Quote of the day:
“It was a robbery that didn’t go well for the robbers.” — San Antonio Police Chief William McManus
Seems as though a man went to draw money from an ATM, whereupon two choirboys approached him to ask him to donate to their church fund*. Apparently, they used the wrong terminology and body language, because our ATM cardholder shot them both dead on the spot.
*according to their relatives, no doubt.
I hadn’t heard of this one before:
Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) has approved a plan to disrupt Rio Grande crossings from Mexico to his state by illegal immigrants. His plan is to use a 1,000-foot “marine floating barrier” to visibly block key sections of the river most immigrants have to cross to enter the United States illegally.
The Center for Immigration Studies said the system is made up of large floating balls that spin to keep people from getting on. And while good swimmers can dive under them, “the whole design is to block the thousands, not the one” who can swim under, a state official told CIS. What’s more, the state is also considering hanging “webbing” under the water barrier to make it hard to dive past.
Okay… I’ll be curious to see if this works.
It’s probably cheaper and simpler to implement than my plan involving a few thousand Nile crocodiles, anyway. Or landmines on the opposite bank.
Inspired by the Brit list, here is mine.
In drawing up my list, I hearkened back to my travels outside the U.S., and asked myself: what were the things I missed most whilst Over There, and what were the things I was glad to have or see when I returned?
My Top Ten (in order):
The first five on the list are self-evident, especially as they are almost universally absent from foreign countries; and I’ll talk about that in yet another post because it deserves a longer exposition.
The last five points are personal, but important.
Only when your TV is confined to a few (usually State-controlled) channels do you realize how nice it is to have a choice — even among dreck.
Large pickup trucks are lovely — they are powerful, not really necessary (unless you’re pulling a large trailer or farming) and one of the things that tourists comment on the most. And the fact that pickup trucks are by far the most popular choice among ordinary Americans says it all.
Drive along a non-U.S. highway with a gnawing hunger and see how hard it is to find a restaurant of any description along the way. Granted, our choices are often only from the Usual Suspects (the top 30 chains), but at least there’s a choice. In Yurp, you often have to go into a town to buy food, which is okay if you’re a tourist, but it must suck if you’re a local.
Nothing says “America” like a damn rodeo: tough people doing a dangerous thing for fun.
It’s only when you’re trying to get from point A to point B without having to go through C, D and E that you appreciate the freedom associated with our highways. Now, as rule I myself try to avoid the stupid things as much as possible; but when you need one, it’s there for you to use.
Conspicuously absent from my list are things that are uniquely American, but that don’t touch me: the Grand Canyon, the Empire State Building, Broadway shows, the Rocky Mountains, etc. etc. Landscape features are just things — the Grand Canyon is a large hole in the ground, the Hoover Dam is a chuck of concrete, every country has a Broadway, the Alps are just as stunning as the Rockies, and so on.
But a busy shooting range and gun show (see point #1) are so much more American than anything one may find elsewhere, and ditto all the other related stuff in each point.
So, prompted by this silly survey which asked Brits what made them proud to be British, I ask of my Readers: what makes you proud to be an American? (If you need any kind of inspiration, follow the link to see what kinds of things the Brits suggested.)
For once, by the way, I’d urge you all to shed your (well-founded) gloom and pessimism about the current state of affairs under Biden and his bunch of filthy Commies, and think of the good stuff — and there’s lots, let me assure you.
Keep your list to the top 10, unless you can’t. My own list will appear tomorrow.
While not a Righteous Shooting (an ordinary citizen wasting a goblin), this shooting is certainly righteous.
Executive summary: Scumbag waves a gun in a woman’s face as she’s sitting in her car. She calls her husband and the cops. Cops arrive, find said scumbag who points the gun at them, whereupon they shoot his ass dead, tra-la, tra-la.
I know that part of East Texas quite well. This is not a population you would want to mess with. As the goblin discovered.
From Theodore Dalrymple:
“There is often more heroism in a life of quiet decency than in one of flamboyant deeds; but our minds are like those of bower birds, attracted to the bright, shiny, meretricious, and sensational.”
I wish I could write like that. The thought isn’t even central to Dalrymple’s essay; it just sits there, like a beautiful flower at the side of a busy interstate.