Dad Joke XXIX

Dad: "What is a pirate's favorite letter?"

Daughter: "Arrrrrr!"

Dad: "No.  It's the Sea." 

President's Day - Best and Worst Presidents

I've posted this each President's Day for ten years but have found no reason to adjust the rankings.

It's not a real President's birthday (Lincoln's was the 12th, Washington's is the 22nd), but everyone wants a day off, so sorry Abe and George, but we're taking it today.  But in the spirit intended for the holiday, let me offer up Borepatch's bestest and worstest lists for Presidents.

Top Five:

#5: Calvin Coolidge

Nothing To Report is a fine epitaph for a President, in this day of unbridled expansion of Leviathan.

#4. Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson is perhaps the last (and first) President who exercised extra-Constitutional power in a manner that was unambiguously beneficial for the Republic (the Louisiana Purchase).  He repealed Adam's noxious Alien and Sedition Acts and pardoned those convicted under them.

#3. Grover Cleveland. 

He didn't like the pomp and circumstance of the office, and he hated the payoffs so common then and now.  He continually vetoed pork spending (including for veterans of the War Between the States), so much so that he was defeated for re-election, but unusually won a second term later.  This quote is priceless (would that Latter Day Presidents rise so high), on vetoing a farm relief bill: "Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character." 

#2. Ronald Reagan

He at least tried to slow down the growth of Leviathan, the first President to do so in over half a century (see entry #5, above).  He would have reduced it further, except that his opposition to the Soviet fascist state and determination to end it cost boatloads of cash.  It also caused outrage among the home grown fascists in the Media and Universities, but was wildly popular among the general population which was (and hopefully still remains) sane.

#1. George Washington

Could have been King.  Wasn't.  Q.E.D. 

Bottom Five:

#5. John Adams.

There's no way to read the Alien and Sedition Acts as anything other than a blatant violation of the First Amendment.  It's a sad statement that the first violation of a Presidential Oath of Office was with President #2. 

#4. Woodrow Wilson.

Not only did he revive the spirit of Adams' Sedition Acts, he caused a Presidential opponent to be imprisoned under the terms of his grotesque Sedition Act of 1918.  He was Progressivism incarnate: he lied us into war, he jailed the anti-war opposition, he instituted a draft, reinstituted segregation in the Civil Service, and he was entirely soft-headed when it came to foreign policy.  The fact that Progressives love him (and hate George W. Bush) says all you need to know about them.

#3 Lyndon Johnson.

An able legislator who was able to get bills passed without having any real idea what they would do once enacted, he is responsible for more Americans living in poverty and despair than any occupant of the White House, and that says a lot.

#2. Franklin Roosevelt.

America's Mussolini - ruling extra-Constitutionally fixing wages and prices, packing the Supreme Court, and transforming the country into a bunch of takers who would sell their votes for a trifle.  He also rounded up a bunch of Americans and sent them to Concentration Camps.  But they were nice Concentration Camps - at least we're told that by his admirers.  At least Mussolini met an honorable end.


#1. Abraham Lincoln.

There's no doubt that the Constitution never would have been ratified if the States hadn't thought they could leave if they needed to.  Lincoln saw to it that 10% of the military-age male population was killed or wounded preventing that in an extra-Constitutional debacle unequaled in the Republic's history.  Along the way, he suspended Habeas Corpus, instituted the first ever draft on these shores, and jailed political opponents as he saw fit.  Needless to say, Progressives adore him.

So happy President's Day.  Thankfully, the recent occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue haven't gotten this bad.  Yet. 

It's National "Hate Florida" Week

 Damn, it's cold everywhere but here.  That red colored little bit?  Yeah, that's where we are.

Dad Joke XXVIII

"Dad, I have a date for Valentine's Day!"

"Yeah, I know - it's February 14."

Tchaikovsky - Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet

This is arguably the most famous romantic music ever written and since this is the Feast of St. Valentine here's something to share with your sweetheart.  Relax, even if she's not a classical music aficionado , she knows this.  You do too.  I mean, it's been in literally everything, from Sesame Street to Wayne's World.

What's surprising is that Tchaikowsky's masterpiece was initially poorly received and he had to re-write it.  But the effort was worth it - this really made his reputation and as I said, this is the most famous piece of romantic classical music ever written.

If you want to cheat, skip ahead to around 8:50.  You should find yourself humming right along.

And now for a confession: I had searched for this for literally years, but to my shame didn't know who the composer was and didn't think about Tchaikovsky.  I mentioned this to The Queen Of The World and she found it in literally 5 minutes.  She's not just a pretty face, she's wicked smart.

Endorsed

Peter finds an ammunition manufacturer who won't sell to people who voted for Joe Biden.  Awesome.

Dad Joke XXVII

What do Winnie the Pooh, Alexander the Great, and Ivan the Terrible have in common?

They all have the same middle name. 

On Governmental legitimacy

Here is a nifty summation of the subject from the late and very lamented Counting Cats in Zanzibar.  This is from 5 years ago but is newly fresh once again:

In this sense, the old Marxist Tony Benn had it about right when he raised the matter of the democratic deficit in the [European Union] during the European Parliamentary Elections Bill of the 5 questions that should be asked of anyone who sought to wield power.

• What power do you have?
• Where did you get it?
• In whose interests do you exercise it?
• To whom are you accountable?
• How can we get rid of you?

Anyone who cannot answer the last of those questions does not live in a democratic system.

The fact of the matter is that despite the appearance of democracy in the form of the European Parliament, power within the EU does not reside with anyone who was directly elected by the people and consequently the people cannot “Throw the bums out”

 With a plurality (and very close to a majority) of Americans thinking that the last election was (ahem) fishy, we can replace the term "EU" with "Congress".  And that ignores the 95% reelection rate that the House of Representatives has enjoyed for decades.

A comment on the (second) impeachment

Offered without comment because none is needed.

 

Ees Internet. Ees not safe

ASM826 pointed out that a town's water purification system was connected to the Internet, to make it easier to manage.  Hilarity ensued.

It is very easy to do that in this day and age, and so we can expect that for most things remote access will not be set up by IT professionals but rather by people who spell "security" with a k.  People seem to think that it's a big Internet, and what are the chances that someone will find their little device on it?  Well, the chances are pretty damn good:

Use Shodan to discover which of your devices are connected to the Internet, where they are located and who is using them.

Websites are just one part of the Internet. There are power plants, Smart TVs, refrigerators and much more that can be found with Shodan!

I've posted before about Shodan.  If something is connected to the 'net, Shodan finds it and you can browse their database. This is child's play - you can sign up for a free Shodan account and see for yourself.  The problem is that most people can't set things up to protect themselves.  As I wrote:

So what do you do?  One thing is simply not to get any of this sort of thing.  No Internet-connected webcams, security systems, light bulbs, refrigerators, TVs, etc.  Some of these products are frivolous, like Philips' Internet controllable light bulbs that change color via command from your iPhone app.

But others are not.  The Queen Of The World likes her Netflix and Amazon Fire TV, and we have a new TV that will give her than.  What's the risk?  I guess I need to figure that out.  What I'm thinking is to block outbound traffic at the Internet router.  Probably to do this I will need to build a box to put in front of that, with appropriate tools and logging.

That takes a pretty high skill set, and a lot of time.

It's a pain in the butt but I could set up a home firewall and put all the stupid Internet Of Things nonsense (like Netflix TVs and the like) on a separate WiFi that is essentially a DMZ.  At least that will keep Bad Guys from getting into the rest of the house network.  And I can have the firewall block any device I haven't explicitly enabled.

But what a pain in the tail end.  And not a lot of folks have a skill set like this.  While I am not a lawyer, it sure seems like IoT security is creating an "attractive nuisance".

Dad Joke XXVI

What did the mountain climber name his son?

Cliff.

Three comments on the Superbowl

1. There is no question whether Tom Brady is the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT).  The biggest loser tonight is not Kansas City, it's the New England Patriots organization.  They worked hard to get rid of the GOAT.  Heads need to roll. 

2. How is Tom Brady like Donald Trump?  The are both going to sleep with supermodels tonight. 

3. I don't need another National Anthem.  I don't think I will ever watch another NFL game.  I've posted about the commercials in the past; all y'all are on your own now.

Here's what I don't understand about the Superbowl

What I don't understand #1:

Black National Anthem at the Superbowl.  I don't get it: did the Tuskegee Airmen who flew escort duty against Hitler's Super Race not have a national anthem?

What I don't understand #2:

Who took a knee for the Black National Anthem at the Superbowl?  It doesn't look like anyone kneeled down.  It's like those Tuskegee Airmen who flew escort duty against Hitler's Super Race did not have a national anthem.

Gosh, it's almost like someone wants to divide America or something.

UPDATE 7 February 2021 20:38: What I don't understand #3:

So when the Black National Anthem gets played, do we need to stand up, take our hats off, and put our hand over our hearts?  What about the Native American National Anthem?  Asking for a friend.

Movies XV - The Bourne Ultimatum

I missed the Dad Joke for today so this joke is a twofer:

The CIA has three candidates, two men and a woman, for one assassin position.  On the final day of testing, the CIA proctor leads the first male candidate to a large steel door and hands him a gun.

"We must know that you will follow our instructions, regardless of the circumstances," he explains. "Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill her."

The man is horrified, "You can't be serious! I could never shoot my wife!" "Well," says the proctor, "you're definitely not the right man for this job then."

The CIA proctor leads the second male candidate to another large steel door and hands him a gun. "We must know that you will follow instructions, no matter what the circumstances," the proctor explains. "Inside this room, you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill her." The second man steadies himself, takes the gun and enters the room.

After three quiet minutes, the man exits the room with tears in his eyes. "I wanted to do it I just couldn't pull the trigger and shoot my wife. I guess I'm not the right man for the job."

Finally, the CIA proctor leads the female candidate to yet another large steel door and hands her a gun. "We must be sure that you will follow instructions, no matter what the circumstances. Inside this room, you will find your husband sitting in a chair. Take this gun and kill him." The woman takes the gun, enters the room, and before the door even closes completely behind her, she's fired off six shots. Then all hell breaks loose behind the door cursing, screaming, crashing.

Suddenly, all goes quiet.

The door opens slowly, the woman exits, and wiping the sweat from her brow, she says, "Did you guys know the gun was loaded with blanks? I had to beat the son of a bitch to death with the chair!"

Take this joke and wrap it with the current political situation in this country, and then spice with a generous portion of American suspicion of government, and you have the 2007 film highlighted here.  Ignore the CIA-Superkiller-Agent thing; this film is packed with government secret agency gone bad vibe.

Dad joke XXV

What did the drummer name his three daughters?

Anna 1, Anna 2, Anna 1 2 3 4 

Dad Joke XXIV

What do you call a lazy baby kangaroo?

A pouch potato. 

Southwest Florida blogshoot update

Some of the attendees at the last blogshoot are or were medic/EMTs.  Is anyone interested in giving a short (15 - 30 minute) talk on gun range first aid?  The RSOs will keep this range safe but having an overview of what to do if something goes wrong somewhere else might be pretty useful knowledge.  

Shoot me an email if you have the background and are interested.

Fighting back against the H.R.127 Gun Control bill

The bill is a nightmare.  So this is an opportunity for us.  We all know a bunch of people who aren't really hard core left or right, people who live in the vast squishy middle.  The Democrats presented Joe Biden to these people as "a return to normalcy".  OK, let's hold them to this.

I posted this two years ago, but am rolling it out for our discussion with these folks in the squishy middle.  Here are some suggested tag lines to hit them with:

Is it fair to tax someone $2000 on a $1000 rifle he bought years ago?  Why?

What will this tax do to poor people?  What will it do to poor minorities in bad neighborhoods who have watched the murder rate go up by 30% last year?

What problem do you think Congress is trying to solve with this bill, because it looks like it will disarm (especially) poor minorities?  Is it worth it?

Basically, force them to grapple with the question is it dumb or is it evil? 

Remember, we all interact with lots of people, especially on social media.  This is a perfect opportunity to make these people look at the ugliness of what the Democrats are proposing.  Make them own it.

(originally posted March 2, 2018)

A Gun Rights Mind Virus

You meet different sorts of people who advocate for gun control.  Some of them are hard core control freaks who just want to crush flyover country, but if you're like me you don't run across them very often.  Mostly you run across people who aren't shooters or gun owners, who haven't thought about the issue very much, but who are disturbed about the constant media drumbeat about shootings and who just want to "do something".

We need these people on our side, or at least standing on the sidelines.  How do we separate them from the gun control pack.

My last post was how I approach this: I'm not opposed to gun control, I'm opposed to stupid and useless gun control.  This is a mind virus that I'm trying to infect them with.  I want to sow seeds of doubt in their minds to get them out of the gun controller's camp and onto the sidelines.  Hopefully (if the virus really takes) it will begin the process where they actually start to think about things and they may even end up on our side.

It's a battle for the (very large) middle ground.  In the long run, we're not viable without it.

My experience has been pretty good with this.  Most of these folks are decent people.  They want to be fair, and they know that they don't know much about this topic.  My mind virus is a challenge to them - is what you're proposing dumb?  Will it work?  Is it fair?  Nobody wants to be dumb, or unfair.

This is especially true with the sentence that has had more impact than any other I've used with folks like this.  When they say (and they will say it) "But we have to do something", I reply:

Do you want to do something stupid and useless?  That doesn't sound right.

Quite frankly, our choice is to build bunkers or to convince the middle.  Building bunkers makes us look like the dumb (and dangerous) ones.

Yes, the people at the heart of the gun control battle are, well, evil.  No getting past that.  But we don't win without the vast middle.  We don't win by starting from "Gun controllers are evil" (they are wishy-washy gun controllers after all).  We don't win from "Molon late, bitches!" (this seems to make people nervous.

We win from a mind virus that starts to get them to ask themselves the right questions.  Truth is on our side; we can lead others to truth if we want.

UPDATE 3 February 2021 21:45: Every single comment to date has been basically "Muh Second Amendment!!11!!!eleventy!!"  These entirely miss the point of my post.

The point of this post is not to try to establish a framework for our rights (note: rights that I not only agree with but which I have supported for the entire life of this blog).  If you don't realize this, then read the literally hundreds of posts at that link.

If you do realize this, then please don't post any comments that boil down to "Muh Second Amendment!!11!!!eleventy!!"

The point of this post is this from the text of the damn post: 

Basically, force them to grapple with the question is it dumb or is it evil? 

"Them" is your neighbors, acquaintances, and family.  Challenge them - your neighbors, acquaintances, and family - with this exact question.  If you won't do this and want to post about "Muh Second Amendment!!11!!!eleventy!!" then (as Aesop likes to say) you're not tall enough for this ride.

Dang it, this has made me cross.  I normally only delete comments that are spam, but if you don't read for content here and post some more "But muh Second Amendment!!11!!!eleventy!!" I will delete your comment without mercy.  Cathreda mea, regulae meae.  And if you need help on that translation, you really aren't tall enough for this ride.

UPDATE 3 February 2021 22:27: The Queen Of The World points out to me that I should have been more explicit that this was an assignment to all y'all.  This is what you should challenge your friends, neighbors, and family with to force them to confront the evil at the heart of the Democratic proposals.

She points out (correctly) that all of us here are basically of the same belief.  She also points out (correctly) that this point is suggesting how to effectively communicate with those people who are not of this same belief but who are undecided and who believe in fairness.  This may open their eyes.

Words of wisdom from a wiser past

Pretty much every word here is a rebuke to social media hatemongering and what passes as "States craft" in this degraded age.

 

Dad Joke XXII

What is the sleepiest fruit?

Napricot.