Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

I've just had friends who got fucked over hard because the country has strong conservative leanings. You hear about people's suicides and murders and gang rapes often enough and you develop a hair trigger for certain things. Sorry, back to lurking the thread, hah.

 

To me, guns are not a hobby. I don't play with my guns, I don't tinker with them, I don't order random shit online to slap on them and wait excitedly for the mail to come. I train with them and clean/maintain them. That's it. They are tools that I hope never to have to use for their intended purpose, but I'll be glad to have them when that day comes.

One of the biggest mistakes that pro-2A people make is referring to it as a hobby. Hobbies aren't essential. Freedom is.

If you're the type who makes guns a hobby, that's fine, I don't shame anyone who does, but know their true purpose and the reason the 2nd amendment was made.

 

And noting has change.

I think it is, even the results are mostly the same on the high-level of things. Depending on who wins the EC this week (or who wins in the courts), the Dems will gain/lose more seats.

Thanks goodness New Dems are out of the window, hopefully.

That's being too generous. I don't think there is anyone from the GOP who even have the balls in 2024 who is not a current politician.


Of course I'm still pissed even if FL is now a lean GOP state they go liberal on these amendments. Ugh, still bitter on the Min Wage.

 

Lol I think it’s funny when people use the second amendment to talk about owning guns and freedom. Come on, when that was written armies were made up of nothing but dudes with simple guns everyone could own. So the populace owning a gun gave them power to check the government. The us just overthrew Britain with guns that commoners owned.

Good f'ing luck today “when the time comes”. If that actually happened you’d be shooting bullets at tanks, Apache helicopters, f-22’s, advanced weapon systems, abrams tanks, etc. owning guns does not accomplish the intent of the 2nd amendment anymore. If our government actually turned against us we’d be fucked regardless of whether you own a shotgun with 12 shells in the garage or not.

Nothing but bs right wing spin. I’m not super anti gun though I think there’s much better ways to address public safety like better education, better public transit, better social safety nets, a public health care option that isn’t corrupted, criminal justice reform, etc.

 

Late reply = expensive Philippine internet being typically fickle. Sorry

Anyway, I also hold the view that they should be viewed primarily as tools, but as in anything else there'll always be a contingent of people who come to, er, invest a great deal of their personal attentions that could be spent elsewhere on their interests. Same goes for audio gear, writing materials, watches, televisions, sex toys, bespoke suits, etc.

I've never been to a firing range before outside of what you get at carnivals but before COVID fucked everything up I was invited to hang out with one of my best friends and her boyfriend plus some mutuals at a nearby one. For all my distaste for people that are careless with and overtly covetous of firearms, I do see the beauty of the mechanisms involved and how easy it is to fall into... fetishising? the same on account of the sense of power it imparts.

But real talk I'm much more into archery. Got into it earlier this year and I'm tempted to save up for a budget recurve so I can spend less the next time I'm at a range— the feeling of stillness in the process is reminiscent of when I get really into a state of flow with calligraphy, and the sonic component of arrows striking a target is more deeply satisfying than that of pencils or nibs on paper; the latter are more meditative.

 

This is true if it is the majority (thus, they will command the government/army) oppressing a minority. Just as likely however are other scenario's, where the army is split and factionalized (such as the American civil war), or when the army is simply impotent and a general breakdown of law and order is occurring. Even in the majority vs minority situation, the minority at least has the opportunity and means to wage a guerilla campaign.

It's like the bumper sticker says, your right to bear arms is not about hunting (or any other hobby), but about liberty.

 

Doesn't this happen everywhere across the country?

 

Don't tell me Biden gets to 270 even without PA if he holds onto NV, MI, WI and NE-2.

 

ok... i won't tell you, but you can do the math yourself.

 

Wayne County finally put Sen Peters over John James, which that race is the real nail biter. Of course still separate by 5k or 6k votes. Looks like it will be 1% for Biden in MI. I looked up NV and seeing that the current #s are after E Day votes (Biden ahead of 8k) and NV still have tons of mail ballots which it appears the Ds were majority in requesting them/sending them back. If the #s adds up, appears Biden gets NV by 2%-3%.

People already called AZ for Biden yet still have tons of mail in ballots. Even if some of those ballots are a little more GOP, it is going to be hard to overcome Biden's advantage in Phoenix some of the other city areas (AZ folks can say more to this part, I dunno shit about AZ).

If Biden wins, it should be called the revenge of Obama! OBBBBBAAAMMMMAAAAAAAAAAA!

 

This is perhaps my biggest disappoint with Trump's rise and fall. I was hoping as a byproduct of Trumps (in the end too shallow) focus on this that one or the other parties would have to do something - anything, to just make a beginning at mitigating this. Not because I care about trade imbalances directly, but because a healthy middle class (excluding university trained here) is such an important part of a balanced and healthy society IMO.

Without it we could end up in a real Weimar America situation (and in a sense are already flirting with it), where more and more "average" people will clutch at and accept the extremes of a (American equivalents of) national socialism or an oppressive left wing statism.

I suspect that the GOP still has more of a chance to take this up in a real way than the Dem's, but only narrowly given how stubbornly both party machines cling to their inside the beltway status quo's. After 20 years of this essentially 50/50 stalemate, maybe one of them is ready to do a little introspection and take a risk at something new? Nah...

 

Who will be the new Darth Vader of the Dem party? Clintons are out now, Obama? This could be the Empire Strikes Back. Right @crenca?

 

I missed this earlier @Lyander and in the spirit of friendly dialogue I am going to call bullshit on it Let's say in some alternative universe Republicans gain an unassailable majority all 3 branches for the next 30 years.

1) Property, wildfires, and climate change? Sorry, but there is little difference between the parties here in America on these issues. Sure, the Dem's make much of symbolic gestures, stopping this or that pipeline or funding this or that "renewable energy" project, but the fact is they are beholden as much to Big Oil, Big Solar, and Big Tech as much as the Repubs. The media magnifies these small differences but there is just not much in it.

2) Guns? Here I admit the Dem's want to take us to where England is at, or at least Australia. The Repub's want to take us half way there - lot's of tracking and "background" checking but with most still able to legally own. It's all bullshit because if America makes guns illegal, only the criminals will still have them.

3) Abortion, wearing dresses, and consenting adults? Who told you that Republicans have it in for the sexual revolution? Jerry Falwell? Please. Traditional Christians/Jews/Muslims are maybe (maybe) 15% of the population, and half of them fully support the sexual revolution status quo when surveyed. Republicans could be 100% of the government and little would change. Heck, even if Roe vs. Wade is overturned (let's say on the legal technicality that the Constitution is actually very silent on this alleged "right") it would just go back to the states, and there the status quo would be maintained in the vast majority of them. Only a handful (Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansa maybe) would actually limit it in any sort of real or "burdensome" way.

What's "toxic" is how these nonrelevant abastractions are played out in the media, and how the status quo party machines covers themselves with them. When it comes to actual governance and things a Classically Liberal representative system like ours can do, well all that takes a back seat...

 

Does this mean we can potentially bring back "Thanks, Obama" memes?

The shocker for me right now is friggin Oregon decriminalizing basically ALL minor drug possession. You can take the equivalent to a parking ticket, or go in for a drug abuse disorder screening. Misdemeanor possessions become simpler violations. Felony possessions become misdemeanors.

I guess this is moving in step with them taking the legal cannabis tax money to fund recovery programs.

This really affects so many things. That is a BIG change. In theory, I like it. In practice... I hope they have a good plan. Quick rundown of the whole deal here: https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_Meas...ion_and_Addiction_Treatment_Initiative_(2020)

 

I'm expecting to be entertained (but for a limited time) by all the hand-wringing "end of the world" bs that is sure to be coming from both sides.

 

That's such an irrelevant argument.. Locking you car does not protect you against someone with a bazooka shutting through you car doors.
2A guns are not meant to protect you against the 82nd Airborne. But they will protect you very well if the local government scumbag decides to evict you from your property against the law. Guns will work in case if a local government refuses to protect you and your family against crime because they do not like your political affiliations. Do not tell me it has not happened already. So do not attempt to buy enough firearms to destroy an armored division,

 

It has not happened already. Show me where it happened (in the US).

 

Biden is so close to 270 he can smell it...