Clueless About History

 Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions report Defending Democracy raises the spectre of insuurection.  I think their concerns about this danger are real and no just because of J6. For several years, BLM and Antifa engaged in "mostly peaceful protests", arson attacks on federal buildings, riots in response to losing elections, pro-Hamas demonstrators shutting down the lower house of the California legislature, lawyers firebombing police cars while handing out Molotov cocktails to others, public workers occupying the Wisconsin legislature.  For some reason Defending Democracy missed these other insurrectionary acts.

10/23/19 Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service:

These observations contribute to the Civility Poll’s additional finding that the average voter believes the U.S. is two-thirds of the way to the edge of a civil war. On a 0-100 scale with 100 being “edge of a civil war,” the mean response is 67.23.

6/15/23 Rasmussen Reports:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 34% of Likely U.S. Voters think the United States will experience a second civil war sometime in the next five years, but that includes only nine percent (9%) who say it’s Very Likely. This compares to 31% and 11% respectively two years ago. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

While Democrats were more worried about pending civil war in 2018, now Republicans (40%) are more likely than Democrats (28%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (38%) to see a second civil war on the horizon.

As I have previously argued, this would be a very bad thing: massive loss of life, destruction of infrastructure, encouraging America's enemies to destroy our allies.  Their solution:

Policy and Practice Recommendations

• Regulate the public carry of firearms

• Strengthen existing laws, or increase the enforcement of current laws, to prohibit paramilitary activity

• Prohibit the civilian possession of firearms in locations essential to political participation, such as polling places, legislative buildings, and protests to protect the core functions of government

• Enact and implement Extreme Risk Protection Order laws to temporarily disarm people who pose a high risk of violence

• Repeal or create exceptions for firearm preemption laws to give local governments the ability to create policies to address risks of insurrectionism in their jurisdictions 

• Break the insurrectionist permission structure by openly denouncing violence 

With that last one I can agree.  If only we could get Democrats to agree and stop making excuses for riots.

The items on the list show that they do not realize that what started the American Revolution was arms control:

Acting on intelligence that the militia were stockpiling weapons, Gage ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith to march to Concord and seize the arms.

Yes, gun banners are so afraid of insurrection that they want to take the steps that started a previous successful insurrection.  If you want an insurrection, keep pushing for gun  bans.  You will have no one to blame for inciting it but yourselves.

Civil Wars Seldom Have Winners

As with the U.S.Civil War I, Russian civil war following the Revolution, and Spanish Civil War, resentment is strong on both sides.  The loss of life breeds anger in survivors.  The destruction of capital goods makes survivors poorer.  The abusive measures of wartime yield a callous concern for civil liberties afterwards.  The U.S. lost 750,000 people in the first civil war.  

Most of the people who talk casually about civil war need to consider consequences.

1. The Left does not have moral problem with violence.  Most conservatives are Christians and the first time they shoot someone in battle, this is likely to be pretty dark.

2. Civil War 2 will cause loss of essential goods and services in cities.  Hungry people without power who might be only slightly left-leaning will become far more extreme.

3. The Left has been promoting race hatred for several years now.  They will cast it in racial terms, provoking race riots.  What might start as black on white will turn into white on black.  The tiny number of white supremacists in America will have a much more sympathetic audience for their hatred.  Privileged white Leftists will suddenly decide that police are useful to protect their privileged neighborhoods creating even more racial upset.

4. Plan that Social Security checks, Medicaid, and Medicare will be seriously disrupted.  Lots of people who may be naturally on your side are going to be in serious want.

If you know someone spouting, "Well, you know this might be the Great Reset we need," remind them where Civil War I took us.

Frightening and Federalist 46 Land

"U. Chicago report: 30 million Americans believe violence justified to keep Trump from presidency"

And 18 million believe violence justified to make Trump President again.

From the 7/25/23 Guardian coverage:

"Democrats, however, expressed support for political violence for a different purpose. The survey found support for the use of force to coerce members of Congress to “do the right thing” grew from 9% in January to 17% – an estimated 44 million Americans – at the end of June, with the sharpest rise among Democrats. Support for violence to restore the federal right to an abortion also increased during this time."

Just Watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

You may recall that in the first movie, the Capitol that kept the deplorable in subjugation was so dreadfully similar to our nation's capital with absurd styles, extravagant living and abuse of power that it almost looked like a parody of a Trump 2016 campaign ad.

The sequel continues along the same lines with a little backstory to explain how this DC-like monster and the Hunger Games starts.  Remember that if a Federalist 46 solution is required, nothing less than utter destruction of the corrupt elite's power base will be sufficient.

Vote For Us, Or We Will Do What Democrats Did in 1861

 

In 1861, the party of rich slaveowners threatened civil war if voters elected Abraham Lincoln, stupidly creating an opportunity for a now Republican Congress.  (Without Democrats to stop them, Republicans were now free to abolish slavery.)  Griffin makes threats of violence while President Biden dehumanizes his political opponents.

The Democrats really need to rethink this making of threats.  No one is going to come through such a disaster well, but Democrats will quickly find out that 24 million modern sporting rifles will be pointing at them.

Gun rights activists get a lot of criticism for using the insurrectionary theory of the Second Amendment, which was authored by James Madison, who also drafted the Second Amendment.  Kathy Griffin is threatening civil war if she does not get her way, proving the merit of the insurrectionary theory.

These Idiots Seem to Want a Civil War

 3/28/22 The College Fix:

A Penn State University professor said on Twitter over the weekend that former President Donald Trump “Should’ve been Lincoln’d.”

Zack Furness, an associate professor of communications at Penn State University’s Greater Allegheny campus, made the comment in response to a tweet Saturday depicting Trump in Puerto Rico in 2017 throwing paper towel rolls to a crowd after Hurricane Maria ripped through the island, a move that was heavily criticized as highly insensitive.

“Should’ve been Lincoln’d five minutes later” the professor replied, according to screenshots obtained by the Post Millennial.

There are similarities:

1. Republicans

2. Really upset the Democrats whose power was largely the wealthy ("the slaveocracy")

3. Upset entertainers to the point of assassination.

4. Elected by a minority of the popular vote, largely because Republican voters were regionally concentrated.

I cannot tell if these promoters of civil war are so detached from people outside the bubble that they have not a clue of how widespread the upset is, outside the privileged whites, or they think 100 million people with guns and the ability to cut off food supplies to many of the coastal cities are too weak to resist their moral and intellectual superiority.  

Such a second Civil War would be catastrophic on both a national and global level.  The Democrats would give BLM tacit permission to loot and burn cities; such tactics elsewhere might well provoke reprisals based on race rather than actual criminal behavior.

Attempts to suppress dissent by the FBI might cause lone wolf attacks against federal law enforcement offices.

While we are distracted, China would likely invade Taiwan, if Taiwan did not go nuclear and take out Three Gorges Dam.  Japan and South Korea would likely go nuclear; North Korea starts Korean War II with millions dead.  Russia invades Europe.  Iran might nuke Israel.

 The cutoff of American grain exports could well lead to famine.  Ukraine is not the only large exporter of grain.

This would all be very, very bad.  I do wonder how obvious the mid-term election fraud has to be before much of the population just stops taking orders.  Attempts to de-kulak would result in county and even state-level armed resistance.  Lots of perfectly decent people get caught up in the race hatred ideology and die.

This May Complicate Teaching American History

The FBI has listed a number of symbols of Militia Violent Extremism:  Revolutionary War Imagery, the Gadsen Flag, and the Second Amendment.  I think the Supreme Court may need to revise its DeBruen decision.

People Are Waking Up

University of Chicago poll:

"It found that a majority of Americans of various political parties believe the government is “corrupt and rigged against everyday people like me,” including 73 percent of voters who describe themselves as a “strong Republican.”

"It also found (and this has been reported widely) that 28 percent of voters, including 37 percent who have guns in their homes, agree that “it may be necessary at some point soon for citizens to take up arms against the government.” [emphasis added]"

If even .1% of that 37% did so, it would be 118,000 people.  If done as lone wolf attacks, the government would cease to function.  How many government agencies would still have employees willing to go to an office if on any given day 1000 would be facing sniper attack.  With few exceptions, government agencies sit in buildings in urban areas, where sniper hides are easily constructed.   Even one revolutionary with a bolt action .308 could fire five shots and make the building no longer useful for its function for the day.  Shoot, then scoot.  Admittedly most bolt action rifles are not takedown so not easy to move around surreptitiously.   AR-15s, because of the front takedown pins, fit into a standard guitar case. 

This is not a call for action, just a reminder that if the fascists do not stop soon, they may have a government that has nothing left but martial law.  Lockdowns for COVID-19 will generate for less ill will than the sort of heavy handed tactics required to win a war like this.

Promoting Race War

 Starting at 14:30 in this CBC interview with a Barnard College professor about his new book, "Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend."

Ben Philippe was asked about a segment in his book “Sure, I’ll be your Black Friend” which describes “detonating” white people while nearby air vents spew out noxious gas.

“When this race war hits its crescendo, I’ll gather you all into a beautifully decorated room under the pretense of unity,” Philippe said. “I’ll give a speech to civility and all the good times we share; I’ll smile as we raise glasses to your good, white health, while the detonator blinks under the table, knowing the exits are locked and the air vents filled with gas.”

And yes, I listened to the CBC interview to verify the accuracy of the quote. 

This whole notion of race war is as I have said before:

1. evil in its intent;

2. stupid in its results (likely the death of most blacks in America, even the majority who recognize the BLM promoted hatred as wrong and stupid); 

3. likely to increase prejudice against blacks.

Elie Wiesel survived the Holocaust and once observed that if someone says that are going to kill you, they probably mean it.  Go through all the National Socialist complaints about Jewish domination of German society and replace "Jew" with "White."  Has anything changed in human nature?  Now you know why disarming the deplorables is so important.  The left is terrified that a race war will end badly for their Marxist racists and trustafarians.

Post-Millenial reports CBC has deleted it.  Not to worry, they have a copy.

Interesting Solution

 I mentioned a while back that as disturbing as the various civil war scenarios are, the big problem with secession is that large numbers of Red State Americans are dependent on their Social Security checks.  I am imaging an independent nation that can be pretty sure that the rump USA is going to stop issuing those payments.  In addition, I expect that without the restraints imposed by the Red States, the rump USA would rapidly go bankrupt, paying reparations to blacks for slavery; Indians for land theft (even though much of it was purchased, often under less then honest circumstances on both sides of the table); reparations to LGBTQABCDEFG for 250 years of oppression; destruction of any remaining industry to meet nonsensical climate change lies and strengthen the Chinese economy towards the left's long-tem goal: the end of American leadership to Chinese hegemony..

Bu there would be a solution.  Much of the Western U.S. is federally owned land.  Some of it is national parks which will remain tourist attractions and thus income sources for the new nation.  But most BLM land could be auctioned off.  Ranchers use most of that land now and often at subsidized rental rates.  The environmentalists who have for 30 years been most upset with those ranchers might put their billions to work buying much of that land.  People who want a square mile to avoid neighbors with their stereos turned up too loud would also be buyers. 

Many military bases would likely be of value for their current use to the new nation.  Some would be surplus, and because of airstrips, hangars and other support infrastructure would be of value to companies relocating to the new less regulated nation.

National forests would also be of value, both to developers building 40 acre high end homes, and likely some forestry companies.  The environmentalists are also free to bid with their billions.

More exploitation of mineral resources the left has been locking up over the last 40 years would also produce income.  Building a dam across the Snake River would produce hydropower for sale to "green" California, and by controlling the flow into the Columbia River, provide leverage on Oregon and Washington State concerning finances, and provide irrigation water for Idaho and Nevada.  (I am thinking of a really tall dam.)  The Snake River Gorge south of Boise just screams for it.  The Colorado River's water flow to California would do likewise.

I think enough money could be raised to replace much of the current Social Security income stream.

I hope it does not come to this, but I fear nothing short of civil war or secession will cause the left to stop its campaign for racial oppression and economic collapse.

Keep in  mind that secession does not qualify as treason.  Making war with the national government would.  The first Civil War started because South Carolina attacked a U.S. fort.  Simply blockading U.S. bases would likely either bring the U.S. government to abandon those bases, or force negotiate a settlement.

I Keep Hoping the Left Will Figure Out How Serious This Is

 Texas HB 1359:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to proposing a referendum to the people of the State of
	Texas on the question of whether this state should leave the United
	States of America and establish an independent republic.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  (a) At the general election to be held November
	2, 2021, the voters shall be permitted to vote in a referendum on
	the question of whether this state should leave the United States of
	America and establish an independent republic.
	(b)  Notice of the election shall be given by inclusion of
	the proposition in the proclamation by the governor ordering an
	election on any proposed constitutional amendment to the state
	constitution and in the notice of that election given by each county
	judge, or, if no constitutional amendment is proposed, the governor
	shall order and each county judge shall give notice for an election
	proposing the referendum required by this section.
	(c)  The proposition shall be printed on the ballot above any
	proposed constitutional amendment under the heading: "Referendum
	Proposition."
	(d)  The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or
	against the proposition: "Should the legislature of the State of
	Texas submit a plan for leaving the United States of America and
	establishing an independent republic?"

Disturbing Discussions

 From Borepatch at the end of a discussion of secession:

And so if reform is not possible, exit is the obvious result.  The Republic has large parts what are tired of having a left wing ideology rammed down their throats - and an ideology that enriches Wall Street and the big banks, at that.  These people have played the game the way it has been laid out, by the rules that were what everyone had been told were just - one man, one vote.  And that vote clearly is a waste of time.

Raconteur Reports disagrees:

Exit is impossible, and the idea is beyond retarded.

Don't get me wrong: the rationale for wishing to do so is as sane and sensible as the day is long, but wishes are not horses.

In 1860, you had clearly defined geographical lines of fracture. And even then, VA lost 1/43 of its territory, and the rest of the border states were similarly split and hamstrung.

You have nothing - absolutely nothing - as neatly and cleanly divided now.

Texas is going to wipe out Austin. Pfft. Sh'yeah.

Georgians will exterminate Atlanta. As if.

The rest of VA will obliterate the counties bordering on DC? Yeah, okay, pull the other one, it has bells on it.

The whole country is purpling up nicely.

You simply can't have secession when it would be the family on Main St. versus the couple around the corner, or the folks in Apt. 1B fighting with the guy in 3C.

Anything like Civil War 2.0 won't be North vs. South, or even city vs. country; it's going to be Bracken's "Bosnia x Rwanda". Think Beirut times 50 cities, and Hutu vs. Tutsis in 50 states. Even so-called "blue" states like NFY and Califrutopia are, at best. 60/40 propositions, and would be every bit as bloody an urban slaughter as you'd get if it was St. louis vs. the rest of Missouri, or Chicongo vs. Illinois. So who's going to secede from whom?

My take:

Secession is unlikely.  One reason that most people do not think about is that many people retired from Blue states to Red states.  Many of those retirees are dependent on their Social Security checks and Medicare.  For me, this loss would hurt, but it would be bearable.  For most retirees, it would not. 

There is no legal obligation to pay SS checks.  Back in the 1950s, Congress prohibited payments to retirees in Communist countries.  The Court upheld that law.

Any settlement of Civil War 2 would require transfer of funds that DC does not have to the newly independent nation.  The best we could hope for is exchange of oil and grain for those checks.  I suspect the USSA would rather not have the oil (global warming) and would buy the grain from Canada, just to spite us.  (Although the prairie provinces are already pretty upset at Trudeau--they can leave far more lawfully than we can.)

I think the idea in that second blog is mistaken.  While there are Blues in your neighborhood, there has been significant self-segregation already.  I think eastern California, eastern Washington and eastern Oregon would pull a West Virginia. 

There would be horrible things done in some states equivalent to the savagery of Missouri during the Civil War, maybe worse.  Big cities everywhere would do a Bosnia, as Antifa promoted race war.  There would be inevitable retaliation that would not be narrowly tailored to the real enemy.  Reductio ad genocidam.  I think California's Blue cities would quickly starve as growers in the Central Valley refused to supply food out of ideology, or fear, to enter those cesspits.

A revolution is the only realistic way out, and I shudder to think of the deaths and barbarism that would accompany this.  As good as a shooter is at hitting the bullseye at 500 meters, when the crosshairs are on a person, all but the most sociopathic are going to have a hard time pulling that trigger. 

Defensive uses will likely not be a problem.  Make the Democrats draw first blood.

All of this is pretty sobering.  Whatever Che Guevara/Battle of Lexington romantic ideas you might have, a real revolutionary war will be far uglier in reality.

 

 

 

I Despair For My Country

The comments on this article over at Volokh Conspiracy demonstrate that we are past any realistic civility.   There are two separate universes going on in America.   That educated people still imagine Fascism and National Socialism as just more extreme forms of conservatism shows how ignorant even the elites ate about 20th century history and their political opponents in America.   There will be a divorce soon, and I doubt it will be amicable.

You Learn Something New Every Day

Yes, I am writing a story.  
 

Modern tanks cannot safely cross properly staked concertina barbed wire.

And concertina barbed wire can be ordered from Amazon.

You may recall the miniseries Amerika from the 1980s about a Soviet-occupied U.S.  They disable a Soviet tank by slamming a large water truck into it.  Implausible? An M1A2 weighs about 60 tons.  A fully loaded concrete truck weighs about 33 tons.  With 50 mph of kinetic energy I am pretty sure such a collision would shake the tank crew enough to cause injuries and if hitting from the side, damage the surprisingly fragile sprocket, tread, and transmission. 

 

M1A2 Abrams are apparently pretty secure against Molotov cocktails.  The crew is well shielded.  The intakes for the turbine are now under the turret.  However... the exhaust apparently is not.  Liquid nitrogen will make steel brittle and so will liquid oxygen.  Liquid oxygen combined with turbine exhaust might do quite a number on the turbine.  A drone carrying Mason jars of liquid oxygen would likely be missed if flying in low to the ground.  You might have to crash the drone to break the bottle.  You may recall this guy getting a grill ready in record time.

Do You Live in McConnell's State?

 Since it appears that he intends to go along with unpersoning Ted Cruz, to make the Democratic Fascist Party happy, remind him about the Judenraten.  In the ghettos, the National Socialists set up Judenraten (Jewish governments) to manage the Untermenschen.  They made up lists of who was to be transported to "labor camps."  As you know, few survived the war.  The members of these Judenraten did so on the promise that they and their families would be safe.  Who was transported last?  You can doubtless figure it out.

In case you have not figured it out, do not go to rallies at state capitals.  These will be false flag controlled.

Bad News, Good News

 From MSN:

As President Trump packs up to retire to Florida amid a drive to impeach him a second time, partisan division in the nation has reached a modern day high, with nearly eight-in-10 fearing the outbreak of civil war.

In the latest Battleground Civility Poll, registered voters put the chance of war at 76 out of 100, the highest ever recorded and up from 73 in October after a summer of violent city Black Lives Matter protests.  

In the latest Battleground Civility Poll, registered voters put the chance of war at 76 out of 100, the highest ever recorded and up from 73 in October after a summer of violent city Black Lives Matter protests.

“People for the last two years have seen us on the verge of civil war and I still find that really, really dramatic data, I’m still shocked at that level,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake who, with Republican pollster Ed Goeas, conduct the Battleground Polls for Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service....

But while the findings of the wide-ranging survey were gloomy about where the country sits today, the pollsters found signs of hope from Americans cautiously optimistic about cooling the tension.

For example, asked for predictions of civil war a year from now, the average dropped to 65.

 

I Went to Physical Therapy Today Concerning Orthotics

My right leg is 1.5 cm shorter than my left leg and this had been a source of pain for a long time. Orthotics in my shoes solved the problem,  but if you walk, they eventually break down,  so it is time.  The therapist and his family have already had COVID-19.

I mentioned the video of the Capitol Police letting thew rioters in.   He was surprised but wanted to see it.  Surprised but he immediately saw why they did do.  He also thinks civil war is within a year.

Hold Back

Sara Hoyt at Instapundit reminding everyone that premature insurrection plays into their hands.  Give the Fascists a little more time to turn Democrats against them.   Mandatory mask laws outside will likely be one of their executive orders.   Attempts to criminalize gun ownership and free speech will come next.  Make insurrection a sympathetic idea. 

Troubling That This Even Needs Considering

 What happens if Democrats decide rioting is fine when done by non-Deplorables and citizens have to deal with riots:

When word is received that a flash mob is forming at one of their pre-reconnoitered intersections or highway interchanges, the SAV team will assemble. Sometimes cooperating police will pass tactical intel to their civilian friends on the outside. Some clever individuals will have exploited their technical know-how and military experience to build real-time intel collection tools, such as private UAVs. Police will have access to urban security camera footage showing MUYs moving barricade materials into position—a normal prerequisite to a flash mob riot intended to stop traffic. Tip-offs to the vigilantes will be common, and where the networks are still functioning, citizens may still be able to access some video feeds. Sometimes, police will even join the SAV teams, incognito and off-duty, blurring the teams into so-called “death squads.”

The operation I will describe (and it’s only one of dozens that will be tried) uses two ordinary pickup trucks and eight fighters. Two riflemen are lying prone in the back of each truck, facing rearward, with removable canvas covers concealing their presence. Their semi-automatic, scoped rifles are supported at their front ends on bipods for very accurate shooting. A row of protective sandbags a foot high is between them and the raised tailgate.

In the cab are a driver and a spotter in the passenger seat who also serves as the vehicle’s 360-degree security. The two trucks don’t ever appear on the same stretch of road, but coordinate their movements using one-word brevity codes over small FRS walkie-talkie radios. Each truck has a series of predetermined elevated locations where the intersection in question will lie between 200 and 500 yards away. Each truck is totally nondescript and forgettable, the only detail perhaps being the non-MUY ethnicity of the suburbanite driver and spotter driving relatively near to a riot in progress.

By the time the two SAV pickup trucks arrive at their firing positions on different streets and oriented ninety degrees to one another, the flash mob riot is in full swing. A hundred or more of the rampaging youths are posturing and throwing debris into traffic in order to intimidate some cars into stopping. The riflemen in the backs of the pickups are waiting for this moment and know what to expect, trusting their spotters and drivers to give them a good firing lane. The spotters in each truck issue a code word on their radios when they are in final position. The tailgates are swung down, and the leader among the riflemen initiates the firing. All-around security is provided by the driver and spotter.

I saw this and was at first infuriated that someone was taking the rioter's side.  Then I read a bit farther and I was amused at how he was telling future such event participants that they are not serious about this:

5) "They'll see a lot of us, and see our anger, and then they'll suddenly start doing what we want them to do."

Um,...no.

That has happened exactly never. You either kill people and break things, and dictate terms with swords to throats, or you march into machineguns and die gloriously, stupidly, and pointlessly, but for a good cause. As if anyone ever respects suicidal fanaticism, beyond resolving to gun it down on sight. Achievement unlocked: Went full retard.

6) You're not the Leftards. Stop using their game plan.

The Media doesn't care about what you want. Hollywood doesn't care about what you want. The other side's politicians don't care about what you want. And your own (nominally) politicians don't care about what you want. Those last are fleeing you and your ilk at warp speed, and they can smell blood in the water 10,000 times better than any shark. Protest reindeer games only work when there's someone out there who sympathizes with you, or is at least uncommitted, but open to hearing you out. It's not 1967 any more. The country has stratified. Anything you say to yourselves is preaching to the choir. Anything you say to the other side is falling on deaf ears. Period. Full stop.

7) Stop pissing into the wind. You look stupid, you smell worse, and you're just annoying everyone.

Why So-Called President Biden is Not Going to End the Antifa Violence

12/23/20 Willamette Week article by a person who lives in the Red House Eviction Defense Zone.  For some reason I cannot copy text from the article, but essentially this person was having to negotiate leaving his house on foot while Antifa set up fire barricades and prevented him from living his home by car.  If you live in a Blue City, ask yourself why?