…in response to Sen Chuck Grassley (AG, Iowa) and his op-ed piece in the MSM:
@ChuckGrassley is doing the bidding of Tom Donohue, the corrupt U.S. Chamber of Commerce, K-Street, his BigAG benefactors, and selling out the U.S. middle-class while simultaneously cloaking himself in the flag. Despicable.
And he spells it all out in a long, but a very valuable rebuttal of what is so dishonest a piece of writing, it could have been written by a Democratic Socialist.
And in our last look at the economy for today, we have this news:
Private payrolls grew by 275,000 last month, the biggest increase since July, when they expanded by 284,000.
Services-providing jobs increased by 223,000 in April, led by a gain of 59,000 jobs in professional and business services.
The Democratic Socialist Party’s response to this fantastic news has been predictable:
…and:
Why?
Because socialists have a problem recruiting happy people with jobs to The Cause; they can only practice their politics of envy with a willing base of unemployed, surly proles to support them. And well-to-do liberals who are protected from the results of socialism by their wealth.
In the meantime, America’s getting on with it:
“The job market is holding firm, as businesses work hard to fill open positions,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
Last Saturday I took New Wife out for a Full Texas Day (I know, I know: never go Full Texas).
Part One was the Fort Worth Gun Show (that was for me, of course, although she found several Girly-things to buy there, and did). Blessedly, there was more on display than the usual AR-15/Glock/Tacticool stuff (although there was plenty of that too):
… although that mythical unicorn (mint condition Colt Python for under $1,000) was nowhere to be found, of course. There was a S&W Mod 65-3 for sale, but it looked like it had been towed behind a Ford F-150 for a mile or two, and they wanted $700 for it, so: pass. However, there was a vendor selling from a huge selection of Anza knives, and somehow I managed not to buy a single one (although I could have bought six or seven, easily).
Good grief, they’re lovely knives. I’m rapidly starting to think of Anza knives as I do .22 rifles — i.e. every home should have at least one — and the next time I go to the Ft. Worth gun show, I’m going to buy another one, because… I shouldn’t have to explain myself on this one, should I? Here’s one that caught my eye, just because of the shape:
…but honestly, I could also see myself getting any one of these little beauties too.
We were planning on getting a late lunch of BBQ in downtown Ft. Worth (Part Two), but as it happened, there was a vendor at the show from Robinson’s BBQ (“since 1947”) so that was the brisket taken care of — and it was excellent.
We did take a little drive trip through Ft. Worth, and would have stopped to listen to the orchestra playing in Sundance Square, but parking in downtown is crappy, so we didn’t. Instead, we went out to The Stockyards for a little shopping and entertainment.
The shopping at the various Western wear stores (Part Three) was patchy — some expensive stuff there, Bubba — but I did manage to snag a decent summer-weight vest which doesn’t look like a mil-surp, fishing- or photographer’s vest for a decent price. New Wife, not so lucky. (She steadfastly refused to let me buy her some cowboy boots, but hey: she’s been in Texas less than five months, and I only got a pair of cowboy boots after over fifteen years here, so it’s a long-term project.) Also:
Anyway, it was getting late, so we went into Riscky’s for more BBQ and margaritas (Part Four):
Decent ribs, outstanding grilled shrimp (seriously, maybe the best I’ve ever tasted), and Ernesto the barman is brilliant. (I tended bar in my distant yoot, so I know the trade.)
Dinner over, we went to Part Five of the Full Texas Thang:
Oh yeah, baby… rodeo!
Now I have to confess that I’m no expert on rodeo — mostly, I think it’s cheap country entertainment — but you can’t go Full Texas without rodeo, right? So we watched the bull-riding, bronco busting, calf-roping and all that, until the over-loud PA (and screaming commentator) got to my tinnitus and the hissing/whistling sound became unbearable (my ears are still ringing as I write this, the day after).
But New Wife enjoyed the day thoroughly, even the gun show — although she won’t be going to another one anytime soon — and hey… how often do you get to go Full Texas with a newbie?
From an Uber passenger last week, a real estate attorney of 35 years’ standing, when I asked his opinion of the massive economic growth in north Texas:
“What can I tell you? We’re in Year 9 of a 5-Year Growth Cycle.”
From Captain Capitalism, Aaron Clarey:
“The vast majority of humans are about as valuable as individual atoms of hydrogen, a lump of coal, or the unearthed and unrefined ore of iron. They are worthless, they are pointless, they will never amount to or achieve much of anything. Out of the estimated 150 billion humans who have lived and died on this planet, a mere 10,000 are the ones who made history and set forth humanity on the path it is today.”
Diamonds, Steel and Stars (the article from which the above came) is definitely worth a read. In fact, it should be mandatory reading for every adolescent — even if only 0.00005% of them actually do what the article suggests.
…at least, finally, to the price of ammo. From Eric at AmmoMan comes this offering:
Y’all can do the calculations on the other calibers — I don’t have any guns chambered for ’em — but the per-round (non-rebate) prices are:
That’s more like it. I can now suggest culling vermin with .22 ammo as the “7-cent solution” and not the “25-cent solution”, as during the Obama Years [shudder].
During the Happy Times (2001 – 2008), I urged everyone to buy ammo because those prices wouldn’t last. I thought that the cost of ammo would go up if we elected a RatBastard Democrat to the presidency, but what I did not predict was that under CommiePres Obama, the huge sales pressure on the “popular” rifle calibers (5.56mm and 7.62x39mm) would cause serious shortages in the other calibers as manufacturers retooled to meet the demand. Hence the rationing of, say, .22 LR at places like Wal-Mart and Academy, and the complete disappearance of various calibers at local gun stores.
So let us learn from history, as we conservatives like to do, and buy ammo by the truckload during these, the Happy Times II. That way, when the next Commie asshole president starts talking about “how much ammunition does a person need?” en route to setting purchase limits, we can say, “Fuck you.”
Watch your Inbox — I’m on almost all the ammo sellers’ mailing lists, and you should be too — and take advantage of the low prices when they’re promoted. (And try, where possible, to buy American — remember, asshole Commie politicians will always ban ammo imports when they can, so let’s try to keep our guys in business.)
As much as I like to promote National Ammo Day on November 19th each year, nothing would give me greater pleasure than to do so this year, only to be told: “Shut up, Kim. I have enough ammo stored for two generations already.”
Make me and Baby Vulcan proud.