2020 Democratic Party Presidential Debates - Night 2
Courtesy mpi04/MediaPunch/IPX
Previous Post
Next Post

By Roger Katz

The Democrat Party is in a bind. This is the inference to be drawn after the first two recently aired debates. And no less a source of radical left, marxist hate-filled proselytizing and propaganda-filled garbage than The New York Times recognizes this indisputable fact; and, recognizing it, laments it, but for a very specific reason–one that may not be apparent to the casual reader.

In two recent stories — two Times reporters in a news story, and one columnist in an op-ed — expressed concern, even consternation over the style, tone and mood of the two recent debates.

Several of the presidential hopefuls were falling all over themselves in their call for radical change for the nation – including radical restrictions on gun rights and the Second Amendment. Their exuberance was on clear display for all to see.

In an article titled, Liberal Democrats Ruled the Debates. Will Moderates Regain Their Voices?, the Times reporters made this comment in the opening paragraph of their news account:

“The Democratic debates this past week provided the clearest evidence yet that many of the leading presidential candidates are breaking with the incremental politics of the Clinton and Obama eras, and are embracing seeping liberal policy changes on some of the most charged public issues in American life, even at the risk of a political backlash.”

And in his op-ed, A Wretched Start for Democrats, columnist Brett Stephens, seemingly grudgingly acknowledges that the Democrat Party agenda is well beyond the pale of anything acceptable to the vast majority of Americans:

“In this week’s Democratic debates, it wasn’t just individual candidates who presented themselves to the public. It was also the party itself. What conclusions should ordinary people draw about what Democrats stand for, other than a thunderous repudiation of Donald Trump, and how they see America, other than as a land of unscrupulous profiteers and hapless victims?

Here’s what: a party that makes too many Americans feel like strangers in their own country. A party that puts more of its faith, and invests most of its efforts, in them instead of us.

They speak Spanish. We don’t. They are not U.S. citizens or legal residents. We are. They broke the rules to get into this country. We didn’t. They pay few or no taxes. We already pay most of those taxes. They willingly got themselves into debt. We’re asked to write it off. They don’t pay the premiums for private health insurance. We’re supposed to give up ours in exchange for some V.A.-type nightmare. They didn’t start enterprises that create employment and drive innovation. We’re expected to join the candidates in demonizing the job-creators, breaking up their businesses and taxing them to the hilt.”

Stephens’ account of the radical left agenda hits the mark. What he says concerning the fears of those whom he refers to as “ordinary Americans” isn’t hyperbole.

What the Times finds objectionable, apparently, is that the Democrat Party candidates have, for the first time, in the debates, articulated their message directly, forcefully, and maybe a little too clearly for a substantial portion of the electorate.

Courtesy Unbiased America and Facebook

What people like Stephens, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and now former presidential candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell fear most is an armed citizenry that, through its very existence, would fight to prevent and would be fully capable of preventing a Marxist-collectivist takeover of this country. Thus, they seek to disarm the public.

Recall that Cuomo and his henchmen were the architects of the New York SAFE Act that places a ban on the very firearms with which the American people can most effectively ward off tyranny. And recall Swalwell’s intention to confiscate all semi-automatic firearms in the hands of law-abiding, rational, average Americans.

The Times’ columnist Stephens has twice called for repeal of the Second Amendment. In an October 5, 2017 Times column, Stephens didn’t mince words as he went about viciously attacking guns and gun ownership, making clear what it is he wants.

He said, in part:

“I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment. . . . the more closely one looks at what passes for ‘common sense’ gun laws, the more feckless they appear. Americans who claim to be outraged by gun crimes should want to do something more than tinker at the margins of a legal regime that most of the developed world rightly considers nuts. They should want to change it fundamentally and permanently.

There is only one way to do this: Repeal the Second Amendment.”

Just in case Americans didn’t get the message in Stephen’s first op-ed, he reiterated the message in a column titled, To Repeat: Repeal the Second Amendment that was published after the Parkland High School tragedy.

Stephens’ argument against gun ownership and possession is nothing new. Americans have heard the same tiresome message countless times before, albeit delivered with more sense of urgency and ferocity, immediately after a tragedy involving firearms in the hands of psychotic or psychopathic killers. Namely that society must get rid of its guns.

But Americans who wish to own and possess firearms need not fear, because it isn’t the intention of Stephens or Cuomo or Swalwell or any of the other anti-gun elements in our nation to take away all guns from citizens. They just want to take away some of them–and they want to add a little more scrutiny on those who really wish to possess them.

Eventually, of course, their intention is to confiscate all firearms, so that no civilian may legally own or possess one without first obtaining a license, issued by the appropriate government authority. That would effectively repeal the Second Amendment, as gun ownership and possession would then be a mere privilege.

Americans’ individual liberty, autonomy and self-determination comes to an end once government restrains the right of the people to keep and bear arms. That is not conjecture. That is ice-cold fact.

 

This article was originally published at arbalestquarrel.com and is reprinted here with permission. 

Previous Post
Next Post

149 COMMENTS

  1. Oh the Demokkkommies are going down the tubes in 2020… with Biden / Pedobear seeming to be the leading ticket, it’s time to roll the House and get a GOP super-majority in both chambers of Congress.

      • Biden is. But his lame performance in the debate has worried his handlers and lead CNN to reiterate its support of Kamala Harris. But Steyer’s entry into the field with his billions (a la Ross Perot) may be enough to split the ticket and assure the party’s defeat

        • Except that he’s rising in the “polls” again. (Anybody who believes the “polls” aren’t basically Demokkkommie operatchick approval ratings, is delusional.)

        • The polls were correct in 2016. Clinton and Trump received votes nationwide pretty much exactly what they were expected to receive. The problem was that isn’t how we elect Presidents, and the actually relevant state level polls were not sufficiently developed to be accurate.

          This time, who knows?

        • CarlosT is right.
          Clinton won the popular vote.
          But the Clinton team was so sure she would win in a landslide across the country that they ignored targeting states by Electoral College votes.
          Anyone who has seen the maps showing where Clinton was strongest in the election will note that her popularity was limited mainly to high-population areas (as an aside, there have been many studies using rats that look at how they act when overcrowded – they turn on themselves).
          We noticed the calls for eliminating the Electoral College immediately after the election. That would require a Constitutional Amendment, and that process requires so much debate that the Dems don’t really want to risk educating their base.

        • Clinton won the popular vote by about 2.9 million votes, Clinton won California by about 4.2 million votes… Clinton won New York by 1.7 million votes.. In a POPULAR vote scenario Clinton would have pretty much been put in office by the two most populous, most liberal and most highly restrictive states in the U.S.

        • Trump correctly campaigned understanding the electoral college.
          If the popular vote was the benchmark he would have completely changed his game plan.
          Many Trump fans in NY and CA stayed home because they know how the electoral college worked.
          Anybody who says they know how the election would have turned out on a popular vote mechanism is talking out their azz.

    • This is no secret. 2024 whole different story. All be design. Fucking hilarious people still don’t understand the parties follow the same master.

        • I kinda doubt it…………..not unless she becomes much more active in promoting her ” good deeds ” that are possible in her position as First Lady. Michelle tried the school lunch nutrition thing ( which turned out to be a big FAIL…….more food was thrown away than ever before, because the kids didn’t like what the choices were.)

          There is so much hatred with ANYTHING related to the TRUMP name………..look what happened to President Trump’s daughter and her fashion line…………the Hollywood elite and others boycotted her products, so that eventually she stopped making them available. And that hatred will continue just because of the President doing things ” his way, ” which is completely different from what Democrats and all the other people who depend on the Government to provide everything FREE for them, cradle to grave.

        • He’s probably referring to AMERICAN born Ivanka and not the First Lady since she falls short of one of the most basic prerequisites for being POTUS, that being having been born in the United States… Although even she could do a better job than the group of clowns currently running for the Democratic nomination…

    • Oh, we want them going full blown short bus and football helmet. It makes it easier to turn November 2020 into a rerun of November 1984.

      • “Oh, we want them going full blown short bus and football helmet.”

        That’s dangerous thinking. Here’s why –

        This is a good news – bad news kinda thing. The good news, it might turn folks off so much, they don’t bother to show up on election day.

        The *BAD* news – Hatred of Trump is so high with them, they show up and vote for whatever whack-job gets nominated anyways, and that piece of shit gets elected. Once elected, they are gonna move the hard Leftist agenda forward. That’s *BAD*.

        We had better not ignore the raw hatred of Trump, them voting their emotions could put a real horror-show in power…

        • The Trump haters will vote for Stalin if he’s on the ticket. We can’t help that. However, the vast majority of the country are not hardcore Trump haters and the further to the left we can push the ticket the better.

        • I’m a conservative but an independent voter.

          The above poster suggests that the Left’s vivid and outrageous hatred of Trump might make them a voting block for the Democratic candidate. OK, maybe.

          But for me, again a conservative, I’ve been the recipient (indirect, mostly, but some direct) of that hatred merely for being a conservative. The message?

          There’s no way in Hell I’m voting for someone that represents the left and runs for President.

          I don’t know if there are enough like me who are independent voters who are sickened by the Mueller probe and the conduct of the Left throughout it and which continues apace today and likely will through 2020. But my minds made up!

        • @David

          I am too independent who votes conservative since there is no true party for my ideals (basically just the constitution with even less government control) so I vote the closest I can. Gun-rights issues are a major reason but Trump, bearing in mind I dont like him, gets violated on the unsubstantiated probulator far to often and I’m tired of hearing it. Besides I would never vote for a treacherous imbocile like Clinton or Biden to represent me and advocate against everyone’s, and more importantly my, human rights.

  2. If that’s what the “Times” is worried about, they really are delusional! Should probably be more concerned about maybe printing the truth, for a change.

    • Journalists have never been and never are interested in the truth, they are looking to create controversy to sell the story. Just like the DemonRats if their mouths are moving or they are writing a story they are lying. The way it has always has been and always will be.

      • I’m old enough to remember newspapers being able to afford to be mostly neutral. The ads they sold paid the freight; the subscribers paid a nominal fee, mostly to let the papers know how many copies to print.
        Now, with on-line shopping, the ads are mostly gone, and the money to keep going has to come from somewhere. Investors saw the opportunity, and most of them are to the left of the political spectrum. The news (indeed, the media in general) must dance to the tune the piper plays.

  3. So, I watched the debate with an airsickness bag close by. Okay; several airsickness bags. Someone had to take one for the team. It was just as the author described. The left is very predictable. They will start to do the backstroke, but this isn’t like the old days when they only had three media outlets to cover everything up. Not like the old days when they could say that’s not what they meant and there’s was no footage to dispute it. Everyone will now know EXACTLY what they’re doing and exactly what they said because of all the media outlets who won’t kowtow to the democrat party. Trump will easily shred any of those clowns in a debate. They have shown their true colors and what most of us have known for a long time; they’re just bolder and cockier. I have friends and family who are staunch democrats who are beside themselves over giving “free” healthcare to illegals as well as “free” everything. Most have said they will just sit out next year’s elections and some hate to admit they’ll vote for Trump. These democrats are evil, lawless, American hating wolves in sheep’s clothing and will stop at nothing to get their way. Do not underestimate what they’re capable of because they’re not above murdering anyone who crosses them. It’s going to take every conservative voter out there to get rid of them. I’m only certain that HRC lost in 2016 because they were so cocksure of themselves having a landslide that they didn’t ramp up their cheat machine. They know there’s no way they can implement their radical agenda if the American people are as armed as they are. Next year is a choice between good and evil and vital to our survival as a nation.

    • At the rate the Democrat party is importing “new Americans” to vote left this might be out last chance at winning an election by voting.

      • What can make this next election even more interesting; if Trump not only wins the electoral college vote, but does it by winning the popular vote as well. It would be the best kind of justice to see all of those “blue” states surrender their electoral college votes to Trump because they changed their state laws.

        • You know what can make this next election even more interesting? If Trump not only wins the electoral college vote, does it by winning the popular vote, but also gumdrops rain on election day. Free stuff (or promises of thereof) works miracles on low information voters.

        • I don’t believe what they say the 2016 vote was. There was just too much fraud for Hillary to think that the TOTAL was really accurate. In Michigan there was a recount, but the judge called it off when it was discovered that the “totals” in certain blue counties was fraudulently overblown…….in Hillary’s favor, of course. Ergo, there was really a bigger margin for Trump.
          There was cheating for Hillary, but not enough!!!!! LOL

    • Why stop at free healthcare for illegals? The ones who got here would be benefiting from priviledge. What about the ones who didn’t violate our laws. We should be providing free healthcare to all citizens of Latin America, regardless of whether they decide to cross our border.
      Seriously though, I’m all for providing free healthcare for illegals – while they are in custody of ICE and on the way to being deported.

      • I’d be ok with billing them for treatment while in custody. However, almost none would pay and there would be the added expense to issue and try to collect with no significant return.

        • You could always strip em naked and handcuff them in the garage of some empty house until their relatives pay up. That’s what the coyotes do and the democrats don’t seem to have any problem with that.

          Snicker

      • Racist! Why only Latin America? Why not Africa and Eastern Europe? We should just pay EVERYBODY’S medical bills! And if they have difficulty getting to the facilities to avail themselves of all that healthcare, we should give each one a Cadillac convertible! How can they live up to their basic human rights, if we don’t pay for it? It is all TRUMP’S fault!!!

  4. I find it interesting that the VA healthcare system is held up as something to fear:

    “. . . We’re supposed to give up ours in exchange for some V.A.-type nightmare. ”

    However, by objective measurement, the VA ie one of the, if not the, best health care systems in the country. If the goal is to reduce costs while improving outcomes, It is a model to be emulated, not reviled.

    • Really? Is that why so many veterans wait months, even years, to receive medical care, and some die before they get to the head of the line? The hospitals that do not pass health and safety inspections? The repeated demonization and retribution inflicted on whistle blowers despite promises of protection? The VA has been and continues to be a national disgrace.

      • “The VA has been and continues to be a national disgrace.”

        My dad is a Vietnam combat vet, and a hard-core Leftist. (Rare, I know, but there ya go.)

        He and I were at a local EAA aviation event here in Florida about 10 years back (if you follow aviation, you know which one) having lunch with a group that included some local retired Navy carrier pilots. Pop was carrying on about how wonderful the newly-passed ‘ObamaCare’ was going to be. I interrupted his spiel with this –

        “Pop, is the health care this countrie’s military veterans are receiving from the VA acceptable?”

        He froze for a moment, he knew I laid a trap for him. “No”, he said.

        “Good”, I said, “That’s the right answer.” “That’s government-run health care. That’s what your grandchildren will be getting for their healthcare. WHAT DON’T YOU GET?”

        He had the deer-in-headlights frozen look. The ex F-14 and F-18 jocks quietly chuckled to themselves.

        It didn’t change him one bit. To this day he is still all-in on ‘Progressive’ politics…

    • BAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      You have obviously NEVER gotten care from the VA.

      Come to think of it, neither have I… just lots of ‘its not cost effective and ‘it isn’t disabling but you should walk with a cane’…

      • Hey, you know, I actually did! And, it was their idea! I forget how they got my name, but they called me up to find out if I had any proximity to Agent Orange while in Vietnam, and when I said yes, wanted me to come in for some tests and fill out some reports, etc. You know, increase the size of the database. I arrived on time, was seen promptly, and sent on my way. If course, as a retiree I did not need any care from them, but at least I saw none of the horror stories. This was somewhere around 1993.

    • “If the goal is to reduce costs while improving outcomes, It is a model to be emulated, not reviled.”

      Measuring what, exactly? “Costs?” I can pay a lot less by declining treatements. This does have the external cost of people dying, a lot or a little when they wouldn’t have otherwise, but there’s no place for that in the chart of accouts.

      “Improving outcomes,” vs. what? Vs. no care at all, ever, well it’s hard to do worse than nothing (but various government programs do manage that sometimes. Hey, they’re pros.)

      So, measuring what? Measured how? And by whom, recalling Lenin’s famous “Who, whom?” (Also 97% of the carefully selected people we asked this vague, directional question about a generally accepted empirical fact, failed to disagree. So, obvously, we need to give $100 billion / year without oversight to a UN authority to be named later, to Do Something.)

      Sigh.

    • I am a medical doctor.
      I have worked at the VA.
      I can tell you it is a medical ghetto.
      The only people there who are veterans are some of the medical doctors.
      The rest of the staff are low pay government workers.
      Imagine getting a medical care at the department motor vehicles. The VA is exactly the same.

    • Ah! “Emulated”! I see. So, we should simply eliminate all semblance of care, screw you, fuck off and die, and the whole country will be healthier? I’d like to hear actual victims of the VA testifying before assuming anything.

    • Hasaf, you’re either too young to remember the VA scandals a few years back, or you’re a troll.
      The VA did indeed offer health care in an efficient and cost effective way.
      It just didn’t offer health care to those who needed it. That’s how they kept the costs down.
      I don’t know which: Young, or troll?

  5. They don’t care about political backlash by Americans because they don’t care about Americans. They care about immigrants and potential immigrants because those are the only people that will be voting for them pretty soon. However I don’t see a way to stop this as in a couple decades more people will live in America that were born outside of it.They don’t care about the backlash because they view that as a means for permanent political power.

    I always say they hate gun owners and what all gun owners exterminated. But I would go farther, I say that Democrats hate Americans and want all Americans dead. The ones that vote for them are just useful idiots to be replaced by immigrants. And this sounds really xenophobic I know, but just look at what the Democrats themselves are saying and said in the debates. Because basically “we don’t give a shit about the American people and will give you all illegals everything you want as long as you keep voting for us.”

    • Exactly Shawn, but right now, they don’t have enough illegal votes to get elected. They really peed in the cookie jar this time around and that’s a good thing. No one is having it.

    • At the risk of being redundant, the number one concern in 2020 should be the enforcement of the voting rights act, I.E. legal American citizens. Not a million invaders who got handed a license as they crossed the border! The dems will obfuscate with all the other crazy shit they throw out there, but the goal is the most “new” residents they can get to the polls.

      • The only thing that matters at this point is how many can be repatriated. The number probably needs to be in the tens of millions maybe 100.

        • Still remains to be seen in a presidential election, but that’s the ultimate goal!

        • Dennis, since ID isn’t necessary to vote in a Federal election, even a license isn’t necessary.
          All that’s needed is the name and address of someone you know isn’t going to vote, but is registered to vote.
          it really is that easy.
          Since there are many areas (like L.A.) that have many more registered voters than people who are actually eligible to vote, that’s really not hard to do.
          The link between having a license and being registered to vote only encourages such activity. And they know that.

        • So basically, out system of electing people to “represent” us is f****d! Sounds like after we win in 2020 election reform should be a top priority.

        • Show up in Fl to vote without an ID and your ballot goes into the “provisional” pile until you can be verified which means you basically waste your time trying to vote in Fl without an ID..

        • Show up to vote in Wisconsin without an ID and you’ll be sent home! It took a couple years to get the court battles out of the way, but finally we have Voter ID here. Now I know that my vote will be cast by ME, not someone else.

    • I question whether they are really going to vote Democrat. If they are paying attention they’ll see that the Dems have NO family values and are encouraging mayhem!

      • You ASSUME that they are paying attention.. Reality is they are mostly from Socialist countries or Dictatorships where everything is done for them and everything is paid for by the government, It’s a lot like an institutionalized ex-convict. They want what they know while ignoring the results which made them flee from their homelands in the first place. Why do people leave progressive states like NY and California in droves for states like Fl. and Tx and then try to turn THEM into exactly the same thing they just left.. They just can’t help it, it is embedded in who they are and they can only be happy if everyone around them is as miserable as they are…

        • That is why I advocate those who move from states such as California (and really, you may as well throw Oregon and Washington state into the mix), into another state, should never be allowed to vote, or run for any form of public office in their new state-ever! For they show they are too damned stupid to learn anything-only that “it didn’t work” where they used to live. These new “residents” (invaders, really) should have a scarlet letter put on their driver’s license barring them from doing either, because learning something from their mistakes, and learning something new is just too damned difficult for them.

        • Hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I will. These people you’re talkin about destroyed my home state the exact way you describe, leave the place you helped destroy, move to another “unspoiled” place, buy a Mc Mansion, post the land, then run for public office. When there are enough of you in the legislature, time to move on to the next unspoiled state. Sound familiar?

        • I do not know what in the hell you are talking about you dumb fool. I did not move to any of these state that have been ruined, from Commi-fornia, nor did (or do I) I vote for any anti-gun, high taxes measures, either, that destroyed your state, or so many others. Visited Commi-fornia once, and sure as hell would not want to live there. You may have become that dead brained horse you are so hell bent on beating. I have no “McMansion”. I work for a living, pay my taxes, so that everyone else can have “something for nothing”. So take your narrow minded, judgmental crap, and shove it where the sun does not shine.

        • Didnt think I was talkin about you, actually thought we had the same grievance. But if you dont understand the context of the post, you really need to read more carefully before you start talkin trash. If you are one of people mentioned, oh well!

        • Think I know where the confusion is, when I used the word “you” in my post, I was talking in generalities, didnt mean you. Better?

  6. Everyone of those supposed Americans should be running for office in Cuba. They are in a word all of them. Unamerican and NUTTZ.

  7. the really really great thing about the trump era is all the masks are finally off now
    no more hiding
    no more masquerading
    everybody knows exactly who and where everybody is
    the democrats have finally showed themselves the scumbags weve deep down always known them to be
    they are indeed the domestic enemies that folks have taken the oath to defend the constitution against

    • That does seem to be the case! WTF happened? Did somebody tell these freakazoids that today was the day? I think there has been a mistake, they have jumped too soon, and they will be exterminated. But I worry, could it be that *I* am wrong?

  8. So it’s simultaneously:
    “shhhh…. they won’t vote for you if they know what your policies are”
    and
    “we have the popular support of the people!”

  9. Mark Levin had an amazing show on Tuesday where he basically summed up what The Democrat Party is betting on, longterm, and it’s directly tied to Illegal Aliens flooding our Country.

    The Democrat Party has decided that they are going to be the Party of the Wealthy Elites, and the entirety of the Urban-Poor-Minority. The Democrat Party has the Wealthy-Elites locked down, lock, stock, and barrel, and they are now going full throttle on their newly crafted playbook of IMPOSED DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE.

    The Democrat Party has gone all in on open-borders loving Illegal Aliens floods coupled with continuous blanket Amnesty with “Citizenship” attached for them, simply because those Illegal Alien Floods are importing, Statist, Leftwing, Collectivist Politics.

    Ergo, the Democrat Party has gone all-in on usurping and subverting the Institution of Voting through the vote itself. That is the political nature of Latin America and the 3rd World, and with it, the totalitarian agenda of GUN CONFISCATION will follow.

    The Democrat Party is pandering to their newly IMPORTED, Demographic Head Count, Voting Bloc. The American Citizen is rejecting it, and that’s why the NYT is nervous, because they know that American Citizen is NOT having any of it.

    The Left in America has turned our Country’s Elections into a CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS.

    • This is why the Democrats are using every opportunity to showcase the plight of all those ” poor little kids ” in the camps where they are being detained. Sure, perhaps their conditions are not too good, but they are here illegally, and we are supposed to give them everything they want to keep them happy ?

      I think Trump has the right strategy…. make things bad enough that they won’t want to come back, such as many of those who cross our borders do, sometime multiple times.

      • Love those “kids”! They don’t even have a toothbrush? Why didn’t they bring their toothbrushes along for the trip? Ah! Because they have never seen a toothbrush in their lives.

  10. Good luck trying to repeal the 2ndA. The constitution lays out the process, and there is no way the damnocrats could win the process.
    Their only option is to try to kill it by regs and rules, which won’t fly, because of;
    WILL NOT COMPLY.

        • Speaking as someone from a formerly “free” state, there is now no place in the country that’s safe from these devious scumbags. If they drive you to another place, they win, pretty soon you run out of states!

        • Just don’t move to “The Free State”, a misnomer for the People’s Demokratik State of Maryland. Thanks to a former state senator who is now our attorney general, we have been saddled with the “Gun Safety Act of 2013”, passed when the gun used by the maniac at Sandy Hook was still smoking. No new acquisitions of any rifles which LOOK like assault weapons. No magazines over 10 rounds. Having to jump through a whole bunch of hoops to even purchase a handgun. And this is “No Country for Old Men” since it’s virtually impossible to get a CCW permit so you can protect yourself against those who are younger and stronger than you are.

      • Dan, I agree. But in 20-30 years I won’t be here to worry about it, if you want any help from me you have to move the kickoff up a few decades.

        • I’ll be 70 in Oct and my Dr. says current numbers indicate a potential lifespan 120/125 is not unreasonable BP 118/70 at 72 bps, cholesterol @140, ekg normal, last colonoscopy was clear, prostate, kidney, liver functions normal lungs clear, brain function normal semi annual lab work is always positive, a little overweight but working on it, clear, alert, some arthritis, hip pain and the obligatory lower back issues that come from decades of driving trucks (they didn’t always have air ride) and riding old hardtail Harleys (gotta look cool). I am concerned with the social political landscape 20 years from now but I also agree that we need to get started sooner than later because later could be TOO late.. Oh by the way I am a VICTIM of the terrible health care provided by the North Fl/Georgia VA healthcare system.. I’ve had laser surgery on both retinas, offered (but declined for now) hip replacement and now most of my Drs are local non VA I have heard the horror stories and even experienced it in the mid 1970s but I can only speak to care I receive here and now as a disabled Vietnam vet rated @ 100%. Prior to my return to the VA in 2000 I had seen a doctor zero times in 25 years, now I get an annual physical, lab tests twice a year, dental/vision care free glasses every year, colonoscopy every five years.. and when I was nearly killed in motorcycle accident in 2008 VA picked up over $160,000 in medical bills.. What has Obamacare done for the people…

        • Whoa, Maxx! You say you’re disabled rated 100%? Doesn’t that make you medically retired, with your medical bills in the same folder as mine after I served 20 years? Because that is not what the war stories are concerned with, our care is guaranteed and I get mine outside the VA system, the gov’t just pays for it. The bitching is about our brothers who did not reach retirement but need some help with PTSD, mental health, etc.

        • My 100% disability is based on 80% PTSD and the balance from damaged shoulder… No I’m not “medically retired” (my discharges read #1 Honorable conditions and the 2nd one reads Honorable under Medical conditions) My 2nd discharge after 6 yrs 6 mo and 11 days of service was recommended by a medical review board that found me to be 30% disabled, after discharge the VA found 0% and I had no desire to fight it (PTSD was not yet recognized as a THING) I self medicated with illegally obtained prescription drugs, cocaine, pot and alcohol til 2000 when I met a young woman that worked at the VA and she convinced me to try the NEW VA and I did, after a number of tests and mental evaluations I was granted a 60% rating and it was explained to me that this was the game and I would have to argue for the correct rating which I did and within 18 months from the start I had a 100% rating.. I have an excellent primary but if the need arises I can go to a local dr for health, vision and dental and I see my shrink once a month… The problems I have heard of locally has involved nonservice connected individuals which are placed in the lowest priority classification with 80 to 100% being the top priority… Note to the “addicted” I used EVERY drug imaginable for 25 years (with the exception of heroin) the VA put me on 30 mg of Oxycodone every four hours for 16 years I took myself off went through withdrawals for five days and now I am drug and alcohol free with the occasional toke when then the pain gets to much, I went cold turkey on cigarettes in 2008 and only rarely use alcohol and it makes me ill to hear all the pity party bullshit for those poor disadvantaged addicts and those evil drug companies, drug abuse is a choice unless someone held you down and stuffed your veins with heroin for a couple of days so put on your big boy/girl pants and figure it out, get help and get a life…

  11. The current display of truthfulness coming out of the left is exactly why war is inevitable. It’s commonly argued here and elsewhere, that war will never happen because Americans, and gun owners, are too fat, too lazy, too comfortable, and have to much to lose when the buybacks and confiscations start. This will be proven incorrect, because wars don’t happen in a vacuum.

    The left is coming for our guns, but that’s not all. The left is also coming for your retirement, your savings account, your house, your healthcare, your car, your job, your ability to speak, your history, your ancestry, and your children. If you look at the lefts now openly true agenda on display, you will find attacks on all of those things. When those things happen, the American people will have nothing left to lose, and will act accordingly.

    • Oh, it’s been out there from time to time approximately forever; the early blatant articulations in the US were (racist, eugenecist, “Look, an academic with big ideas and limited governing experience!” — president Wilson.), John “Make proper Citizens” Dewey, and some others.

      Congresscritters were running around during hte ’08 amplified “financial crisis”, demanding changes to the 401k laws. “Trilliongs” “just sitting there” that they should just seize & redistribute for the good of us all.

      So “quantitive easing”, just “moving a couple decimal points” in some electronic accounting systems (Look it up. Some of the schmucks actually said that out loud.), was their second choice after “seize all the things.” Makes you wonder what’s the means, and what’s the end.

      (While I’m goring sacred bull markets, taking $1 trillion as an approximate stand-in for TARP, Son of TARP, Under the TARP, and TARP me no TARPs, and around 330 million humans in the US at the time… If the game is to get money into circulation, & “relief” on things that took a hit, what’s wrong with a $3,000 ($1 trillion / about 1/3 of a trillion) cash award drectly to everyone in the US?)

      • Dear Overlords,

        BTW, your content-sensitive non-spam filtering “spam filter” clipped the prior. That’s enough of that that it’s looking like a pattern. Me and my tinfoil hat can’t escape the impression that the “spam” filtering based on “virus” coding patterns is in fact content filtering.

        Where’s the escape sequences? Nested espressions? Actual obfuscated code? Emedded links? Repetition? What set it off?

        Inquiring non-Russian, not-bots want to know-ski.

        — Jim Bullock

        P. S.

        I was joking about this before. I’m not any more. Your 3rd-party fake spam and bot filtering comment tech is doing content filtering.

        Also my Social Credit score is adequeate, as far as I know, Tovarich. And I denounce … whoever you want me to; I have whatever opinions you give me.

        My consciousness is elevated. Honest.

        — jb

        • I keep getting asked to solve a captcha by Cloudflare security for I know not what reason. It seems quite random, except that it hasn’t yet happened on an actual gun or gear article (which there seem to be less of these days). Only on political topics. All I know is that it’s very effective at getting me not to comment at all.

        • And to “Animal Farm”. All animals are equal, but some are MORE equal than others…. like the pigs at the top.

  12. (1) Brett Stevens is a #nevertrumper not a leftist. He has the self awareness to admit that It’s Trump and not his policies that he objects to.

    (2) The fact that he wants to repeal the Second shows that he understands that the right to bear arms is embodied in the Constitution. He is free to advocate a change to the Constitution by the appropriate means. just as we are free to oppose a change.

  13. I pointed out months ago that if they went down this road the litmus tests for the nomination would insure a candidate who was too extreme for the general election.

    I would point to the Levi’s story as evidence. 71% of millennials don’t want to buy a brand, or are significantly less likely to do so, when that brand openly attacks the 2A.

    I’ve said before, and continue to believe, that at this point Warren is the most dangerous of them. She’s picked up Obama’s concept of microtargeting and is using it in a fairly astute way. At this time I rate her as the most dangerous person in the general election, especially since she’s polling within striking distance of getting the ticket. Consistantly in double digits but not quite high enough to get the big guns trained on her. For now that’s a good position in what amounts to a top-down war of attrition.

    • Remember the naked *glee* the Leftists had when it looked like Trump might win the nomination? How pleased they were that the election was in the bag for them?

      The pendulum swinging the other way could prove to be a real bitch for us…

      • That’s very true. I would also point out that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” is an old political trick.

        For example, the whole thing with Omar/AOC and Pelosi. Pelosi has the power, even over the progressive caucus, to shut those ladies down. When it comes to effective whip management Pelosi is undoubtedly a master. Yet she has “trouble” with loudmouths?

        I don’t buy that for a second. Omar and AOC are unruly loudmouthed idiots to be sure but from Pelosi’s point of view they’re actually useful as unruly loudmouthed idiots. There are a number of reasons that they’re useful from a political point of view but what worries me, since I know she’s not stupid or inexperienced, is the political advantage(s) that these two provide that I’m not seeing g but Pelosi is.

        • They bring in donations & campaign workers, that’s about it. Bernie served the same purpose, but he’s only got a good 3-5 years left in him. AOC/etc actually are existential threats to Pelosi due to their hubris, ambition, inexperience, and plain old stupidity. The only way they are useful is if they can be ‘bought,’ which is to say those negative traits can be mooted at any point so as to not threaten party hegemony. Bernie was given two mansions & his wife excused from financial crimes so he wouldn’t raise hell about the 2016 primary being openly rigged; now he’s running for president again, but not seen as any sort of threat, more of a team player. That’s no accident. AOC hasn’t been bought yet, no one’s quite sure (AOC most of all) where her intra-party loyalties lie yet, so she could still use her big donkey-mouth to betray people like Pelosi at any moment. It’s also because she’s young enough that she could seriously piss off upper management and still end up in charge just by outlasting them (reason #57 to not have a bunch of geezers running things); AOC really doesn’t *need* the old-guard like Pelosi except for her own impatience. Pelosi obviously realizes this, that she doesn’t have all that much influence on this upstart new generation, so she has them doing “bitch work” and other uninteresting things in an effort to reduce their media exposure, which is about the only way she can mitigate the threat they pose to her position. AOC can only counter this pressure by acting out in increasingly ridiculous ways, such as that preposterous border-control-center visit in Texas. If Pelosi can hold out long enough, AOC will finally be forced to flash her tits in order to get people to pay attention to her, lol (there likely won’t be anything worth seeing by then, however)

        • Barn:

          They do a hell of a lot more than just bring in donations and volunteers. They serve as a very valuable distraction and come from safe districts which means even if they go completely bonkers and lose an election it’s likely that they lose to another Democrat. They’re no threat to the establishment which can replace both in in any election cycle they like.

          These two are pawns to Pelosi and the DCCC. Only they’re too stupid to see it. Pay attention to the rooks, bishops and knights if you want to avoid checkmate.

        • “I don’t buy that for a second. Omar and AOC are unruly loudmouthed idiots”
          Anyone that can make that statement with a straight face has never spent the two minutes it takes watching these ill informed, rude, obnoxious, unruly, loudmouthed idiots in a committee hearing to realize that they are in fact ill informed, rude, obnoxious, unruly, loudmouthed idiots

  14. Counting chickens. We know how this goes. The Left goes batshit in the primaries, then about faces to the center in the general. By the end of the election, the mainstream media will be in lockstep positioning the Dems as the only sane, reasonable adults in the room and will conveniently forget this insane stuff. The real question is will Twitter, FB, and other social media allow these revealing articles to be posted a year from now when it really matters? While Trump has been promising deportations, and miles of wall that never materialize, and banning gun accessories, the Left has been loudly and proudly erasing his online supporters everywhere on the internet.

    • “By the end of the election, the mainstream media will be in lockstep positioning the Dems as the only sane, reasonable adults in the room…”

      We CANNOT discount this. The Leftists realized they hung themselves the last time around with all the free publicity they gave Trump. 100 million *plus* in free publicity.

      They won’t make the same mistake again. They are going to be very careful as to how Trump is going to be covered by them. I fully expect them for the most part to ignore him, to not cover him much at all. To cut him off from the oxygen of his followers…

      • Not possible; they can’t help themselves. We learned this in 2016 during the main campaign. The media really & truly was trying to promote Trump over the other candidates for much of the RNC primary thinking he was the weakest opponent for Hillary, but they were unable to resist scooping each other in order to grab viewers with newsworthy content, be it outrageous scandal coming from his mouth or simple newsworthy events like his campaign rallies. Now that he’s “old hat” they’ll have a slightly easier time resisting…but we all know there won’t be an alternative story to cover that’s anything close to interesting, and that all these media companies are going broke for lack of interest. Besides, Trump can still up the ante & get them yapping at his heels.

        Personally, I keep hoping he forced into generating a media frenzy by reopening the MG registry. A long shot, of course, but I can think of nothing better that’d keep the media irrationally fixated on him for however long the amnesty lasts.

      • This is why, if I were a political strategist; I’d pit a few totally belligerent candidates against Trump in the GOP and ensure loads of headline debates. Take the spotlight off the DNC. I don’t necessarily like Trump, but if I wanted to win I’d make a big show of it.

    • Obama sure as hell never promised all illegal aliens free healthcare at any point during the primaries, while demanding citizens pay a penalty for not buying coverage. We’re well beyond previously charted waters in crazy at this point. There will be electoral ramifications, but who cares? The Dems likely aren’t expecting to unseat an incumbent with even moderate popularity (hell, even Obama couldn’t be ousted in 2012 after his shit-show) so there’s no incentive to appeal to anyone but the fiercest supporters & wealthiest donors; in other words, total nut jobs.

      If any of these guys wants to actually win, it’ll be in 2024, and they’ll have four more years to either push the Overton window into the next county, and/or allow their past dumb statements fade into memory.

  15. Everyone with half a clue knows it as the Commiecrat party,bent on destroying this nation as a Constitutional republic.

  16. “NY Times Worries Americans May Have Seen Democrats’ Agenda Too Clearly in First Debates”

    In the first debates…???
    Hardly, we saw it yrs ago, and that’s one reason hrc lost in 2016, the dems will lose in 2020…

    • Clinton won the popular vote.
      It wasn’t her policies that lost her the election, but the hubris of her and her team.

        • No, her policies won her the popular vote.
          There are enough uneducated, lazy voters to whom her policies sounded great.

        • “No, her policies won her the popular vote.
          There are enough uneducated, lazy voters to whom her policies sounded great.”
          TRUTH: In a true DEMOCRACY Clinton would have won on (or in spite of?) her policies which was basically Obama on steroids. She only won the popular vote because a few extremely Liberal states voted overwhelmingly for her and those states would have gone to her anyway, everytime the media and liberal pundits start crying about the popular vote they choose to ignore the numbers and go off on a rant about how our DEMOCRACY is in danger.. Wrong, if we were a true DEMOCRACY California and New York would dictate the direction of the entire country, however the United States is a Constitutional Republic and so far both the Constitution and the Republic are hanging tough in spite of the onslaught of Communists, fascists, Socialists, Islamists and hundreds of irrelevant fringe groups that can’t afford a plane ticket to move to whatever part of the world actually supports their particular ideology.
          Clinton won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes, Clinton won California by 4.2 million votes… Clinton won New York by 1.7 million votes, those numbers indicate that she actually LOST the rest of the United States by 3 million votes.. In a POPULAR vote scenario Clinton would have pretty much been put in office by 2.6% of the popular vote by the two most populous, most liberal and most highly restrictive states in the U.S. .
          Want to see REAL Revolution/Civil War? Let those ignorant left wing states ignore their own popular vote and hand their electoral college votes in the next Presidential election to the loser just because they got a couple million more votes in California and New York..

        • MaddMaxx: I agree with much of that you say, except that we don’t live in a democracy; we live in a republic.

        • I have never said we live in a Democracy.. In the post in question I was simply running a scenario based on their belief that the the U.S. is a Democracy.. In fact I never miss an opportunity to correct anyone who states we are anything other than a Constitutional Republic and it irritates me to no end to listen to our alleged LEADERS talking about OUR Democracy and OUR American values.. I reread the post and can understand how it could be misinterpreted but I did state that IF we were a true Democracy….. Too many people seem to believe that we are a Democracy, but I grew up in a time when the Constitution was still respected and (And to the REPUBLIC for which it stands) still meant something..

  17. I know a fair number of people who stood up and cheered harder the further left the debate went. They thought the Democratic party was finally getting *almost* liberal enough.

    Put “liberal” in scare quotes; I think most of them don’t realize the totalitarian horror that lies behind these things they think are so forward-looking.

    It also doesn’t seem to cross their mind that a lot of these “liberal” things will be done directly TO me, and eventually them too, on behalf of a bunch of lawbreakers they don’t know, for the direct enrichment of a bunch of elitists who hate ALL of us.

    • Those debates were intentionally held in the most “liberal” part of Fl. they knew the audience would be totally “bought” and they could get as crazy as they wanted..

  18. Personally I don’t want Biden on the Democratic ticket because he’s almost reasonable and thus electable. I wanted Swalwell because he’s a whack job and a straight white male with zero intersectionality points so he would have to own his failure instead of blaming “the patriarchy” or racism or homophobia. I’m still rooting for the most extreme possible candidate and platform to ensure a Trump landslide. I’d even settle for Booker, since Obama’s two terms effectively cancelled the race card.

  19. “Recall that Cuomo and his henchmen were the architects of the New York SAFE Act that places a ban on the very firearms with which the American people can most effectively ward off tyranny”

    Cuomo is a vile dictator and the SAFE Act is an abhorrent law, but it doesn’t actually ban any firearms, only features on firearms. You can still buy AR-15’s in New York, they can accept detachable magazines, and they don’t have to be registered. They are just ugly as sin and a little trickier to hold. The only way that NY and the downstate liberals destroying the state could ever truly ban the AR-15 would be through a full semi-auto ban.

  20. This is what happens when you let small, destructive elements take hold within your party. The LGBTWTFBBQ’s will *never* muster a significant number of votes…but damn can their political operatives ruin a political career if they care to. They’re feared like the gun-lobby used to be within the RNC. So you get boringly conventional guys like Joe Biden falling all over themselves to signal loyalty to these tiny special interests simply as a matter of political survival, and the fact it is contrary to courting a majority of voters is seen as a distant bridge to be crossed well after the primary, with no thought as to how to get there, from here. You’d see a similar pattern if RNC candidates were trying to out-Jerry-Falwell each other with increasingly strident & objectively offensive statements about the usual social mores topics, in some wacky parallel universe; how can someone walk back something as brazen as calling for a ban on all firearms? Or free health care for an enormous class of admitted criminals while demanding citizens pay a penalty?

    The truth is that getting back to the popular moderate left isn’t the point; right now, you have two dozen candidates ‘running’ simply to accumulate donation dollars, while trying to avoid the destruction of their political career via outrage-panic. None of these people really wants to be president, and it would only be by forces outside the DNC (ie Trump) that any of these goobers should attain that office this year. That’s why there is no incentive for them to present themselves as reasonable, and we may even continue to see these boldly unreasonable stances present themselves even into the general campaign. Until those fringe groups don’t have the power to destroy candidates’ careers from a single misstep or the big donors seek a campaign that actually has a chance in hell of appealing to a majority, you will continue to see them take ridiculous stances.

    • Those “fringe” LGBTWTFBBQ’s have managed to take a warm, family friendly city like Orlando, Fl. and turn in to the gay mecca of the United States… Saw it coming years ago with Disney’s encouragement of the gay pride movement hosting parades, parties etc.. Recently the entire area Orlando to Kissimmee (aka Disney World) devoted the entire week to a non stop gay pride “party” even the protests of Trumps announcement event originated at a gay nightclub… The group as a whole may not be “bigger” enough on its own to effect major changes, but I see a coalition of groups (La Raza at a gay pride event?) forming and the indoctrination of our children over the past 20 years has created a support element of mindlessly sympathetic (social justice warriors) followers that can…

  21. If their agenda is to ensure Trumps Victory, they Nailed it.
    But in their defense what can you expect. Trump is giving American everything they have been wanting. There is nothing left they can offer. All their old promises are finally being keep by Trump.

    So their only move is to Promise everything for free & first come first server, Illegal or not.

  22. The old tactic of veering left to be nominated then steer back to center to get elected may not work this time. They have gone over the edge to separate themselves from the pack and will have to do more flip flopping than a fish out of water to recover. And all along the way they will lose credibility with the independents who’s votes they need.

  23. Watched the first debate for the shits and giggles, and for all the crazy ideas they have. The only two good ones were “End all foreign wars.” and “Legalize cannabis.” Although I would like to hear “end the entire war on drugs”

    • Arc, it was clear we *lost* the war on drugs around 30+ years ago, I have no idea when we will admit that, and just legalize everything.

  24. I find it refreshing that the Democratic Socialists are finally comfortable enough to step out into the daylight and plead their case.. That means they have misinterpreted the last midterm elections as approval of their agenda and this group of misfits currently running for the “Progressive Party” nomination to run (ie; get humiliated, humbled and soundly defeated) against President Trump in the 2020 general election… By the time the primaries are over there will be enough insanity spewing from each of these idiots to run a 24/7 internet ad to keep their lunacy fresh in the peoples minds all the way to the general no matter how “CENTRIST” they try to play… NYT is correct, the mainstream population of this country will be scared “right” by the insane proposals these feckless clowns are proposing and it will not only cost them the White House but all their gains in the House and even more seats in the Senate as well as some Governors and maybe even a couple of big city Mayors.. So NYT stfu and let this sad collection of misguided freaks continue on their collective journey to obscurity and you can go back to reporting all the news that’s fit to print (in your opinion) and fill the remaining space on the front page and the rest of your worthless rag with all the recomposed, manufactured and just plain “fake news” that you have published for decades so long as you shall live….

  25. It’s my opinion that the leftists know that they probably won’t win against Trump in 2020 so they are pushing the bar for rhetoric so that it will be more expected and commonplace next time around.

  26. Not topical joke of the day from Michael Ramirez political cartoon….

    Since Swallwell left the average IQ of the Democratic primary just jumped 30 points….

  27. “What the Times finds objectionable, apparently, is that the Democrat Party candidates have, for the first time, in the debates, articulated their message directly, forcefully, and maybe a little too clearly for a substantial portion of the electorate.”

    Exactly. Well put. The Liberals are liars, and they want to lie to Americans in order to disguise their real agendas until it’s too late.

  28. Surprise surprise Jonathon Gruber was right when he called the voters stupid. But not as dumb as people who wont wait until they seize power to abuse it.

  29. I have searched assiduously, but I cannot find a single Democrat politician who is not an enemy of the American republic..

  30. You have a birthright to gun ownership in america Liberal Democrat gun owners.
    That has never been in question. The question is do you or have you ever supported gun civil rights, with the way you vote? It seems in California and other blue (socialist) areas you have not been voting for civil rights.

    • Which is why so many people don’t trust you. And as a former California resident, it’s why I don’t trust you.

    • Birthright? Study the story of Essau and Jacob to see what can happen to a birthright.
      Lies and deception can fool the blind, and most Dem voters have their blinders firmly attached.

      • Are you willing to “fight” for your birthright? They may not be willing to fight in california. But they will fight in the former confederate states. Including Mississippi where its constitutional carry. And EVERYONE has guns.

  31. “The Democrat party is in a bind”, a bind? They should be in a woodchipper FULL STOP. Good article, watching the Left cannibalize itself is great fun, and their anxiety over their mask slipping off to reveal the comrade underneath is quite enjoyable. Election night 2020 is going to be a hoot, we’ll need to gather our spare rain barrels to catch all those Blue Wave Tears.

  32. It is refreshing that the Dems have opened up and are no longer bullshi**ng us about their goals. We should help them and vote for the most insane lunatic in their primarys.

  33. Bruce, i agree but out of the 178 running, can we really figure out which one is the most insane? All of them sounded and acted insane to me.

  34. These leftist motherfuckers have shit for brains. No sane person will vote again for these cocksuckers. Democrats suck.

  35. The Dem candidates are playing to the crowd that counts right now: those who will vote in the primaries.
    After the primaries, you will see whoever is nominated move much closer to the center, and very few will remember what was said earlier.
    Hillary and Obama did exactly that.

  36. “Conservative fetish for the Second Amendment”? That is what keeps a tyrannical government in check. And if politicians are treating the pro-Second Amendment populace this bad now, with Americans being armed, one can only imagine how much farther into hell the United States would sink in to once these gun-hating politicians got their way.

  37. Anyone who worries that Americans may have just seen the Democrats’ agenda too clearly in the debates is just assuming Americans are too stupid to have seen the Democrats’ agenda too clearly before. Oh, wait, Americans may have just seen the Democrats’ agenda clearly for the first time, or not. They may just be as “stupid” as the NY Times infers and may not even yet see the writing.

  38. “…..columnist Brett Stephens, seemingly grudgingly acknowledges that the Democrat Party agenda is well beyond the pale of anything acceptable to the vast majority of Americans:”
    Which only proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the claims that the media makes about being impartial are nothing but bogus lies and that they are nothing but shills for the Democrat Communist party.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here