‘If they mean to have a war’ (2022 edition)

Every time “something bad” happens in America — a high-profile shooting, an ill-advised plot uncovered, the Third Man getting hammered at his ‘Frisco mansion — we can count on progressives to strike The Pose, a show of concern for the country, the society, whatever. It’s all a façade, of course, and they always say the same things.

We need to turn down the temperature. Let’s tone down the rhetoric. We have to stop being so divisive.

The first whiff of bullshit wafting from that pile is their use of the first person. I mean, they’re not talking to their own. They only want us to shut up.

It’s fundamental to progressivism to portray opposing speech as violence. Blaming the opposition for actual violence follows — some nutjob may be listening, after all, so pipe the hell down.

Again, that’s Grade A unfiltered bullshit. It’s not how Liberty works.

You’ll also notice that the Left never equates its own speech to violence. It never cops to cause-effect with crime or unrest, attacks on individuals or the looting and burning of cities. Even when it commits actual violence, the Left never takes responsibility.

There’s always been a segment of American society like that, and there always will be. What makes our present circumstance different, ominously so, is that today the anti-American fringe is in charge.

Backed by captive, compliant media, the party that controls the House, the Senate and the Oval Office actively suppresses speech. They’re not even coy about it.

The message is clear — We, the People, are to be silent unless and until we agree with The Ruling Elite.

The regime’s hatred of dissent was on full display when the current occupant of the Oval Office spoke at Independence Hall in September, and again two days ago when he called over half the country a “threat to democracy.”

“It was important to issue one final warning,” said Doctor Dementia’s chief-of-puppetry after Wednesday’s despicable address.

Not merely a warning, mind you — this was a final warning. Any questions?

Well, fuck Joe Biden and fuck his cabal. And if you voted for this, fuck you, too.

Some of you have gone quiet. You and I share the same values but you’ve been cowed into silence by the Left’s campaign of blame. (You probably harbor “white guilt,” too.) Shame on you.

I am — and this has nothing to do with Trump — unabashedly MAGA. I’m ultra-MAGA, mega-MAGA, mega-MAGA trickle-down. I’m an American, dammit, and I will not be silent.

Freedom of speech leads the Bill of Rights for good reason. It’s foundational. It’s inviolate.

Our birthright to free speech is absolute. Don’t let liberals tell you otherwise.

We, the People, have had it with the Left’s prohibiting, abridging and infringing. We refuse to be canceled, doxed, silenced or disarmed. We will stand on and speak for Founding Principles without fear or apology.

If that divides the country, then it divides us between true Americans on one side and those who seek our destruction on the other. If they mean to have a war, let it begin here.

I know where I stand. And I damned sure know how I’ll vote four days from now.

---

Deb used to give me hell for posting too many photos of knives on Ubi Libertas Blog. She thought, I suppose, that talking about and showing sharp and pointy tools would have limited appeal. She may be right.

I don’t care. She knows that.

In Wednesday’s post I wrote about an ax. Yesterday I crowed about my new pocketknife. Today, because it pleases me, I’ll spend a little time talking about a humble slipjoint I bought while we were out on the road, one that I truly enjoy using on The Mountain and beyond.

This Rough Rider two-blade Barlow came to me last September from a pawn shop in Mitchell, South Dakota. I snagged it brand-new for ten bucks, about 75% less than its suggested retail.

I love a good Barlow, especially a small one, and this knife checks all the boxes. Oversized nickel-silver bolsters, brass pins and brass liners. Strong backsprings that give it satisfying walk and talk. Clip and pen blades in 440 stainless that takes an edge easily and holds it respectably well. Excellent fit and finish.

And yes, it was made in China. It’s not, however, “cheap Chinese junk.” This is a very good knife.

I prefer to buy American, and the great majority of my knives are. I don’t cheap-out, either. But if I wanted a Barlow these days, there are exactly zero made-in-USA options. The last American-made Barlow I bought, a wonderful carbon-steel Great Eastern, cost me eight times what this Rough Rider did.

Is the Great Eastern eight times the knife? In practical terms, no.

I wouldn’t blame anyone who simply wants a user, a working knife that’ll hold up, for keeping that $70 — saving 87.5% — and choosing a product made offshore. There’d be no reason, in my opinion, to feel the least bit guilty about that.

Now if two were sitting side-by-side and the difference was, say, $30 or $40, it might be another story. For me, the advantages of the Great Eastern knife are the fetching green-bone scales, four pins (instead of three), 1095 carbon steel and blade patterns that are more my style — in particular, the spear-point main blade. And, of course, it was made in America.

But that’s me. As the saying goes, you do you.

Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.

#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath

#LetsGoBrandon #FJB

---