That's Not How It Works Redeaux

So I was having lunch with the wife today when she told me something that she had seen on TikTok that surprised and dismayed her.  (First clue that it's gonna be f'd up - it was on TikTok.)  She told me that someone had posted a video complaining about the United States sending M-1 Abrams Tanks to Ukraine, warning us that "THEY'RE DISARMING US!  DON'T YOU SEE THAT?"

Uh, no.  That's not how it works.

Let me address the obvious first - who, exactly, is "THEY?"  The Federal Government?  Really?  If you believe that, then I suggest your tinfoil hat is on a tad too tight.  And disarming us for what?  "WE," as in the American people, don't own or possess Abrams tanks - the Army does.  And if you're gonna say "CHINA," then let me redirect you to my previous comment regarding your tinfoil hat.

But the meat of the issue is the misunderstanding that the tanks the US is sending will be taken out of the active forces, taken away from active duty tank units, to be sent over to the Ukraine.  Well, friends and neighbors, I'm here to tell you that ain't how it works.  

I'll be the first to admit that it's been a long time since I was in the active forces and I'm sure there are plenty of things that have changed since then, but I highly doubt if this is one of them.  I'm pretty sure that the tanks are coming from one of several sources - from the various WRM lots (War Reserve Materials) located around the world (yes, around the WORLD), from the Reserves, and/or from the National Guard.  Either that, or we're selling the tanks to the Ukrainian government outright.  That, to me, is the smart way because the US won't be paying for shipping them over there, and won't be responsible for getting them back when the war is over.  

And where are these tanks coming from?  What, you mean you didn't know that the US Army, along with the other armed forces, has a strategic reserve of materials?  Trust me, we've got plenty of extra tanks to sell to the Ukrainians.  And of course they won't be top of the line tanks, either - they'll be the ones that have been used, abused, and don't possess the latest updates and improvements - not unless the Ukrainians specifically ask for it, and I kinda doubt we'd do that.  

In any event, rest assured that the tanks ARE NOT coming out of the active forces.  And you can also go to sleep at night safe in the knowledge that no one is trying to "disarm" us.

Well, I will, anyway.  Can't speak for some of the people out there.

Deo Vindice

IHC

That's Not How It Works

 

Right now you're probably asking yourself, "but that's not how what works?", right?  What I'm talking about is the Presidential Line of Succession.  This topic comes up quite a bit in various threads where politics are being discussed, and it never ceases to amaze me at just how many people on both sides of the political spectrum are ignorant of what the Constitution does and doesn't say, particularly when it comes to the line of succession for the President.  The libtards were all giddy about it, saying that if Kamala "The Ho" Harris was fired or impeached that Nancy Pelosi would become Vice President (until the Republicans took control of the House and Pelosi was fired as Speaker, that is), and the conservatives were dreading it for the same reason.  And both were wrong.

See, it's like this:  the ONLY way that the Speaker of the House could become President is if both the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President become vacant at the same time.  This could be caused by the simultaneous resignation of both officials, the simultaneous death of both officials, or the simultaneous incapacitation of both individuals for whatever reason (like both being taken hostage at the same time, which AIN'T gonna happen.)

That's it.  That's the ONLY way it could happen.  

Some may ask, "Well, what if the President and the Vice President are both impeached at the same time?"  The answer to that is simple - that's impossible.  You can only hold one trial at a time in the Senate, so if the President is found guilty and removed from office, the Vice President would immediately assume power - even if the Vice President has already been impeached by the House.  And you have to remember that being impeached doesn't mean being removed from office.  That can't happen unless and until the President is found guilty at trial in the Senate.  Innocent until proven guilty, remember.  

So here's how it works.

If the Office of President of the United States becomes vacant for any reason, the Vice President immediately assumes the office of President.  The new President has sixty days to nominate a candidate for the office of Vice President, and that nominee must then be approved by the Congress.  Once the nomination is approved, we have a new Vice President.  If the nomination isn't approved, the process begins again and is repeated until a new Vice President is approved.  This process is also used if the Office of Vice President of the United States becomes vacant for any reason.

And that's it.  Simple as that.

To be honest, I learned a few things about the Presidential line of succession while doing my research for this blog post, so making this post has benefited me as well as those who may not have been aware of how the process works and who happen to read my blog.  All I know is that any and all fears about the Speaker of the House becoming President (no matter who he/she may be) are unfounded at best.  I think it's highly unlikely that both offices will become vacant or both officials become incapacitated at the same time, especially considering that the only times the President and Vice President are in the same place at the same time is when the VP is called to the White House to meet with the President (which doesn't happen very often for security reasons) and at the State of the Union Address.  And during that event security is so tight that a fart couldn't make it through, so I'm not too concerned about that.

You shouldn't be either.  Right now the only thing we should be concerned about is how much longer it's gonna be before "Creepy Joe" Biden is impeached, found guilty, and removed from office, or how much longer it's gonna be before someone in Congress grows a pair and invokes the 25th Amendment.  With the latest scandal concerning the dozens of classified documents found in "Creepy Joe's" garage and house, I don't think even the staunchest Demoncrat in the Congress would oppose it.

Time will tell.

Deo Vindice.

IHC

More Bullshit from the ATF

 

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a rabid supporter of the Second Amendment and believe in the literal definition of it - "SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED."  It is because of this that I believe ALL gun control laws of any kind to be unconstitutional because ALL of them infringe on our Second Amendment right in one way or another.

And next to the Demoncratic party in general, the next biggest group of clowns, foul-ups, misfits and morons that have the most dramatic and negative impact on our Second Amendment right is the ATF - the Division of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  

First and foremost, I'm still wondering why there's an agency designed to "oversee" firearms at all.  I can see why you'd need someone to oversee alcohol, tobacco, and most certainly explosives, but firearms?  Nope, not when there's a CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT that already does that.

But in any event, the ATF exists and in recent years (ever since the Demoncrats installed a clown in the White House) has been on a campaign to carry out the Demoncrat's wish of gun control, gun registration, and eventual confiscation of all privately owned firearms.  And in the past month or so they've come up with a way to take another step towards this goal, that being the reclassification of the "stabilizing brace" used on AR15 pistols (like the one in the meme).

A short history (because it's a LONG story): when AR15 pistols became popular, firearms accessories manufacturers came out with a "stabilizing brace" which is an accessory that allows the pistol to be fired with one hand as it is designed and intended to be fired.  ALL of the braces I've ever seen all resemble a stock, because that's the only way you can design the brace and have it be effective.  To clear things up, here's how the brace is designed to be used:

So let's state the obvious first and get it out of the way - yes, the braces are capable of enabling you to fire the weapon from the shoulder, thus making it a "rifle" and not a "pistol."  Did the manufacturers do this on purpose?  I don't know, you'd have to ask them.  But the bottom line is that yes, braces can be used as stocks to fire the weapon from the shoulder.  Anyone who denies this - and I mean ANYONE - is a liar who knows the truth but won't admit it.  (Is this a way around the ATF and their stupid rules on short barreled rifles?  Sure it is.)

Also, when braces first hit the market the ATF looked at them extensively and evaluated them as to whether or not they were "stocks" or "stabilizing braces," and that's important because if they were found to be stocks then that would transform any pistol equipped with one into a "short barreled rifle." That means you have to have a tax stamp for it - and those will cost you $200 payable to the Feds and will result in your rifle being registered with the feds.  The final decision was that they were NOT "stocks" and were therefore OK to use without transforming your pistol into an SBR.  

But that was under President Trump, one of the most pro-Second Amendment presidents we've ever had.  Now, under "Creepy Joe" Biden who is very anti-Second Amendment and has publicly said he's going to take our guns, the ATF has taken another look at this and guess what?  NOW they've decided that they're not "stabilizing braces" after all but are in fact "stocks," and that any weapon so equipped is a "short barreled rifle" which needs to be registered and a tax stamp purchased for it.

IMHO this is pure bullshit.  It's nothing but a scheme to get your weapons registered, and they want that so they'll know where to find them when they come to take them.  Think I'm wrong?  Okay, then why else would the ATF give you an AMNESTY PERIOD where you can register your newly-classified SBR with them WITHOUT PAYING FOR A TAX STAMP?  Considering that there are several MILLION weapons out there today that will become SBRs very shortly, this is a considerable sum of money that the feds are turning down - and when have you EVER heard of the feds turning down tax money?

The ATF gives you five choices of what to do with your newly-classified pistol, and they are:

1)  Destroy it.  (NOT gonna happen!)

2) Turn it in to the ATF  (Not only 'NO,' but 'FUCK NO')

3) Register it as an SBR and get your name on a Government confiscation list (See response above)

4) Remove the brace and destroy or alter the brace so it cannot be used on any weapon.

5) Change the upper receiver to one with a barrel length of greater than 16" which will make it a standard rifle and not an SBR.

To me, NONE of these "choices" are reasonable or practical.  In the first place, ATF rules are NOT laws, and are therefor non-enforceable.  Yes, the ATF can enforce the National Firearms Act because that's a LAW and not a rule, but they cannot legally enforce their rules - but they most certainly will try, I'm sure.  In any event, I'm not going to do any of the five "choices" given to me by the ATF.  

What I'm going to do instead is wait for a conservative Federal judge to issue an injunction preventing the ATF from enforcing this unconstitutional rule while the many lawsuits that are sure to be filed make their way through the legal process and the new rule eventually found to be unconstitutional and scrapped.  And this, of course, will take YEARS, so I'm in no hurry to do anything.

Except go to the range.  In the mean time the ATF and "Creepy Joe" Biden can both kiss my rebel ass.

Deo Vindice

IHC

It's Time for Congress To Act - Way Past Time

 

The stupidity and utter audacity - not to mention blatant hypocrisy - of the liberal left never ceases to amaze me.  When it was discovered that Trump had taken classified documents out of the White House and stored them at his home in Mar-A-Lago, every Demoncrat in the nation was standing up and screaming at the top of their lungs, proclaiming that Trump was a traitor and should be in prison.  Even "Creepy Joe" Biden chimed in, calling Trump's actions "inexcusable."  And when all was said and done, nothing was done about it because NO CRIME HAD BEEN COMMITTED.

And now, a year later, it's discovered that "Creepy Joe" did the exact same thing as Trump, only worse in a couple of ways.  And it's those 'couple of ways' that make what Biden did so much worse than what the libtards proclaim that Trump did, even though the truth is that Trump did nothing wrong.  Here's why.

1)  Biden had NO AUTHORITY to declassify documents as Vice President, while Trump did have the authority as President - which he did, by the way.  Declassify the documents, I mean. 

2)   Biden took the documents home when he was Vice President, which means they've been there for at least TEN YEARS.  And, as Vice President, he had NO AUTHORITY to do this.

3)  Trump kept the documents in a LOCKED SAFE in his house, which was under the protection of a SECRET SERVICE DETAIL.  Biden kept some of the documents in his garage next to his Corvette.  (But he says it was OK because the garage was locked.)  And the only thing keeping watch on his garage were the rats and squirrels.

So when the libtards and Demoncrats discovered that Trump had taken classified documents to Mar-A-Lago, they went ballistic.  The weaponized FBI raided his home, posted staged and bogus pics of the "documents" they allegedly found (which were in fact nothing more than empty folders with labels on them and unclassified stuff they found), initiated an investigation, and demanded that Trump be arrested, tried, and put in prison.  So now that the same thing has taken place at the hands of "Creepy Joe," what have they done?

Nothing.  Not a fuckin' thing.  Not only did they do nothing when it was first discovered way back in September, they intentionally hid it from the news media and the public because they knew it would affect the results of the mid-term elections.  But with Trump, on the other hand, they rushed the story into every major libtard news media in existence before the elections where Trump was running for re-election.  

There's been no FBI raid on Biden's residence.  There's been no pictures of the documents found.  There's been no mass outcry by the libtards and Demoncrats, with only Adam "Bug Eye" Schiff saying that Biden had "possibly" jeopardized national security by taking the documents home and storing them in his garage.  And he's being lambasted by the other libtards and Demoncrats for that, by the way.

But when all is said and done, here's the bottom line:  "Creepy Joe" Biden is unfit for office.  He's a senile, demented old fool who isn't qualified to change the filter in a coffee maker much less run the country.  He's proven time and time again that he can't do the job, yet the libtards, Demoncrats, and Congress have turned a blind eye to it all.  Our country is going down the crapper, and nobody is doing anything about it.

It's time for the new Congress to act.  Way, way past time, actually.  I know any action taken against him will result in Kamala "The Ho" Harris becoming President, but something has to be done - and it has to be done NOW.  Not next month, not next week, not tomorrow - NOW.  

RIGHT NOW.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when the Jordan-backed investigation into Biden's actions is complete, the Congress will impeach the senile old fool and be done with it.

Time will tell.

Deo Vindice

IHC

A New Star on the Horizon

 Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a diehard Trump fan.  I voted for the man twice, and in my humble opinion he's the best President to sit in the Oval Office in my lifetime (and I'm 66 tomorrow, by the way).  He did more for this country in four short years than any other President in the history of our nation.  Unemployment was at an all-time low, black employment was at an all-time high, gas prices were lower than they had been in the past 20 years, our military was strong, the southern border was secure, and Wall Street set record high after record high on a consistent basis.  Mortgage interest rates were low while new home sales were at an all-time high.  And finally, we had a man in the White House who truly loved his country and was doing things for the betterment of the country as a whole, not for just his party.

Then the Demoncrats stole the election and installed "Creepy Joe" Biden as President.  Things went to hell in a handbasket after that, and anyone who thinks otherwise is either dumb as a post or intentionally ignorant.  

So for the past 2 years everyone on libtard side of the political spectrum has been crowing about what a fantastic job the pedophile in the Oval Office is doing, while the rest of the world realizes just what a fuckin' disaster this doddering, incompetent old fool truly is.  (If you want a glimpse of how the rest of the world sees it, just take a look at the BBC.  Get ready to be embarrassed.)  Needless to say, the cries of "Trump for President" resounded loud and clear, and I was all for it - until the midterm elections, that is.

Now that the midterm elections are over and the Republicans are in charge of the House again (bye-bye, Pelosi), two things have become glaringly apparent - first, Trump's time in the spotlight is over.  He doesn't have the influence and clout that he did when he was President, and part of that is because of his own doing.  He's still running his mouth as he always has, but the only thing is that since he's not the President anymore he doesn't have the chance to do anything spectacular to justify it.  In short, there's no reason to put up with him right now.

Second, there's a new star on the horizon, one that absolutely has the potential to eclipse Trump - and that star's name is Ron DeSantis, the newly re-elected Governor of Florida.

Plainly put, DeSantis is Trump without the mouth.  He's Trump without being crass.  He loves Florida and the country just as much as Trump, he's clear-spoken and direct, and most important of all he gets things done.  He ignored the bullshit mandates put out by the Biden Administration during the bullshit Covid "pandemic" created by Fauci and the Biden Administration, and while all of the libtards whined and cried about it saying that Florida was doomed and that everyone was going to die, the exact opposite happened - Florida flourished, the rates of Coved infection were one of the lowest in the country, and people started leaving blue states and moving to Florida in droves.

Then he turned around and got re-elected, proving that the people of Florida know a good thing when they see it.

Now the big question is, will he run for the Republican nomination for President?  Right now Trump's only challenger is that idiot of a former Secretary of State, John Bolton, who stands about as much change of beating Trump as a snowball in hell.  I think the only person in the Republican party who can give Trump a run for his money is Ron DeSantis, and if DeSantis runs then it's a whole new ball game for a couple of reasons.

The first reason is that the same people who love and support Trump also love and support DeSantis.  They realize just as I do that DeSantis is Trump 2.0 and can get the same job done as Trump but without the mouthing off and constant controversy that Trump brings with him.  That's a win-win any way you look at it.

The second reason is that the Republican party will never let Trump win the nomination.  There are way too many RINOs and others in the GOP who were embarrassed by Trump when he defied their predictions and accomplished all that he did, showing them to be nothing but Demoncrats in disguise along the way.  So now it's time for them to play a little catch-up, and they'll do it by denying Trump the nomination.  And if DeSantis runs, that gives them a way to do it.

If DeSantis runs, the RINOs and the rest of the GOP will throw their support behind him, eclipsing any chance that Trump may have.  And I'll tell you right now, as much as I love Trump and am grateful for all of the great things he did for our country, if DeSantis runs then he has my vote.  Trump has become too much of a polarizing figure over the past two years to be as effective as he was the first time around, and that will prevent him from doing the things that need to be done to fix all of the shit that "Creepy Joe" has broken and make our country great once again.  DeSantis, on the other hand, can do just as good a job without the controversy that Trump brings with him.

So as much as I'd love to see DeSantis win the Republican nomination, if that happens that brings us to a point that could very well be a "make or break" one that could hand the Presidency to the libtards again.  And that point is this:  if DeSantis gets the nomination (which he will), what will Trump do?  Will he throw his support behind DeSantis and campaign on his behalf, or will he let his ego get the better of him and run as an Independent?  I'm hoping he campaigns for DeSantis, because if he runs as an Independent all that will do is take votes away from DeSantis, which will literally hand the Presidency to the Demoncrats.  

And that means we'd have to suffer through another four years of a libtard Demoncratic disaster regardless of who the Demoncrats have in the White House.  (And it won't be Biden, that's for sure - not even the most hard-nosed Demoncrat will support him after his abysmal performance ratings of the past year, and just how much of a buffoon he's proven himself to be.)  

So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that if DeSantis runs and wins the nomination, Trump will bow out of the race and campaign for him so we can put a Republican - a TRUE Republican, not a RINO - back in the White House and get this country up and running again as our Founding Fathers wanted.

Time will tell.

Deo Vindice

IHS

Ten Ways to Improve Our Country

 Yeah, I know, it's been a while since I posted last, but to be honest I was keeping a low profile for the past year for reasons I won't go into here, but now the time has come for me to start posting again.

And boy, do I have a lot to say.

Let's start out the year and my return to my blog with Ten Ways to Improve Our Country.  As usual, the contents of this blog are my opinion which I base on what I see, hear, and experience, so keep that in mind.  I'm quite sure there are those who will disagree vehemently with what I'm about to say, and that's fine - just be respectful if you choose to comment as I will either flame you mercilessly or simply delete your comment if you choose the low road.

Having said that, let's get started, shall we?

1.  Set term limits of eight years for members of Congress.  When Congress voted on a term limit for the President in 1947, they did so saying that it wasn't good for the country for one man to have so much power for so long.  And of course, they turned a blind eye to the fact that this applied to them as well as the President, something that they still turn a blind eye to even now.  We have dinosaurs in Congress that have held office for more than FIFTY YEARS and have accomplished relatively little in that time.  Hell, even "Creepy Joe" Biden only got ONE bill passed into law in the entire FORTY-SEVEN YEARS he was in the Congress, a law that he later overturned when he became President.   It's way past time for the Congress to have the same term limits as the President.

(If you thought I was going to start this list out with "Impeach Joe Biden" as the #1 way to improve our country, you were almost right.  I almost did, but that would leave us with Kamala "The Hoe" Harris as President, and that would be even worse than what we have now.)

2.  Secure our Southern border.  And we do this one way and one way only - BUILD THE GODDAM WALL.

3.  Make balancing the budget a requirement to hold Congressional office.  I guarantee you that if we pass a law requiring members of Congress to balance the budget in order to be eligible to hold office or run for re-election, the deficit will disappear.

4.  Stop All financial aid to other countries.  That's right, ALL of them - Britain, Canada, Mexico, the Ukraine, Turkey, EVERYONE.  And if this impacts any trade agreements we have with other countries, then so be it - start manufacturing the stuff in THIS COUNTRY like we used to and put the American people back to work while you're at it.  Will it be tough?  Sure, it will, but only until we get used to it.  After all, if we can endure eight years of NObama and four years of Biden, we can endure anything.

5.  Give the money saved in #4 to our VETERANS.  Do I really need to justify this one?

6.  Reinstate the Keystone Pipeline permits.  Another one I shouldn't have to explain.  Before Biden took office the United States was energy independent (thanks to Donald Trump), and by revoking the permits for the Keystone Pipeline "Creepy Joe" killed both that independence and the American economy.  Bringing the pipeline back only makes good sense for a lot of reasons - more jobs and lower gas prices, just to name two.

7.  Require all elected members of the Federal government to make their tax returns public.  I, for one, would LOVE to know how someone can go into Congress with a net worth of $150,000.00 and end up four years later with a net worth of SIX MILION DOLLARS.  And when I say ALL elected members, that includes the President and the Vice President.  

8.  Enact a federal Voter ID law that restricts voting to US CITIZENS ONLY and REQUIRES a valid ID in order to vote.  Admittedly this one will run afoul of the Tenth Amendment, so it's largely up to the states to do this and for the Feds to just butt the fuck out of it.

9.  Deport ALL illegal aliens.  The impact on jobs for Americans will be felt almost immediately; the effect on the economy by not having to shell out BILLIONS of dollars every year for health care and benefits for those who are in this country ILLEGALLY and DON'T DESERVE IT will take a little longer.  

10.  Abolish the Federal Income Tax.  This country did just fine without it until Abraham Lincoln thought it up to finance his illegal and unconstitutional war against the Southern states.  We did it once, we can do it again.  And, as a side benefit, since there's no income tax there won't be a need for the IRS, will there?  WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!

And this is just for starters.  I can name at least another six or seven ways we can improve our country (like abolishing the Demoncratic party, for one) but I'll save those for another time.

Let the flaming begin!

Deo Vindice

IHC