Sleepless in Midland

Bill passed in House to nullify clauses that prohibit customers from complaining

We've heard the horror stories: Customer bought a lemon product or engaged a company that did a crappy job. The customer complained on social media. Then the company sued the customer for violation of the fine print in the agreement he had to accept in order to buy the product or obtain the service. Bummer.

Well, the U.S. House of Representatives is trying to rescue consumers from this outcome by passage of H.R. 5111: Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016. Leonard Lance (R. New Jersey) sponsored the bill which will invalidate gag provisions in consumer contracts.

It passed the House a couple of weeks ago (9/12/2016). So the only obstacles are the Senate and the President. Will they go along with it? The above linked govtrack.us site gives it a 24% chance of being enacted, but that shouldn't stop anyone with a legitimate complaint. Any company attempting to enforce such a clause will have an uphill battle in the court of public opinion. And anyone sitting on a jury who checked an "Accept" button without reading pages and pages of text isn't likely to be too sympathetic to the company trying to enforce it.

"Guns Up" gesture still OK at Texas Tech

Most of us have lived with it so long that it seems perfectly in place -- it's the guns up finger gesture the Texas Tech mascot displays as he prances around the sports field to fire up the fans.

But modern day campus observers probably could have predicted this. Here's the report at Does Texas Tech’s ‘Guns Up’ Glorify the Use of Firearms? Excerpt:

Anti-gunners, including a Texas Tech alumni, Michael Grant, Ph.D., spoke out against the tradition, saying the phrase and symbol is “inappropriate” and claiming the university’s continual use of “Guns Up!”…. glorifies the use of firearms.

That happened in 2013 and was dug up in response to a open records request. Apparently, Texas Tech didn't want to take chances on missed donates so they changed the logo on donation requests. Not so on the sports field. The mascot can still stick out his finger.

Post Script: One has to wonder whether one of the responses to the complaint was an unglorified "guns up" with the middle finger. Now there's a substitute for you Mr. Grant.

Hillary repeats trickle down fiction

It was at about the 27 minute mark in debate #1 that she began. By minute 28 Clinton was blaming the 2008-2009 recession on this thing progressives call "trickle down." By that she means that her opponent only wants to help the rich, and maybe a tiny bit will trickle down to the poor folks.

"Trickle down" is supposed to be a pejorative, and progressives have been using it off and on for over a century. It's a fiction invented to convince voters that a politician wants to help the little guy and hurt the big guy. We all would like to help the little guy. That particular trait is built into the American character. But it takes a certain type of person to want to hurt the big guy, i.e., the rich. Unfortunately, that trait is common to a lot of Americans, too. And politicians tap into that. They try to turn it into a good trait by combining the two. Sneaky.

Back to the point. Thomas Sowell mansplains how progressives have it exactly backwards in Trickle Down Theory and Tax Cuts for the Rich. Here's a key part:

The very idea that profits “trickle down” to workers depicts the economic sequence of events in the opposite order from that in the real world. Workers must first be hired, and commitments made to pay them, before there is any output produced to sell for a profit, and independently of whether that output subsequently sells for a profit or at a loss. With many investments, whether they lead to a profit or a loss can often be determined only years later, and workers have to be paid in the meantime, rather than waiting for profits to “trickle down” to them. The real effect of tax rate reductions is to make the future prospects of profit look more favorable, leading to more current investments that generate more current economic activity and more jobs.

Too bad they can't figure out that making it easier for people to make money will benefit everyone. The risk takers will be rewarded for their courage and skill. (For heaven's sake, Mark Cuban -- Shark Tank star, billionaire, and current Clinton favorite Trump hater -- should know that.) And the little guy will have more income opportunities. He may even want to become an entrepreneur himself. Hey, call Mark Cuban.

American Thinker excoriates GHW Bush for alleged Clinton support

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend claims George H. W. Bush told her that he intended to vote for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming election. That left a lot of conservatives scratching their heads.

Most of us know how bad a Clinton presidency would be for the country. In The Bush Betrayal, Jared E. Peterson helps us out with a list of his own. Some examples:

Eight more years of mass immigration that’s destroying the schools and neighborhoods of those who voted for him and his son, and that will shortly render demographically moot any opposition to dominance of the American presidency by the Left; ...

Eight more years of officially promoted lies that America and its police are racist, lies that are poisoning public discourse and pushing the country dangerously towards violence; ...

And, of course, a Supreme Court and federal judiciary that from day one of Clinton’s presidency will enforce the entire odious edifice of Leftist rule while rolling back once secure constitutional rights guaranteed by the first and second amendments. ...

Mr. Peterson speculates that it might be personal revenge against the voters that motivated Mr. Bush to express a support for Clinton. Maybe. We don't get any context with the conversation. Maybe Townsend was asking leading questions and slipped in one about Clinton. My own theory is that the 91 year old Bush is suffering from dementia.

The family didn't disavow Townsend's statement because going public with a dementia problem would be too embarrassing for him. He's not that far gone. The Kennedys played the old man.

Anyway, let him vote for whom he wants. After Jeb's performance in the Republican Primary, one has to wonder just how much influence the Bushes have on voters at this unique point in time.

It used to be called suicide by cop, now it's inner city machismo

Question: Is doing homework and studying for school still "acting white" is some communities? Or is that an urban legend? We've heard it for years, and with no denials coming forth, one has to suspect it's true, at least in some communities. Maybe it's inner city machismo.

That legend is all grown up now, along with the kids who perpetuated it while in school. Incidents occur in which someone doesn't drop his weapons when asked to do so by armed police. See, for example, Police Say Video Shows Keith Lamont Scott Had Gun in Hand in Charlotte.

It appears as if dropping one's gun when a police officer yells "Drop your gun" may be the new "acting white."

Machismo requires that the person on the receiving end of that command never back down from a police officer. Be a man or die trying. It used to be called "suicide by cop." Then it became martyrdom. Que the riots.

What a shame, especially so since politicians are using these incidents to solidify voting blocs.

Rioters pick their spots -- Charlotte yes, Tulsa no

It's hard to miss the disparity between the responses to the police shooting in Tulsa and the police shooting in Charlotte. Charlotte is enveloped in riots, looting, and at least one killing amongst the rioters, all in the name of social justice. Tulsa erupted in peace and quite.

My own shallow assumption was that Tulsa was too far away. The people who were renting the mobs didn't want to foot the transportation bill.

Patricia McCarthy says there's more to it than that. See Charlotte riots, Tulsa doesn’t. Excerpt:

For inexplicable reasons, leftists believe that the violence wrought by angry minorities will benefit them, so they encourage it.  They subsidize it.  Obama has given his not-so-tacit permission to riot every time one of these tragic events occurs, from the Henry Louis Gates minor incident to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and the Dallas officers.  And now BLM is rolling in money, $100M from "social justice" organizations. Soros gave them $33M.

What we see in Charlotte is what they pay for.  They are not wasting their money in Tulsa because Oklahoma is in the bag for Trump.

Makes sense. Hillary Clinton is probably worrying herself sick over the lack of enthusiasm for her in Obama's most loyal voting bloc, African Americans. Democrats' plan appears to involve pouring gasoline on the fires of racial strife to motivate that bloc to vote for Hillary.

It's a sick and cynical plan, but will it work? We can only hope it doesn't.

Meanwhile, as I've said previously, like Dr. Frankenstein, they were smart enough to create a monster. But they are not smart enough to control it.

Question for Colin Kaepernick and all those other anthem deniers

What regime do you want as your next ruler? China? Russia? Iran?

That's a legitimate question, because with your disrespect for America's symbols of patriotism, you're basically saying that there's a better place you'd like to be. But you don't want to move, you want that place to move here.

With a weakening military, a growing internal discontent, increasing disrespect for American institutions, and a basic disrespect for what America traditionally stood for, there will be another ruler if you prevail.

So what will it be, Colin? Are you OK with the Sharia law thing?

So what exactly are we supposed to do with these "known wolves?"

Conservative writers are quick to point out occasions in which these "lone wolf" terrorists turned out to be "known wolves." Cue the outrage.

But what exactly are we supposed to do with these "known wolves?" Thought crimes are not illegal -- that's a fundamental concept of American jurisprudence.

Criminal conspiracies don't always require the actual commission of a crime, merely the planning process. But the acts of people like that Ahmad Khan Rahami guy may not have involved any conspiracies that law enforcement agencies could prove or were even aware of. So there was nothing anyone could have done until he actually started building his bombs. Even then, if he had a plausible explanation for his pressure cooker devices then a conviction is unlikely, e.g., see the Dallas clock boy who is now suing his old school. And are we really capable of surveillance of every individual in the country who hates America?

While it's fun to knock Obama, et al, for coddling terrorists, we have to be realistic about what the police can do without obliterating our constitutional safeguards. Heaven knows some of our presidential candidates would like to whittle down citizens' rights. But it doesn't serve the public by carving up the Bill of Rights permanently to satisfy immediate concerns.

Footnote: Mr. Rahami was said to be a "naturalized citizen." If treason could be proved his citizenship status could be revoked. But it would seem that treason would be harder to prove than criminal conspiracy. So we're back where we started.

Don't get mad at Dallas Morning News for endorsing Hillary, thank them for their honesty

Dailycaller.com is telling us that The Dallas Morning News Is Paying Dearly For Endorsing Hillary Clinton. Readers left angry comments and threatened to cancel their subscriptions.

The thing DMN did that is different than most other newspapers is actually coming out and saying it. Most newspapers try to pretend that they are neutral in politics. However, researchers have shown that a high percentage of the people in the msm are Democrats.

They try to hide it, but it's obvious to most conservatives, because it comes out in the news coverage. More specifically, it comes out in what the outlet elects to exclude from coverage. As the oft quoted Iowahawk says, "Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving."

With so many online sources available these days, the typical conservative is very well informed. So when their local daily omits a topic, that's a dead giveaway. It's nice that DMN actually came clean. Their readers should appreciate the honesty.

Aside: For those of us who are one-issue-voters -- concerned about the future Supreme Court appointees -- Hillary is the wrong choice. She has not tried to hide her ambition to try to limit the freedoms guaranteed in the 1st and 2nd amendments. DMN needn't worry, though. They don't care much for the 2nd amendment anyway, and as to the 1st, Clinton will surely make an exception in her executive order protecting her favorite news outlets. But DMN should remember that last line from Martin Niemoeller's famous quote, "... And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.”

State of Texas has more info, including digitized fingerprints, on handgun licensees than Feds do on illegal immigrants

To obtain a new or renewed License to Carry a handgun in Texas the applicant has to submit digitized fingerprints. See LTC Fingerprint and Photo Information:

All Original LTC applicants are required to submit fingerprints to DPS as part of the complete LTC application. LTC applicants must submit fingerprints electronically, unless the applicant qualifies for an alternative fingerprint process under House Bill 698 (83rd Legislature), regardless of whether the applicant submits a paper application or an online application.

This blogger had to get digitized fingerprints for a recent license renewal. And that process came to mind as news broke that 800 illegal aliens were granted citizenship because no one made them submit digitized fingerprints. See Nets Dismiss Over 800 Illegals Wrongly Granted Citizenship.

The above linked article focused on the msm's failure to cover that particular piece of news, but the point is made. The State of Texas does a more thorough job of investigating License to Carry applicants than the feds do with illegal aliens.

As one prominent blogger says sarcastically, the nation is in the best of hands. But to be fair, maybe it wasn't a mistake at all. Maybe it was an accident-on-purpose as the citizenship outcome with 800 new voters may have been exactly what the bureaucrats wanted.

AP struggles to find ways to frame headlines showing Republicans as reactionary

A prominent blogger recently pointed out how the msm does this. The headlines, instead of noting what some Democrat has done, are framed to highlight Republicans' reactions. Once one becomes aware of the practice, it seems to appear everywhere.

This example from AP was in the local morning paper on Monday: Trump supporters struggle to sideline 'birther' issue.

Notice how the headline says it's Trump's supporter who are struggling. There's just a tiny bit of misdirection going on there. The struggle is by Clinton's supporters to keep the issue alive. Trump and his supporters are past it. Clinton and her msm supporters are hanging onto the issue as if it were a branch in a tidal wave.

Many observers are probably tempted to wish that the election was over with. Not me. This is the most exiting election since Ike vs. Adlai. (Flashback: That one may not have been all that exiting, but to a kid exposed to TV for the first time, it was better than a circus.)

Has Blazing Saddles been banned from TCM?

Die hard Gene Wilder fans probably like all his movies. But for casual fans like me, "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles" top the list with everything else far behind. "Young Frankenstein" was shown on TCM the other day. But where the heck is "Blazing Saddles?"

It's not set for TCM broadcast on their Gene Wilder tribute day which could lead one to believe they're afraid it might be politically incorrect.

Race relations was the joke around which the story was spun as the redneck world got turned upside down by a black sheriff. But when the movie was released the most controversial thing about it was the fart joke. We can't blame TCM, though, since race relations have gotten so bad in the last half dozen years. What a shame.

At least TCM has the movie available for purchase.

P.S. I found a copy at the local library. If you are looking, try to get the 30th anniversary edition with Mel Brooks' commentary.

Public trust in media drops during presidential election years -- wonder why?

Americans' trust in the media "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly" has been dropping fairly steadily for quite some time. See Public trust in media falls to historic low. Those days when viewers trusted Walter Cronkite to be unbiased are long gone, thanks in some part to Cronkite's own eventual outing as a hard core Democrat.

That people have lost trust in the institution isn't news. What's noteworthy is the presidential election years, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. The trust takes a decided dip in each of those years. Check it out in interactive chart at the aforementioned article. The image below is a JPG snipping tool capture.

It should be no mystery why trust drops in those years. As the msm piles on to support one candidate against the other, their bias is more obvious than they probably realize.

Happy Constitution Day -- September 17

Today, September 17, is Constitution Day.

It was on this day in 1787, that our founding fathers met for the last time to sign the Constitution. And we should be greatly indebted to them for what they were able to accomplish. And we should be grateful the document has maintained the respect among the people that it has.

There are people among us who would like to scrap it. And there are people who think a benevolent dictator would be a better government than what we've got. Their lack of a few classes in world history left them clueless on how that typically ends. So it's a constant fight to maintain that precious document and what it stands for.

Anyway, for those of us who still care, happy Constitution Day!

Howie Carr takes the hand-off from Jeff Foxworthy -- you might be deplorable if ...

Hillary Clinton branding half the voters as "deplorable" was manna from heaven for bloggers. It was ready made for Jeff Foxworthy, but he didn't pick it up. Never fear, Howie Carr did! See Carr: Some Quick, easy steps to tell if you’re a deplorable. Some samples:

In case you’ve been wondering which side you’re on, you may be a deplorable if you stand for the National Anthem.

Or if you know all the words to the Pledge of Allegiance, especially, “under God.”

If you wake before noon, if you call Islamic terrorists Islamic terrorists, if you don’t have an Obamaphone and you don’t believe that global warming is “settled science” — can you say deplorable?

You may be deplorable if your passport, driver’s license and credit cards are all in the same name. ...

You may be a deplorable if all of your children have the same last name — and it’s your last name.

My favorite:

Or if when you go to Market Basket, you tend to buy generic products, because you’re using your own money, not an EBT card. ...

Hillary backtracked after being called out on it. Too bad. Bloggers need this sort of stuff from pretentious politicians.

Kudos to two councilmen who opposed higher local taxes

What a difference a few years make. Back before the Tea Party movement was stomped into dust there was a group of folks who went before the Midland, Texas, city council to plead with them not to raise taxes again. The annual tax hike here is a ritual as regular as the four seasons.

But that was a time shortly after Barack Obama was first elected president, and a a more powerful movement swept government entities as they imagined voters were eager to fatten government coffers across the nation.

The local city council was about as eager to hear tax protests as bin Laden would have been to listen to a Christian sermon. The tax hike was voted in unanimously. And those of us who spoke before the council learned our civic lesson and were put in our place.

Fast forward to today. Stewart Doreen tells us in the morning paper that two city council members voted "No" this time. Kudos to those two, J.Ross Lacy and Jeff Sparks. It's still a minority. But it's a start.

Clinton's "You name it" comment was smug and condescending -- Dems eat that stuff up

Hillary listed the various "isms" her opponents are purported to display, and she ends with the condescending, "you name it." This was an honest-to-gosh gaffe, not that it was actually the truth, but that it was what Democrats believe to be true. Here's the whole quote:

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables,’” Clinton said. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”

It's that smugness of the "you name it" that pulls like a fish hook under the skin of an innocent bystander. And Clinton's audience is all in.

As a commentator famously said, conservatives think liberals are stupid, and liberals think conservatives are evil. Seems that remark is proven to be true every time there's an opportunity.

Clinton validated her audience's own prejudices. It's not bigotry when Democrats do it, it's progress.

Meanwhile, Clinton is recuperating from an embarrassing spill and a bout of pneumonia. Get well quickly, Hillary. While we may find you disgusting, Donald Trump needs your name on the ballot. Oh, how he needs you.

Like the scene from Spartacus -- Hillary's staff proclaims I have pneumonia, I have pneumonia, I have pneumonia

Kirk Douglas and his army of slave revolutionaries ended up captured by the Romans in the Kubrick movie Spartacus. The Roman general asks which one is Spartacus so they can execute him. Douglas says he is. Then another stands up and says he is. Then another, then another. Before long all the prisoners are claiming to be Spartacus. It's a great scene as his soldiers demonstrate their loyalty to the leader.

Don't know why, but that scene sprang to mind as Hillary Clinton's staff sprang to their feet claiming, I had pneumonia. And here comes Chuck Schumer jumping up to say he had pneumonia. Such loyalty!

But one comes away not so much admiring their loyalty but wondering how many innocent people did these people infect. They should all be quarantined.

P.S. That little girl Hillary was hugging on the day of her "episode" probably should be looked at.

Attention old Texans -- vote absentee if you don't trust the electronic voting system

We've heard enough about attempts to hack election software to put everyone on edge. The old paper ballots could be hacked, too -- the story of Lyndon Johnson stealing a Senate seat is a Texas legend -- but it took some effort.

These days to use a paper ballot in Texas the voter has to vote absentee. And even then not everyone qualifies to do that. Here's what the Texas Secretary of State's office says:

Can anybody vote early by mail (also referred to as “absentee voting”)?
Only specific reasons entitle a registered voter to vote early by mail (no longer called absentee voting). You may request a ballot by mail if you:

-will be away from your county on Election Day and during the hours that early voting is conducted;
-are sick or disabled;
-are 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
-are confined in jail.

Request an application online here.

Or download the application here.

The voter is asked to use a #2 pencil to mark the ballot. That tells us it will get read into a machine. And that machine will undoubtedly feed it to the same program that collects the votes cast at the machines in the voting booth. So it might be all for naught. But it's worth a try.

SAS sniper's amazing mile long shot ignites terrorist's flame thrower

You probably have to be in one of the people Hillary Clinton thinks is deplorable to celebrate this. But why let that stop us?

This is a report of an amazing shot with a spectacular result. See SAS sniper hero takes out four ISIS terror nuts in ONE go.

The sniper had been hunting a Jihadist who liked to burn suspected spies with his flame thrower. But that was not his day. The sniper fired one .50 caliber tracer round from his Barrett rifle 1,500 meters into the flame thrower tank. The result must have been quite a spectacle as the tank exploded killing the Jihadist and three of his pals. Twelve civilians were saved from a horrible death.

Hooray for the SAS snipers! Keep up the good work!

Does anyone doubt that there's a secret deal in the works between the U.S. and China over North Korea's nuke program?

What does China want? Unfettered access to the South China Sea.

What does the U.S. want? North Korea to hide it's nuclear weapons program and delivery system a little better.

The conventional wisdom tells us China is the only country with any real influence over North Korea. So given the Obama/Kerry diplomacy team's record with Iran, there shouldn't be much doubt that the U.S. would agree to give up complaining about the South China Sea thing to buy some peace and quiet from North Korea until after the new president is sworn in.

5,300 fired at Wells Fargo -- now that was one huge scheme

The news that an employee of a big bank cooked up a plan to swindle money from bank customers wouldn't be that shocking. Maybe there was even a co-conspirator or two. But the revelation that there may have been 5,300 employees in on it is shocking.

The scheme itself looked pretty simple -- as outlined in Wells Fargo fined $185M for fake accounts; 5,300 were fired. Excerpt:

An analysis by the San Francisco-headquartered bank found that its employees opened more than two million deposit and credit card accounts that may not have been authorized by consumers, the officials said. Many of the transfers ran up fees or other charges for the customers, even as they helped employees make incentive goals.

Here's the sad part. Government entities will rake in $185 million in fines which will probably be spent wisely, you think? As for the customers, this:

Accounts refunded represented a fraction of one percent of the accounts reviewed, and refunds averaged $25, Wells Fargo said.

Oh yeah, take that straight to the bank!

Nordic socialism doesn't live up to hype

It's sad that so many people claim to want socialism for the U.S., but it's interesting that their model isn't South America where it has been an absolute failure but the Nordic countries which are held up as the ideal.

It's nice to have someone come along to debunk the Nordic myth. The Nordic nations were characterized by "free markets and small government in the 19th century and early 20th century. Unfortunately, the big welfare state policies, starting in the 1960s, have hampered their economic performance." Source: Veronique de Rugy's Does Socialism Work for Sweden? That's the Wrong Question. She goes on:

Work ethics and a higher tolerance for collecting undeserved benefits have developed slowly, but the data show that over time, "Nordic people have changed their attitudes as social democratic policies have made it less rewarding to work hard and more rewarding to live off the government."

She's quoting from a book by Nima Sanandaji titled Debunking Utopia: Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism. More from de Rugy:

Finally, Sanandaji writes, "Nordic countries have more generous welfare systems than the United States, but change has indeed taken place." In recent years, they've tempered the damage of their big-government policies by scaling back their welfare states and setting limits on their fiscal burdens. Their governments have adopted more work incentives, lowered taxes and allowed for more flexibility when hiring and firing workers. They've opened their public schools and health care to more competition, and Sweden partially privatized its pension system. They may not be free market quite yet, but they're no socialist—or even liberal—utopia, either.

So the right question would seem to be, "when will politicians stop promising a utopia they know is not achievable?" The answer is, "after they get elected to the office they seek."

Meanwhile, here are two penned by Nima Sanandaji himself:
Nordic Socialism Isn't the Answer for America and
The Nordic Democratic-Socialist Myth.

Epipen had a government conferred monopoly -- can the government correct what caused it?

"We need to look at what the government is doing to create the environment that is leading to some of these instances." That was Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla) on "Mornings with Maria" Wednesday morning. (Video link below.)

It's common knowledge now that the drug administered by the Epipen wasn't the issue. The issue was that there is no competition for the dispensing device. Drug companies spend big bucks lobbying the FDA to protect their own products against any possible competition. And if this instance of Mylan Labs and Epipen is any indication, it was money well spent. They had a monopoly which was aided and abetted by the FDA.

DeSantis wants to try to get Congress to reduce the regulations that led to this result. Reduction of regulations has been the goal of conservatives for years. Boy, it sure has taken a long time. And only when it gets in the headlines is there any effort put into it. But assuming Republicans in government are serious, it will still take time.

For more immediate relief DeSantis plans to get the FDA in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The FDA contends that it doesn't involve itself in product pricing, but the hope is that shining some light on these problems will help them understand the impact they are having and motivate them to move a little faster.

Watch the interview at this Youtube link. It's encouraging to hear a politician propose solutions that might get a government agency like the FDA to serve the people a little better than they have.

At least two reasons Hillary must not be president -- 1st amendment and 2nd amendment

The Citizens United case involved a corporation that made an anti-Hillary Clinton movie. And it took the U.S. Supreme Court to say it was OK to show the movie. It should have been a cut and dried 1st Amendment freedom. But Democrats and pro-Hillary people couldn't have those kinds of freedoms in the hands of ordinary people.

The Supreme Court held that a group of people pooling their money to make a movie are entitled to the same 1st Amendment rights of individuals acting alone. Democrats had a cow.

And Hillary Clinton has vowed to eliminate that right. If you have any doubts about that, see Hillary Clinton will push constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, Clinton pledges constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United ruling and her own website.

Then there's the 2nd Amendment. There has been little question on where Clinton stands on gun right. Oh sure, she boasted about hunting with her dad, but her remarks reveal her animus toward gun owners. Hillary Clinton goes on the attack over gun control.

Whether she relies on executive orders or Supreme Court rulings -- after her hand picked justices take their seats -- citizens are at risk of losing the rights they enjoy under the 1st and 2nd Amendments.

Vote in November as if your rights depended on the outcome.

Matt Patterson explains how to be a liberal -- shortened version, bury head in sand

Mr. Patterson really does a number on liberals in How to Be a Liberal. Seems that ignorance and hypocrisy are the two main requirements.

And he's probably right. So much of what today passes as progressive dogma has been demonstrated time and time again to bring more destruction than progress to the people under its influence.

Here's Patterson:

Ignorance is an absolute must, but especially ignorance of three things: economics, human nature and all of recorded history.

One has to be truly economically illiterate to believe that high taxes encourages productivity, that union-imposed labor regulations don't dis-incentivize hiring, that energy regulations don't raise prices on the poor and working class.

Likewise, to be a liberal you must pretend that men and women are exactly alike in every respect and that communism produces the most happiness for the most people.

Of course you can search the history books in vain for a communist society that did not produce poverty, misery and/or death on vast scales. But American liberals don’t read history books – just note the vast throngs who came out to support Bernie Sanders for President of the United States.

My only complaint is the use of the word "liberal." It's more of a regret than a complaint. The word meant something entirely different a while ago, and it was a good thing. But lefties took over the word to label their own deeds with it, but they ruined it and are trying to abandon it. "Progressive" is another word from long ago that is having a revival. But if we agree that lefties don't know much about history then any old word will do. Hey, "Lefty" still works.

Why Hillary is so popular among her progressive fan base

Listen to enough cable news shows and before long a Hillary backer will be spewing forth about how great Hillary is. But "Popular" probably isn't the right word. For most of her supporters, "acceptable" is a more appropriate descriptor.

Whatever we call it, there's a reason why Democrats are so tolerant of her misdeeds. The best we can tell, she never betrayed the progressive agenda, or if she did, she backpedaled as soon as it became expedient. She's proven that she's loyal to the movement.

The fact that she lies and covers up misdeeds isn't a bug, it's a feature. They don't mind that at all, and in fact they admire it. They hope she'll use these skills to hurt conservatives and accomplish the wishes of whatever special interest group they favor.

If there's nothing else we learned from Barack Obama it's that you can convince people to swallow a poison pill if you tell them a lie they can believe.

It's like the criminal who says he wants a crooked lawyer. He expects the lawyer to be loyal to him, but he expects the lawyer to dissemble, pay bribes, cheat, and do whatever it takes to defeat the other side.

It's that simple. Hillary Clinton is their crooked lawyer.

Maybe Hillary Clinton is the candidate who will benefit from the Bradley Effect

Most conservatives hope the polls showing Hillary ahead are wrong. The Bradley Effect is sometimes cited, because many potential voters might not want to admit to a pollster that they plan to vote for Donald Trump.

But with the drip, drip of negative news releases revealing Clinton's ineptitude and/or duplicity, one has to wonder why anyone would consider voting for her. Obviously there are those who do and are willing to admit it. But there must be plenty who want a progressive president but who couldn't admit they wanted Hillary.

She is as likely to benefit from the Bradley Effect as Donald Trump.

Low tech vehicle burglars not likely to by replaced by tech savvy thieves anytime soon

Not long ago there was a line of stories circulating among email lists that told of thieves simply opening the locked vehicle doors with their high tech devices. This line of story had the thieves parked nearby and intercepting the signal while the owner used her own key to lock the doors remotely. The lesson to be learned was that the owner should not use the remote but to lock the doors with the switch located on the door, thereby not transmitting a wireless signal.

That may be good advice. But the best part of it is to lock the door regardless of the method. Most vehicle burglaries occur when the owner walks away without locking the doors. Yeah, I know, out here in West Texas we all trust each other and don't expect that anyone would steal from us. But it happens.

Check out this graph from Crimemapping.com. It covers all reported crimes for the week ending 9/1/2016 in Midland, Texas. As you can see, 13, or about a quarter of the crimes, were vehicle break-in / thefts.

The slim jim is still around and works with older vehicles. Furthermore, a muscular burglar can use a pry bar to pry the door away from the jam. The burglar in a hurry will smash a window, grab whatever is available, and skedaddle. But the most common method is the one favored by the lazy burglar who simply checks door handles for unlocked doors and moves along until he finds one.

So the best thing to do is to keep the doors locked whenever you aren't in the vehicle. This applies even more so if there is a gun kept in the vehicle. Lock it or lose it.

Anthony Weiner had the wrong fetish -- if he liked to wear a dress Dems would call him heroic

Let's face it, what he likes to do must be some sort of rare but growing fetish involving cameras and the internet. In his case, it's snapping a pic of himself in his skivvies and posting them online. It's doesn't turn most of us on, but obviously he gets off on it.

So Dems, give him a break. If he came out as transsexual, he would be a cocktail party favorite, and Dems would be patting themselves on the back about how tolerant they are.

Unfortunately for Weiner, his fetish falls somewhat in the porn category, and that four letter word, we are told by feminists, describes a terrible thing.

Maybe it's the luck of the draw that some of us came out hetero, some homo, some cross dressers, and some like Weiner, who gets off by taking sexy selfies. If only Weiner had come out as homosexual or transgender, he would be a hero in the class of tolerant Democrats in which he wants to circulate.