Because I’m me, I hope that über-scrawny little Hogg punk gets bullied every single one of his last school days prior to graduation over the transparent backpacks.
“We’re all stuck using these ghey backpacks ’cause of you, fame-boy!”
“GET HIM!”
He might even come to understand why some folks choose to carry guns. 👿
In a few hours, I’ll be surrounded by the march for our lives! hordes. Should be interesting. Or not. I went to one of these events some years ago and although viewed with suspicion, most of the people were willing to talk with me. Today, it’s not high on my list if “dialogue” occurs. I’m just showing up to show that I don’t support what these people stand for.
If at any time you feel threatened, witness anything suspicious, or have any concern regarding the safety of the event, find the closest EVENT SECURITY or
PRODUCTION LEAD -- they will be wearing red shirts and headsets. It is not your job to EVER confront another guest or potentially dangerous bystander.
Be courteous and respectful of others. We are a diverse community. Please be
thoughtful in your conduct and choices, and sensitive to the feelings of your fellow marchers. If counter-protesters do arise, please DO NOT engage with them.
Happy Caturday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Sven!
Sven -- I look forward to your after-action report! Be safe out there!
Even thought the march instructions talk about “a diverse community”, I notice they are still couched in “us vs. them” language. Funny, that.
I have a few friends who are clinging to the hope that PDT is playing 12D chess with congress in re the continuing resolution/omnibus spending resolution. The idea is that since it isn’t actually a budget, the president doesn’t have to abide by it. He can choose to spend the money -- or not. He can choose to divert the funds elsewhere and decide when funds are released for certain projects. I don’t know -- it seems too clever by half and more of a false hope.
We use Boar’s Head pastrami, as it’s readily available; not a lot of real Joooish delis around here. (Definitely some in ATL, but that’s a ridiculous schlep for one item.)
So me and Mrs Sven drove north to Santa Clarita for their March for Our Lives! event. Why there? It was the one closest to us and although I knew it wouldn’t be the largest, I really didn’t want to deal with the more exuberant events in the LA area. I was planning on going by myself, but Mrs Sven wanted to go and I figured the risk factor was low, so OK.
We got there early and the event organizers had the area set up with all running smoothly – got to hand it to them – very well-organized. Both of us wore distinctly pro-firearm/2A clothing and as far as I could tell, we were the only ones there in that camp. The event was supposed to be a rally with speakers for an hour and then they were to split up into three groups and march different routes throughout the surrounding area. The rally part ran long: closer to 90 minutes I think. There’s a video showing the exit from the park and start of the march:
We stayed for the rally but opted out of the march.
Speeches were the typical. Speakers included local leaders from various groups; students from elementary school age up to high school; Dem politicians running for office. Signs and banners were about what you expect: see video.
This was the whitest crowd I think I’d ever seen for any SoCal event. You could count the number of black/brown people on your two hands. OK, maybe a few more than that, but not by much. Black Lives Matter was represented by some white kids carrying a large banner.
It was a red meat crowd. The first speaker was a black pastor from a local church who urged the crowd to consider and reject the culture of violence (video games, movies, music, etc) that permeates society – not to just focus on the gun, but on what causes someone to pick up a gun, a knife, or his fists and turn violent. That didn’t go over well – chants from two or three groups of “It’s all about the guns” and loud boos to drown him out. That happened to another speaker – a high school kid who talked about ending extreme and violent rhetoric as it wasn’t helping matters.
The cheap pops came whenever someone condemned the NRA or Santa Clarita’s Republican congressional representative, Steve Knight. Calls for the usual list of gun control measures also got loud approval. And then there were the usual speakers talking about their fears for themselves or their children when going to school. The Left has done a great job of demonizing the NRA; of tying NRA lobbying efforts/money to politicians as something completely evil; and of branding guns they don’t like as “assault” or “military-style” weapons that are out of the mainstream. There were the usual mistakes with numbers and facts; the usual distortions and outright lies too, but not anything out of the ordinary. Not anything that I haven’t heard go unchallenged on cable news.
On our end, we were mostly ignored even though we moved to the middle of the crowd about 60 feet from the stage. There was one guy about 30 feet away who was clearly unhappy with us being there – long angry stares from him. We were respectful, polite, listened quietly, and stood our ground. Towards the end I noticed that the crowd gave up a lot of space in back of us. No physical altercations; no nasty verbal assaults.
We did have two conversations with two different guys about the Second Amendment and gun issues in general. Nothing heated – both seemed generally interested in hearing our views. The last guy in particular took down notes for further research on his part and was willing to admit that he didn’t know everything about the issue.
The NRA and other 2A/gun groups missed the boat on these rallies and marches. They should have shown up. They should have had a presence at every one of these marches. Not to argue or disrupt, but to let the other side know that we exist. We aren’t going to win this fight or emerge with as little damage as possible if all we do is preach to our own choir.
For this rally, I estimated the crowd at about 1000 people -- the video says “thousands” but that’s just wishful thinking. And there were two 2A supporters there. As POTUS would say: sad!
I applauded the NRA when Dana Loesch showed up at that CNN townhall – it was the right move. I wish they had continued to move in that direction.
This must be a mistake because today I repeatedly heard that America is the only country with mass shootings. From our southern neighbor:
Aquila, Michoacán.- During the morning of this Friday, about eight bodies executed were located in the bed of an abandoned pick up truck in the Municipality of Aquila, located in the Costa -- Sierra region of Michoacán, municipal authorities confirmed.
The number of dead is now confirmed to be FIFTEEN, not EIGHT as reported last night, all with gunshot wounds, according to Universal
Happy Scary Cat Caturday, Wheelizens!
Because I’m me, I hope that über-scrawny little Hogg punk gets bullied every single one of his last school days prior to graduation over the transparent backpacks.
“We’re all stuck using these ghey backpacks ’cause of you, fame-boy!”
“GET HIM!”
He might even come to understand why some folks choose to carry guns. 👿
Oh…to Hell with the Congress and the President of the United States for the budget.
Voting on legislation one hasn’t even read ought to be a capital crime. And the lampposts of DC ought to be laden with “strange fruit” this morning.
Happy Saturday, GN! Hi, Fatwa.
In a few hours, I’ll be surrounded by the march for our lives! hordes. Should be interesting. Or not. I went to one of these events some years ago and although viewed with suspicion, most of the people were willing to talk with me. Today, it’s not high on my list if “dialogue” occurs. I’m just showing up to show that I don’t support what these people stand for.
Hai, Sven!
If I were out there, I’d join you at the “March For Our Lives!!1!”…wearing that “Support Diversity” handgun tee-shirt GoodWifeK gave me.
Rules of the road for today’s event:
If at any time you feel threatened, witness anything suspicious, or have any concern regarding the safety of the event, find the closest EVENT SECURITY or
PRODUCTION LEAD -- they will be wearing red shirts and headsets. It is not your job to EVER confront another guest or potentially dangerous bystander.
I hope I don’t fall into any of those categories.
Oh, and this too:
Be courteous and respectful of others. We are a diverse community. Please be
thoughtful in your conduct and choices, and sensitive to the feelings of your fellow marchers. If counter-protesters do arise, please DO NOT engage with them.
And I’m off -- have a wonderful day!
P.S. Fatwa, would you mind contacting ZOG and asking them to hold off on any rain until after noon? Thanks and the check is in the mail.
Sven --
I got no juice with ZOG; sorry, man.
Hahahahahahaaa!
Be safe out there.
Happy Caturday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, Fatwa, and Sven!
Sven -- I look forward to your after-action report! Be safe out there!
Even thought the march instructions talk about “a diverse community”, I notice they are still couched in “us vs. them” language. Funny, that.
I have a few friends who are clinging to the hope that PDT is playing 12D chess with congress in re the continuing resolution/omnibus spending resolution. The idea is that since it isn’t actually a budget, the president doesn’t have to abide by it. He can choose to spend the money -- or not. He can choose to divert the funds elsewhere and decide when funds are released for certain projects. I don’t know -- it seems too clever by half and more of a false hope.
Drive-by:
SackO’SugarK makes a damned fine pastrami Ruben sammich; better than most deli ones I’ve had.
NOM!
What does she use for the dressing?
Store-bought 1000 Island.
We use Boar’s Head pastrami, as it’s readily available; not a lot of real Joooish delis around here. (Definitely some in ATL, but that’s a ridiculous schlep for one item.)
Hope Sven returned safely from his outing today.
I know it’s too much to ask, but I would hope that at least person was moved to reconsider their opinion.
Well, I still think Gonzalez and Hogg are vexatious imbeciles, so I guess that one person wasn’t me.
Sorry, I meant by the appearance of Sven and others like him.
Trip report -part 1
So me and Mrs Sven drove north to Santa Clarita for their March for Our Lives! event. Why there? It was the one closest to us and although I knew it wouldn’t be the largest, I really didn’t want to deal with the more exuberant events in the LA area. I was planning on going by myself, but Mrs Sven wanted to go and I figured the risk factor was low, so OK.
We got there early and the event organizers had the area set up with all running smoothly – got to hand it to them – very well-organized. Both of us wore distinctly pro-firearm/2A clothing and as far as I could tell, we were the only ones there in that camp. The event was supposed to be a rally with speakers for an hour and then they were to split up into three groups and march different routes throughout the surrounding area. The rally part ran long: closer to 90 minutes I think. There’s a video showing the exit from the park and start of the march:
We stayed for the rally but opted out of the march.
Speeches were the typical. Speakers included local leaders from various groups; students from elementary school age up to high school; Dem politicians running for office. Signs and banners were about what you expect: see video.
Trip report -part 2
Some impressions.
This was the whitest crowd I think I’d ever seen for any SoCal event. You could count the number of black/brown people on your two hands. OK, maybe a few more than that, but not by much. Black Lives Matter was represented by some white kids carrying a large banner.
It was a red meat crowd. The first speaker was a black pastor from a local church who urged the crowd to consider and reject the culture of violence (video games, movies, music, etc) that permeates society – not to just focus on the gun, but on what causes someone to pick up a gun, a knife, or his fists and turn violent. That didn’t go over well – chants from two or three groups of “It’s all about the guns” and loud boos to drown him out. That happened to another speaker – a high school kid who talked about ending extreme and violent rhetoric as it wasn’t helping matters.
The cheap pops came whenever someone condemned the NRA or Santa Clarita’s Republican congressional representative, Steve Knight. Calls for the usual list of gun control measures also got loud approval. And then there were the usual speakers talking about their fears for themselves or their children when going to school. The Left has done a great job of demonizing the NRA; of tying NRA lobbying efforts/money to politicians as something completely evil; and of branding guns they don’t like as “assault” or “military-style” weapons that are out of the mainstream. There were the usual mistakes with numbers and facts; the usual distortions and outright lies too, but not anything out of the ordinary. Not anything that I haven’t heard go unchallenged on cable news.
On our end, we were mostly ignored even though we moved to the middle of the crowd about 60 feet from the stage. There was one guy about 30 feet away who was clearly unhappy with us being there – long angry stares from him. We were respectful, polite, listened quietly, and stood our ground. Towards the end I noticed that the crowd gave up a lot of space in back of us. No physical altercations; no nasty verbal assaults.
We did have two conversations with two different guys about the Second Amendment and gun issues in general. Nothing heated – both seemed generally interested in hearing our views. The last guy in particular took down notes for further research on his part and was willing to admit that he didn’t know everything about the issue.
Last impression.
The NRA and other 2A/gun groups missed the boat on these rallies and marches. They should have shown up. They should have had a presence at every one of these marches. Not to argue or disrupt, but to let the other side know that we exist. We aren’t going to win this fight or emerge with as little damage as possible if all we do is preach to our own choir.
For this rally, I estimated the crowd at about 1000 people -- the video says “thousands” but that’s just wishful thinking. And there were two 2A supporters there. As POTUS would say: sad!
I applauded the NRA when Dana Loesch showed up at that CNN townhall – it was the right move. I wish they had continued to move in that direction.
Thanks for the after-action report, Sven. I’m glad you and Mrs. Sven didn’t experience any violence directed towards you.
Thanks, Paddy. In SCV, I didn’t really expect problems, but you never know anymore. I kept both eyes open and my hands free.
This must be a mistake because today I repeatedly heard that America is the only country with mass shootings. From our southern neighbor:
Aquila, Michoacán.- During the morning of this Friday, about eight bodies executed were located in the bed of an abandoned pick up truck in the Municipality of Aquila, located in the Costa -- Sierra region of Michoacán, municipal authorities confirmed.
The number of dead is now confirmed to be FIFTEEN, not EIGHT as reported last night, all with gunshot wounds, according to Universal