Then the men and women on Law Enforcement and other government types should be shitting their pants.

     Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror
threat from 
 sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases
greater than — the threat from 
foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS, that garner more public attention.

Seems to me to be a whole bunch of nothing…..right now. These folks aren’t a danger….yet. Not unless you try to take their country from them. Steal too many of their freedoms? Yeah, then you can worry.  They won’t be a danger to their fellow citizens, but to the government that tries to steal their freedoms?Your fear of right wing people is, at best, overblown….. For now. You really have nothing to worry about.

Here’s the ​thing, Boys and Girls: If this were true, and the “Right Wing Extremists” were really a danger, then you folks had better get your worldly affairs in order….’Cause when they decide it is time (and I know and interact with a fair number of those folks you label “Right Wing Extremists”) then they are gonna come, and for you, they are gonna bring screaming bloody hell with ’em…..

See, right now, they are mad, but they aren’t doing anything. They are, for the most part, law abiding citizens who wish to hurt no one. But, like a hornet’s nest, don’t poke ’em either……Yes, you think the cops and DHS folks have all the good toys to keep them in line. But Here Is The Thing:  Thanks to the (so far, functioning) Second Amendment, they have just as good tools as your boys. And they USE ’em…and practice with ’em. And know HOW to use them.  They do it for FUN. They practice and train a LOT. Not like your boys, who practice once or twice a year. The difference between a Deer rifle and a Sniper rifle is mostly a can of black spray paint and the choice of target. Men are a bit larger targets than Deer…..but they tend to be no harder to kill or injure. There are more “Assault Weapons” in the hands of those “Right Wing Extremists” and their acquaintances than there are DHS and other available “trained” armed forces….combined.  I believe that there are more deer rifles in the hands of hunters in Minnesota and Wisconsin and Virginia than there are M-4’s in the *ENTIRE* US armed forces. Now, many citizens won’t fight. Many will….More will, once the balloon goes up. Lots will support them with food and logistics.  And if you try and stop their flow of ammo, they’ll get it from your boys once things start…..They’ll have (or improvise) better armor, better explosives, and better weapons. They already have better tactics and they know their Areas of Operations better. They will scour the battlefields and take the equipment you leave behind and use it against you. And they’ll have the sympathies of the rest of the citizens.  The harder you try to stop them, the more converts you’ll make. These people are smarter and know more than your officers…They work at other jobs and “Play” with weapons and such in their spare time…They can up-armor a truck in a few hours, create explosive devices and the means of delivery from things you wouldn’t believe….. and above all, they can SHOOT….. If they choose to go after you, they will succeed. Think Afghanistan or Iraq was bad? Yeah, like that only with more materiel and wealth…..And people just as motivated and just as resilient and better educated….and no less motivated. I’m not one of them, but I am on their side……

24 attacks in the past 5 years? Yeah, maybe that is true. Yet how many religiously motivated attacks came from Muslims? How many have you hidden? How many have you mischaracterized to keep the number low? 24 attacks (that you claim are attacks) that you blame on “Right Wingers”…..

Hint: You only govern because you have the consent of the governed. You are rapidly reducing that consent.

If/when things change, it won’t be pretty and it won’t be fast and it won’t be bloodless. I’d hate to see that happen. I love my country too much.

This year, the cold seems to get to me a LOT more than before. Never used to bother me until I was out for hours, or when I didn’t have a coat or gloves…Now it just seems to get to me the instant I step outside, no matter how warmly I dress.

I used to be able to deal with it much better. I HAD hoped to be able to sell out and move to a warmer location, but events have precluded that for the past 5 years.

I’m just having a harder time with the cold this year. A LOT harder time.

It is, for the most part, a fairly flat, boring state to drive through…..and not much happens here.

But: 

Thing is, we are #3 in the Freedom Index:

 Now we are far from perfect. But overall, we are better than nearly all the states.

There is always room for improvement, and we have to be ever vigilant to keep it that way….. And you might disagree with the ranking methods used. But you know, deep in your heart, that the rankings are close to correct no matter how you do them.

And, chances are, my state ranks higher than yours. So eat me.  Where does your state rank?

Weasels Evils.

Why, again, should we vote Republican?

I mean, their rape will consist of only 6 guys, rather than 10…..

Minus 9 tonight. Yeah, that is cold. I’ve been in colder, and I’ve worked in colder, but I am not looking forward to tomorrow morning .

But I’ll be out of the house at 7:10 and working by 7:30…..

INdeed.

500 people I have taught for NRA pistol classes (504 actually).

500 people who are, I hope, safer and better shooters.

At least 5 (that I know of) were liberal, anti gun people who had the guts to learn about something they had been taught to hate, and who learned that all was not as they had been told. One of them is a gun owner and a shooter.

I haven’t made any money doing this(not why I do it), but I have paid it forward. And I have paid the folks (some of whom have passed) back in part for the time that they invested in me.

I hope they’d be proud that I am passing their legacy on.

So Kurt Busch’s girlfriend has made some accusations against him….Supposedly (allegedly) the action happened in late September…..26th .

She waited until November to report it. I find that odd.  And was seen in public being very affectionate with him after the supposed abuse….several times. Again, strange. And she waited until now to make a big deal about it. Timing?

And now, he is suspended. Effectively ending his driving career.  Yet no charges have been filed…none. He has not been arrested, nor has he been charged with any crime. The most the judge has done is issue a no contact protective order (which was prudent).  Yet NASCAR has chosen to crush Mr. Bush. Not to wait for due process of law, with no presumption of innocence. Is this the post-Ray Rice world of sports?Really?

Now. I am not discounting Domestic Violence. Not one bit. And I don’t know what happened that night. Nor do you. We have 2 stories told by two different people. And Ms Driscoll isn’t some uneducated floozy who couldn’t know what to do had she been beaten and strangled. Yet somehow she took a month to decide to press charges. I find that odd. And, because she waited, made the whole incident a he-said-she-said thing, as there was no physical evidence that her story was true. All the bruises (that apparently cannot be seen on the photos presented as evidence) had had time to fade. Now, maybe she is telling the truth and he isn’t. We don’t know. Maybe she is lying and he is telling the truth….Again, we don’t know. Maybe she is just angry with him and has concocted the whole story to screw him over. She has, in the past week, made herself a HUGE media presence in the attempt to make him look bad….No press conferences or any other media presence until the week before the start of the NASCAR season.  I find that odd. Most women just want things to fade away when things like this happen. Yet she is doing her best to drive a stake through his heart. She didn’t push for a resolution until last week. Just before Daytona. Seems more like a vindictive woman that a battered one……….Women wouldn’t lie about such things….right? (stop laughing, this is no laughing matter)  This essentially came down to a judge buying her story over his. And we all know that judges aren’t ever going to take the side of women over a man, right? That they haven’t been doing that for the last….what? 50 years?

I do know that, unless there is overwhelming evidence that he did beat and strangle her, that the presumption of innocence should apply to him as well. And yet it didn’t. There wasn’t, apparently, enough evidence to charge him, yet NASCAR has found him guilty….Had he been charged, then I would ahve supported his suspension…..but he wasn’t. NASCAR’s actions were cowardly and their decision precipitous…As  was Chevrolet’s. Perhaps they know something I don’t, but I do think that if he isn’t found guilty, or at least CHARGED WITH A CRIME then he ought to be able to sue Ms Driscoll for his monetary losses, at the very least. 

I am ashamed by the actions of NASCAR. And his sponsors. I fully intend to contact them all and let ’em know that I think they are wrong. And buy accordingly.

So a question:

If yer furnace went out tonight, would you be able to keep your pipes from freezing? Do you have a backup method of heating your home, or at least keeping it from freezing?

We use 2 forms of heat here at our home. Wood (tied into the forced air system)is the primary (sorta), with natural gas as a close second. (the issue with wood heat is that when the outside temp is at or near freezing, it is hard not to overheat the house using wood. (you can build a fire only so small!). If we aren’t home to tend the fire, then the natural gas comes on to keep the temp in the house at 50 F.

We also have electric heat in a pinch….it’ll keep the pipes from freezing.

If the electricity goes out, we can still use the woodstove. It will keep the house at about 40 degrees F even with no electricity, just natural convection.

Do you have a backup heat source?

It was a directed donation, at a hospital. For a friend and classmate of my niece.

Now, I used to give blood every few months. In 30+ years, I have donated over 15 gallons to the Red Cross. But about 4 years ago, I stopped. Used to be, one could show up at a blood drive, and, if they weren’t too busy, be in and out in about an hour.

This was the case Tuesday at the hospital where I donated. Even though the first phelbotomist had issues (the second one stuck me fine and I filled the bag in just a few minutes) 3 guys went in and left in an hour, each donating a pint of blood.

Sadly, this isn’t the case anymore at the Red Cross. Their procedures have changed to the point where it takes nearly 3 hours to give blood. They don’t seem concerned that the volunteers have jobs and a life…..

So I don’t give anymore.

Plus, if you DO give, they will hound you incessantly for years trying to get you to the next blood drive, calling you daily and in the evening….and they won’t stop for a long time.

If I can give blood in a hospital and be out the door in 45 minutes, why does it take 3 hours at the Red Cross blood drive?