Ferguson Officials haven’t learned Thing One since the Michael Brown murder.

From the racist , biased prosecutor and like-minded cops using armored vehicles and battlefield weapons intended to kill terrorists on civilians, to the heavy-handed tactics of the Nixon administration, police and politicos are just as malignantly clueless as they were the day an unarmed black kid was shot in the street by an out-of-control cop and his body was left to rot on the pavement for hours in the summer heat. And the stupidity was clearly visible in these remarks from the boss cop:

At a late news conference, as National Guardsmen watched from a distance, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said that as of midnight, police had arrested about 30 people related to the protests and tallied hundreds of gunshots.

The magnitude of the protests caught the police off guard, he said.

“As dynamic as August was, can you imagine a night like this?” he asked. “We didn’t have anything of this magnitude, so it was very difficult, I think, to telegraph exactly what we should have expected. I didn’t foresee anything like this.” He added that police did everything they could to prevent the chaos.

Such stupid, bigoted, willfully pig-ignorant f***wits. They think they can go on with the apartheid-lite approach that Ferguson (and many other such towns) have taken for decades. Even though it hasn’t worked in this case, even though people are not at all happy, even though buildings are burning and innocent people are suffering, local officials are convinced that they can just beat down people of color and everything will go back to “normal”.

Rich, powerful white people have been trying this idiotic approach for centuries. And it always looks like it will work, for a while at least. But history shows us that oppressors will fail, no matter how many times they try.

Stupid f***s.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

When a Nixon Called out the National Guard…

Back in the day, a bunch of protesters were, well, protesting, and a politician named Nixon had the National Guard called out (by a crony of his), loaded weapons and all. Here’s what happened:

Nobody needs automatic weapons pointed at them when they are exercising their First Amendment rights. No one deserves that. And no ethical politician should EVER make that their option of first resort.

” Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. ”

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Ferguson protesters are a lot like our Founding Fathers:

They are upset about oppression, a non-responsive and discriminatory government, and taxation without representation. Yes, that is correct. The good people of Ferguson we see out there picketing and marching may not be dressed like, say, George Washington, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson; but their complaints are eerily like the ones identified in the Declaration of Independence.

Here is a good article on the matter. Ferguson is making up for revenue shortfalls by levying burdensome taxes and fees upon the populace; said charges not having the consent of the governed:

Traffic fines are the St. Louis suburb’s second-largest source of revenue and just about the only one that is growing appreciably. Municipal court fines, most of which arise from motor vehicle violations, accounted for 21 percent of general fund revenue and at $2.63 million last year, were the equivalent of more than 81 percent of police salaries before overtime.

And the fees are applied in a discriminatory manner, much like what King George did back in the 1770’s:

“If you’re black, they’re going to stop you,” the study quoted one traffic defendant as saying.

In 2013, 86 percent of all Ferguson police traffic stops involved black drivers, the largest share since the Missouri Attorney General’s Office began tracking the data in 2000. According to 2010 U.S. Census data, the city is 63 percent black and 34 percent white.

Got it? The local government is a minority oppressing the majority, and doing so via corrupt, discriminatory and violent means. Just like what sparked the American Revolution. The differences are minor when compared with the similarities.

And just like the American colonists, the people of Ferguson aren’t asking for anything unreasonable: to be treated fairly, have their rights respected, and to have a voice in how they are taxed by the government. Unfortunately, the local administration is likewise resembling its historical counterpart and therefore refusing to change its corrupt and mendacious ways. No way this is gonna end well.

If you repeat the mistakes of the past, you’ll repeat the consequences of those past mistakes. There may not be many powdered wigs to be seen on the streets of Ferguson: but then, when s*** was getting real back in 1776, not many of the American Revolutionaries were wearing them out in the streets, either.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky (whose ancestors were here before the revolution in 1776)

Steubenville Loves Their Rapists: Convicted Sex Offender Back in School, Playing Football.

Motherf***ing s*** is stunning, isn’t it? This scumbucket git convicted, did time, and now the football team has welcomed him back with open arms. What a cesspool of hate and violence is Steubenville:

One of the two Steubenville (Ohio) football players convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at a party two years ago is back on the football team, according to WTRF-TV.

Ma’lik Richmond, a wide receiver who served a one-year sentence in a juvenile facility after a nationally watched trial, was allowed to return even though he must register as a sex offender for 20 years. He is shown with the other seniors and in a closeup in a team photo on the Big Red fan site.

A couple of awesomely snarky tweets on the topic:

So what that a young woman’s life is ruined? What matters is that her rapist is given another shot at football. http://t.co/MuM1NkS0uV

— Adam Peck (@AdamReports) August 11, 2014

@MichelleLMcKee Steubenville’s rape numbers were abysmally low last year. Perhaps they can rebuild, starting with this talent addition.

— Marc J. Randazza (@marcorandazza) August 11, 2014

Truly a disgusting, rape-loving, child-molesting dung heap. And so is the town. Here’s hoping the parents of underage girls all have CCW permits, because their daughters are all in danger again, and the cops have proven themselves to be a bunch of preeves; so the families will, once again, have to take care of their kids. The city, county, and school administrations love rape and lionize rapists.

Don’t believe it? Then why is Malik Richmond, convicted sex offender, back on the team?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Continuing Saga of Born-Again Bill

A few days ago, this post was shared: http://wp.me/p2jksg-2iv , being a reprint of a LTTE of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The gist was, if Jesus were here today, he’d not be letting people starve, sicken and die just so a load of rich white males could get even richer. A pretty reasonable supposition, you’ll agree.

But Born-Again Bill did not agree. He wrote the following in response:

Bill
January 24, 2014 at 7:20 pm (Edit)
Jesus spoke in spiritual terms, not physical.
So when the hungry are fed, thirsty are given drink, stranger are taken in, naked are clothed, sick or in prison are visited, Jesus is talking about those who were hungry and thirsty and needed the Gospel of Christ; they were naked and sick and in prison because of their sin. This isn’t talking about physically filling the needs of people, this is in reference to filling their spiritual needs. To try and attach a physical meaning to a spiritual reference perverts the meaning, and you will get nowhere except with those who are as equally stupid as you are.
Now, in reference to physically helping those in need, this is very simple: If Jesus believed that it was the role of gov’t to help all these people, he had ample opportunity to condemn the Roman Empire for doing nothing about it. He didn’t. That’s because it’s the role of individuals.
Now, can individuals agree do help others via gov’t programs? Yes. But because one doesn’t view those things being the role of the gov’t doesn’t mean they don’t care for others, it just means they don’t agree with that method as being the best one. You left-wing freaks need to grow up and recognize that. You’re wrong. We’re right. That will never change. Never.
And tell riqster to shut his stupid mouth before I shut it for him. And I can, I assure you.

To which your humble correspondent replied,

bluntandcranky
January 24, 2014 at 7:54 pm (Edit)
What absolute rot. Lazarus was not just a metaphor, nor were the healings and other miracles.
I do not appreciate threats, and I shall report yours.
I shan’t dwell on the irony of a “Christian” threatening another person with violence. But it does diminish any legitimacy that your lecture might have possessed.

So, we have a violent, bullying, belligerent Born-Again Bill. Inasmuch as the title of this blog is literal truth, I posted the above exchange on another post:http://wp.me/p2jksg-2iB , and Bill decided to “disguise” his identity, renaming himself “Ba’al” and responding as if he were someone else. Thence the following exchange:

Ba’al
January 27, 2014 at 3:46 pm (Edit)
“If so, Lord, send me someplace else, please.”
Don’t worry. You’re well on your way to Hell. I await you with open arms, my faithful servant.

bluntandcranky
January 27, 2014 at 3:55 pm (Edit)
Well, since Jesus told us that none of us would know our fate, I’ll not stress too much at your prediction.

Ba’al
January 27, 2014 at 7:50 pm (Edit)
Oh no, the stress comes later. And it’s like it never ends.

bluntandcranky
January 27, 2014 at 7:54 pm (Edit)
I’ll trust Christ’s words over your own, Billy Ba’al.

Ba’al
January 27, 2014 at 8:15 pm (Edit)
I am your “Christ”

bluntandcranky
January 27, 2014 at 8:45 pm (Edit)
Blasphemous, too, that you are. Or perhaps this is another threat?
This exchange is being provided to the authorities, along with your prior pleasantries. Just in case it is a threat.

Ba’al
January 27, 2014 at 8:58 pm (Edit)
There’s nowhere to hide from God, or from the “Christ” you worship, which are not the same being. God is light. You worship the darkness. Thank you for being my servant.

bluntandcranky
January 27, 2014 at 9:05 pm (Edit)
Thank you for the entertainment

First of all, the violent, bullying, belligerent Born-Again Bill hasn’t a clue as to who Ba’al was – the poor fool evidently thinks it’s Satan. So let’s add “bulls***ing” to the list of alliterative titles he is earning: http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/baal.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal .

To any born-again Christians who may read this blog: threats of violence, blasphemy, and biblical semi-literacy are NOT effective tools of the evangelical trade. Bulls***ing, bullying, belligerent Born-Again Billy Ba’al presents a great example of how NOT to make a case for your denomination. He also provides a great example of how to get yourself reported to the authorities.

Frankly, this is great fun (he gets bonus hilarity points for using a bogus email address containing “LucyFur666”), and since your humble correspondent (unlike BAB) knows how to not reveal his real physical location via an IP address, he’ll be happy to continue this “debate” with ol’ Billy Ba’al, and to publish the exchanges here as they occur.

To anyone who is trying to deal with Fundagelicals: this is what you’re up against. It ain’t pretty, and there isn’t much hope of success, barring Divine intervention.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

“But when you talk about destruction, Don’t you know that you can count me out.” (Centrism Defended)

John Lennon, as he so frequently did, nailed it to a tree in this lyric. And while he may not have agreed with this writer on political matters, this line effectively points out one underlying premise of Centrism: the renunciation of extremism, and the violence that extremism requires to achieve its ends.

People often demonize Centrism as “ill-defined” or “meaning nothing”. This is no more true of Centrism than  is of Liberalism or Conservatism. The plain and simple truth of all political “isms” is this: none of them are monolithic, and all of them have as many variants as they have adherents. Put another way, Dennis Kucinich and Abbie Hoffman have both been described as “extreme Left” or “Liberal”, but they aren’t going to agree on everything. Bush The Dumber and Dick Cheney didn’t agree on everything either. The Cranky One  almost never agrees with the DLC Dimbulbs with whom he is automatically associated when he describes himself as a Centrist.  Labels are useful tools, but like any tool need to be used properly: when misused or overused, they create more harm than good.

Your humble correspondent  describes his political philosophy as follows: antidisestablishmentarianism, maximum personal freedom, keeping his nose out of other people’s private lives, and contributing to the overall good of our society. Except for the first point, he figures most Americans are on board with those concepts to a certain degree. So let’s look at that first point (the one Mr. Lennon so perfectly captured).

Antidisestablishmentarianists, of course, come in various shapes, sizes and degrees: some are ossified individuals who reflexively cling to the status quo, regardless of whether or not it works. Others (like this cranky writer) see it as an incrementalist approach to change. One thing to remember: Martin Luther, often depicted as a revolutionary, was in fact an antidisestablishmentarianist: that is why he proposed a reformation, rather than a revolution. So it goes in politics.

Revolutions kill people. They destroy lives and the works created by those lives. They burn away the good along with the bad. And rebuilding from a revolution is far harder and  more costly (in all respects) than implementing a plan for gradual, consensus-driven change.

Yes, sometimes thick-headed jackasses make revolutions necessary: King George, for example. But had he pulled his head out of his extremist, orthodoxy-addicted, ideological, narrow-minded, blinkered arse, the revolution need not have happened at all.

And that, friends, is why your Radical Centrist, contrarian, curmudgeonly correspondent keeps braying away from his position on the Political Compass (bang on the center of the L/R axis, and far away from the Authoritarian pole on that axis. See the link below to chart yourself.). He brays, hollers, and throws bricks upside the heads of the extremist community at every opportunity, hoping to get his point across. (“Maybe being nice would be a better approach”, you might say, and that’s a fair point. But he’s tried it and failed, so he’s going the blunt route these days.)

Far too many extremists are willing to “break eggs to make an omelet”. Those “eggs” are human beings with lives and loved ones. The idea that anyone could see the inevitable destruction of the lives and loves of their fellow Americans simply as a “cost of doing business”  is truly vomit-inducing. Particularly coming from the political Left, who are allegedly devoted to the betterment of mankind.

Anyone who advocates revolution when their people and country  are not in imminent danger of being killed en masse is a sociopathic mother***er who views his fellow Americans as disposable resources to be destroyed in the pursuit of his or her ideological Utopia.

And people like that are worth fighting. This Radical Centrist stands firmly for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Revolutionaries do not. If they did, they would not advocate measures that would strip us of all three.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

http://www.politicalcompass.org/ 

You’re On A Terrorist Watch List? Sure, You Can Buy A Gun

Yes, you read that correctly. If you are on a terrorist watch list, you can pass the current background check and buy a gun from a licensed dealer. Not surprisingly, some people want this changed. Even less surprisingly, the NRA and other Gun Nuts don’t.

Yes, you also read that last bit correctly. The Gun Nuts support the rights of terrorists to keep and bear arms. In fact, they managed to kill an amendment last week that would have taken away the ability of terrorists to buy AR-15’s, bulk gunpowder, and other tools of their lethal trade: that trade being, of course, the killing of Americans.

This is not a partisan issue: the Bushies and the Obamians both tried to take away the rights of terrorists to legally buy the materials they need to, well, terrorize us.

It is a money issue: the NRA, GOA, IFOA, and other lobbyists for the firearms industry want to have as many customers as they can; and terrorists buy lots of weaponry, powder, and other supplies. That is cash for the armament manufacturers, and they want that cash, regardless of how many of our citizens die as a result of terrorist acts.

And if course, it is cash to bribe elected officials to kill any legislation that might keep terrorist groups from being able to legally purchase weapons of mass (and individual) destruction. And like any crooked politico, the bribed “representatives” vote as they were paid to.

Gentle Reader, does this seem to you like “providing aid and comfort to the enemy”? Because it certainly does to me.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Gun Week, Day Three: Gun Owners Are Not Stereotypes. They Are People.

You’d never know it from the wingnut screechers whose voices dominate the debate on gun rights and gun violence, though.  The Loony Lefties would have you believe that all gun owners are mouth-breathing conspiracy theorists whose lust for automatic weapons is matched only by their desire to kill people. The Raging Righties say that gun owners are the only thing preventing the ObamaBots from taking over the world, and that we need the right to keep and bear mortars and bazookas, as well as machine guns and cop-killer bullet to protect our freedoms.

The Blunt and Cranky Family are gun owners, and fit neither of these stereotypes: we have guns for practical reasons. For example: chez BluntandCranky is out in the country, and is thus primarily equipped for varmint control. However, we are moving into town soon, and we will be getting different guns for different purposes. We aren’t trying to overthrow a government, defend against tyranny, or any those fevered dreams of the Gun Nuts. We also aren’t much interested in making a bunch of weapons manufacturers even richer than they already are, so we’ll be getting what we need and then stopping. 

Kind of like a normal purchase that a normal family normally makes, wouldn’t you say? Like pots and pans, power tools, canned goods, or anything else people use in their daily lives. No ideology, no philosophy, just ordinary pragmatism at work. Other normal gun owners have guns to hunt, or to defend their homes, and other likewise practical purposes.

Now, there are Gun Nuts who fit the stereotypes used by wingnuts to a tee: in fact, this writer knows a fair few of them. They strike us as either collectors, or deluded fools who are being fleeced by the armament industry. Thankfully, very few gun owners fit that mold.

Gentle Reader, always remember that mass media images are not always based in fact: all too frequently, they are exaggerations used to make a political point or to create outrage. Said outrage, of course, helps to drive up ratings of the Infotainment industry, thus making more money: note that truth and accuracy are not significant business drivers for these companies.

Gun owners, like humans in general, come in all different shapes, sizes, and types. People who treat us like cartoonish media memes do NOT convince us. Instead, all they do is piss us off, and make us close our ears to their rants. Want our attention? Talk to us as individual Americans. Which is what we are.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

Hey, People: Sexual Assault is Sexual Assault.

First we had Steubenville and the rape case there, and people minimized the crime, saying the victim was drunk, the assault wasn’t all that violent, and other stupid s*** like that. Hey, people: sexual assault is sexual assault. Maybe someone needs to forcibly insert things into your body before you get the point?

Then we had Torrington, where 13-year-old girls were molested , and people minimized the crimes again, because the molestation was “consensual”. Hey, people: sexual assault is sexual assault. Maybe if someone molested your kids, you’d get the point?

Now another example of sexual assault: a man exposing himself while driving 90 miles an hour. Repeatedly. And people will snicker and minimize his crimes, because the man looked ridiculous, and he didn’t actually touch the women involved. Hey, people: sexual assault is sexual assault. Maybe if this preeve had done this to your mother (or killed a lot of people in a car crash while waving his junk at her), you’d get the point?

In the article, Detective Terry Christian reminds us that no sex crime is OK. And that people need to stop minimizing and start reporting. If someone had reported this mutt earlier, lots of women would not have been victimized over the years.

Sexual assault is sexual assault. It is always a crime. No one should be sexually assaulted. That, friends, is the point.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

How Chain-Yankers Hijack The National Conversation

There is a common tactic used by extremists and jackassess of all stripes who wish to dominate public discourse: the most polite term Mr. Blunt and Cranky can use is “Chain-Yanking”. Here’s one example: when it became the law for employers to provide preventative health care (including birth control) to covered employees at no cost (or reduced cost), on Rush Limbaugh called a Congressional witness a “slut” (and worse). The actual merits of the policy were not debated, because nearly everyone (having had their chain yanked) started yelling about the pundit’s sexism blahblahblahbittyblahblah.  This suited the pundit and his cronies just fine, as they were in charge of the conversation and could subsequently control the message to suit themselves.

Mind, this writer does not support sexism in any form, at any time, in any way, shape or form. When sexism (or another ism) rears its ugly head, we should indeed whack-a-mole that head right down, and pound it down again whenever it pops up. We must, however, not lose sight of the point that is being obscured, often deliberately, by the chain-yanker du jour. And we must also call the chain-yankers out, especially when they claim that they are “just asking questions”.

Recently a number of teenaged girls were sexually assaulted in Steubenville and Torrington. The chain-yankers immediately blamed the victims under the guise of asking questions like “what was a 13-year-old girl doing hanging around 18-year-old boys anyway?”  Of course, the yankers denied blaming victims, even though it was obvious that they were doing just that. And they were called on it, to the point that the crime itself was no longer the topic of conversation – instead, everyone was talking about slut-shaming and victim-blaming. Important topics, to be sure, but regardless, we got our chains yanked and thereby sidetracked; thus taking the spotlight off of the criminals, where it belonged.

A woman was mugged, shot in the leg, and her infant murdered a few days ago. What was the first question asked? “Why didn’t she just hand over her purse?”, that was the was the first question asked.  The yanker denied victim-blaming: she was “just asking the question”. Uh-huh. Maybe she was fooling herself,  but she wasn’t fooling too  many other people with that hogwash. But again, a potentially productive conversation on social policy degenerated into a slugfest over victim-blaming.

Yesterday, this writer got his chain well and truly yanked, much to his own chagrin. A sexist comment about men was posted, and  he wound up swirling around the drain with everybody else, even to the extent of losing his temper and saying some unacceptable things. Apologies are hereby offered to everyone  who was offended  by those stupid, uncalled-for remarks.

No matter the topic or the political persuasion of the person talking, chain-yanking happens, and we can all get caught if we aren’t careful. Your humble correspondent will redouble his efforts to remain focused on important topics, and hopes all of us can just let the yankers flush themselves away, leaving the rest of America to get some s*** accomplished.

Mr. B & C