Where a Hispanic Catholic, and a Computer Geek write about Gun Rights, Self Defense and whatever else we can think about.
Lots of good-hearted jokers in Facebook have been sending me videos of hurricane/weather related music. I do appreciate the sentiment, but I will stick with this classic:
Matthew is currently 210 miles from my location and about to pass Latitude N26 which means I am no longer in his direct path. Of course, all the associated crap of winds and bands of rain are starting to be felt around here. I am just happy not to see another eye of a hurricane, Wilma’s was enough.
The Libertarian vice presidential candidate, William F. Weld, said Tuesday that he plans to focus exclusively on blasting Donald Trump over the next five weeks, a strategic pivot aimed at denying Trump the White House and giving himself a key role in helping to rebuild the GOP.
Weld’s comments in a Globe interview mark a major shift in his mission since he pledged at the Libertarian convention in May that he would remain a Libertarian for life and would do all he could to help elect his running mate, Gary Johnson, the former Republican governor of New Mexico…
…Weld, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said he is focusing on Trump because, while he disagrees with Hillary Clinton on fiscal and military issues, Trump’s agenda is so objectionable it’s “in a class by itself.”
VP hopeful Weld is more interested in attacking Trump – Boston Globe.
The Libertarian party has officially become a joke. That the VP nominee is plainly saying he is using them as stepping stone for getting to a better position inside the Republican Aristocracy, means he never respected the party or his running mate. Only saving grace is that the GOP is going to be slaughtered by its own doing and they will take Weld with them.
Who knew this was a preview of the things to come?
Amber Rose is on this season of Dancing with the Stars. My wife watches the show. This revelation that, that tattooed monstrosity (a comment on the quality of her character) lead to a fairly intense discussion with my wife.
I loathe this woman.
She started life, if you will, as a stripper at age 15. Nothing says budding moral superior like risking other people’s businesses and livelihoods by illegally showing your underage ta-tas. She was “discovered” (hint: started screwing) Kanye West when she was a background extra in a music video.
The modern world, being the Kafkaesque dystopian hell hole that it is, once you start making the beast with two back with a hip hop star, the world becomes your oyster and you get elevated to the position of wise, moral authority.
Amber Rose managed to leverage being the derriere that Kanye West parked his manhood into being (according to her book) a “renown model, actress, pop-culture maven, and self proclaimed ‘bad bitch'” as well as fashion designer and entrepreneur:
Filled with expert advice and personal anecdotes, How to Be a Bad Bitch covers finances, career, love, beauty, and fashion while emphasizing confidence, positive self-acceptance, and authenticity.
If the first chapter of her book isn’t titled “How to get famous by f**king a rapper” than she is doing a disservice to her readers. The sequel will be co-authored by Kim Kardashian.
Among the absolute worst examples of her accolades and qualifications, earned for engaging in coitus with the most embarrassing thing to happen in the history of the VMAs is a to be recognized as a paragon of virtue on the matters of sexual empowerment and rape.
Amber Rose created a foundation to sponsor Slut Walks. The stated purposed of this foundation and its Slut Walks is:
The Amber Rose Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that aims to promote discussion about women’s rights and equality issues. The foundation is specifically geared towards women empowerment and fighting against victim blaming.
She, and the other women that participate in these walks, do this by going completely insane in public. The Other McCain and Zombietime (2012, 2011) have covered previous Slut Walks. They make no sense. No rational mind is able to comprehend the mass of contradictions that goes on at one of those events. I’m not going to even try and break it down for you because I don’t want to give myself brain damage. You can read the Washington Post’s attempt at explaining the Amber Rose trademarked variety of Slut Walk and fail miserably.
The particular bone I have to pick with with Slut Walks in general and Amber Rose’s variety in particular is on the issue of victim blaming. The modern, third wave feminist definition of victim blaming seeks to separate the victim of a crime (for all intents and purposes, rape and sexual assault) from ANY personal responsibility. Even suggesting in the slightest that women should be mindful of their situation and act accordingly is woman hating misogyny.
This is at this point that the brand of feminists that push this belief go from being an ideological danger to women and start posing a real, physical danger to women.
I will agree, that in a ideal, perfect world, a woman can wear whatever she wants, get drunk, stumble down a dark alley, take off all of her clothes, and pass out drunk on a park bench with her legs spread, and wake up the next morning entirely unmolested.
There is a joke about a theoretical physicist that helps a dairy farmer and comes up with a solution to the farmer’s problem, but it only works for – the punchline – “spherical cows in a vacuum.” For those of you who don’t get the joke, is an idea system in which there are no variables other than what the person who is modeling the system wants to include. The heart of the joke is that there is no ideal system in the real world and the model will fail to accurately help the dairy farmer.
So back to Slut Walks and victim blaming… there is no ideal world. Evil exists. The solution to rape is not as simple as the sign below suggests.
The “don’t tell me how to dress” seems to be a little bit of a red herring. Usually the suggestions to women on how to avoid being the victims of sexual assault include: don’t get drunk around strangers, don’t accept a drink from a person you don’t know, avoid walking alone in certain areas or at certain times of day, etc. Mostly things that the CCW/tactical community would list as being situational awareness. This is still considered to be victim blaming.
Let me make this clear. No one can control the behavior of anybody but themselves. Evil exists in this world. Mass shootings are universally condemned in the West, yet they still happen. Children are taught from a young age not to hit, but the knockout game exists. There are people who will commit egregious acts against others if they believe that they can get away with it.
The message to women from Slut Walks is that they should let down their guard and turn a blind eye to the presence of evil in this world, because we should remind those who seek to do evil that they shouldn’t do it. This is disastrously naive. In an ideal, perfect world, this might be effective. But in a world where women are not spheres traveling in a vacuum, all this does is embolden women to put themselves at risk. Being situationally aware is not victim blaming.
There have been several sexual assaults on the AAMU campus in recent weeks. I would never blame a woman for being assaulted by three masked men with a gun. Those men should not be committing such horrible crimes. However, it’s not victim blaming to say “Ladies, this real and tangible threat exists, for your own safety, avoid being alone on campus after dark until after these men are arrested. Travel with a friend, boyfriend, battle buddy. Stay safe, minimize your risk.”
To call the above statement victim blaming means that people should put all the responsibility for their safety into the hands of others.
The ultimate illogic of this way of thinking is best illustrated by the overall message of these Slut Walks:
All men are (potential) rapists who need to learn to control their lust. The nebulous concept of “the patriarchy” oppresses women and creates a rape culture. Despite that half the population is posed to rape at a moment’s notice and be glorified for doing it, women should not put any effort into protecting themselves in any meaningful way. The best way to combat rape is by having a stripper who got famous for boning a rapper have a bunch of women march around in their underwear carrying nonsensical signs.
To a rational person, all this seems to do is insult decent men who don’t and won’t rape, and have women expose themselves to danger by denying the fact that evil exists and some small percent of people will do terrible things, no matter what the law say, let alone any hand lettered sign.
SJW Feminist: “You shouldn’t rape me because of what I’m wearing.”
Normal man: “You are right.”
SJW Feminist: “Read my angry sign and stop taking part in rape culture.”
Rapist: *rapes anyway, because if a potential felony conviction won’t stop him, nothing scribbled on a poster board will either.*
It’s been obvious for a long time that Social Justice Warriors are not rational people, but this insanity goes far beyond insulting people on line and will cause actual harm.
I bought my first house in 2012. I moved from South Dakota to Chicagoland in May after completing grad school to start my firs job. The housing market had collapsed, the housing bubble burst, and Illinois was 4th in the nation for foreclosures.
My wife and I were looking for a place to rent but couldn’t find anything. Everybody that was getting foreclosed upon couldn’t buy, so the rental market was insane. Every time we looked at a place, by the time we got our background check check (check to pay for the background check) in, the place was rented out from under us. We were panicking. I needed to start work and had no place to live. On realtor contacted us. We had looked at three rentals in the same development, our credit was excellent, if we could scrape together a minimum down payment, we could buy for cheaper than rent.
We ended up buying a place across the street from a rental we looked at. Mortgage/HOA/escrow/etc was $1450/mo for 3 bed/2.5 bath, 1,650 sq-ft. The rental was $1750 for 2 bed/2.5 bath + loft, 1,450 sq-ft. The house cost $197,500 at the height of the bubble when the last owner bought it. I got it for $147,750. The seller hated me, because I was getting $50,000 of free house from them.
My grandmother gave me the 5% down payment as a graduation present.
In February of 2015, I was relocated to Omaha. I couldn’t sell my place in Chicagoland on short notice, the market was swamped with foreclosures for sale. I put it up for rent, but by that time the rental market had slowed down. My first tenant bailed on me and I was stuck paying for a mortgage in Chicagoland and rent in Omaha for three months. I finally got a second tenant but I was only able to get enough to cover costs. Without a down payment, I had to rent in Omaha. 3,000 sq-ft, 4 bed/2.5 bath, for $1,400/mo.
I was there until July of 2015 – yes, only five months – before relocating to Alabama. Found a rental here for $1,200/mo, 4 bed/2.5 bath, 2,000 sq-ft. It’s been a year and a half here.
I am contemplating buying a house outside of Huntsville. $225,000, 5 bed/3 bath, 4200 sq-ft. Still only doing a minimum down payment from some inheritance I got from my dad’s passing, I’m back up to $1,300/mo. If I do it. It’s an OK house. It is big for the price, but lacking on amenities. I’ve been told at $55/sq-ft it is a steal. I don’t know.
I need to sell my place in Chicagoland. I can’t be on the hook for two mortgages. I have about $28,000 in equity in it. If I sell it for what I paid for it, best estimate is that after closing and realtor costs I will have a take home of $0.00. I will have lost everything I put into that house including the initial gift money.
I say all this because I hate buying houses. I hate the housing market. I hate the whole institution of realty.
I have been told that a house is a good investment. Own property.
I got my first job and entered the real world right when the housing bubble burst. For me, a house is not an investment. It is not an asset. It is not even a durable good. I have pants that I have owned longer than my house. I have work boots that have provided a better return on investment than a home.
I’ve read a lot of articles by various people on why millennials are not buying houses.
If you want some idea, here’s why. Between the age of 18 and 33, I’ve lived in (in order) Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, South Dakota, Illinois, Nebraska, and Alabama. I’ve lived in four apartments, three rental homes, and one place that I’ve owned. In the one place that I’ve owned, I stand to lose about three years worth of savings.
My assumption is that every dollar I pay towards a home is just thrown away. It will never be recovered. A house is just a temporary place used for storing guns, kept warm by burning paychecks.
Seems that Kim Kardashian West is going to go quiet on social media following her robbery at gunpoint. Apparently she attracted too much attention to her wealthy by constantly showing her affluence online in between her ignorant and vapid tweets.
If armed robbery is what it takes to get these mind-blowingly stupid celebs to keep their opinions to themselves, I might be inclined to go a little soft on crime.
As long as no one gets hurt, these robbers might have done the world a favor.
