Notes on the Way

To Alaska, vie plane and cruise ship

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My incomparable wife, Jackie, retired on August 1 after almost fifty years with Indiana’s largest credit union. By way of celebration, we’re cruising up to Alaska. So this will be my last Substack article for a couple of weeks, though I may post the occasional Note. I’m sure you’ll miss me terribly—but as the Terminator promised, I’ll be back.

And speaking of incomparable, that incomparable idiot, Gavin Newsom, continues to beclown himself with his down-market knockoff of the Trump brand. Ha, ha, ha! His fellow Dems and the Resistance love it, of course. He’s a fighter! He’s giving the Prince of the Golden Escalator what for! Well, so much for the Democratic Party’s claim to be the party of the adults in the room.

And speaking of the Democratic Party, last Monday’s party summit meeting in Minnesota was an epic face plant. DCC Chair Ken Martin led off with a zany rant about “fascism with a red tie.” My favorite passage: “Democrats, make no mistake, a storm is coming. In fact, it’s already here. Rising inequality, attacks on democracy, voter suppression and a fascist regime that doesn’t play by the rules.” Yo, Ken, when has a fascist regime ever played by the rules? Having barfed out this hysterical denunciation, Martin spilled the wind out of his own sails by caving to the party’s Jew-basing base over a resolution condemning Israel and calling for an arms embargo against the Jewish state. Because, you know, nothing says anti-fascism like antisemitism.

On Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a trans-identifying person shot up a Catholic church during the adjacent Catholic school’s first student Mass of the school year. Two children, aged eight and ten. Seventeen others, fourteen of whom were also children, were wounded, some seriously. The shooter then committed suicide. And I’ll bet you can guess how Democrats and progressives reacted. (1) They wrung their hands over the pain caused to the “trans community”: How dare anyone notice the shooter’s identity? “Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there has lost their sense of common humanity,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey declared. (2) They called for more gun control. (3) The egregious Frey and other Dems mocked and reviled the idea that prayer has value in the face of such tragedy—once more demonstrating their contempt for religion and the life of the spirit.

As it happens, Minnesota gun control laws are quite stringent. For example, there is the Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, which empowers courts temporarily to take firearms away from individuals who might pose a danger to themselves or others. This seems relevant in the context of the church shooting. The weapons used by the shooter were legally purchased. It seems plausible to suppose that those close to him knew that he had…issues. If so, they said nothing. This demonstrates the problem with gun control laws. They’re the least efficient method of combatting “gun violence”—like using an AR-15 to kill a fly.

And in other news, the Ogre Trump has ordered the withdrawl of Kamala Harris’s Secret Service detail, which was extended past the statutory six-month period by a Biden executive order. That should have the Bratgirl worried as she prepares for her upcoming book tour to promote 107 Days, a memoir of her disastrous run for the presidency. Be afraid, Kamala, be very afraid. There are many, many Democrats out there who are really, really mad at you…