Decompression Day #4 saw us leave Second Chance Ranch for the first time since we got back from Squeek’s Thursday evening. We had a few errands to run and, to be perfectly honest, it was time.
We took my Tacoma. A charged-and-restored battery did its job, no problems, relieving us of the need to buy a new one. To celebrate (and to remove the grit that had settled on the paint since a kind friend stopped by the house in September to wash it) I ran the truck through a full-contact car wash. It’s spiffy.
I needed a new mod, having drop-kicked mine once in Arkansas and again in Indiana, so we stopped by a local vape shop we’ve been patronizing for almost a decade. Then it was on to CVS for some CVS-type stuff.
We’d already noticed that “pandemic theater” remains alive and well in Ohio — no longer as prevalent as it was at the height of the hysteria, certainly, but still much more apparent than anywhere else we’ve been. We’ve seen a lot more people here wearing masks, including some double masks, and our visit to CVS was downright creepy.
The place had been renovated since last spring. Aisles were widened. The pharmacy counter was shrouded completely by a perforated overhead-door affair, very strange, making it look like it was closed (but it wasn’t). A bemasked cashier stood behind an amusingly complex array of plexiglass shields, requiring merchandise to be pulled through a sort of chicane to be scanned.
As we walked toward the door with our purchases, we passed a self-checkout terminal that barked this parting shot:
“Welcome to CVS. Please choose your language.”
Like I said, Deb and I didn’t encounter anything like that in our travels. To be fair, we didn’t do any business in Illinois, despite logging over 300 miles there, stopping only at a few rest areas. The Land of Lincoln, considering who’s in charge, might give Ohio a run for its money.
Arkansas, by contrast, never was this repressive, anywhere we went, and it’s understood that everyone there speaks and comprehends Southern English.
There’s a reason for that. I shouldn’t have to explain what the reason is.
I predict we’ll still be Ohio residents on May 3rd. If so, I’ll have a chance to cast my one vote to prevent the current governor from serving a second term.
It’s also possible that by November 8th we’ll be eligible to vote in the general election near our new home. That’d give me the opportunity to vote for the next governor of Arkansas — Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
I hope I get to do both.
The Great State of Ohio, thanks to the efforts of Liberty-loving citizens and like-minded legislators (plus the political calculus of a RINO governor in an election year), as of June 13th no longer will require a State-issued license to carry a handgun concealed.
That’s a good thing. It’s not, however, without a whole bunch of legal thou-shalts and thou-shalt-nots. My fellow Buckeyes and I have lots of questions about what “constitutional carry” means to us.
Because a good number of Ubi Libertas Blog readers are Ohio residents, today I’m including a two-page primer on the new law, a Q&A produced by Buckeye Firearms Association.
The same information is available on the Buckeye Firearms Association website, along with links to the text of Ohio Senate Bill 215 and a summary-and-and analysis piece produced by the Ohio Legislative Services Commission — click here.
I’m not going to riff or paraphrase. The law is the law, and it’s up to you to know it. And remember, Buckeyes, it doesn’t take effect until June 13th, 2022.
Comic books were forbidden in our house when I was a kid. My parents considered them unstimulating and, to be blunt about it, low-class. They viewed comic books intellectually as empty calories and insisted that I read real books.
Curiously, it was ok for me to pore over comic strips in the newspapers we received. Political cartoons were fine, of course.
I don’t believe I suffered as a result of being deprived of comic books in my childhood. I didn’t develop interest as an adult, either, other than an appreciation of mid-century propaganda and military comics. Today, because the thought crossed my mind, I’ve decided to share a few examples.
Here you see frames from three of my favorites: Mr. Civil Defense Tells About Natural Disasters! (1956, drawn by none other than Al Capp and featuring Li’l Abner); an issue of PS Magazine (1968, illustrated by the incomparable Will Eisner); and Is This Tomorrow: America Under Communism (1947, published by the Catechetical Guild of St. Paul with contributions from Charles Schulz).
A repro version of Is This Tomorrow is available on Amazon. From the description:
“This comic book presents a wild fantasy on the theme of America falling to the dirty commies.”
Granted, Is This Tomorrow was produced during the early days of the “Red Scare” and we should analyze it with that in mind. But I’ll tell you what — looking at America today, and unlike Amazon‘s copywriter, I find the picture painted by this comic book neither wild nor fantastic.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB