Cheap Shots Often Misfire

By William L. Garvin

“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker.  It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”  President Ronald Reagan

Rahm Emmanuel, the current Democrat mayor of Chicago and prior Senior Advisor to Bill Clinton and White House Chief of Staff to Barack Obama, once opined that “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”  Accordingly, politicos and their sycophantic surrogates immediately rushed to make political hay out of the Orlando atrocity.  Their primary goal was to obscure the truth that ISIS has not been contained and that radical Islamic terrorism once again slashed deeply into our American psyche.

It is abundantly clear that Islamophilia (the morbid fondness for rationalizing, excusing, and denying the existence of Muslim extremists) is much more prevalent than Islamophobia.  Simply look at all the rationalizations offered up for Omar Mateen’s slaughter of 49 American citizens.  ACLU lawyers called out Christians and conservatives; a Florida bishop called out the “Catholic contempt for homosexuality”; Black Planned Parenthood activists singled out “toxic masculinity”; the Obama administration said it was a problem of “underfunding”; the Unitarian Universalist Association proclaimed the cause to be “demonization of other faiths”; and the proverbial “easy access to weapons of war.”  Simultaneously, the President and assorted minions sounded their usual clarion call for “gun control.” And let’s not forget to blame Republicans, Trump supporters and the NRA, perpetual liberal whipping boys.  Adding Orlando to Little Rock, Fort Hood, Boston, Moore, Oklahoma, Garland, Texas, San Bernardino and Chattanooga will still not allow an Islamophiliac to reach the conclusion that Mateen was a radical Muslim.  On top of that, our top cop, Attorney General Loretta Lynch initially doctored the 911 transcripts to remove the jihadist’s pledge of allegiance to ISIS!

The Islamophiliac of the liberal left prefers to focus on the trigger rather than the person who pulled the trigger hence their full throat baying for more gun control.  Understand that when liberals say gun control, they really mean gun confiscation.  Dylan Matthews, a writer for the liberal VOX said: “This is not a Dems’ sales pitch but I’m totally down with letting the prez unilaterally ban people (hopefully everyone!) from buying guns.”  Joe Manchin, the Democrat senator from West Virginia ominously said: “Due process is what’s killing us right now.”  Bernie Sanders called for a ban on automatic weapons, apparently unaware that machine guns and other automatic weapons have been banned for decades.  Democratic Representative Keith Ellison posted a picture of an AR-15 and an M-16 and asked if you could tell the difference—another case of weapons profiling.  First of all, the AR does not stand for “assault rifle” or “automatic rifle.”  It stands for “ArmaLite Rifle,” the original developer and manufacturer.  Secondly, it was not used as a weapon of choice in Orlando; the terrorist used a Sig Sauer MCX rifle. ( Previous weapons of choice by terrorists have been box cutters, airplanes, pressure cookers, shoe and underwear bombs, fertilizer, knives and handguns.)  Thirdly, semi-automatic means you must pull the trigger for each round to be fired.  It is physically impossible to fire “700 rounds per minute” as Florida Rep. Alan Grayson foolishly claimed.  And for Rep. Ellison’s edification, an M-16 can toggle between single shot, bursts, and fully automatic; an AR-15 cannot.  Fourthly, the AR-15 is not a “high powered rifle.”  It is of intermediate strength using .223 cartridges rather than the .30-30 or .308 rounds used for hunting large game.  It has light recoil and does not “bruise shoulders,” “feel like a bazooka,” “sound like a cannon,” or cause “temporary PTSD” as New York Daily News’ Gersh Kuntzman foolishly wrote.

It is an anathema as to why liberals think that taking weapons away from law abiding citizens will increase their security.  If gun control actually worked, we would not have had the terrorist atrocities in Paris and Brussels which are gun free countries.  The FBI says they have over 1,000 active terrorist investigations in all fifty states.  The CIA says ISIS attacks will intensify and they will infiltrate via refugee and smuggling routes.  From 2009-2014, this administration issued 832,014 green cards to people from majority Muslim countries. Since 2015, the administration has processed 11,086 Muslim and 433 Christian refugees from Iraq and 5,435 Muslims and 28 Christians from Syria.  The administration claims that background checks of Americans are inadequate but somehow background checks and vetting for people with no documentation who come from countries with no available records is reliable.  In addition, the federal government has just released 86,000 criminals from prison who should have been deported.  Buy a gun and learn how to use it.   When the prey is armed, predators have second thoughts. 

Start Your Engines

By William L. Garvin

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”  James Madison

The major political parties have now determined their respective “presumptive nominees” for the presidency of the United States.  Two of the most unpopular candidates ever nominated will vie for the coveted office.  If history is our guide, both will be subjected to scrutiny but one will be scrutinized more closely and with more vigor than the other.  One will have faults and foibles magnified and the other’s will be minimized.  That’s why she can wear a $12,000 Armani jacket with nary a care while Ann Romney was pilloried for a $900 blouse.  One will have his change in positions characterized as “flip-flopping” while her change in position will be seen as “evolving.”  She will characterize him as a “loose cannon” and “dangerous.”  He will point out her lifetime record of lies, scandals and that when that 3 a.m. phone call came, she was nowhere to be found.

P.J. O’Rourke noted: "Every person in America has done or said something that would keep him or her from being president. Maybe a nation that consumes as much booze and dope as we do and has our kind of divorce statistics should pipe down about 'character issues.”  "... in our brief national history we have shot four of our presidents, worried five of them to death, impeached one and hounded another out of office. And when all else fails, we hold an election and assassinate their character."   It is surprising that anyone would still want the job but let the games begin anyway.

If you believe the polls, two-thirds of the country thinks we are on the wrong course.  That’s why a 74-year old socialist with no record of significant accomplishment and who was never even a Democrat won so many states over Hillary.  Bernie argued that the system was corrupt and Donald echoed the same tune from the opposing party.  Nonetheless, Democrats chose Hillary to continue the same policies and agenda of the Obama administration.  This is the administration that has increased the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $19.3 trillion and counting.  This is the administration that has seen food stamp recipients soar to record numbers as wages decline and the labor participation rate plummets.  The first quarter GDP was a miserable 0.8 and last month the country produced only 38,000 jobs of which 10,000 were in government!  Thanks to 500,000 people giving up and dropping out of the work force, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%.  Income inequality has worsened under this administration while health care premiums continue to escalate to unaffordable heights accompanied by huge deductibles despite solemn promises to the contrary.  Over 25 million remain uninsured.

We have Russian nuclear bombers and fighter planes increasing their flights around Alaska and “buzzing” American ships in the Black Sea.  Chinese fighter planes make dangerous passes at U.S. recon planes and China builds an artificial island to extend their “ownership” of international waters.  Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan are all ensnared in the ISIS tentacles and we have no coherent military strategy let alone an exit strategy.  “Leading from behind,” “strategic patience,” and “smart diplomacy” are nothing but euphemisms for failure!  Where are the victories from this great assemblage of “coalition forces”?  Empty words and unfulfilled promises.

Meanwhile, domestic race relations continue to deteriorate under the guidance of a “post racial president” who seems more interested in which bathroom should be used than the murder rates in inner cities.  He ignores mayors who tell the police to stand down to give rioters room to burn and loot.  He ignores sanctuary cities and police forces that stand idly by while watching innocent people being assaulted and beaten by groups of thugs at political rallies.  He insists on releasing prisoners from Guantanamo that end up on the battlefield killing American soldiers.  He allows ICE to release 86,000 criminals between 2013 and 2015 and refuses to say who they are and where they are.  According to a Boston Globe study, thirty percent reoffend including rape and attempted murder.  He continues to expand immigration from war torn countries even if we don’t know who they are and where they are from.  Of course, if you disagree with any of his policies, you are a racist and a bigot!

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power,” noted Abraham Lincoln.  This administration has egregiously abused its power and two-thirds of America say we don’t need more of the same!  How many will still vote the same?