summer patriot, winter soldier

improvised weaponry ....

as befits a town in a wine growing region walla walla, washington has all kinds of little shops, some very chic, some not so very, with wine related products.  (you didn't know?  well, for shame.) i went into a nice little second/third hand store selling imaginative things made of wine barrels, and wine barrel staves, among other things.

a wine barrel is made of white oak staves, about and inch thick and perhaps two and a quarter inches wide, and two or three feet long, depending on the size of the barrel from which it is salvaged.  now, white oak is pretty strong, and it is also pretty dense, ... , quite heavy, really, with a surprising heft in the hand.   and, even after having been a wine barrel for a number of years, it has very well defined corners, sharp even, as the kids would say.

you take one of these, contour one end for grasping purposes, and you have yourself a pretty stout cudgel.  wind up and whack somebody across the bridge of his nose for being, well, just obnoxious and obstreperous, and he is going to be sporting a pretty nice divot across said nose for quite some time.   and, somewhat more restrained in his dealings with others, i would wager.

just the thing for holding a placard in your next "trump 2020" demonstration, and for dealing with leftist assholes who don't like people expressing views contrary to theirs.

or, take the same stave with the same grasping handle, and take a little piece of white oak from another stave, and glue it on to the end of the stave, securing it with a piece or two of 3/8" dowel, and you have a nice weapon, reminiscent of medieval battle implements.  lean the same against the molding on your front door, and you have yourself a pretty handy weapon by which to defend hearth and home.  a whack on the top of the head with said stave, perhaps with a piece of 3/4" rebar epoxied in somewhere's handy, and that guy with the divot in his nose who followed you home to even things up a bit, is not going to bother anyone, anymore, ever.   not until he gets recycled, that is.

the staves are going for about $5.00 each in walla walla, which is outrageous.   simply outrageous.   it goes against my grain to pay good money for a left over chunk of wood that is wine soaked on one side and unfinished on the other.  but, on the other hand, that kind of utility for the kind of price is not such a bad idea, either.

john jay @ 02.21.2019

p.s.  i have been something of a carpenter at various times, and gained a considerable respect for the 16 to 18 ounce framing hammer, replete w/ flat tines for pulling nails.   you can buy them at your local hardware store, without a permit and without registration.   (for the price, i'd buy two or three, if i didn't have a couple already.  were i you.)

the same observations above are applicable here.   whack someone with one of those babies, and his sorry ass is gonna stay whacked.   don't hit him with the nail pulling tines, however, because if hit squarely, our ne'er-do-well is gonna be accessorized with said hammer until the pathologists pries it out of his skull.

never forget the utility of quite common implements to be handy weapons.   gardening tines, for instance?   a handy file and a bit of judicious work with a hand held grinder, and you've suddenly become quite formidable.    they call such things field expedient implements, in polite circles. 

take that nancy, and shove it right up where the sun don't shine ....

trump got a spending bill and included in it were funds for the wall, not to be called a wall, but some phony assed euphonious double speak in the stead of "wall."   but, money for portions of a wall, and other security devices designed to prevent encroachment by foreign nationals trying to gain illegal entry.   (hence the phrase "illegals," to describe their status when they have gained such entry.)

trump got the bill and the money, notwithstanding nancy pelosi's best efforts to prevent anything trump wanted, or even smacked of what he wanted.   she wanted to show the nation who was in charge of the nation, and she wished to establish that it was she.   that, alas for poor nancy, was not to be.

trump got his congressional spending authorization, though not all he wanted.   but, he's got part of that.  in the bag.   signed, sealed and delivered.   and, authorized by congress.

and, no shut down.

and now, after all of the above kerfuffle,  it seems that the donald has used the powers of the presidency, and declared a national emergency to build the rest of the wall.   (he's always had that in the bag, to use when he chose.  well, he has chosen.  "wisely," i think, the timing is impeccable.)  the dimocrats will sue of course.   and, president trump will prevail.  (it's an arrow in his quiver, doncha know.  always was.  he got as much as he wanted without it, and now he will secure the rest with that authority.)

he will have, soon enough, all of what he wanted.   and, another campaign promise delivered.

so, take that nancy pelosi, and if you don't like it, shove it right up where the sun don't shine, no matter how long you stand on your head.  or, how many times you hold your breath until you turn blue.    nancy, you are smart.   but, you are not smarter than the donald.   and, the donald has more nerve that you've got.   and, president trump is the president of the united states, and you patently are not.  nor will you ever be, you tired old sea hag.   and, take that.

he's prada.  you nada.  (and, as we say out these parts, "you ain't never gonna be.  ever.")

john jay @ 02.15.2019

what is the difference between being born for one day, and not being born quite yet, for one day?

nothing.

not one god damned thing.  you do not need to be a philosopher to understand this.  no, talk and fulminate your leftist bullshit all you want, i will stand on my observation, that there is no damned difference at all.

not one.  nothing.  to be alive one day before birth and to be freshly born is exactly the same thing.

unless you tried to get born in new york or virginia, and you are dead, having been aborted by a murderer called a surgeon.  (to think, a person whose fore bearers went into the slums of london trying their best to cure plague victims, at no small risk to themselves: hard to imagine an abortion "doctor" doing this, eh?)

and, then, of course, you are dead, and no longer alive and viable.

no difference at all, except a human intervention caused by malevolent and idiotic sophistry.

john jay @ 02.01.2019

 

p.s.   governor cuomo's father appeared to be the idiot he was when photographed w his little pin head appearing out of the hatch of a tank, attired in a tanker's headgear: as out of place as tits on a boar hog.  andrew "little dick" cuomo is as much of an idiot, gloating over the fact that his state has entered into the twilight zone of legislating that life may be taken by the state on the guise of expediency, convenience and the demands of the budget process.  hang on tight, pilgrims, next you will be "volunteering" for euthanasia on your 59th birthdays, ... , under the guise of the very same logic.

so, tell me, what is the difference between being alive, and being one day before death in new york, and in viginia.   well, now, nothing.   not one god damned thing.

you voted the bastards in.  it will be your choice, just as a baby's, between an overdose of drug or a bayonet thrust through the soft spot.   and, if your survive, do not be concerned, the state will just try again, until you are dispatched.   nothing stands in the way of progress in this brave new world, not even life.

p.s.s.  i was just ready to leave the library, and decided to read the funnies.  (sometimes, not so "funnies.")

from "pickles" by brian crane, monday, january 28, 2019, the walla walla union-bulletin.

earl:  "i overhead a guy on his cell-phone yesterday.  he said it's the duty of old people to die and get out of the way."

earl's foil:  "that's pretty cold-hearted."

earl:  "my new motto is 'old, in the way, and here to stay!'"   [emphasis added.]

hey, how far away is the future, if it is already in the funnies?  just sayin'.