It's a Wrap! GOP Convention: Day 4

I know I previously said I wanted to see lots of balloons. Forget it! Did you see that fireworks display? I love fireworks and have watched them all over the world. I wish I had been in DC for this show! Had to console myself with watching the extravaganza on a wide screen TV. It, even so, proved great! A perfect ending to a superbly produced convention. The DNC convention is evermore forgettable, and I am sure Biden already has forgotten it . . . along with lots of other stuff . . . .

Once again, the stagecraft was superb. The use of the White House as a backdrop proved a master stroke. I don't want to hear any whining from the progs about it; FDR accepted the 1940 nomination of his party from the White House, and FDR is the Prog God. 

With a few minor exceptions, I thought the selection of speakers and their speeches proved excellent. I found particularly moving the address by David Dorn's widow. Dorn, a retired police captain in St. Louis, was murdered by "mostly peaceful protestors," i.e., Biden supporters, while helping protect a friend's business. The presentation by Kayla Mueller's parents also was a heart-breaking one. Mueller, a human activist, was kidnapped in 2013, raped repeatedly, and then murdered by ISIS in 2015. The Obama/Biden cabal did nothing about it; after all, ISIS was the junior league. The Muellers got some justice when US forces, under Trump's orders, not only destroyed the "Caliphate," but nailed al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, in an operation appropriately named "Operation Kayla." 

I found also touching the story of Alice Marie Johnson, who had spent years in prison, for a nonviolent crime, and would probably have died there but for President Trump commuting her sentence. Rudy Giuliani, America's Mayor, went after Biden and the Dems in that inimitable Rudy style. He made a loud and heart-felt lament for what is happening to his beloved New York under the misrule of the Demprogs. Other speakers also were quite good. I found, in general, the nervous amateurs more interesting than the polished political pros.  

On the Trumpian speech. 

First, a minor criticism. I think that Ivanka Trump's "introduction" to the President went on for far too long. I have nothing against Ivanka, and think she's a smart and attractive woman, but I don't think we needed to hear her for some 20-25 minutes; a five-six minute intro would have been enough. Minor point.

The President's speech was a very good one, not quite as good as some of his State of the Union addresses, but still very good. It, however, started too late in the evening and went on too long; it could have been cut by some 20-25 minutes, and could have had sharper attacks on Biden. That aside, the President did an excellent job of laying out his accomplishments over the past four years and providing a road map for what he wants to accomplish in the next four. He came in hard on law-and-order, and made evident his disdain for those who attack cops and burn our cities, all with Democrat encouragement and even complicity.  

Then, fireworks! Did I mention they had fireworks? 

A+ 

Now the election is Trump's to lose.

GOP Convention: Day 3

 Even better. The third day provided nothing less than an amazing convention. It's hard to comment on it as there was so much there.

Once again, of course, the production values were terrific. I thought that the setting at Ft. McHenry for VP Pence's address was outstanding. A superb bit of stagecraft and excellent camera work. The DNC had nothing even in the same league, not even close. I will come back to Pence.

There so many terrific speakers it's hard to summarize and comment on them all. Just a few. I thought that Sister Dede  blasted it out of the park. I am sorry to say that I had not heard of her, and was a bit taken aback when I saw a nun in full habit take the stage. She, however, has quite a story: a thoracic surgeon, a full colonel in the US Army, a veteran of Afghanistan, AND now a nun. A woman who has dedicated herself to service. A very powerful pro-life presentation, and one which had to make "Catholic-in-Name-Only" Biden squirm, or, better said, his handlers squirm, as I doubt he is even aware of the Sister's address. 

All of the speakers did a great job of taking apart the image of Trump presented by his opponents. He came off as a man of empathy and with genuine concern for the country, and its people regardless of race, gender, etc. One also could not help but be moved by the presentation of Madison Cawthorn the Republican candidate for the 11th Congressional district here in North Carolina. When he stood up from his wheelchair, one had only wished there was a live audience. He has a future. There were so many others . . .

I thought that VP Pence did a terrific job with a pretty good speech. His somewhat unusual speaking style--lots of pauses--was perfect for the speech. He came across as witty, thoughtful, serious, and very much a patriot, and his Midwestern charm and accent helped a lot. He tore apart Biden. Kamala Harris better do some serious research and practice if she's going to debate this guy. The "surprise" appearance of the President and Flotus at the end of Pence's speech was handled extremely well. I thought, oh no, Trump is going to step all over Pence's moment, but he didn't. He did not speak and, instead, made a point of going with Pence to greet the injured veterans and others in the front row of the audience. Well done.

Give it an A+

 

On the Range

A little break from politics.

I finally made it out to the local gun range. Not very long there as I didn't want to eat too much into my ammo supplies. Took three of my new guns: Ruger 57, Colt Python 357, STI Staccato P 2011. Just didn't have enough 9mm to take along my new CZ-75--next time.

All of them shot extremely well. Any one is a great purchase.

I never had shot a 5.7mm pistol, and was pleasantly surprised by the Ruger. It's something of a bear to load the mags; the ammo is VERY sharp (like baby AR-15 5.56mm rounds) and will shred your thumb. I finally got a loader and that helped. It shoots very flat, very fast, very reliably, and very accurately. I leave it to those more knowledgeable than I as to whether the 5.7 round is a good carry round. The gun comes with a 30-rd mag and a 21-rd mag. That should be enough to handle most situations but I don't know about the stopping power. Comments?

The 2020 Python? What can I say? It's a Colt Python! About time Colt starting making them again.  Beautiful looking gun. Phenomenally smooth trigger and accurate. Lotta fun even if I wasn't shooting my relatively scarce .357; I stuck with 38 special. Very nice gun all around, but I don't think I would make it my carry gun. Kinda big, even the 4.25 inch barrel. Six rounds? Enough? You decide.

I think the winner overall was the STI 2011. I had one mag with 20 rounds and another with 17. This has to be the most accurate 9mm on the market--it might even beat my Wilsons, I will have to test them head-to-head to make sure. Even I was having a hard time getting out of the center of the target. No six o'clock position; bury the front sight in the center of the target and that's where the round goes! This thing did not want me to miss; burned almost 200 rounds (much more than I meant to, but it was such fun; don't tell the Diplowife) and not a single jam or misfire of any kind. Wonderful gun. Texans make good stuff. Good looking, "lightish," not too big, high capacity, and accurate. My new carry gun . . . for now.

Back to the Convention.

 

GOP Convention: Day 2

 Getting better and better. 

Once again, the production values are so far superior to those of the DNC convention, that comparison is nearly impossible. The DNC put on an amateur hour that was barely if at all watchable. The RNC has put on a professional, entertaining, and substantive production. 

Oh, and the RNC had Nick Sandman. 

For me, he proved the star of the show. This young man was abused and threatened by the prog mob, led by CNN and MSNBC, among others. He stood his ground, kept his cool, and fought back. He spoke well and made clear that he has no intention of caving to the toxic cancel culture which the prog/fascists now promote as their first line of defense, to wit, if we don't like you, you will not be allowed to speak, work, study, or live your life in peace. We see that strategy playing out across all our institutions and on the streets of our cities, Kristallnacht on steroids.

I particularly liked the speeches by the cancer survivor, the Maine lobster man--what an articulate and terrific public speaker--the Wisconsin dairy farmer, and the young Kentucky Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, who obviously has a promising political future ahead of him. Trump clearly showed that he's a master showman and willing to go where no convention has gone before. His issuing of a--well-deserved--pardon to Jon Ponder, and swearing in of several new US citizens providing some compelling television not normally seen in a convention. The DNC convention could offer nothing even remotely in the same ball park. 

On the meh side of things, I thought we could have skipped Secretary Pompeo's address, which while fine and factual, will get drowned out by the media hyperventilating over an acting Secretary participating in a political event. Pompeo's points about the great successes of Trump's foreign policy could have been made by somebody else. The FLOTUS speech was fine, and she delivered it very well, but it was too long and crammed with too many disparate topics. I think it lost some of its punch as it went on. She's an excellent FLOTUS, should be used more, and has been ignored when not maligned by the media and other "celebrities" in a manner that would have been inconceivable with any other FLOTUS, 

I think we will give this day an A.

GOP Convention: Day 1

Not bad. Not bad, at all.

Hard to believe that Hollywood and the tech billionaires are all Democrats when you compare the production values of the GOP convention with that of last week's DNC convention.  No contest. The DNC convention came off looking like a high school-produced informercial while the GOP convention had a nice glossy professional sheen to it (most of the time, e.g., there was some shaky green screen in a couple of spots.)

OK, the superficial stuff aside, the content of the GOP convention proved far superior to that of the DNC. The speakers, by large, came off as much more authentic, with heart-felt speeches. I particularly liked Senator Tim Scott and Maximo Alvarez. I think Scott has a bright future in the GOP and seems positioning himself for 2024. His line about how his family has gone from "cotton to Congress" in one lifetime was the line of the night. Alvarez, too, came across as a genuine lover of America. His comment that his father used to tell him that if "America is lost, there is nowhere else to go," resonated with me as my own immigrant father used to say the same thing to me. Governor Nikki Haley was OK--I was never a big fan of hers, but think she did OK this night. I also liked the presentation by Kim Klacik, so much so that I donated $200 to her long-shot campaign for Congress. Donald Trump, jr., is an accomplished speaker, and likely has a political future; his speech was fine. I didn't care for the rather loud and screechy presentation by Kimberly Guilfoyle, and am not clear why she had a speaking role except for her relationship with Don, Jr. Herschel Walker and Vernon Jones also gave some powerful speeches which pretty much destroyed the narrative of Trump as racist. 

I don't know what the ratings were for this convention, but they couldn't have been helped by the rather poor TV coverage. Even friendly FOX stepped all over some of the presentations, especially that by Alvarez, to bring the usual comments from a panel of pundits. I, frankly, don't care what Donna Brazile or Karl Rove has to say about a particular speaker: let me listen and make up my own mind. 

Overall, an auspicious start. Give it an A-/B+.

GOP Convention I would Like to See

Along with many if not most of you, I would like to see an old-style, joyful party convention with large crowds, bands, balloons--lots of balloons--and plenty of red-meat speeches to stir up the crowd. We, however, live in the Time of The Great Fear. We nearly collapsed the world's greatest economy, and now huddle in fear, panicked by a virus, as some wag noted, so deadly you need a test to find out if you have it or have had it. Most people, by the way, who have had it, don't know they did. It has a death rate in the USA of about .02%, and dropping. This means, of course, that 99.98% (and climbing) of those who get it in the USA will survive the "deadly" ChiCom virus--unless confined by blue governor orders to an assisted care facility, AKA, Cuomo's Death Row. 

I wonder what the fatality rate was in the first wave on Omaha Beach? Did those young soldiers have the option to say, "Nah, think I'll stay home, listen to the radio"? Doubt it.

As we know, the so-called "experts" with their media echo chamber and fake "predictive" models stampeded us into corals, where we remain, getting fat, lazy, frustrated, sick, and angry, with some going broke in the bargain. This will go down, I predict, as, oh, probably the third most destructive "scientific" hoax of modern times--you know, just behind "scientific" Marxism and man-made global climate change.

We, therefore, will have no raucous GOP convention. I had hoped the GOP would defy the phony doomsayers and hold a convention perhaps in sane South Dakota or--why not?--Sweden, but . . . that's not in the cards. On the bright side, however, the BLM/Antifa anarcho-communist-fascist terrorist thugs who had planned on disrupting it must feel very disappointed, as well.

All that aside, what would I like to see in a GOP "virtual" convention? 

Please no repeat of that horrid DNC convention! Don't do what the Dems did. We don't need criminals such as the Clintons, or the lying anti-American, anti-democracy Obamas. Above all, the GOP convention should strive for sanity. Yes, sanity, what a concept. Facts, not empty prog talking points. No, for example, blue-haired semi-stoned singers lecturing us about systemic racism. No dwelling on divisive racial, sexual, ethnic identities. Keep repeating, we are all Americans regardless of those secondary identities. Oh, and unlike Joe Biden's speech, no plagiarizing from old Canadian politicians and Ronald Reagan. Yes, indeed.

GOP speakers need to nail down the lies of the Democrats, and remind voters of the various criminal hoaxes the Democrats and the media have pulled, e.g., Russia Collusion, Ukraine quid-pro-quo, the misuse of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, mail-in ballots scam, etc. Call out the Dems on the long-standing violence in Dem-run cities; on the recent violence from their Antifa/BLM supporters; on their war against cops; on how prog policies have devastated the cities, led to middle class flight from them, and proven disastrous precisely for the poor and the "people of color" for whom these policies ostensibly exist. Don't let the fake media get away with its false narratives and slanders. Don't let them get away with their nonsense about our foreign policy being in disarray--quite the contrary. And China, don't forget China, you know, Hunter Biden's employer.

President Trump, however, should strike a strong, optimistic, and above all energetic tone to contrast with Sleepy Joe and his teleprompter. He should lay out his vision for the next four years and contrast it with the sad and destructive vision on offer from the Demcrims.  

Above all make the viewer feel positive about the future in the greatest country on the planet. 

Oh, and balloons, lots of them.

Joe Goes Low & Slow

Well, I wasted some 25 minutes of my life last night by watching Kamala Harris's running mate give "his" acceptance speech. You'd think that since he's had over three decades to prepare for that moment, "he" would have drafted a better speech. I guess this was the best his handlers could do with the basic material called whispering Joe Biden.  

I started writing a critique of that overly rehearsed, platitude-filled piece of slowly delivered blahness but then did something I usually don't do, to wit, read somebody else's analysis before writing my own. Well, I read a piece by Al Perrota over at The Stream which said everything I wanted to say, but he did it better. So no need for my feeble efforts . . . sigh . . . Go read Perrota.

The whole DNC "convention" was an exercise in fantasy, and Orwellian/Stalinist rewriting not just of history but of ongoing events. 

Multi-multi-millionaire NETFLIX producers and Cape Cod residents, Barack and Michelle Obama, outright lied to the nation in their speeches, and the gullible and/or malicious ones in the media ate it up and asked for seconds. 

BTW, Cape Cod? Really? Obama lives near the ocean? Isn't CLIMATE CHANGE going to have the rising seas submerge Cape Cod along with Obama's $11 million estate? Same for Al Gore's megabuck estate on the California coast? I don't know how this works . . . I guess virtue signalers will be spared. 

Michelle Obama, who looked like her teeth hurt, lied about Trump building cages for illegal immigrant children along the border. It was, of course, her husband's misadministration that did that, and got widely praised for it as it saved children from potential predators. She failed to mention the ongoing slaughter of blacks and other minorities in America's inner cities by blacks and other minorities in America's inner cities. No. She, instead, muttered some nonsense about police brutality and listed three or four people killed by police since Trump became president; no mention of Ferguson and other racial unrest that took place under the Obama/Biden administration or that Democrats have run these blighted cities for decades. For her, only some black lives matter--certainly not the millions of black children aborted by Planned Parenthood. She failed to mention, must less condemn, the Democrat-encouraged violence now underway in many of those cities.

Barack Obama played his usual arrogant self. Bareley mentioning Joe, he delivered a "warning" about Trump posing a danger to American democracy--no details--while, of course, ignoring that the greatest recent threat to that democracy came from his misadministration. The Obama/Biden reign, we recall, weaponized DOJ, IRS, EPA, ATF, FBI, CIA, NSA, NSC, and State Department against opponents. It was Obama/Biden, along with the execrable Hillary Clinton, who colluded with and paid foreigners, including Russians, to cook up the Russian Collusion story, spied on Trump's campaign, falsely accused General Flynn and others, failed to do anything about Russian interference in our election, failed to do anything about Mexican interference in our election, failed to do anything about Chinese espionage and interference in our election, saved the Mullahs and their nuclear program in Iran, and on and on. Disgusting.  

I won't even mention the idiotic speeches given by the even more weird duo of Bill and Hillary--both of whom should reside in prison for multiple crimes. Beyond disgusting. 

There you have it, folks: the criminal organization known as the Democrat Party. They must be stopped.

Dogs

The ostensible DNC "convention," now blighting my TV set, is so boring and so predictable and so poorly done and so . . . well, I just hope the GOP learns not do it this way. As, of course, I have pointed out before, this "convention" is just a PG-13 cover for the real DNC convention taking place on our city streets. I can barely watch and listen to even the "keynote" speakers. Ugh . . . .

Adding to my inability to pay serious attention to this silly telethon has been having to take my beloved dog Txiki in for surgery--a double TPLO. Poor guy. He's been in the hospital a couple of days, and now has a slight fever which might delay his return.

Here he is doing what he does best, spying on the neighbors. This is a picture from our California days.

The other two members of his pack were quite upset and accusatory when I took Txiki away and came back without him. Here they are as I came into the house without Txiki. I tried to explain, but they weren't having it.

Anyhow, I hope to get Txiki back today so I can concentrate on what the thugs of the DNC are doing.

UPDATE: Txiki is home. He looks miserable. He's not eating, but he is drinking water. He is very ashamed of his shaved legs, and, of course, of the plastic Cone of Shame. I fear his revenge.

 

The Other Democrat "Convention"

Is anybody watching that supposed DNC "Convention"? What is that? 

It seems something along the lines of those old Jerry Lewis telethons, except without the serious and stated purpose. The GOP better be watching and learning, to wit, that is not the way to do a convention. 

American party political conventions--for me, anyhow--always have been fun, boisterous, over-the-top events. As a nerdy child, I loved watching those things, especially in the days of the smoke-filled back rooms when one was never absolutely certain who would win the nod. I loved the state-by-state roll call, with the flowery speeches about "our favorite son," and "the next President of the United States." All that is just about gone. 

On second thought, rather than a Lewis Telethon, this "official" DNC convention comes off as some sort of poorly done infomercial hawking some vague product that never gets specified: What does it do? How much is it? You won't know from this convention.

I, however, do know something else. 

This laughable ostensibly "official" DNC convention doesn't hold a candle to the real DNC convention, you know, the convention I wrote about before. The convention of Democrats unfolding on the streets of major cities in America is the real DNC convention; that's the one that reveals the true nature of the product the Democrats have on offer and what it does: violence, destruction, racism, hatred for Western Civilization, and most especially a virulent hatred for America. 

That real convention is attended by the delegates of the real DNC, the pampered, self-righteous, entitled, semi-illiterate products of generations of leftist schooling. Egged on by Democrat politicians and the morons who today pass for journalists, the real DNC delegates do what Democrats always have done well, form lynch mobs. That's the real Democrat convention. Never forget it.

Going Heavy . . .

Let's--sorta--put politics aside today and talk about something much more interesting. No, not dogs; not Corvettes; not boring reminisces from a mediocre career. No, something interesting and FUN--a word that the progs will soon ban (Oops! Politics).

I mean guns, folks, small arms, weapons, firearms, armas de fuego. 

Went to my local gun store here in Wilmington, NC, a few days ago, and--HORRORS!--found it almost cleaned out. Not just the cheap stuff, either. Kimber, gone. Sig, gone. Colt, gone. S&W, gone. Ruger, gone. Glock, gone. CZ and Wesson, gone. ARs and AKs, gone. With just a few shotguns, not many, left like lonely teeth in a gap-toothed smile along the almost bare walls. They also had a few single-action revolvers, mostly used. The friendly folks told me that their concealed carry classes are packed, sold-out. I wanted to order a new 2020 .357 4.25 inch Colt Python, and they laughed. Told me to go online and find an auction. I will get back to that.

Just before the great drought, however, I did manage to pick up a very nice CZ-75 compact (the Czechs make some very GOOD stuff) and a few boxes of 9mm ammo. Now, that's almost impossible. Along with the gun racks being empty, the ammo shelves are nearly there, too. None of the common rounds was available. I did manage to pick up a few boxes of 5.7mm for my Ruger 57, which I have yet to fire. The owner told me that the thugs of Antifa/BLM will make him rich--he had even sold out his "Black Rifles Matter" t-shirts. Ever since America's cities starting melting down under the Antifa/BLM/DNC onslaught, sales have gone through the roof. Lots of newbies, he explained. People who never had thought about the Great Second Amendment, now--SUDDENLY!--realize that the cops probably won't be there. Defunded, you understand. If you have serious trouble, with luck the city will send you a social worker in a couple of weeks . . . help your family with your funeral arrangements.

Yes, America, time to go heavy! I learned that phrase watching The Sopranos.

I went online, and found a couple of auctions listing Colt Pythons. The prices got very crazy, very fast. Going north of $3000 in no time, and not stopping until they hit almost $4000. I was disappointed. Heaven, however, heard my entreaties, and suddenly a North Carolina dealer advertised the exact Python I sought. I zoomed in, got there ahead of the competition, paid an only slightly exorbidant price, and, now, the Python nests in my lair. Haven't tried it yet. It sure does look nice though; very smooth trigger. I will report results as soon as I can get enough ammo to burn on the range.

Anyhow, thanks to the Progs, the value of my gun company stocks continues to climb, and nobody talks about "gun control" anymore except that Phony Harris, and her gaga sidekick Fake Biden. That's a loser for you, keep at it! (Oops! Politics).

The Fake "Picks" The Phony

It's happened. For once it seems, the conventional wisdom and predictions proved correct.  

The most Fake presidential candidate in US history since . . . well, since forever . . . now has as his running mate the most Phony of the potential candidates on his list, with the exception of Michelle Obama.

There is nothing authentic or appealing about Senator Kamala Harris. 

Her personal story is one of deceit and invented stories, much like Joe Biden himself. She got her political start in California as the young mistress of the once-powerful Willie Brown, long-time speaker of California's State Assembly and then mayor of San Francisco (and a promoter of the Jonestown fiasco).  She has told fanciful tales of being in the forefront of school desegregation, when in fact, she was just a little kid who got bused around by the disastrous forced busing campaign which sought to "bring racial balance" to schools. She has lied about her record as Attorney General of California--I am sure the Republicans will POUNCE on those lies--and had a mediocre career as a US Senator during which she made clear that she would say anything to get noticed. 

While she now claims to be "proudly black," at one time, she refused to identify with any particular racial grouping: her late mother was a Tamil from India, and her father a mixed-race Jamaican, with white slave-owner ancestors. She would appear to be just as white as she is black. Kamala Harris spent much of her youth in Canada, graduating from high school there. Canada, of course, being in the forefront of the US civil rights struggle.

All that silly identity politics aside, Joe Biden has picked--had picked for him--the person who, during the primary campaign, accused him of being in league with racists, and of being a sexual predator--she "believed" his female accusers.  Is Joe even aware of that? The world wonders.

This is all very weird; clearly, Joe's handlers rely on the Dem-controlled media to whitewash the recent history between Joe and Kamala, and on the toxic "cancel culture" to shut down any criticism of Harris's past stances and her bizarre personal life. We will be regaled with puff pieces and fake fact-checking from the fake media in an effort to make Phony Harris seem absolutely wonderful. 

Don't believe it: Harris is just another nasty Phony and Fraud.

"C'mon, Man!"

Has any major party ever nominated a more worthless and invisible candidate for President as the Dems have with Joe Biden?

Who can make Michael Dukakis and John McCain look like polished and well-organized campaigners? "C'mon, man!" Joe can!

Who can make John Kerry look like an articulate and patriotic man? "C'mon, man!" Joe can!

Who can make Hillary Clinton look like an honest, truthful, and thoughtful person? We all know the answer, shout it out together: "C'mon, man!" Joe can!

We have before us a man with some half-century of political experience and with zero accomplishments for the country in all that time. Throughout his career, he has been a punchline to a joke. From his misadventures with hair plugs, his plagiarism, his wild and rambling lies about heroic encounters and derring-do, his nonsensical sentences, and his bully-boy manner, Joe has been, well, let's be kind, a clown. Yes, a clown, albeit a corrupt one, who has gotten rich from the credit card companies, and made his family wealthy thanks to his political connections. That's his legacy.  Hunter, call your dad, he might have another deal for you . . .

What ideas has this old-time corruptocrat championed? Aside from "more money for Joe," nix, nada, rien, nothing.

As he sits in his basement and fades into evermore obvious senility, dementia, general mental incompetence (you pick) he gets championed, much akin to dead El Cid strapped to his horse, by a motley crew of America-hating, left-wing radicals and tech billionaires who see this zombie as a pathway for them to transform the country into something bizarre and unrecognizable. This motley crew now fights over whom will get picked as Joe's number two; they all know that person will likely take the White House in the unlikely event that "Joe" wins in November.

Biden should not, cannot become President.

Well, of course, even if Joe is elected, he won't be President.

"C'mon, man!"