I support capital punishment for every possible reason but one – the inevitability of executing the innocent. And that’s all I need to oppose it on principle.
But I’m not going to raise a huge fuss about this particular execution:
BREAKING: Texas has executed John William King, a white supremacist who orchestrated the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd Jr., one of the most gruesome hate crimes in U.S. history. https://t.co/conLbMnmzt
It’s amazing how little actual white supremacy there’s been in the wild in the past 20-odd years, other than the gaslight-y stuff the media’s promoting – that’s the only word for it – these days.
Seen on (and observed about) a snowflake protest sign:
You guys, the campus socialists might have one-upped Westborough Baptist đ pic.twitter.com/SGcTNfJ9OPâ Daniel G. Weldon II đ´âď¸ (@DanWeldonFL) April 24, 2019
It’s an astute observation – but Big Left’s control over the entire education system is a lot more dangerous than Westboro, even with their platoon of carnivorous attack lawyers.
Bernie Sanders wants to let felons vote while in prison. The point of voting is to choose wise leaders to make sensible laws. The point of restrictions on voting is to ensure the people doing the choosing are, themselves, wise people. Children, the mentally infirm, and felons are, by definition, not wise people. Felons have already demonstrated theyâre not willing to follow sensible laws so they no longer get to participate in choosing who makes the laws. This isnât a new concept â itâs been the law for thousands of years for the simple reason that it works. Watering down wise peoplesâ votes by extending the franchise to unwise people, can only result in decisions that are less wise. And thatâs how we get Democrats in office: dumb voters making bad decisions. This canât end well.
Gov. Tim Walzâs plan to increase taxes would hit the lowest-income Minnesotans the hardest, according to a new analysis by his own Department of Revenue. Minnesotans on the bottom half of the income ladder would absorb an average 9.9 % tax increase. For every $100 they earn, these Minnesotans would pay well more than an extra dollar in taxes. The poorest 10 % of Minnesotans would pay an extra $2.37 in taxes for every $100 they earn. The upper half of Minnesotans would pay an additional 5.9 %, although the wealthy would wind up paying far more in actual dollars than lower-income Minnesotans.
This is of course exactly what happened under Dayton, although the media didn’t bother reporting that beyond the most basic lip service, either.
Management ordered Building Maintenance to turn down the heat to fight global warming and save the world. Employees complain they are freezing. The maintenance guy uses a fancy electronic thermometer to verify the temperature is 68 degrees, precisely as ordered, therefore people can’t be cold. He is mixing units. Degrees are a measurement of heat activity, not of comfort. “68 degrees” and “chilly” are perfectly consistent descriptions of the same office space. Americans have this problem on a broader scale, with politics. We don’t define what we’re measuring, so we can’t explain why we think America was once great and could be again, and why they think it was never great and won’t be until they replace it with something else. Joe doakes
I think it’s more a matter of intentionally avoiding defining what we’re measuring.
To: All Democrats and “Progressives”, Nationwide
From: Mitch Berg, Irascible Peasant
Re: 2020
All,
You owe it to your country, and your progressive souls (well, you know, whatever) to accept nothing less than the following in a Presidential, Congressional, State Executive and Legislative, and city candidate:
Push for impeachment. Tirelessly. Every news cycle. Every time you’re on MSNBC or CNN. And out to dinner. And while alone in the bathroom.
Support banning guns, by executive order if you can’t make it happen via the legislative process.
Support diluting the franchise that is one of the hallmarks of our freedom until it becomes just another bit of graft to be apportioned by our betters.
SCENE: Mitch BERG is riding a Lime scooter through downtown Minneapolis when he sees Avery LIBRELLE haggling with a PANHANDLER. BERG pulls over – before getting that look on his face that says “I already regret this”
Rep. Janine Boyd proposed Amendment 0291 which would have provided an exception for black mothers to abort their babies. Boyd suggested protecting black children from abortion is akin to slavery. “Black slaves were once treated like cattle and put out to stud in order to create generations of more slaves,” she said during her remarks, which were broadcast on The Ohio Channel. “Our country is not far enough beyond our history to legislate as if it is.”
So – life = slavery?
In case you were wondering if the Democrat “Stupid Caucus” has a deep enough bench waiting in line behind Jerry Nadler, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and the like, fear not.
There is a proposal making the rounds to change the name of Saint Croix State Park to honor former Minnesota Senator and Vice President, Walter Mondale.
Of course, there’s some pushback. The park already has a perfectly good name with history that matters to the area and the state:
People who live near the park, which opened in 1943 and featured dozens of New Deal-era buildings, say history would be lost as a result of renaming. They are circulating petitions seeking to keep the current St. Croix name.
âYes, (Mondale) did some wonderful things for our waterways,â said Maria Nichols, who lives one mile from the park. âBut I have been to the point where Iâve almost thought of calling him and saying, âHelp us!ââ
It should surprise nobody that Ryan Winkler wants to jam the name down anyway.
Since my role in this world seems to be “solve other peoples’ problems”, I”ll step in here.
Let’s rename Lilydale State Park after the former Vice President.
I almost thought this tweet, apparently by a 20 year old Grievance Studies major from Oberlin College, to be the sort of thing that only Snopes would think wasn’t parody:
Does…anyone at that White House understand the significance of that song? https://t.co/IK9h8fOwNj
Of course, “Edelweiss” was written by Rogers and Hammerstein, in the late fifties. For a movie about some escaping from Naziism.
Here it is, in all its storm-trooper-y goodness:
Silly millennials
UPDATE: I’m told that Ms. Haberman is not actually a grievance studies major from Oberlin, but in fact NBC’s White House correspondent and one of the “elite” “gatekeepers” that are supposed to keep the public’s news safe and hygienic.
People are objecting to Russian television using a mindless robot news reader because they’re afraid it will spread propaganda. What, unlike the mindless news readers presently spreading propaganda on CNN, MSNBC, etc.? Are you kidding me? Since they’re all just reading the news that someone off-camera gave them, personally, I preferred Ananova. She was a computer simulation of a human rather than an android simulation or Democrat simulation, but she was hot. If I’m going to be lied to anyway, might as well be someone pretty. Joe Doakes
I can not watch the Russian newsbot just as efficiently as I don’t watch the American news bots…
The Jussie Smollett case showed us that there’s a whole different set of rules for people who know the right people, politically.
Or at least, it shows it to people who’ve been hiding under a rock and are juuust starting to pay attention.
Prosecutors in Maryland have dropped even the most token charges against the woman who assaulted Kellyanne Conway while she tried to eat at a restaurant.
In short, Montgomery County prosecutors have usurped the role of lawmakers who criminalized assault and determined the range of penalties for it, and of judges who evaluate mitigating factors. Consider the statement of Montgomery Stateâs Attorney John McCormick:
Was this woman rude? Yes. Did she violate Ms. Conwayâs space and try to embarrass her? Yes and yes. Is this a case where criminal sanctions would have been appropriate? No.
But wait! âThis womanâ did more than violate Conwayâs space and try to embarrass her. She physically assaulted Conway. Thatâs a crime and should be treated as such.
The message sent by McCormick is clear: Montgomery County residents can assault conservatives and Trump administration officials with impunity here. There has been a wave of confrontations by leftists of such figures in the Washington, D.C. area. Montgomery County is saying that itâs okay during these confrontations to grab and shake the target.
Of course, the Woody Kaine case in Saint Paul – where the son of the Democrat veep candidate and his “Anti”-Fa pals didn’t even get slapped on the wrist for an incredibly violent assault – already showed it to anyone who’s paying attention; in Blue America, even the apparatus of “law enforcement” is doing its part to “other” non-“progressive”thoughts, institutions, and ultimately people.
You know how you see a person and based on appearance and a few words, make up a story about that person in your mind? Maybe you don’t. I do. I was at Cub, just walking up to the checkout (with actual cashier because I had more than 20 items). A woman came quickly from an aisle and almost beat me but my cart was ahead of her so she stopped short, holding her basket. I said “You only have a few items, why don’t you go ahead” and she said “Thank you” and did. No problem, I’ve got time and she’s obviously in a hurry. I noticed she’s not wearing a wedding ring but lots of women don’t. 40-ish, very tanned, curly haired, could have been mixed race or could have recently returned from vacation or maybe she hits the tanning booth, none of my business. So she checks out and starts bagging, I’m moving my cart to the end so I can bag when my stuff is done scanning, she’s talking to the casher. “Can I get the belt turned on?” I notice her stuff is only half-way down the conveyor to her. The clerk tells her to push the button but she says “I want it to move constantly.” It’s one of those padded black squares that you can push with your hip to make it move constantly. She wearing Spandex, not a silk dress. I’m thinking to myself: lean on it, lady, it’s not that hard. So right away, I have this story in my mind. Pushy and not too bright. Teacher. Divorced. Spring break tan. Big hurry because her life matters. If I were to tell her “Hey, lady, we’ve all got somewhere to be, lighten up,” it’d be a giant insult and possibly a hate crime. I know it’s a complete fiction, a story that I made up in my head about someone I don’t know at all, but I’d be willing to bet I’m right about a lot of it. Which goes to show why stereotypes are a good thing. They’re efficient. They allow us to skip all the tedious fact-gathering and elimination of possibilities so we can go straight to avoidance. It’s why Jesse Jackson is relieved to hear footsteps following him and find it’s an older White guy instead of a young Black guy. I suppose it would be considerate of me to help other people write their own head-stories so they can more quickly begin avoidance and leave me alone. Where can I get a MAGA cap? Joe Doakes
This is more common than people thi…
…OK – it’s more common than people think, as I personally imagine them thinking.
Vincent Nesta Trotter. an eastside Saint Paul homeowner who shot a guy who was alleged to have crashed a stolen car and fled from police, has given us an object lesson on what not to do in a self-defense situation.
Remember – when claiming self-defense, you have to prove you were in reasonable, immediate fear of death or great bodily harm, you tried to disengage, you used only the force you needed to end the lethal threat, and (when outside your home) made a reasonable effort to disengage.
And if, heaven forfend, you are in a shooting that you believe fits those criteria (and in Minnesota, it had better)? My first carry permit instructor, the late Joel Rosenberg, drilled it into his students’ heads; when talking to the police, say only:
I want to talk to a lawyer. I don’t consent to a search.
That – and pointing out evidence and witnesses who attest the fact that you met those four criteria above – are all you say.
You do that so evidence that you violated at least three of those four criteria doesn’t wind up in front of the entire jury pool in the local media. As it seems to have done for Mr. Trotter:
The complaint says Trotter followed police instructions and put the gun on the ground, telling officers, “I pull up and he’s by my door.” The complaint states he also said, “I told him donât move, he moves, and I let 3 or 4 rounds go. I see blood, so I think I hit him. I tried to hit him. I carry a 45.” Officers identified the man who was shot as the suspect in the auto theft incident, and believed that he had fled police not long ago. He denied that, but told police that he was walking through the yard at Trotter’s address when a man pulled up in a vehicle and began yelling. He told police he heard shots and got on the ground. He said he was walking away and the man yelled, “Don’t turn around,” then started shooting.
And as if that’s not bad enough:
Surveillance footage shows the shooting victim walk up onto Trotter’s porch and sit down, never attempting to get inside the home. When Trotter’s vehicle pulls up five minutes later, the video shows the victim walk down the porch steps and take about two steps toward Trotter. His hands are visible and away from his body. The video then shows the man walking away from Trotter, “looking back over his left shoulder as he retreated,” the complaint states, and then Trotter advancing and a muzzle flash from the gun. Trotter continues to advance with his gun in a “high ready position” while saying something. “It is clear from the video that (the victim) was retreating away from Trotter as Trotter fired his handgun,” the complaint says.
I’m no lawyer (dear God, thanks) and Mr. Trotter is innocent until proven guilty.
But to the casual observer, it’d seem that Mr. Trotter was not in immediate threat of death or any kind of harm – the guy was walking away and seemed (according to the media report) to show no signs of being armed. He made no effort to retreat – quite the opposite.
We don’t know how the trial (or plea-bargaining) is going to go, but the moral of the story is this: if you’re going to carry a firearm for self-defense, learn the law. And figure out if it’s something you’ve got the temperament to do.
As I try, in my peasant-y way, to navigate the reefs and shoals of all the “fake news” the world throws before us, I’m thankful we’ve got gatekeepers like “Snopes.com” to do our thinking for us.
Twenty years after the Columbine High School shooting made practicing for armed intruders as routine as fire drills, many parents have only tepid confidence in the ability of schools to stop a gunman, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. And while most Americans consider schools less safe than they were 20 years ago, the poll finds a majority say schools arenât at fault for shootings. Bullying, the availability of guns, the internet and video games share more of the blame.
If you tell people the sky is falling often and consistently enough, people will start carrying umbrellas.
Iâm a W-2 employee with employer provided health insurance. My wife is retired, collecting Social Security and a pension. We buy license tabs, pay interest on our home mortgage and give to charity. We adjusted our withholding so we break even â no refund but nothing due. With the new simplified tax code, we should be able to file our tax return on a postcard, right? But no, State and Federal is 17 pages. I lack the skill to file on paper and lack the patience to play with software so I pay a tax preparor $200 to dot the âIâsâ and cross the âTâs.â If we lived in a socialist country, I wouldnât have to deal with any of that. They government would pay for all my expenses and keep everything I earn aside from doling out a small allowance, same as when I was a kid living with my parents. Itâs beginning to appeal to me. Joe Doakes
It was a Sunday morning in the second week of June, 1983. I had just gotten out of my sophomore year of college, and was on the trip to Europe I had been saving for since I was 14.
For the first three weeks, I was in Europe – the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland and what we used to call West Germany (kids, ask your parents) â with the Jamestown College choir. Iâve written about the choir before â it was the little college choir that could; at one point, it had been rated as one of the three best small college choirs in the United States. And 11 years earlier, 1972, it had been the first American choir to be allowed to sing at Notre Dame.
It was 11 years later â a period that doesnât seem so long anymore. We were getting ready to sing one of the big masses on Sunday morning.
And I had a horrible cold.
And for a beautiful, glorious hour and change, I didnât care.
The cathedral was built centuries before amplification – and yet the spoken voice carried clearly through the sanctuary; it seems like you could hear every congregant praying, individually, as you sat in the choir.
And singing?
It was one of the most sublime musical experiences of my life.
After the mass, the cold reasserted itself. I needed sleep. I found a cabinet in the basement that looked like itâs been there for hundreds of years, and was covered in dust that looked like it remembered Napoleon. I didnât care; I slept for two hours and got i shape for the afternoon concert – a full performance for the afternoon audience of worshippers and tourists.
And in that room that had been built halfway between Leif Erickson and Christopher Columbus, I stood and sang and marveled at the sheer acoustic glory of the whole experience.
Not my choir.
I was still sick â but I wasnât going to waste a gorgeous summer Sunday in Paris. I went to rhe Louvre – because who goes to Paris without going there? – and then got intentionally lost in the Latin Quarter, spending a few hours wandering around quite happy not to know where I was or what I was doing.
I knew I could find my way to the Seine river – and of course, the spire at the Cathedral was almost always visible, wherever I was.
I thought about that the other day, as I watched the spire come crashing to the ground.
And thatâs really the last I want to think about that image.
When the police and prosecutors talk with you in relation to allegations of criminal activity, you have the right to remain silent and ask for a lawyer to keep you from saying something stupid or even just inadvertent that can end up putting you in jail. Â
And it doesn’t even have to be anything you say to the cops.Â
A few years ago, during the “Black LIves Matter” protest at Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct, a fellow with a carry permit, Alan Scarsella, shot and wounded someone from a group of protesters that was chasing him.  His fear of immediate death and great bodily harm was real; he attempted to retreat, running a whole block before firing back; he used the force needed to end the threat (the chase stopped cold when he fired). Â
But on the way to the protest, he and his idiot friends made some videos, including some statements (which may or may not have been quotes) that the county prosecutor managed to get before the jury as racist provocations that, in the end, negated Scarsella’s attempt to prove that he wasn’t the aggressor in the jury’s eyes. He got convicted and sentenced to seven years. Â
So if you’re a good guy or gal with a gun who, heaven forfend, winds up shooting someone in self-defense, everything you say can and will be used against you – even things you say long before the episode in question, unrelated to the shooting. Â
And what picture did the Strib, and then every single gun-grabber group, run with?
Photo via the Strib’s Sharon Prather.
From the Strib, with emphasis added:
A 36-year-old man with a gun was with the suspect when police arrived, and he identified himself to officers as the homeowner, police said. He cooperated with the investigation and was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of aggravated assault. The Star Tribune typically does not name suspects who have not been charged. Police found the man who had been shot in the side yard of the house after hearing gunfire, said Sgt. Mike Ernster. A sign in the window of the house read, âNo trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again!â The sign punctuates the message with drawings of bullet holes.
But will the police and county attorney – who both cordially detest the law-abiding gun owner and dislike the notion of the Good Guy With A Gun, use this sign as evidence to logroll a jury, if necessary, into believing that the homeowner, whatever the actual situation, was looking for a chance to use his right to keep and bear arms on someone who “had it coming”?
Yes.
Why embroider it?
If you are a gun owner who is concerned about self-defense, it is imperative that you stop writing on social media, putting stickers on your car, or posting your house with signs talking about what you intend to do to alleged criminals with your firearms.
It’s the same thing I wrote back when I did own guns. I’d never buy another, of course. Guns terrify me.
One of the benefits of working in a government building frequented by diverse members of the recently immigrated public is their wide variety of food choices which result in powerful aromas and startling splatter patterns in the menâs restroom. Sadly, not all of them have fully assimilated the culture of flushing upon completion. Bladder control in older men is occasionally a problem but I am pleased to report I can now hold my breath for quite a long time. Joe Doakes
Or, put another way…:
“The cabbie smelled like someone eating gorgonzola cheese while getting a perm in a septic tank beneath a slaughterhouse” — Dennis Miller
Ethnic food and peoples’ digestive tracts is an evergreen source of yuks.
So last Monday and Tuesday I went to see *both* nights with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at the Dakota.
Now, this’ll be the fourth year, I think, I’ve caught Johnny and the band at the Dakota – which is as far west as they ever go, since their fan base never got far west of New Jersey even during their commercial heyday (big album sales in the seventies; some big placements in the eighties; one top-forty single with the help of Jon Bon Jovi, Springsteen, and Steve Van Zandt in 1991).
Now, they are perhaps the tightest band I’ve ever seen. LIterally – the whole seven piece band (guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, trumpet, trombone and sax) taking cues on the fly and launching songs from a 45 year career instantly.
And once every night – just once, a little before halfway through – Johnny seems to decide to test the band on that, by asking the audiene “What do you all wanna hear?”
And then he filters through the cacaphony from the audience, and finds a song, and calls it out – or sometimes just starts singing the first line – and the band counts off and plays.
And in previous years, the call from the stage caught me flat footed.
But not this year. I spent time practicing, drilling on my response, so I’d be there with a title when the challenge when out.
Monday night, when Johnny presented the opportunity to the crowd, I was right there. I donned my projecting radio/command voice, and shouted out “Got To Be A Better Way Home!” – a deep cut from their 1978 album “Hearts Of Stone”.
