation to the same percentage increase as Social Security.

If they wanna impress me, pass a law that doubles the compensation and make it law that it increases thereafter at 1.5x the percentage of SS.

I'll Help!

There seems to be some confusion out there.

Here's a handy way of looking at things that will help.

If you do something because of race, it is racism.

If you increase the voting power of Black people because they are Black, you are doing a racist thing. 

If you increase the voting power of White people because they are White, you are doing a racist thing. 

If you increase the voting power of Asian people because they are Asian, you are doing a racist thing. 

If you increase the voting power of Hispanic people because they are Hispanic, you are doing a racist thing.

Update:* Swapping the races doesn't make it not racist.  If it's racist for White people to do it, it's racist for Black people to do it:  Regardless of how often or how long White people did it!  Two wrongs don't make a right. 

See how that works?

If the voting power of a given people is decreased because it increases the power of one political party over another it is not necessarily racist.

If the voting power of one political party is always increased when the voting power of a given race is increased it is racist.

If the voting power of a given race is disproportionate to their population, it is racist.

The majority will always have more voting power than the minority.  That there are more White people than Black people is incidental to argument. 

I hope this clear things up.  But it doesn't. 

Which brings us to Florida and how the new district map increases the power of Whitey™.

Florida was 51.5% White as of the 2020 census.  It was 14.5% Black and 26.5% Hispanic.

The distribution of race is not even in Florida.  There are no real concentrations of Black people where they're the majority unless you get really creative with drawing the lines and the map suddenly looks a lot like Illinois.  Essentially you'd have to pinpoint every Black person you can find, connect the dots and that's your district with a majority Black population.

This district will utterly disenfranchise anyone who is not Black and, historically, it was drawn across places that were, historically, majority Hispanic.  Oddly, never up along the Alabama border were it made more sense...

Yet, somehow, this increases White Power®?  Never mind there's a distinct population of "Black" people who'd say, "¡Soy cubano!"  Does moving the lines increase or decrease their voting power?

The final thought I leave you with: There is no way to draw the lines that is completely fair.  It is impossible.  The best you can do is to maximize fairness, but someone will always be left out. 

*Thanks SiGraybeard!

Devil's Advocate

Is it possible that the reason that Illinois' map is gerrymandered so that every representative can have an office in Chicago and has nothing to do with race or party affiliation?

I'm here all night, try the veal and don't forget to tip your server.
 

Better

I am not saying I would be good at it.

I don't think I would do a good job at all. 

What I am saying I would be better at it than the people currently doing it. 

This is why shit's fucked up. 

I Think We're Doing Everything We HAVE to do...

The United States should be doing everything I can to destroy South Africa as a functioning nation. If they are going to do these racist things, let them bleed.

— Damon Alan (@DamonAlan) April 13, 2026

I think if we do nothing South Africa will cease to be a functioning nation within my lifetime.

I can remember when it was considered a peer to 1st World status.

It's Kinda Nice

Wanna know one of the best things about not being a Catholic?

When the dude in the stupid hat says stupid shit, I don't have to listen.

But I have noticed that there's a shit ton of Catholics who are going to be in direct conflict with what the Vatican is putting out of late.

Don't fret, it won't be the first time such a schism has happened.

The Orthodox folks left before it was even called Catholicism.

The Church of England happened because the leader of a nation wanted to ignore the Pope.

I wonder what the Church of America is going to look like.

Where will the CoA's version of the Vatican be?

Can't wait to see what American Bishops do about the hunk of the money and property they will be claiming over the Vatican being the false Church and thus not entitled to it any more.  If only they'd return to the fold...

Me?  What religion I might have leans to spirits in the machines.  I don't care what my friends' invisible friend says let alone some dude in a funny hat in Italy says his invisible friend said.

Actually, I think I'd have more respect if the Pope actually cited their invisible friend and not just Church dogma.

Also, remember, the deal made way back when was God stayed out of politics and politics would stay out of the church.

Every once and a while one side or the other has to start this pissing match again.

We've been here before and we're going to be here again.

That's Not What Makes You A Nazi

Owning a copy of Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

READING a copy of Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

Even quoting from Mein Kampf doesn't make you a Nazi.

Acting like a Nazi makes you a Nazi.

If someone owns, reads and quotes from Mein Kampf and doesn't behave like a Nazi, they're not a Nazi.

If someone acts like a Nazi, but doesn't own, read or quote from Mein Kampf they ARE a Nazi.

It seems really strange to have to explain this.

It seems self evident to me.

Oh, and in reference to a particular Congressional candidate from Texas who's in the news for owning a copy...

Mocking Mein Kampf and Nazis in general, and at length, means you're not a Nazi.

I notice that the press accusing this candidate never mock the Nazis...