Bacon, Guns & Whiskey

…with a side of Freedom and Liberty. Common-ish sense in uncommon times.

Recent posts

  • Republicans have abandoned Reagan…

    …and Democrats still have a startling number of socialists and communists in their ranks. We’re screwed, either way.

    The best examples of this are the “neocons” now running the country who are advancing fascism with terrifying alacrity and a president who is openly profiting from his position — and talking about it publicly! (Meanwhile, members of Congress are making peasant wages and really need to be allowed to also commit insider trading to be able to survive.) The other is the expansion of the deficit at a rate that has grown larger than our entire economic output and is knocking on the door of the September $40,000,000,000,000 benchmark (that’s TRILLIONS!).

    Reagan got it wrong on his “supply side” approach to the economy. Period. But that doesn’t mean he was a bad president. He championed small government and individual liberties. Today those have been replaced by a gestapo-esque central government that sees everything you do. And if your answer to that was “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear” then YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.

    Article 1, Section 3 was designed by the Framers to ensure that states’ rights were protected from federal overreach. The passage of the 17th Amendment nullified that protection, and the use of the Commerce Clause to justify nearly everything Congress does has led to the 10th Amendment’s being ignored ever since.

    And while Republicans have been overrun with neo-fascists bent on creating a Christian theocratic plutocracy, Democrats are electing socialists and communists in local government races. The problem here is both are failed models that simply do not work (and never will, because they ignore human nature to want to accumulate wealth) and the overwhelming majority of Americans across all demographic categories find both repugnant (there is a difference between the two).

    In a world where there are only two parties and most people believe that voting for a third party is a “wasted vote,” the fact that people are picking socialists over Republicans should be a wakeup call that they have lost their way. Libertarians (little “L”) need to take back the party and return America to the version that defeated the Nazis, created the greatest economy in history, and built things that were unimaginable until we made them and changed the world for the better because of them. It was smaller government and states’ rights that got us here, a central government in complete control will destroy us — and we’re already well on our way there, based on how polarized we have become.

  • Way, way too much going on right now

    And Iran war that has turned into a defeat more embarrassing than Vietnam, the central government’s opening moves to take over elections, China’s growing naval presence around Taiwan, and an economy on the brink. Holy cow.

    A quick recap of the war’s events:

    • Trump starts war to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, after previously “obliterating” their nuclear infrastructure
    • ‘Active combat’ stops just short of the War Powers deadline
    • Skirmishing continues, but Trump claims it doesn’t count as combat
    • US and Iran agree to a ceasefire while they negotiate a real agreement
    • Iran continues to claim the Strait or Hormuz
    • Iran continues to launch attacks

    So Iran has won a war and is on track to win the negotiations, too. And Congress has still not authorized this war.

    And last week, we started to see the details of Trump’s push to change elections… just in time to impact midterms. And, at the same time, ballots across the US are being seized. The Constitution clearly sets elections as a state responsibility, but there is little hope the Supreme Court will do its job to stop it.

    Meanwhile, China is quietly expanding its military deployments around Taiwan, setting up yet another US shooting target for its military to practice on — clearly demonstrating that we (America) are their primary enemy. But we’re so desperate for cheap stuff that we’re willingly ignoring the fact that we’re funding the military that is eventually going to try and defeat us.

    And let’s not forget that, while all this is happening, a bunch of macroeconomic indicators are starting to flash warning signs, the central government has more debt on the books (almost $40,000,000,000,000) than our entire economy generates in a single year (121% debt-to-GDP, as of the time of this post) with no end in sight. But hey, people have been saying a recession is coming since the last one ended, right? Then consider this; countries are selling US treasuries (aka reducing the amounts they are willing to lend to the US in the form of bonds) and China has been offloading US debt in exchange for gold for years. China now has the third largest stockpile of gold on earth — likely a major part of its efforts to de-dollarize and convince others to do the same (or at least to rely on their currency as a more stable alternative to the dollar).

    That’s a lot of words to say that, once again, Congress has abdicated its responsibility, the Supreme Court is little more than a rubber stamp, and we have truly become an authoritarian kleptocracy — at the precise moment that the rest of the world has grown tired of us and our government’s nonsense and we’re at real risk of becoming an isolated third-world country when everyone else abandons our economy and our money is worthless.

  • Another great whiskey

  • Haven’t highlighted a whiskey in a while

  • Trump is the greatest thing to happen to China since Nixon

    While Trump is starting wars he promised not to, being treated for some condition he says you’re stupid for thinking he has, and going on mindless rants on a myriad of topics, the world is starting to walk away from the Dollar and China is quickly becoming the world’s “reserve currency.”

    And on the statecraft side, China is courting world leaders and actively engaging with leaders when Trump throws a tantrum and casts them aside.

    With Trump threatening to leave NATO added on top, he’s creating the scenario where the world doesn’t need us, doesn’t want our money, and we’ll forever be left alone in the cold while the world cuddles up to China.

  • Can America win?

    America’s last legal war ended in 1945 and the entire country—from the time the time the Senate voted unanimously on December 8, 1941 until Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945—was mobilized for the war effort.

    The cases belli (’cause for war’ or ‘case for war’,’ depending on who you ask) was unequivocal; Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, the US had been avoiding the ‘European problem’ for years, and Germany’s invasions of neighboring countries as the beginning of a continental domination strategy were unmistakable. After Pearl Harbor, we couldn’t stay on the sidelines any longer, and we could not let an unprovoked attack go unanswered.

    Fast forward to today. We’ve attacked a sovereign nation and kidnapped their leader (Venezuela), have launched a war against another (Iran), and have told a third that they are next (Cuba). Why??

    Venezuela you can argue may or may not be a state sponsor of narcotics, but what about Iran? They might one day have nukes? North Korea has nukes and is working to build a missile that can hit the us. Yet the fat friar in charge in North Korea is continuing to build nukes that actually do threaten the US. And what about Cuba? They’re commies, yep. But how have all of our wars against the commies gone? Horribly and a lot of dead Americans for no reason. Korea humiliated the US after WW2, Vietnam humiliated the US after that, and the Soviet Union collapsed not because the US won but rather because communism is inherently doomed to fail. Now we want to try again?

    So the last time the US a) fought a war against a large and equivalent enemy and b) fought a war legally as the Founders prescribed, we crushed the enemy and did so because of a moral imperative —we defended those who were seeking to crush and conquer the weak and eliminate an entire class of people simply because of their religion.

    Since then, we’ve found smaller countries where we have overwhelming force. And yet we were beaten in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. I’m leaving out Grenada and Panama because of the size of those countries but, in all fairness, we did win those conflicts (and we brought Manuel Noriega for trial).

    Could the US win a major war today? Say, with China who is—actually—the biggest threat to global peace and security since WW2? As I look at my shadow box, it kills me to type the words, but I do not think the United States could win WW2 if it were fought today, and I don’t think we have a hope against China.

    Before you grab your pitchfork and torch, you need to understand why. In WW2, private industry stepped up to build everything from bombs to tanks, housewives went to work in factories while their husbands deployed, and they did it because of patriotic duty, not to get rich.

    Today, everyone knows that a defense contract is the single best thing for shareholders in a company. Why? Because they never finish on time and always, ALWAYS go over budget. The MQ-9 Reaper costs $56.5 million EACH. The third world military of Iran shot one down.

    F-15 Strike Eagles are the jets that used to make the world tremble. The third world military of Iran shot one of those down, too.

    The Sig Sauer M18 pistol contract was close to $600 million when it was awarded. They are shooting soldiers after firing without the trigger being pulled and, in some cases, while they are holstered. Sig made a huge amount of money, our troops are paying for it. And this is just the most recent example—there are a bunch more out there.

    As fumble through our folly in Iran, our weapons stockpiles are low or are critically low (depending on who you talk to)—and you know what that means: more government contracts! How much do you want to bet that we suddenly have to start building the “Next Generation __” this year? Yeah, I wouldn’t risk your money on that bet, either.

  • Iran is Congress’ fault, not Trump’s

    Article 1, Section 8 says, in part, “[t]he Congress shall,have the Power To … declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water … provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions…”

    In using the term “declare war,” the Congressional history of the Founders’ intentions noted that “[]he first draft of the Constitution considered in Philadelphia in 1787 would have given Congress the power to make war, but the Framers substituted the word declare in what James Madison described as an effort to ensure that the President was empowered to repel sudden attacks. Under Congress’s interpretation of the Constitution, the President may introduce troops into hostile circumstances if Congress has (1) declared war, (2) specifically authorized the President to use force, or (3) there is a national emergency created by an attack on the United States or its territories. The executive branch claims much broader authority and asserts that the Constitution empowers the President to initiate and engage in many types of military action without congressional authorization.” [Emphasis mine.]

    In 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Act which was intended to curb the liberal interpretation of Article 2, Section 2, which says that the President “shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States…”

    But yet Presidents have started wars — often lasting years or decades without Congress doing anything other than rubber-stamping the money to pay for the wars they had nothing to do with declaring as the Constitution requires.

    Trump’s wars are merely symptoms of Congress’ laziness and incompetence.

  • Epstein Arrests

    Arrests for the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell:

    United States

    None

    United Kingdom

    Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—British Royal

    Peter Mandelson—Former Ambassador

    Others

    None Reported

  • America is the Fourth Reich

    Here legally, no criminal record, following the prescribed immigration process. Now arrested, put into a concentration camp, and held without bail, a hearing, or access to counsel. We gave Guantanamo detainees fucking lawyers but not people here legally and working to legally naturalize.

    No due process. None. At all.

    In case you don’t remember the 14th Amendment, it says, in part, “…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (Emphasis mine.)

    We’re the nazis now — except it’s foreigners and not Jews.

  • Time for another whiskey

    This is another from the group that I sampled a while ago (we actually had 2 Glen Morangies) and the casks made a huge difference. I’m nowhere close to an expert, so I won’t waste your time (or embarrass myself) writing a bunch of unsophisticated things about a good scotch.

    The only thing I will say is “go get some!”