It’s worthwhile to take a look back at how, and why, we got here.
A guest post from Flaming Hetero:
2009
Dems had a chokehold on House and Senate, and controlled the majority of state legislatures and governors’ seats, too. While celebrating that the “GOP was dead,” they locked out Repubs from stimulus bill deliberations.
Pelosi shrieked that we’d lose 500 million jobs a month if we didn’t pass the bill.
Meanwhile, some in the GOP started clinging to conspiracy theories about Obama’s birthplace. Narrative was proven false, but it also demonstrated how much Obama wasn’t committed to transparency.
And, on Feb 19, on the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Rick Santelli gives his rant heard around the world, and Tea Party protests start.
Obama gets a Nobel Participation Trophy, and embarks on his apology tour.
Hillary shows her international affairs savvy by giving Russia a reset button with the wrong word. Her office couldn’t even bother to try to put it in Cyrillic.
Iranians protest their presidential election. People get shot in the streets (including a young woman named Neda). Obama does nothing about it for at least 19 days.
2010
It was the year of the Tea Party revolution. It had been gathering steam all throughout 2009, holding rallies nationwide, and leaving the Dems scratching their heads as to what to make of it…after all, they branded themselves as the “party of the people,” and lo, a grassroots movement sprung up that had nothing to do with them.
A sign of things to come was found in Scott Brown’s win in MA, and it was then that the Dems showed how misaptly named they had become. Their filibuster-proof majority was threatened in the Senate and thus threatening the insurance scam known as Obamacare, and so Reid changes the rules to require a mere majority for it to pass. Nancy Pelousy was in true hare-brained form stumping for the bill, saying, “We have to pass it in order to find out what’s in it.”
It was also the year the race card started wearing out. Unable to fathom how their ideas could be rejected by so many, progressives took the simpleminded route of slapping racism on opposition to them.
There was a lot of hope that both House and Senate would be taken from the Dems, but mid-terms only saw the House turn red, although the Dems’ majority in the Senate was weakened as well.
2011…
2011 saw the Left attempt to imitate the Tea Party with “Occupy.” Leftists like Pelosi and Obama gave the movement their thumbs-up, but it fell apart in a heap of incoherence, vandalism, assault, rape, trash, and human excrement.
The Arab Spring saw a lot of upheavals, including some lead-from-behind military action by our own CinC, who unilaterally extended our involvement in Libya beyond the 60-day limit allowed by the War Powers Resolution.
Following the Deepwater Horizon spill, a Louisiana federal judge found the Zero administration’s moratorium on offshore drilling to be unconstitutional. Which Obama dismissed.
Obama also unilaterally dismissed certain sections of DOMA, forgetting that his oath was to uphold the laws passed, not act as his own jury and legislature.
Osama bin Laden was killed during this year, too, which Obama gladly took credit for, despite the operation having been made possible through methods he condemned while running for president.
2012
The Chairman once again flexed his sense of imperial entitlement by attempting four nominations to the NRLB. He declared the Senate to be in recess, but as a member of a separate branch of government, that was not for him to decide, and the Supreme Court unanimously told him so in its ruling on the matter.
Zero’s meddling with the Trayvon Martin shooting turned a clear-cut local case of self-defense into a nationwide media circus, featuring one news network’s dedication to narrative and not facts by altering a 911 recording to make Zimmerman sound racist.
A work requirement for TANF, which greatly helped reduce dependency on government assistance programs since the Clinton years, was waived by the Zero administration about the middle of that year.
The administration also leveraged the IRS in targeting conservative and pro-Israel groups during an election year.
Fallout over Obama’s DOJ gunwalking operation Fast and Furious resulted in AG Holder being declared in contempt of Congress for withholding documents on the pretense of “executive privilege.”
And then there was Benghazi. Mr. “I will not rest” snoozed through most of it, and left for a fundraiser in Las Vegas the next morning.
The GOP primaries the previous year were something of a flavor-of-the-month club. It was interesting to see the supposedly racist Tea Party support Herman Cain, while supposedly tolerant progressives called him about every racist epithet in the book.
In the end, the GOP wound up with Romney and Ryan. Romney cleaned Obama’s clock in the first round of presidential debates, despite having to deal with both Obama and the moderators. Obama supposedly won the other debates with one-liners about foreign policy that proved to be wrong a few years later.
Obama won the presidential election pretty handily, but his party still could not recover the House.
And, sadly, conservative media figure and bane of progressive tomfoolery Andrew Breitbart died that year.
2013
With (Empty) Chairman Zero’s flagship frankenpolicy–ZeroCare–taking effect in 2013, the realities of not being able to keep your doctor nor your plan, despite Zero’s multiple assurances on the campaign trail, made it Politifact’s “Lie of the Year.”
Obama’s lead-from-behind victory in Libya slid into chaos this year in fairly short order.
In his crusade to push immigration reform, his administration was deadly silent on Kathryn Steinle’s murder at the hands of illegals, thus further demonstrating Dem disdain for American citizens where it doesn’t fit their policy aims (see also: ZeroCare).
Clinton stepped down as SecState, and Kerry was appointed in her stead. Acting in pretty blatant disregard of an American civil right, he signed the UN small arms treaty (I remember the date well; I ordered an AR-15 that very same day).
A lot of political theater over budget matters happened around that time, too. While Dems wailed over the “government shutdown,” the aforementioned AR was sent via USPS to my FFL during that time, and I passed the NICS check while this “shutdown” was in effect, too (which gives Evil Black Rifle 2.0 a certain sentimental value to me).
2014
The year started off with a threat from Obama about having a pen and a phone to circumvent Congress, which is the hallmark of every great statesman with unmatched negotiating skills (that was sarcasm, by the way).
And as a further demonstration of a willingness to flex executive agency muscle, the BLM moved against a Nevada rancher in a dispute over generations-old grazing rights, prompting militia units from several states to gather and support Bundy. The standoff resulted in the Feds backing down without a single shot fired.
To me, this demonstrated what 2A was written for, and it put cracks in a narrative often aired by hoplophobes about the weakness of armed citizens against the federal government.
The effectiveness of 2A was also demonstrated during the Ferguson riots–the result of a big lie that said an unarmed black youth was “executed” by local police. While this narrative was soundly disproven by no less than three autopsies and a DOJ investigation, which brought to light the facts that the deceased (a very large young adult) attacked the police officer and was fatally perforated in the process, Ferguson burned. Interestingly enough, the only businesses not molested by “protestors” helping themselves to local goods were armed business owners keeping watch over their shops, since local police were overwhelmed trying to manage the riots.
While mid-term elections had nothing to do with Chairman Zero, he could not help but insinuate himself into the fray by remarking “my name isn’t on the ballot, but my policies are.” Bad thing to say. In fact, a good many Dems did not want him anywhere near their campaigns, seeing that there was something of a deleterious “Obama effect” on their campaigns in 2010 and 2012.
And, that November, the Dems received a massive drubbing, failing to win back the House, losing the Senate, losing several state legislatures and governorships. But whereas the two previous administrations realigned themselves in the face of the shift of the political tide, Obama merely doubled down on executive power, in matters of immigration, environmental policy, and law enforcement.
2015
While left-wingers were insistent that Obama “was not coming for your guns,” they seem to have forgotten his “under the radar” comment from 2012. That seemed to include the tightened EPA regs that forced the USA’s last integrated lead smelter to close down (costing jobs in the process) in 2013, the ATF’s banning the importation of 5.45x39mm 7n6 ammo in 2014 (due to ATF regs on armor-piercing ammo), and attempted a similar ban on 5.56x45mm m855 ammo. Thankfully, that ban failed by virtue of the ATF not paying that close attention to its own regs (which fell apart on the composition of the projectile itself).
#BLM was still trying to milk Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown for all they were worth (celebrating the anniversary of Brown’s death with another round of looting). By April, they had another police incident to exploit–Freddy Gray’s death in Baltimore. Predictably, there was rioting–350 businesses damaged, 150 vehicle fires, 60 structure fires, and 27 drugstores looted–none of which had anything to do with the police. And, strangely enough, the mayor approved the riots.
Another BLM had issues with a gold mine in Montana, and once again, militia units came in to keep the feds at bay until the matter was resolved. Which it was, peacefully. 2A showed its strength once again.
Primary season proved to be quite a circus for both the major parties, with Donald Trump entering the race for the GOP–and oddly enough, winning. While Bernie Sanders and Hiliary Clinton wrangled over the nomination for the Dems. Hiliary prevailed, rather suspiciously, and despite a tainted political record that would make a hazmat management team blush. In the end, it seems that she cashed in on a lifetime of favor brokering, and weaseled her way in as the DNC’s nominee, to the great chagrin of at least half of the Dems who supported Sanders.
For me, 2015 was an awesome year. Submitted my 2 cents to the ATF against the M855 ban, cast my vote to help Ted Cruz win Alaska during the primaries, put together Evil Black-and-Tan Rifle 3.0, acted as assistant RSO for shooting events at a youth camp, and enjoyed a spectacular Northern Lights show as the perfect backdrop for a New Years’ Eve fireworks display.
2016
Wow. The year went by fast.
It started off with yet another dispute involving the BLM. Unfortunately, this one wasn’t as well organized. In fact, the defendants didn’t want militia help this time, but that didn’t keep some from occupying the office at Malheur. Still, the feds would not directly engage with them.
It was messy on both sides. Under the pretenses of a parlay, members of the Malheur occupation were ambushed by federal agents. One made the stupid mistake of fleeing, then trying to run a roadblock. He was gunned down.
In the end, the occupiers were cleared of some of the more serious charges levied against them.
But there were no riots, no vandalism, no looting.
Most of the year was caught up in the circus known as the Presidential Election.
In short, the campaign messages boiled down to this:
Trump: Make America Great Again!
Clinton: I’m not Trump!
Clinton: I’m not Trump!
I guess Clinton must have over-relied on focus groups and campaign strategists who did all sorts of statistical research and figured, since the “I’m not that guy” worked so well for Obama, why not try it again?
And it might have worked, had she been running against an incumbent’s record, but she was the one with the long, sullied history, one of favor-brokering, disposing of persons who hindered her rise to power, and the arrogance of believing that rules did not apply to her.
And Karma, the sharp-toothed she-dog, exacted her pounds of flesh out of Her Cankledness’ ample heiney for Benghazi, mishandling classified information, cyber-insecurity, manipulating the Dem primaries, and just being the sort of pathological liar we saw during the ’90s and as NY’s carpet-bagging junior senator during W’s tenure as President.
And Karma, the sharp-toothed she-dog, exacted her pounds of flesh out of Her Cankledness’ ample heiney for Benghazi, mishandling classified information, cyber-insecurity, manipulating the Dem primaries, and just being the sort of pathological liar we saw during the ’90s and as NY’s carpet-bagging junior senator during W’s tenure as President.
Even during the debates, while her presentation tended to be more polished than that of Trump’s, she came across as a well-rehearsed deceptress.
Which brings me back to something I asked a friend during the GOP primaries, that made sense. I asked him, “Why Trump?” His answer: Even though he’s unrefined and yes, even crass, you at least know where he’s at. With Clinton, you had an idea, much the same way Cold-War readers of Pravda had an idea of what was really going on by what was not being said.
And, her approach to campaigning reflected her disdain for people. Since she assumed the “Blue Wall” (Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania) to be hers “just because”, she didn’t bother campaigning much there.
It was kind of like our own (Alaska) District 9’s run-off between Colver and Rauscher: Colver assumed the voters in Delta, Tok, et al, were his–counting on name recognition and whatnot. Rauscher actually took the time to meet us and hear us. Rauscher won.
And for Clinton, the Blue Wall collapsed (losing all three states to Trump), and on the night of November 8, Dems’ attitudes went quickly from smug to panic to despair in the space of a few short hours. And you saw it in the faces of normally smarmy progressive program personalities (The Young Turks’ meltdown was especially entertaining) to those gathering in various DNC enclaves awaiting the late-night victory party.
And that’s when the hypocrisy really started making itself known in the camp that warned us about accepting the election results up to the point Wisconsin was declared for Trump.
Recounts!
Well, they re-affirmed Trump’s victory, and even exposed some voting irregularities on part of the Dems.
Electors!
More turned out to be faithless against Hillary than Trump. And because of that, we now know the name of “Faith Spotted Eagle.”
And then there was rioting, vandalism, and looting, none of which were seen by the more gracious losers in 2008 and 2012.
But, we’re seeing the shoe go on the other foot, with desperate Dems grasping at their own conspiracy theories (mostly involving Russians, which I find highly ironic given Obama’s snarky 2012 debate remark about Romney’s Cold-War foreign outlook) to somehow delegitimize the election results, at least, in their own minds.
And there has been no dearth of four-alarm waaahmbulance calls, from people who didn’t vote, to career politicians.
And more recently, an old meme from 2000–“The Official Seal of the Democrat Party”–has found itself resurrected as a result.
Now, counting down the hours until we can say good-bye to the Zero who wanted to be King.
And what of the new guy, who promises to bring private-sector experience back to DC? Well, time will tell.
-Flaming Hetero.
Please, just put that shit into history so
we can look it up if we want to self abuse
ourselves.
Whoever wrote this clearly paid no attention to what actually happened to Lavoy Finnicum (Malheur Refuge). They wrote this inane and totally inaccurate passage regarding the incident:
“It was messy on both sides. Under the pretenses of a parlay, members of the Malheur occupation were ambushed by federal agents. One made the stupid mistake of fleeing, then trying to run a roadblock. He was gunned down.”
I should have reflected the facts of what actually happened rather than the vapid and dishonest summation of the events. The last part should have read something like this:
“One of the patriot’s vehicles was shot at for no reason by federal agents while stopped at a questionable road block. He was forced to flee for his own life as well as the lives e of others in the vehicle to prevent being killed by trigger happy “law enforcement”. He soon came upon a roadblock around a blind curve and was unable to stop in time (as was planned by authorities), yet he was able to avoid crashing into the vehicles set up for the roadblock. After he exited his vehicle with his hands up, he was brutally murdered by state and local authorities while his hands were still raised.”
There was no stupid mistake made by Lavoy (his only mistake was trusting authorities) and he didn’t try to run the roadblock. This brief passage of misinformation ruined the whole article for me.
Printing this to save for my grandchildren.
And the most important point:
We know it’s all true because we’ve lived through every moment of it as first-hand eye witnesses!