No shit, Sherlock.
Tag: QotD
Quote of the Day – the Four Rules Edition
I spend 24 hours a day with the person most likely to inflict a gunshot wound on me.
The safety rules of firearms are what they are for a reason. – Jeff Brosius
Wisdom.
Quote of the Day – Things that make you go hmmmm…. Edition
So, with this whole sharia law thing, will transgender boys be able to put on a burkha and win all female sports contests? – Commenter “Dimsdale” at PowerLine
Quote of the Day – Glenn Reynolds Edition
Like he needs a link from me, but I wanted to archive this one. In response to the New York Times deputy managing editor Rebecca Blumenstein stating:
‘We are in no way anti-Trump.’
Glenn zings back:
ALSO, NO ONE IS STARVING IN THE UKRAINE
That ought to leave a scar.
Quote of the Day – William Barr Edition
From his recent CBS interview:
I’m not suggesting that people did what they did necessarily because of conscious, nefarious motives. Sometimes people can convince themselves that what they’re doing is in the higher interest, the better good. They don’t realize that what they’re doing is really antithetical to the democratic system that we have. They start viewing themselves as the guardians of the people that are more informed and insensitive than everybody else. They can – in their own mind, they can have those kinds of motives.
This echoes a previous QotD from Steve Green:
Once you’ve convinced yourself that your job is to protect the proles from themselves, any foul action you take becomes excusable, or even noble. That’s progressivism in a nutshell.
Vent of the Weekend
If you’ve read this blog for any reasonable period, you know I like to use other people’s words when they say something well. Today I give you, in its entirety, a comment by reader Grumpy Old Fart to my post Quote of the Day – P.J. O’Rourke Edition from a few days ago:
Democrats are the party of hatred, envy and bigotry. It’s the basis of everything they do, and they use it at every opportunity.If you disagree with them on race, it’s because you’re white (even if you’re Thomas Sowell, Mia Love or Marco Rubio). If you disagree with them about women’s rights, it’s because you’re a man (even if you’re Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter or Megyn Kelly). If you disagree with them about gay rights, it’s because you’re straight (even if you’re Jimmy LaSalvia or Chris Barron). They’re not interested in empowering minorities, they’re only interested in punishing white people. They’re not interested in empowering women, they’re only interested in punishing men. They’re not interested in empowering gays, they’re only interested in punishing straight people. They’re not interested in helping people become successful, they’re only interested in punishing the wealthy. They don’t want justice, in fact they work hard to subvert it… because they pander to those who want revenge.
Of course, they always claim the opposite. But it wasn’t the Republicans who wanted a Supreme Court Justice who thought she was better than others because she wasn’t white or male. It wasn’t the Republicans who called Condoleeza Rice a “house nigger.” It wasn’t the Republicans who coined the term “white hispanic.” It’s not the Republicans who to this day call Justice Thomas an “Uncle Tom.” It’s not the Republicans who delight in “Teabagger” as a derogatory term.
It isn’t the Republicans who are proud to be associated with openly racist organizations like BLM, the NAACP and La Raza. It wasn’t the Republicans who proudly put a proven rapist in the White House in the 90s. It wasn’t the Republicans who were proud of voting for our last President because he’s not white. It wasn’t the Republicans who voted for Hillary because she’s not male. It’s not the Republicans who have fought tooth and nail to make it easy to get on welfare, but hard to succeed in business.
Democrats spent several years calling Republicans “terrorists,” “suicide bombers” and “hostage takers.” But the majority of Hamas supporters in America are Democrats.
I’m agnostic, and yes, I find it annoying when Christians act as if I’m some poor deluded soul who must be saved from his own stupidity. But at least Christians treat me as if I am a human being, and by their lights they are trying to help me. They’ll try to change my mind, but they don’t try to have me arrested or outcast when I don’t. The anti-Christian left thinks I should be punished for daring to disagree with them, if they concede that I should be allowed to exist AT ALL.
“Diversity” my hairy butt. I want my doctor, my lawyer, my local police and firefighters, even the guy who sacks my groceries, to be the best, and I don’t care what color they are, whether their underwear has a fly, or who they kiss when they go home in the evening. And because I have that attitude, I have been called a racist, a fascist, a white supremacist, a neo-Nazi, and just about any other derogatory name you can imagine. This is apparently what is known as “reasoned discourse” and “rational debate” among members of The Party of Tolerance™.
I have nothing to add to this.
Quote of the Day – Thomas Sowell Edition
From his recent Uncommon Knowledge interview.
Quote of the Day – P.J. O’Rourke Edition
Kathy Jackson of the Cornered Cat blog pointed me to this one on Facebook. It ties into something I’ve been working on the last few weeks, but I thought I’d post it here as QotD:
Now the Bible might seem to be a strange place to do economic research—particularly for a person who is not very religious and here in a country that is not predominately Jewish or Christian.
However, I have been thinking—from a political economy point of view—about the Tenth Commandment.
The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: thou shalt not commit adultery, steal, kill, etc. All religions contain such rules. But then there’s the tenth commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covert thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
Here are God’s basic rules about how the Tribes of Israel should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is, “Don’t envy your friend’s cow.”
What is that doing in there? Why would God, with just ten things to tell Moses, choose, as one of them, jealousy about the things the man next door has? And yet think about how important to the well-being of a community this commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a meal, if you want an employee, don’t complain about what other people have, go get your own. The tenth commandment sends a message to collectivists, to people who believe wealth is best obtained by redistribution. And the message is clear and concise: Go to hell.
QotD: Civilization Edition
Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again. — Will and Ariel Durant
I don’t think it takes a century. Just a couple of generations.
Why You Need a Gun
From Facebook:
A couple years ago I was working security at a bar in northern Virginia. I overheard a table of college kids arguing about gun rights and gun control and it was getting far too emotional so I did what any sane combat veteran would do and attempted to exfiltrate. I must not have withdrawn as surreptitiously as I intended, because I was stopped in my tracks when a 5-foot-nothing brunette seemingly leapt in front of me and blurted out “excuse me, can you help us?”
I’m sure I must have looked irritated as I cycled through the possible quips and excuses I considered available to me but being uncertain that she wasn’t some Senator’s daughter, I caved: “What’s up?”
She basically leads me to this table of 2 other females (probably both named Karen) and a very soft looking male.
Becky: “So, we were just talking about current events and, you know. So, you look like you’re probably in the military, right? Like the Army?”
(When you accuse someone of being in the military you probably don’t need to give an example)
Me: “Similar.. yea”
Becky: “Right. Okay. So, do you think civilians should be allowed to own guns?”
Me: “Most of us. Yes.”
Becky: (clearly not happy with my answer) “Okay, so, why do you think you need a gun?”
(At this point it’s almost 2am and I’ve just given up on patience. Hold my beer)
(With intentionally overt condescension): “Oh, honey, I don’t. I don’t need a gun.”
Becky stares at me blankly, so I continue, but with a more serious tone:
“I could follow you home, walk up your driveway, and beat you to death with the daily newspaper.
I could choke you to death with that purse.
I could take a credit card, break it in half, and cut your throat open with it.
With enough time and effort I could beat your boyfriend here with a rolled up pair of socks.
I could probably dream up six dozen other ways I could easily end your life if you gave me an hour or so.
If I wanted to, I could wrap my hand around that beer mug and kill all four of you before you could make it to the exit. The worst part is, in your utopian little fantasyland, there ain’t a thing any of you could do about it.
I don’t need a gun.
You need a gun.
You need a gun because of men like me.”
Call me a jerk, but if you want to keep your guns, these are the conversations we all need to start having.