Murderous religious fanatics who identify with a self-declared caliphate that subsequently cheers and embraces them, slaughter 14 innocent people and pump bullets into another 21 or 22 before being righteously killed by police.  The leader of the Free World declares that it might be premature to call it a fanatic terrorist problem and declares it instead to be a gun control  “gun safety” issue requiring prohibitionist laws that only law-abiding American citizens will obey.  A newspaper once considered the august standard for impartial news in our country takes the unprecedented (in most of its readers’ lifetimes) step of printing an editorial on its front page. The editorial demands that law abiding citizens turn over their guns to the government, presumably without compensation, for the good of the order.

Aauugghh!  Bullshit overload!!

Time for something positive, the sort of thing that defensive firearms are intended to keep good people alive to enjoy. Like, oh, Christmas. 
winter-cover-rgb-72dpi-200x300
I’m putting a Christmas tree up this weekend. One of the gifts I’d have liked to see under it for me, if I hadn’t just read it already, would be our own Jackie Clay’s third novel in her Jess Hazzard series, “Winter of the Wolves.” It’s a particularly bad season in the northern American heartland where it’s set in a time long ago, and Jackie’s evocative prose makes  you feel as if you’re there in the howling blizzard, and helping the mare foal, and going through the myriad other torments of self-sufficient life. I haven’t actually felt writer-created hypothermia in fiction like this since I was a little kid reading John Greenleaf Whitter’s poem “Snow-Bound” inside a warm house with mom and dad and sister while looking out the window as we actually became snowbound during a northern New England blizzard.

It’s not surprising. Jackie lives where she writes about, in much the same homesteading, horse-riding, self-sustaining rural lifestyle, and is living proof that “write what you know” is a wise mantra for those who live by the pen. She also understands human nature, and this volume’s theme of redemption and judging people by what they do, not who they are or what they proclaim themselves to be, is likewise well sustained. Order in time for Christmas from Amazon.

34 COMMENTS

  1. Stay tuned- tonight at 8:00p eastern – clueless so going to tell the world it’s our fault for fighting him on gun control.

  3. The one thing that he could have said tonight that really would be a big help in combating these killers is national recognition of concealed carry licenses. Wasn’t expecting it, didn’t happen.

  4. I do not have any idea of who ‘they’ may be but if ‘they’ show up at my door asking that I give them my guns I will be tickled to death to let them take every last one…that they can find.
    Merry Christmas to all y’all!

  5. The New York Times, and a lot of other mainstream newspapers, have been editorializing on their front pages for years. They just pretended that the op-eds were straight, unbiased news articles.

    Obama and his minions are desperately chanting the “NRA, NRA, NRA” mantra, trying to deflect attention from their own failed policies.

  6. Here’s a wonderful family activity that is certain to make a cold Fall night a memorable one. Gather adults and children of ages eight and up around your home’s coal, pellet or wood stove and sip hot chocolate as everyone listens to an unforgettable narration of Jack London’s classic short story “To Build a Fire.” The topic and conclusion of London’s narrated short story will change forever one’s perception of the value of flame.

    1. Assemble the family. 2. Get mugs of hot chocolate ready for all family members to enjoy. 3. Turn off all cell phones. In fact, turn off all telephones. 4. Get seated, get comfortable, get settled. 4. Pay close attention. 5. Prepare to be enthralled.

    Here is the narrated “To Build a Fire” URL: http://youtu.be/zUyVMNShdAc

  7. I have to wonder there is better supporter of the expanding Islamic Caliphate than Obama. His policies have either by deliberate design or through delusional incompetence empowered ISIS. Now Obama is more concerned with political correctness and taking gun control than fighting Radical Islam.

    Obama is too weak and presumably clueless for America. To him, legal gun owners are a bigger threat and higher priority than radical Islamic terrorist.

  8. “a gun control “gun safety” issue requiring prohibitionist laws that only law-abiding American citizens will obey.”

    Don’t count on it. I am a former LEO with 20 years experience, and I have decided that I WILL NOT OBEY any unconstitutional new laws. What will the effete elites do when no one pays attention to their ill-conceived rules?

  9. I can’t believe, we live with this president??? I was eating at a sports bar type of restaurant, and couldn’t hear any what was said. We need an election tomorrow. The waitress when asked said she heard him mention “ISIS”. It has to do with more gun control. The masses can’t and won’t put up this, you can make bombs out of common household products. This guy is a Moslem sympathizer. I believe he wrote about this in his book, he’ll side with the muslims

  10. These are dark days. I can’t watch more lies or propaganda tonite. There are no white horses to be seen.

    I’m reminded of the first verse from the Yeats poem:

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

  14. Steve,

    You hit the nail on the head with that verse from Yeats.

    Lord help our Nation in these troubled times.

    All one has to do is look at the likes of our leading presidential candidates (Trump, Hillary, Comrade Sanders, etc.) to know that the movie Idiocracy is downright prophetic.

  16. This Caliphate is not territorial it is a worldwide religious ideology. It may not be main stream to most Muslims but it is the supremacist religion of the radicals.

    This speech is fairly long but a thought provoking 14 point big picture view that is well worth reading.

    The link below is a National Defense University speech given by Newt Gingrich on December 1, 2015, Brightbart reprinted with permission today .
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/07/newt-gingrich-new-words-new-world/

  17. Concerning recent gun violence proposals by our politicians, what continue to be off the table are the expansion of mental asylums in America to warehouse our numerous crazies at large, the curtailment of hyper-violent video games and movies that provide a how-to manual of murder for screwballs, and the restriction (and deportation) of potentially dangerous visitors and immigrants to the U.S.

  18. Spencer,

    Not meaning to nitpick your post but the Gun Right’s people need to stop letting the anti-gunners set the narrative and spin the terms in this debate. Too often, we fall into the trap of adopting their language.

    For example, you refer to “gun violence” in your post. There is no such thing as “gun violence”. It is a made-up term used by the left to link guns with violence in people’s minds. The same thing is true with the other terms developed by the left’s word-smiths such as assault weapon, cop-killer bullets, Saturday night special, common sense gun safety measures, etc., etc. etc.

    Let me word-smith some language for all these left-wing crafted terms. They are “Bovine Waste Product (BWP)” pure and simple.

    We don’t have a problem with “gun violence” in this country. We have a problem with just plain violence and it springs from many, many causes of which guns is minor at best.

    It is the “Movement for the Prohibition of Firearms” that wants to link every bit of it to guns so as to support their goal of banning them all.

  19. To Curtis: Thanks for the link. I haven’t read “To Build a Fire” since the 60’s.

    To add a bit of Christmas cheer: I took my wife’s Glock to my local gunsmith. He is coating the slide in pink camo. It will be under the tree for along with a pink camo hoodie on Christmas morning.

  21. The news outlets are consistently talking about the terrorist practicing at a gun
    range(s).
    I hope the gun grabbers don’t twist that and put those of us who train with firearms
    on a regular basis on a terrorist watch list.

    I believe that if you carry you need to work on your skills, otherwise those skills will
    disappear!

  22. TN_MAN, you raise a valid point about the media’s (and other special interest groups’) language in regard to violence involving firearms, and many other noteworthy current events, in that it often inaccurately shapes the issue being examined. But it’s hard not to use certain terms, like I did with “gun violence,” because it can be difficult to reference and discuss the subject. Being apolitical, I’m aware that opposing sides debating any hot button issue tend to employ euphemisms to cloud, mislead, or soften their points of view. Folks who claim they don’t engage (even occasionally) in this behavior are, in my opinion, full of “Bovine Waste Product (BWP)”.

    For the record, I’m a supporter of the 2nd Amendment and own firearms.

  23. NYT claims that front page editorial to be their first since 1920.

    Many people think they do it every day.

  24. While we are recommending books to read, might I recommend the classic “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. See this link:

    http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Dickens/Carol/Dickens_Carol.htm

    This is a most instructive book especially on the issue of gun control.

    I can hear the objections already. You are thinking: “TN_MAN, you are crazy. What the dickens (sorry, I could not help myself!) does this story have do with gun control?”

    I am glad you asked. In a previous post (pertaining to the San Bernardino incident), I had made the point that left-wingers believe that all the evils of the world spring from external, social forces. Liberal Dave said that he did not agree with this view although he did not go into specifics as to why not.

    However, Charles Dickens was a noted Leftist and this story offers positive proof that what I said was correct. The left-wing viewpoint runs throughout this tale. Consider that Mr. Scrooge was an “innately” good man but he was twisted by social forces (neglect during childhood and greed) into doing wrong. However, Dickens uses the device of the Spirits of Christmas to subject Mr. Scrooge to a Left-wing re-education that, in the end, transformed Mr. Scrooge into a dedicated leftist willing to spend his personal fortune to fight poverty and injustice.

    Although this story does not mention firearms at all, it is a perfect illustration of the left-wing mindset. It clearly illustrates the idea that all the evils of the world come from external social forces such as poverty, greed, child-abuse, drug / alcohol abuse, and (in 21st Century America) with the evil of violence being linked entirely to gun ownership. It also fits in with the left-wing notion that all humans are innately good if only they are shown “the light”. No doubt, from the leftist point of view, the husband and wife terrorist team in California were basically good people at heart but were twisted by nasty social forces and racial injustice into becoming merciless killers.

  25. Why is it we keep hearing “Be sensable, its not all Muslims only a few radicals (which is true)”, and NEVER ” Be sensable, its not all gun owners…”?!?

  26. Spencer,

    I was not picking on you in particular or meaning to suggest that you were anti-gun just because you let slip the phrase “gun violence”. It is all too easy of a thing to do with the left-wing media pounding us with anti-gun propaganda 24/7.

    I was only trying to point out the power of language to shape the debate. For example, consider Statement #1 below:

    #1: This country has a real problem with gun violence. This problem will never be solved until America gives up its love affair with guns.

    You would find almost 100% approval of the above statement with the left-leaning media and the left-leaning segment of the U.S. population. Due to the propaganda being drilled into their minds, even a lot of political moderates might agree. However, this statement is quite ridiculous as can be shown by switching it to a different topic. Something other than violence and guns which the left has shaped into a symbol of evil by their word-spinning.

    Let’s switch the topic to “hate speech” and to the tool that is often used to further it. Consider Statement #2 below:

    #2: This country has a real problem with microphone hate-speech. This problem will never be solved until America gives up its love affair with microphones.

    If you poll the American public on #2, they will think “No, that’s stupid. I don’t agree with that!”

    Well, guess what people. These statements are functionally the same. If one is stupid then they are both stupid. However, after 50 years of propaganda from the left, many Americans now think that #1 is wisdom!

    See the power of propaganda and language?

  27. Dang! I nearly finished a blog and the whole thing went away. Trying again: Speaking of “Winter of the Wolves,” I knew an old western cattleman who lost a large percentage of livestock to predators every year. He said that bears were a recurring problem, and a threat to people as well, but that he rated wolves as more dangerous. A look at the history of wolf attacks in the U.S. gives a startling set of examples where a large group of wolves would actually come through a rifle barrage to kill people. Even more dangerous have to be the wolves in sheep’s clothing. We clearly need more sheepdogs that are capable of seeing through such disguises.

  28. Mas I read and enjoyed Jackie’s first two books in the series and just downloaded the third “Winter of the Wolves” to my Kindle. I plan to read it when traveling for Christmas. Thanks, for the heads up.

  29. @TN_MAN: As I said some months ago, I don’t care to discuss the motivations for the liberal and conservative points of view as arising out of different views on the cause of antisocial behavior because it’s too far off-topic for this forum. But I’ll also say that I think that the cause of such behavior is extraordinarily complex and that we often find it impossible to say for sure why even a single individual engages in such behavior. To try to extend what little we do know to motivation of classes or groups of people comes very close to speculation. And that’s only if we take into consideration the developmental, sociological, psychological, and physiological aspects; if you add in theological and spiritual aspects — such as whether evil exists as a motivating cause rather than merely a moral judgment of the result — then the task becomes Sisyphean.

  30. How many who post here remember when we used to LOOK FORWARD to watching the evening news? Or…get excited when the President was going to talk to us? These truly are dark days – I almost never watch any network “news” as I know there will be very little news – just propaganda. If you’ve ever wondered what it must be like to live in North Korea, well, you’re receiving an appetizer each evening these days.

    Mas, thanks for doing such a marvelous job of reminding us of the things that matter in this world of ours. We just have to look a bit harder – having a guide helps immensely. Please accept my gratitude for being that guide once again.

  31. “Sisyphean” — I had to look that up.

    “In Greek mythology Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra. He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, repeating this action for eternity.” Wikipedia

    So a Sisyphean task would be arduous and never-ending.

    As to what TN_MAN said about liberals believing criminals can be rehabilitated, our whole justice system is built on that idea. Criminals used to be punished, now they are re-educated, while being kept away from the public, but provided for by tax dollars. They live and eat for free, and their medical care is free. I don’t know what it is like to live in prison, but life in an American prison may be better than living free in certain parts of the third world. Certainly the prisoners are warm in the winter, fed, cared for, and they don’t have to work at jobs and pay taxes like the rest of us do. I guess the taxpayer is the one being punished.

    When you study history you see that there really is no hope for the human race to live in some type of utopian state. Life in America is about as good as it can get. Switzerland is better if you want to avoid war.

    When criminals were punished severely, (we call it “cruel and unusual punishment”) they still committed crimes. Now criminals are treated well, and I think they commit even more crimes, being released again and again.

    If a group of people can restrain themselves from evil, then they can be governed by a light hand. People who cannot restrain themselves need to be governed by the heavy hand of a tyrant.

  32. @ Liberal Dave,

    You are still missing my point about the source of the left-wing / right-wing political split. You point out that human behavior is almost too complex and chaotic for analysis. I agree with you that this may well be true.

    However, my point is that the human brain feels compelled to make the attempt at analysis nevertheless. The left-wing and right-wing world-views represent simplistic attempts to model human behavior for the purposes of setting political policy.

    This causes real problems since most humans who hold strong left-wing or right-wing opinions never understand the weaknesses of their underlying models. Instead, they act like their favorite model is absolutely correct and treat opponents of their chosen model with scorn. Note, for example, how scornfully anti-gunners treat gun-owners and the NRA and how the other side then replies in kind.

    Thus do right-wing / left-wing civil wars start. It is for this reason that I try to be a moderate myself and not drift into either left-wing or right-wing fanaticism. I understand how primitive and unreliable both models really are.

    I am also not sure that I agree with your other point that all this is too far “off topic” for this blog. After all, crime and gun control are frequent topics and both fall well within the current left-wing / right-wing policy debates in the U.S.

    In any event, Mas has not yet indicated that he thinks we are drifting too far “off topic”. If so, he can let us know.

  34. I fond the President’s 1 hour news conference a very good time to clean m AR, and reload a couple of P-mags with fresh ammo. I did hear that a really big attack would move him towards putting American Boots on foreign soil gain, so have tem what they wanted, no it’s just matter of where and how big is big enough.
    Two of my four Granddaughters, have now missed school for 2 days in Broward. They like school and are on the Honor roll, and Deans list”, so I’m getting irate as to why they don’t just use our boys who returned from 2 and 3 tours over there as snipers, as school guards. These untrained hoodlums would maybe clear their car before being terminated. By a Marine Sniper.
    Heck I would do it for free, if not for the 2 hour drive. When do we get to use what God gave us to solve problems so simple.
    I think a few pictures of some dead terrorists who attempted to hurt our children would take the “fun” out of this exercise.
    Best wishes to the officer and his family, who was shot last night while on patrol doing a traffic stop in Vero. Stay safe.

Comments are closed.