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  • October 2, 2021 at 12:10 am

    The single issue that overrides , enables, and defends all the rest.

    El Neil got that.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 12:17 am
    Too Tall

    Link to the Vulcan Mind Meld and X-Ray Machine:

    https://lneilsmith.org/

    Bottom Line: If a politician doesn’t completely and unequivocally trust you and your right to keep and bear arms, you can never trust them.

    Similar to the character Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol: Every time someone votes for a democrat, they forge a link in the chains of American slavery.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 12:18 am
    Too Tall

    L. Neil understood why Sam could never get enough.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 12:24 am
    Buck

    The original:

    Why Did it Have to be … Guns?

    by L. Neil Smith
    lneil@lneilsmith.org

    Over the past 30 years, I’ve been paid to write almost two million words, every one of which, sooner or later, came back to the issue of guns and gun-ownership. Naturally, I’ve thought about the issue a lot, and it has always determined the way I vote.

    People accuse me of being a single-issue writer, a single- issue thinker, and a single- issue voter, but it isn’t true. What I’ve chosen, in a world where there’s never enough time and energy, is to focus on the one political issue which most clearly and unmistakably demonstrates what any politician — or political philosophy — is made of, right down to the creamy liquid center.

    Make no mistake: all politicians — even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership — hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it’s an X-ray machine. It’s a Vulcan mind-meld. It’s the ultimate test to which any politician — or political philosophy — can be put.

    If a politician isn’t perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash — for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything — without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn’t your friend no matter what he tells you.

    If he isn’t genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody’s permission, he’s a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

    What his attitude — toward your ownership and use of weapons — conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn’t trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

    If he doesn’t want you to have the means of defending your life, do you want him in a position to control it?

    If he makes excuses about obeying a law he’s sworn to uphold and defend — the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights — do you want to entrust him with anything?

    If he ignores you, sneers at you, complains about you, or defames you, if he calls you names only he thinks are evil — like “Constitutionalist” — when you insist that he account for himself, hasn’t he betrayed his oath, isn’t he unfit to hold office, and doesn’t he really belong in jail?

    Sure, these are all leading questions. They’re the questions that led me to the issue of guns and gun ownership as the clearest and most unmistakable demonstration of what any given politician — or political philosophy — is really made of.

    He may lecture you about the dangerous weirdos out there who shouldn’t have a gun — but what does that have to do with you? Why in the name of John Moses Browning should you be made to suffer for the misdeeds of others? Didn’t you lay aside the infantile notion of group punishment when you left public school — or the military? Isn’t it an essentially European notion, anyway — Prussian, maybe — and certainly not what America was supposed to be all about?

    And if there are dangerous weirdos out there, does it make sense to deprive you of the means of protecting yourself from them? Forget about those other people, those dangerous weirdos, this is about you, and it has been, all along.

    Try it yourself: if a politician won’t trust you, why should you trust him? If he’s a man — and you’re not — what does his lack of trust tell you about his real attitude toward women? If “he” happens to be a woman, what makes her so perverse that she’s eager to render her fellow women helpless on the mean and seedy streets her policies helped create? Should you believe her when she says she wants to help you by imposing some infantile group health care program on you at the point of the kind of gun she doesn’t want you to have?

    On the other hand — or the other party — should you believe anything politicians say who claim they stand for freedom, but drag their feet and make excuses about repealing limits on your right to own and carry weapons? What does this tell you about their real motives for ignoring voters and ramming through one infantile group trade agreement after another with other countries?

    Makes voting simpler, doesn’t it? You don’t have to study every issue — health care, international trade — all you have to do is use this X-ray machine, this Vulcan mind-meld, to get beyond their empty words and find out how politicians really feel. About you. And that, of course, is why they hate it.

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    • October 2, 2021 at 7:58 am
      AngryToxicDeplorable-PaulS

      “ find out how politicians really feel. About you. And that, of course, is why they hate it.”

      And… why they will lie about it, too. How can you trust anything a politician says?

      Funny how the same words will be interpreted differently. I saw this the other day and at first thought “FU A hole!”, But on further thought, it could be something I agree with, all based on who’s believed to be the “Traitors”.

      The short phrase was:
      “Jail 1/6-Traitors!”

      As far as I’m concerned, none of them are in jail yet and the ones in jail should not be. So currently it is back asswards!

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  • October 2, 2021 at 2:30 am
    cz93x62

    Clear, unequivocal, and succinct. That I lived so long without seeing this previously is embarrassing.

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    • October 2, 2021 at 3:32 am
      Eh, Wot?

      Agreed!

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  • October 2, 2021 at 3:02 am
    steveb919

    Smith and Wesson is moving from Mass to Tennessee in 2023. Reasons were lower cost of living, no state income tax and support for the second amendment Go S & W.

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    • October 2, 2021 at 5:04 am
      steveb919

      I would like to see all the ammo company’s move to the Pan Handle of Florida, also known as the Red Neck Rivearia (sp).

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      • October 2, 2021 at 5:08 pm
        Mikey72

        As a Panhandle resident, I occasionally recommend that we secede from the rest of Florida and establish the Republic of Baja Alabama. Maybe we can recruit Ron DeSantis and give him a signing bonus.

      • October 3, 2021 at 3:36 am
        steveb919

        Not Alabama. They have state income tax.

      • October 3, 2021 at 8:57 am
        Mikey72

        The Panhandle is sometimes referred to as L.A. (Lower Alabama), but the Republic of Baja Alabama will have no income tax.

      • October 2, 2021 at 9:34 pm
        merle

        How about problems with hurricanes?

      • October 3, 2021 at 3:35 am
        steveb919

        The Panhandle is so used to hurricanes. We build back stronger every time. My house’s only damage (Hurricane Michael) was when house next door collided with my patio. It was a cat 5 BTW and went directly over my house. Several houses on my street were foundations and trash was all that was left.

    • October 2, 2021 at 8:53 am
      Wood

      Good on S&W. Now, delete the damned Hillary Hole and purge globalists from your board and org in general. I wonder if they’ll pick up and move, or move slowly?

      I love the idea of ammo mfr in the Florida panhandle!! Bring it!

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  • October 2, 2021 at 3:11 am
    Henry

    Gonna miss Neil. We had an interesting back and forth a few months ago about some of the communist and non-communist nuns who educated me as a kid. 🙂

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    • October 2, 2021 at 3:34 pm

      You mentioned a collaboration before right?

      That is just cool as fuck.

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      • October 2, 2021 at 7:14 pm

        Sorry Henry I had misremembered a recent comment by Scott Bieser referencing a great partnership with LNS as being from you; fixed it with him downthread. :I

      • October 3, 2021 at 1:46 am
        Henry

        Yeah, Neil and Scott collaborated quite a bit around the time that Neil was on the Arizona ballot as a presidential candidate; and we were pillorying the Dept. of Revenue director for ignoring AZ law and making no accommodation for a female employee — one whose recently-released abusive ex-con husband had publicly threatened to kill her when he was released — to come to work legally armed.

        A sample of his artwork from that campaign is here.

  • October 2, 2021 at 4:34 am
    Bill G

    Incisive. I love it. And horrifying to our ‘friends’ who insist they just want to help us.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 6:22 am
    Mike-SMO

    As I recall, S&W tried playing “suck-up” to the Progs and still got slapped down. TN is a good move for all concerned, except PROM, but it will allow the MassHoles to feel superior in their poverty. I assume that they expect the Feds to make up their shortfall, just like Illinois. I think, however that the MassHoles are going to find that their few electoral votes can be had cheaper elsewhere to say nothing of the “Woke” machines that generate votes for free.

    Looks like PROM is heading for some tough times. Couldn’t happen to better folks.

    It would be good to believe that S&W has turned over a new leaf and have not just found a new sucker to play for a while. I will watch, but I’ll not buy anything with that logo for a while.

    Business is business & F*ck You is F*ck You. The last, triggered by their past behavior, leaves a lingering taste. Good luck in Tennessee……..

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    • October 2, 2021 at 6:34 am
      Too Tall

      People’s Republic of Massachusetts (PROM)?

      The are a bunch of Drama Queens after all.

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      • October 2, 2021 at 8:12 am

        People’s Republic of Massachusetts, Just south of the P:eoples’ Republic of Vermont (Kalifornia-East)

        Zar Belk!

  • October 2, 2021 at 7:00 am
    TB., NC

    Every good American must grasp the truth: political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.
    I may have mangled that slightly…

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  • October 2, 2021 at 7:37 am
    eon

    Seen in this context, the woman seeking to unseat Victor Orban as president of Hungary is interesting.

    She’s determined to abolish the Hungarian Constitution of 2011;

    https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Hungary_2011.pdf

    Because she says it “conflicts with the needs of the European Union”.

    It does not mention a “right to keep and bear arms”, but it does specifically guarantee Hungarians a right of self-defense and the right of being secure in their homes, activities, and etc. from both government action and non-government entities.

    All of which is anathema to the EU council, which she is a member of.

    The best comment on this can be found in the novel Space Viking by H. Beam Piper (1962). Prince Lucas Trask, on opening relations with the planet Marduk, which has a sort of constitutional monarchy, asks a question and doesn’t care much for the answer;

    Quote

    The Mardukans talked a lot about democracy. They thought well of it; their government was a representative democracy. It was also a hereditary monarchy, if that made any kind of sense.

    Trask’s efforts to explain the political and social structure of the Sword-Worlds met the same incomprehension from Bentrik.

    “Why, it sounds like feudalism to me!”

    “That’s right; that’s what it is. A king owes his position to the support of his great nobles; they owe theirs to their barons and landholding knights; they owe theirs to their people. There are limits beyond which none of them can go; after that, their vassals turn on them.”

    “Well, suppose the people of some barony rebel? Won’t the king send troops to support the baron?”

    “What troops? Outside a personal guard and enough men to police the royal city and hold the crown lands, the king has no troops. If he wants troops, he has to get them from his great nobles; they have to get them from their vassal barons, who raise them by calling out their people.” That was another source of dissatisfaction with King Angus of Gram; he had been augmenting his forces by hiring off-planet mercenaries. “And the people won’t help some other baron oppress his people; it might be their turn next.”

    “You mean, the people are armed?” Prince Bentrik was incredulous.

    “Great Satan, aren’t yours?” Prince Trask was equally surprised. “Then your democracy’s a farce, and the people are only free on sufferance. If their ballots aren’t secured by arms, they’re worthless. Who has the arms on your planet?”

    “Why, the Government.”

    “You mean the King?”

    Prince Bentrik was shocked. Certainly not; horrid idea. That would be … why, it would be despotism! Besides, the King wasn’t the Government, at all; the Government ruled in the King’s name. There was the Assembly; the Chamber of Representatives, and the Chamber of Delegates. The people elected the Representatives, and the Representatives elected the Delegates, and the Delegates elected the Chancellor. Then, there was the Prime Minister; he was appointed by the King, but the King had to appoint him from the party holding the most seats in the Chamber of Representatives, and he appointed the Ministers, who handled the executive work of the Government, only their subordinates in the different Ministries were career-officials who were selected by competitive examination for the bottom jobs and promoted up the bureaucratic ladder from there.

    This left Trask wondering if the Mardukan constitution hadn’t been devised by Goldberg, the legendary Old Terran inventor who always did everything the hard way. It also left him wondering just how in Gehenna the Government of Marduk ever got anything done.

    Maybe it didn’t. Maybe that was what saved Marduk from having a real despotism.

    Space Viking, Ace 1963 ed., pp. 149-150

    (emphasis mine.)

    Like L. Neil Smith, Piper understood that there is no such thing as a “benevolent” despotism, only despotism. A conclusion also shared by E.E. “Doc” Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle, Poul Anderson, and more recently John Ringo, Eric Flint, David Weber, & Co.

    Needless to say, none of the above are popular in “enlightened” circles today.

    clear ether

    eon

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    • October 2, 2021 at 8:52 am

      The whole thing with Mass. just proves this:
      Sixth Law:
      Never assume a politician will act against what he perceives as his personal best interests. And never, ever assume that he is being truthful when he acts in a way contrary to his philosophy and track record. You will spend your life being surprised and disappointed.

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      • October 2, 2021 at 9:29 am
        eon

        Thanks. Where did you find that?

        cheers

        eon

      • October 2, 2021 at 10:37 am

        I’ve been reading Chris for a long time. I can’t afford to be a Patron but I give as much as I can to keep the cause going. I think I got them from a (yours?) website. I posted them on mine with credit to you-

        https://nedes.biz/eons-lawsan-online-acquaintance/

      • October 2, 2021 at 5:19 pm
        eon

        Thank you!

        That version was posted at Sparta Report (now gone).

        I don’t have a website, but it’s nice to see it preserved somewhere other than my HD.

        cheers

        eon

    • October 2, 2021 at 1:52 pm
      Jim

      By Klono’s tungsten teeth, you called that on.

      Very pleased with the response here.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 10:05 am
    Paladin

    Mark Steyn is often asked by Europeans “Why do Americans insist on owning guns?” He responded “Well Americans, just want to own guns.” They responded “Well, people here want to own guns.” to which he said “Exactly!” Or words to that effect, can’t find the exact quote.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 10:56 am
    CDR Nortrive

    Smith & Wesson should have moved years ago. But I suppose it is a huge undertaking. Now I am waiting for Colt to move from Connecticut, the people who bring you that idiot Richard Blumenthal.

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    • October 2, 2021 at 5:23 pm
      eon

      I’m waiting for Colt to figure out how to make revolvers for reasonable prices again.

      Hint; Bring back the Trooper and the real King Cobra, and stop referring to the Magnum Carry as the latter. And none of them should cost more than $500 new.

      Take a few lessons from Taurus, guys.

      clear ether

      eon

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      • October 2, 2021 at 7:07 pm

        Like telling Ferrari to copy Corvette when Corvette’s been trying to be Ferrari for decades…

        But then the C8 came out. So yeah maybe.

  • October 2, 2021 at 12:03 pm
    Pamela

    Heads Up. This is how they will get to ZERO COST on the $3.5 T Pick Our Pockets
    https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/yellen20141017a.htm

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    • October 2, 2021 at 1:08 pm

      A long and wordy treatise to camouflage the only operative portion:

      From each to each. Communism/Marxism pure and simple.

      But she/they forgot -or intentionally ignored- this:

      For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen

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    • October 2, 2021 at 3:32 pm
      cb

      Yo, Yellen…. just leave us alone. Go social engineer a duck.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 12:58 pm
    Halley

    Anyone else getting lots of weird browser warnings (“This connection is not private…”) when trying to click to legit sites (like Ace)? Feels off…

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    • October 2, 2021 at 2:30 pm
      The Nth Doctor

      Which browser, specifically? Some of them are taking a more active role now in pointing it out to the user when you connect to a site via unencrypted HTTP rather than encrypted HTTPS. Check your bookmarks, or the start of the URL in your browser’s address bar; if it says “http://” at the beginning, try changing it to “https://” and see if that makes the warning go away.

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  • October 2, 2021 at 1:14 pm

    Hey thanks for the shout-out to my erstwhile creative partner (_The Probability Broach: The Graphic Novel_; _Roswell, Texas_ _Phoebus Krumm). He did make a big impression on a lot of people, myself included.

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    • October 2, 2021 at 3:39 pm

      Dang Scott I think I just gave your “cool as fuck!” collaboration exclamation to Henry upthread!

      REPLY
      • October 3, 2021 at 1:57 am
        Henry

        Not me, bro, I have absolute zero artistic chops. If my socks weren’t all white, I’d have trouble pairing them.

  • October 2, 2021 at 4:33 pm
    Kafiroon

    That big building in frame 2 is in the District of Corruption.
    Both are chock full of snakes.
    My old shotgun seems to be a cure for them. This isn’t Australia
    for varmints, but FL. has plenty of our own.

    REPLY
  • October 2, 2021 at 6:55 pm
    Pamela
  • October 2, 2021 at 9:23 pm
    cb

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