Sticking my head up

 Well the past few months have been 'interesting', as in the ancient Chinese curse 'May you live in interesting times.' meaning.

First: The assassination of Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA last week.

A definite tragedy all the way around, regardless of his ideology, this reminds me much of the shooting of MLK in some respects.  In both instances, the shooter was someone who feared the words of the victim, felt 'threatened', and decided the violent approach was the only way to go.  When one brings violence and bloodshed to the political arena in order to initiate the furtherance of a political objective, that is terrorism.  

And per the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of terrorism is:

    the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.

So here we are not too clear yet on Kirk's shooters actual motivations, but it should flesh out more as the investigation continues, and I will always try to keep an open mind.

Second: ICE deportations.

An extreme solution to the problem of illegal criminal immigrants in this nation, but unfortunately justified given the Biden admin's previous 4 years of throwing open the floodgates so to speak.  However, this just needs to reinforce the need for a proper 'guest worker' program to be implemented which will allow those who want to work to come into the US to do so but at the same time do two important things:

    1. Protect the ability of US citizens to work, and...

    2. Ensure that the guest worker does not get a 'free ride' on the public trough.

In addition, ICE needs to continue to focus on criminal illegals, not just the regular working folks just trying to make a living, and who actually pay into the system (i.e. taxes, social security).  Let's clean up the trash first, and hopefully by then both the deplorable D's and reprehensible R's can come up with a workable bipartisan solution.  

As you may be aware, I am registered as a Libertarian, but I do not hold with the 'open borders' portion of the national party's plank.  

Without borders, you do not have a nation.

'Nuff said...for now at least.

Happy 249th, America!

 I know it's late but wanted to get it in.

Plus anyone who can, please send good thoughts to Big Country as he is going through some personal bad stuff at the moment.  Hopefully things will be on the upswing for him very shortly.  If you want details go check his blog out, definitely worth the time.

Some random thoughts for a Wednesday morning

 I have recently noticed with interest some posts by Peter and a rebuttal by Divemedic on the efficacy of various pistol calibers in a self-defense situation, and how oftentimes the best use of a pistol is to allow the user to get to the rifle that will really get the job done post-haste.

I am a very good shot with my Glock 17 Gen 3, although not competition quality I did receive complements from the range master and CCW instructor on my groupings on target at 5 and 7 yards, which by most accounts is typical ranges for a self-defense scenario.  I do have my M4gery in 5.56 NATO handy with a full mag when needed at home in a good spot that I can fight to it when needed.  I did note in DM's posting that:

Still, I wouldn’t feel undergunned with that M&P9. In fact, I have fullsized M&P’s in 9mm, .357Sig, .40S&W, .45ACP, and 10mm. I love the M&P platform, and any of those calibers would suit me fine.

The problem is that I live in Florida. It’s hot. It’s humid, and open carry it illegal. So as a result, people wear lightweight clothes that make it a challenge to carry full sized handguns, so you leave it at home. 

Living here in a similar, albeit less-humid, environment also causes some difficulties in carrying a full-sized pistol.  However, unlike in Florida, Nevada does allow open carry so it is easier in some respects to have the means to defend yourself.  The unfortunate part is that open carry in the resort corridors and some businesses is very highly frowned upon, to say the least.  Besides, why try to give the bad guy an easy target when the next mass shooting takes place?

On a personal level, I have been having some serious ups and downs emotionally.  Fortunately thanks to some good friends that's been managed really well.  So overall I am doing good and just doing my best in dealing with life in general.

I have also been sitting back and watching Trump 2.0 trying their best to fix the country and the opposition totally losing their collective minds and shit trying to oppose it.  I think we're barely still in the first 100 days of the new administration, and things are still in a massive state of flux.  I think by the 4th of July everyone will have a better read on how things will go for this nation, and meanwhile I just keep the snacks handy.