Thoughts on Charlottesville…

A question nobody is asking, at least in public, but I can’t help but wonder if?

McAuliffe actually wanted the confrontation to happen?

He is, and always has been, a Clintonista… He will do anything to advance the Dems/Clinton’s agenda.

Why am I going there, you might ask?

Well, McAuliffe actually had the National Guard on standby in Charlottesville, but didn’t deploy them even AFTER the fit hit the shan… Article, HERE. And there’s at least one report that the LEOs and VSP were told to stand down and back off, can’t confirm who gave that order.

One side had a permit, the white nationalists. Antifa, et al just showed up. NEITHER side stands for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or anything most Americans believe. I think they should ALL be in prison from the get go, but that’s just grumpy old me…

It was left up to the LEOs from Charlottesville and VSP to separate the mobs. The Guard could have prevented the two from EVER interacting, which would have prevented the entire situation. However, once the conflict started, the groups were finally separated, and apparently both groups were marching/straggling toward another park when the car plowed into the crowd. At that point, the President made the following statement, not knowing who had hit whom-

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides,” the president said. “It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. “It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.”

Of course the left immediately decried it, saying he should have singled out the white supremacists! However the left wants to try to twist it, there was, and has been violence from the left, Antifa among others that is just as bad. I personally believe the President was right to call out BOTH sides.

It is interesting to note that the MSM/left/Dems did the SAME thing, almost in the exact language, when the Bernie fanatic shot Scallise, and Obama couldn’t find a ‘motive’ for the DPD shootings… Nor was there any outcry about the Berkeley riots.

The other ‘odd’ thing, at least in my mind, is how the driver was arrested and suddenly his facebook account was deleted, yet he was in custody! Who had access, and what was in there? Was he another Bernie fan???

And since I’m on odd things, why is there no mention of Antifa being in Charlottesville? Calling them counter protesters doesn’t hide their true identity! Frankly, I’m glad to see DOJ jumping into this one with both feet! Maybe we’ll actually find out who was there on BOTH sides, and from where. And maybe a lot more folks are going to get locked up!!!

Federal Grand Juries are not like most, in that you don’t have a choice about testifying or not. If you don’t you go to jail until you do testify. And these would be federal charges, much like what happened in DC during the inauguration!

Speaking of which, it looks like there will be trials starting later in the year, with even MORE charges against the rioters. It appears six have already pled and are the minority. Article, HERE.

One wonders if any of those protesters showed up in Charlottesville?

It is time for Conservatives to wake up and understand that they are being gamed.  The progressive agenda is not going away; it has been around for more than a hundred years, eroding our rights bit by bit…

Your thoughts?

Sometimes…

It’s NICE being the old guy…

Spent most of the day at a liquidation auction for a gun store, watching prices fluctuate all over the place… Glocks for $600, USED Sigs for $450! Henry Big Boys for $725! Sig Suppressors were all over the place, well under MSRP to at MSRP. When you figure in buyers premium of 10%, these are at or over retail!!!

But… There were TWO count ’em, TWO real 1911s in the entire auction, there were a few Kimbers, but I don’t count them… And all the Kimbers went for ‘MSRP’, why I don’t know…

Both real ones were Springer Range Officers, one in 9mm  and one in .45.

They followed me home, so I guess I gotta keep ’em…

And they were ‘significantly’ under retail! I was the ONLY bidder on the 9mm, and only 1 other guy bid once on the .45! The auctioneer saw me out in the hall as I was paying for them and he grumbled, “You stole those! Be glad I couldn’t bid on them.”

I smiled politely and thanked him for not bidding… 🙂

So….

Who is REALLY in control of the Dems? Hildabeast? Bernie? OR???

Former President Barack Obama will re-emerge on the national scene this fall, though Democrats expect him to do so with caution.

One aide describes the beginning of a “delicate dance” that aims to put Obama in the Democratic fray but prevents him from remaining the face of the party.

Although he’s been running a ‘shadow’ government per se, running around meeting with world leaders ahead of meetings that President Trump has been having, like the Saudis, the G-20, and Germany, apparently he’s coming out of the closet again. Full article, HERE.

In other news, the war of words (if you will), between the NORKs and the US continue…

This time is significantly different however. This time, the US president is NOT bowing to political pressure and ‘playing the game.’ If you don’t follow Virtual Mirage, you should… HERE is his latest peek behind the curtain so so speak, and he ‘knows’ what he is talking about.

Of course the left is melting down, accusing President Trump of being crazy, among the more ‘polite’ things they’ve said this week. But he’s crazy like a fox…

He has a strong and well qualified SECDEF, SECSTATE, and UN Ambassador who are all working various issues in their swim lanes. There is a new set of sanctions in place, and C7F has been moving assets as necessary within their AOR. And doing FONs in the South China Sea, including a 12nm pass off Mystery Reef, currently a reef being claimed by China. Of interest, maybe accidental, maybe not, the ship that did that was the USS McCain. 🙂

Guam is one of the seventeen democratically self governed US Territories, and IS under the protection of the US, in addition to being a strategic military location in the second island chain in the Pacific. It is home to both US Navy and USAF bases, and roughly 170,000 people. Effectively, shooting at Guam IS shooting at America.

China has refused to support/enact the last EIGHT UN resolutions against the NORKs, and this has, IMHO, given the NORKs the ‘belief’ that China supports their actions. But both China and the NORKs, what happened in Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria under President Trump.

He’s not playing games, and the sooner China and the NORKs realize it, the better. 20 years of appeasement has ended.

I’m late, I’m late…

Lawdog’s next book is out!!!

The African Adventures is live! Click on the cover to go directly to the book, and enjoy!!!

The blurb-

LawDog had the honor of representing law and order in the Texas town of Bugscuffle as a Sheriff’s Deputy, where he became notorious for, among other things, the famous Case of the Pink Gorilla Suit. But long before he put on the deputy’s star, he grew up in Nigeria, where his experiences were equally unforgettable. In THE LAWDOG FILES: AFRICAN ADVENTURES, LawDog chronicles his encounters with everything from bush pilots, 15-foot pythons, pygmy mongooses, brigadier-captains, and Peace Corp hippies to the Nigerian space program.

THE LAWDOG FILES: AFRICAN ADVENTURES are every bit as hilarious as the previous volume, as LawDog relates his unforgettable experiences in a laconic, self-deprecating manner that is funny in its own right. Africa wins again, and again, and again, but, so too does the reader in this sobering, but hilarious collection of true tales from the Dark Continent.

There ARE new stories that were never on the blog, and they are ALL entertaining! Hilarious, thoughtful, and true to life, even if most folks won’t believe it! 🙂

Also, Tom Rogneby has a new short up on Amazon, called The BoogeyMan!

Once again, click the cover to go directly to it!

The blurb-

Martin Shelby is The BoogeyMan, a private investigator and fixer for folks who get into trouble too tough and too strange for the police. People only bring him the jobs that require the body of a linebacker and the face of a gargoyle.

Now, he’s been handed a job that pays double, but that can only mean double the danger. 

But when the things that go bump in the night look under their bed for HIM, how hard can it be? To The BoogeyMan, it’s just another job.

I’ve pre-read both of these books, and while wildly divergent, both are excellent reads! If you liked Tom’s Escort Duty, this short is in the same vein. Well written and you won’t want to put it down.

TBT…

If I have a grail car, it’s the 1937 Supercharged Cord 812.

The brochure is for 1936, but it’s the only complete one I found…

The one thing I remember (as a little kid) was the engine turned instrument panel! SHINY!!!

A family friend had one, sadly sitting in a garage over in Dallas. Her husband had it, and he’d gone to Love Field to fly to Chicago, had a heart attack on the plane, from what I remember. They car was parked and never driven again (that I know of). I was maybe 8 or 9 the one time I got to sit in it.

This is probably the best pic I could find of the dash… Gaudy as hell by today’s standards, but back in the day… 🙂

Wikimedia Commons

What’s your grail car, or truck?

Posted in TBT

The next Air Force One??? And other stuff…

President Donald Trump said the projected cost of new Air Force One aircraft was too high, so the U.S. Air Force found a way to lower it: by buying a pair of Boeing 747 jetliners abandoned by a bankrupt Russian airline.

This is an ‘interesting’ way to do it, and it WILL save the USAF quite a bit, as Boeing wants those birds off the inventory. Full story HERE from DefenseOne.com

What will be MORE interesting is how the media is going to spin this, since the birds were originally ordered by a Russian airline… Cause you ‘know’ it’s coming…

In other news, from The Firearms Blog, more news from yesterday’s post on the Sig P320… Link, HERE

Apparently Sig is going to announce a ‘free upgrade’ next week. Interesting, VERY interesting…

And one more- The Volokh Conspiracy Short Circuit update… HERE. As usual there are some screwy ones in there… Sigh…

Sig P320 issue…

It appears there IS truth to the ‘rumor’ of Sig P320s firing when dropped…

The Firearms blog picked up on it, HERE.  And Guns.com posted Sig’s response, HERE.

But Omaha Outdoors did their own test… Results below…

Hopefully, Sig will take action to remedy this.

h/t Gerry

 

Sigh…

Well, AMA-Con was a learning experience. We made table money, but that was about it…

But it was an interesting weekend, anyway… It’s always both an honor, and very humbling to meet actual readers. And we did have a couple stop by the table, so that was really nice! And I didn’t get chewed out this time for killing Juanita!!!

Things seen in included-

Sumdood’s “camo” pickup, seen at the hotel… Sigh…

And costumes at the con- These two were excellent! And homemade! The guy was on overturned 5 gal buckets to get him up to the ‘height’ required!

And the cutest was this young lady and her baby… Apparently this is a Game of Thrones thing, but since I don’t watch it, I didn’t know that. She said she got the baby’s costume off Amazon! 🙂

We’re back home, safe and sound and NO tickets! Thanks to Alma for the local course knowledge and the good suggestions for the restaurants, and last but not least, I’ve got to give a shout out to Rachel Caine, a NYT best selling author who was there. She actually came over and bought some of our books yesterday afternoon.

She is one classy lady! Her website is HERE, and her latest, Stillhouse Lake looks very interesting! I haven’t gotten a chance to dig into it yet, but I will.

AMA-Con update…

Well, this has been interesting…

This was the table set up, and we did get traffic. Direct sales were a little slow, but we were handing out cards for the kindle versions, so we’re hoping for some follow up sales from that.

There were some ‘interesting’ costumes, to put it mildly. But the winner, IMHO, was the R2D2, repurposed as a minion. By the way, it was a 3 foot high RC version…

In any case, we are having fun. 🙂 And meeting readers!!!

Grumble…

What is wrong with these idjits…

MADISON, Wis. — Democrats pushed back Thursday against a Republican measure that would allow Wisconsin high schools to offer gun safety courses, arguing such classes aren’t appropriate and could generate fear in classrooms.

Full article, HERE.

I think this is more about Progressives preferring to keep seeing the occasional mishap due to violations of the four rules than risking more pro 2A voters as youngsters grow up not being afraid of firearms, AND using them RESPONSIBLY!

I’m gonna go try and sell some books… Gotta give Dot credit for the elevator line for The Grey Man series, it’s Cowboys vs. Drug dealers! I LIKE it!