WOW!

In less than 36 hours, 300 people on Facebook that have answered the call.

Once again I am deeply humbled at your continued support.  Who rocks?  You guys rock.

Sipsey Street is now on Facebook!

Even Uncle Joe thinks it's a a Big F'ing Deal!

The link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011958482000

(Much appreciated Aelious Rex!)

Hide your kids! Hide your wives! Hide the silverware! We're taking social media by storm, folks!

It is still pretty paltry over there but head on over and give us some love. We just might give some back.

Great Read from Kit Perez- " What to Do if You Have Nothing to Hide"

 

 

Kit and others have pushed me to include more net security in what we do here at Sipsey Street.  It is a process but every little bit helps.  Kit is former Air Force, (but we don't hold grudges) with a BA in Counterintelligence and is currently finishing a thesis for a Master's in Criminal Intel.  She has more than a few things to say about keeping your digital house clean.  I guarantee a visit to Order of the White Rose will not be misspent time.

 

https://www.whiterose.us/what-to-do-if-you-have-nothing-to-hide/

 

An excerpt: "... if you’re of the absolute belief that you have nothing to hide, that everything you do is just fine with the government, then you have a moral obligation to use that position to help the rest. You of all people should be providing cover, using the means available to help those who are being persecuted and targeted."



Happy Patriots Day

 

 

 

I would like to take the opportunity on this auspicious day to thank everyone for their support they have given me in the past few days.  I could not begin to appropriately express my gratitude for the incredible outpouring of support that I have received since the "Change of Command" post.  It has been both overwhelming and humbling.  I feel the weight more than ever to continue to support this community by producing quality content. 

 

 

I have always seen this blog as a platform to better inform and educate, and by extension make better people.  To that end, I would love to hear what you would like to see in the blog and how I can better serve this community.



Tacticool Tuesday: How I learned to stop worrying and love my inner Geardo

 

I am an unabashed geardo.  Gear queer, gear whore, gear nerd, whatever you want to call it.  I wear that moniker like a badge.  I get my hands on a quality 500 Cordura with triple stitching and a clever mounting attachment and suddenly I am 8 years old with a mail in only limited edition Star Wars figure.  It makes me smile every time.  I wear quality gear because I know that good gear does not grant magical powers of strength or speed.  It will not make you fake it until you make it.  It is not a replacement for real, honest-to-God training.  It should be common knowledge that you generally get the results from the quality of what you pay for.  Sadly, I see a trend on certain forums that gear made for the airsoft/cosplay community is perfectly acceptable.   Or that you can take on the entire Chinese army and bring down large game with the .22 Marlin you bring out a couple of times a year for squirrels.  I am sure you have seen it.   Just like any other idea that people become completely invested in, telling folks anything different will likely crush their world.  I do not want to be the guy to curse that darkness.  For public record, please allow me to light a candle instead.

The “Sorry, Bruh. I can’t hear you over how awesome this Rothco Ninja SWAT vest makes my butt look.”  Guy

From what I have seen, the people that extol the virtues of substandard gear are never people who have had to trust their lives to the equipment.  Curious, that.   This mindset is generally from people that are too ignorant of the harsh environment of what they are training for to know that the UTG vest with the cool cross draw holder will absolutely let them down.  Notice my word of ignorant and not stupid.  These are not stupid people but simply people who do not understand how hard you have to be on certain equipment.  Without a frame of reference brought on by experience (either through training or other life experience), they have lulled themselves into a false sense of security that just because they have SOMETHING that something is somehow enough.  It is a similar mentality from the person who takes their Mosin/M4gery/whatever out of the box once and thinks they have this whole defense thing in the bag. 

Cool guy widgets of whatever stripe are awesome if you have the money.  I do not put things like weapon mounted lights on weapons or helmet mounted night vision in the category of superfluous impedimenta.  Things that give you a huge margin of difference between people that do not have them are generally worth every damn penny.  Most things can be bought on secondary markets like Facebook private selling groups or internet auction sites for fractions of what they cost new.  Never pay full price for anything.  Peer reviews are a great way to filter out the garbage as is asking the question “why do I want this and do I really need it”.  Leave vanity for date night.

The “But the guy on the internet said I could take down a deer with this 10-22.” Guy

Deliberately not having enough or the correct equipment for a task is misconception can easily be remedied by the simple equation of having the right tool for the right job.  Can you take down a deer through the eye at 50 feet with an air rifle?  How should I know because I would never be crazy enough to trust my future food supply to a one-in-a-million shot?  Living things do not sit perfectly still generally.   Fun fact for those that doubt it, people move around a lot too if they know they are in danger.  Can you face a mutant biker gang with a HiPoint?  I suppose, but why would you want to?  This argument most always boils down to available cash.  I get it.  As a guy who has had a family and lived off of an Enlisted mans salary for pretty much his entire adult life, I really do get it.  Just like everything else in life, it all comes down to how much you want it. If you have the money to spend on takeout pizza but not enough to save up for something that will actually keep you and your family and your friends safe, I would ask that you think about the quality of life you and yours will have when the S hits the F and it really matters.  You are a leader to someone, whether you know it or not.  Don’t let them down with a false sense of security that you have enough gun.  And again, don’t pay full price for anything.

The “I have played play Call of Duty a lot for like, 10 years man, so that pretty much makes me a Spetznaz Super Sniper God. Or something.” Guy

Playing video games does not approximate any type of training. Ever. It may be good to give you ideas on how to clear a building or defend a compound.   Humans are a pretty crafty bunch when they really are trying to kill each other.  It is scary as shit to actively have people who want to kill you.   On that same note, In the past few years, the Army has had to initiate a service wide physical training program to assist Millennials in building up their atrophied bone structure because they were having too many hip and leg injuries.  Get off the couch.  That thing will get you killed quick.

Poor training habits, however frequent, is also a recipe for failure.  If you are using a computer you have probably seen by now videos from opportunists that try and capitalize on new shooters that want to train by are too ignorant to know what right training looks like. By providing newcomers with substandard to criminally dangerous training, they are building habits that are very difficult to fix assuming there is retaining.  We know who these people are and the community has been pretty good about giving them the derision that they deserve.  Good training is a lifelong event so get out when you can and do quality training from vetted trainers.  The best martial artists of whatever stripe out there, whether it is 3 gun, cowboy action shooting, precision rifle, or Greco-boxing-Krav-Ju-Sumo-whatever, are doing nothing but the fundamentals.  If you spend time to perfect the fundamentals you become both quicker and more accurate.  There will be time enough to learn the difference between the Judy Chop and the Ninjy Chop when the fundamentals are mastered.

When a carpenter reaches for his hammer, he knows that it is going to do what it needs to do. He is trained on it and knows its limitations.  It is not to be used for as task when a saw would do.  You do not expect the hammer to drive in a screw.  A hammer does the task of pounding flat objects.  If we all understand this then why is there always a clamor to use an inferior product in an inappropriate way for tasks whose failure would be life altering and expect anything other than failure? 

Get good gear. Get it out of the packaging.  Get trained on that gear.  Repeat as often as you still draw breath.

Well That Didn't Take Long

So I get back from an 18 hour day and clear the comments section out to find my first real piece of semi-hate mail.

Mr. Anonymous Special Snowflake at 12 something today wrote:

“Nothing honorable about killing people half way around the world that never did anything to us. That’s not self defense, that is murder. Furthermore, you were paid to do all of this with money that was extorted from me and my family at gun point. Adding insult to injury, you did the opposite of upholding your oath. You attacked people who never harmed you or your family, and instead let the very people that extort, kidnap, assault, and murder all of us,continue to do their evil. Not only did you not defend your oath, you actively worked against it on many different levels. I understand that you have bought the ticket and took the ride, and now you are stuck defending the jingo mantra for the rest of your life, or be subject to truth that will be embarrassing to you and hard to deal with. My advice, let the truth in and move on, continuing the good guy military role that will honor his oath is a lie. A deadly lie that not only has helped to kill millions, but to only further enslave on”

So please tell me, Mr. Anonymous how much courage it takes to regurgitate jingoistic talking points straight out of the Media Matters playbook?  Sitting and doing nothing in the face of evil, (and Iraq had some very evil men), does not make you morally superior.  I will say that I do not have to justify my existence to someone whose crowning achievement, thus far, is showing up to comment on a blog.  You may sneer at people who have done more than you ever will from the safety of your room and go tell everyone that shares your limited worldview how brave you were. But it does not make you brave.  Going somewhere far off to defend a people you will never see again just because it is the right thing to do, again and again, and again, is courageous.   Being afraid and going anyway is brave.  Shooting spitballs at better men than you whilst enjoying relative peace and prosperity is absolutely pathetic.

To be clear, I am not offended in the slightest by this comment.  I smacks of passionate naiveté and willful ignorance.  I hope that in the fullness of time when this special snowflake has seen more of the world and understands history a little better, they will remember this comment and how completely devoid of reality it is.  If not, meh, doesn’t matter.  I and my brother’s and sister’s don’t need his approval.

Defensive Operations in Urban Areas: What I Learned from the Surge

The first time around in Iraq, I had the honor of serving in the 101^st Airborne on the Invasion.  I would be lying if I said I do not miss the excitement that was unique to the Invasion.  Everyone I have met that went on the “run and gun” ground assault race to Baghdad, with stripped down HMMWVs, in unbreathable NBC suits, surrounded by 140 degree heat ,with very little water and no air conditioning, tends to compare every other bad event in our life to that year.  I was completely undertrained and underequipped, but I was simply too ignorant to know the difference.   That was the first time. 

On November 3^rd of 2007 I happily left the oppressive heat of Kuwait and went back to Iraq for the second time.  I remember the date exact as it was the same day that I got the call on my cell phone that my second Son, Gabriel, was born.  Due to some serious differences between my boss and I about how he treated the Soldiers, I was asked to take an assignment as the Squadron’s, (it was a Cavalry, i.e. light Infantry unit) public affairs officer.  My mother was a union boss and my father was a militia leader so I guess I was just not built to shut up and mind my own lane.  The sunny side of the incident was that it gave me the freedom to step away from a life as a TOCroach or Fobbit, (to those unfamiliar with the terms please see “Bob on the Fob”) and go Soldier.  Some of what I wrote went through sites like DVIDS and can still be seen online if you Google hard enough.  But I digress.

Lesson 1: Know your neighborhood

There are three areas that you should be interested in.  The Army calls this your Areas of Responsibility (AOR).  The primary zone is your area of operations (AO).  This is your house, yard, crops, and everything that has your name on it.  Everything you can physically touch is your Area of Operation.  You have direct control of this area and it is your primary focus for most everything you do.  The second area is your area of influence (AOI).  This area is the block, neighborhood and town you operate in.  This is the area you are a stakeholder in and if something were to happen to this area, your own area of operation would likely come to harm.   I will go more in depth into the Areas of Responsibility and how it relates to planning in future Praxis posts

I told you that story to tell you this one; know who the people are in your areas.  Get a map of your town from the local visitors shop and mark out your AOR.  This is a map that everyone should be familiar with and it will help you in dealing with future contingency planning.  Topo maps are absolutely invaluable, so if you can have your area covered in 1:50,000 scale maps from USGS.gov, please do so.  It should be fairly obvious, but noteworthy none-the-less, to point out that the farther you get outside of your area of operation that the more you will have to interact with other people their own areas of operation.  What this means is that you will be dealing with individuals and groups that will have their own self-motivations and they may not be helpful to your cause.  This is no different than today but hardship tends to magnify personality issues seldom for the better.  The quicker that you can form relationships now in your area of influence is the more you can increase your effective area of influence.

Lesson 2:  Sometimes your “Friends” do stupid things.

The previous unit that occupied our AOR had to put a Stryker armored vehicle on every street corner in order to maintain order.  In order to sustain that presence, they built walled compounds around Baghdad called Joint Service Stations (JSS) to house and maintain a company of infantry.  Given the urban terrain, some were obviously better suited than others but we made do. It is easy to get things done when you don’t have a choice.  In order to get the Iraqi military and police force to do their jobs, the headquarters of the local military or police presence was co-located in the same compound.  With everyone walking around armed all the time it was relatively peaceful so long as you kept them out of your pantry and bathrooms.  Or until tragedy ensues.

Our JSS, dubbed Ghaz 1, was unique in that it had both local militia and Iraqi Army.  The militia was created by Uncle Sugar as what amounted to organized pay outs to local thugs to stop shooting at us and start shooting at the bad guys.  Sounds crazy enough to work, right?  One day, one reformed thug showed up with a bomb but ended up prematurely detonating it on himself.  The glorious moment was caught on one of our cameras and provided more entertainment then what it had a right to.  The take away is that it is impossible to see inside the hearts of the people you call you friends and associates but try to choose them wisely.  Sometimes they do stupid and self destructive things and it is best not to be collateral damage when they do.

Lesson 3 Fences, sandbags and walls are great. Walking is better.

If you want to maintain control your AOR you will have to walk around and see what is going on.  What you do not see, you do not own.  It is fine l to sit in a hermetically sealed bunker with a pile of MREs but that is simply unsustainable.   Walking around gives you positive control over what you currently see.  Just like when you are driving a car or clearing a room, as soon as your eyes are off of a certain space, it no longer becomes safe.  If you are not in control of your AOR, then who is?

Any Intelligence Analyst will tell you that for all of their high end technology to find what they bad guys are doing and that the good guys are thinking, it is the simple act of knocking on a door and talking with someone that will get you the best intelligence.  As I walked around Ghazaliyah with the patrols, we would literally knock on doors to see if anyone would talk to us.  After a brief exchange of peasantries we may be asked to share some tea or Tang, (yes, they loved the stuff) and talk about what was going on in the neighborhood.  Generally speaking, the Platoon Leader or Commander would enter their homes with a very small security force and remove as much armor as they could to scale down the intimidation factor.  Then, with the aid of an interpreter they would have a talk.  The worst thing that would come of this is that the person would know that we were there to help.   Go out and get social.

 

Lesson 4 Logistics, Logistics, Logistics

Unlike my experience during the Invasion, during the Surge we had seemingly endless supply of ammunition, food, bottled water, and, for the most part, we did not have to burn our poo in fuel soaked metal containers.   We had a mountain of jerky, Fruit Loops, salt, Pop Tarts, toilet paper, and hot sauce.  We received one “hot” meal a day from the main supply base, Camp Victory, and would have to get creative for the rest.  It was not a hardship but then it is amazing what you can get used to. As I remember,  I ate a lot of Ramen that year.  The supply train was great until it wasn’t there anymore.  A huge upsurge in violence from the Jaish Al-Mahdi made the logistical patrols unpractical and the four companies that we had sprinkled around Baghdad were cut off for a solid month.  With over one hundred guys sharing the same few Port-A-Potties, everything stacks up fairly quickly.  Donald Rumsfeld observed that you do not come to war with the military you want, you come to war with the military you have.  In a “come as you are” world, you will have to figure out where your logistical bread gets buttered and make sure you reach those goals.  The internet is filled with endless lists for BOBs, 72 hour kits, etc.  I recommend Rawles spreadsheet monster “List of Lists” over at the Survival Blog for a more comprehensive supply list for extended contingency planning.  Because I am a bit of an Excel nerd, I have tinkered to no end on my version. Take his as a rough draft and make it work for you.   

 Lesson 5: Physical Training

Proper physical training that approximates the types of conditions and equipment that you will use cannot be emphasized enough.  Running in full kit for any distance will take the breath out of you quick.   The last thing you want to do is run to the sound of an explosion or gun fire with an energy tank on empty and have to wheeze your way into your first mag change.  Go on short runs of one to two miles with a 12 to 20 pound weighted vest.  Work your way up to using wrist and ankle weights.  Do some pull ups and sit ups.  If you cannot do any of those things you are behind the power curve and will need to get there.  People will count on you to be able to physically do the right thing. Do not let them down.

If you are overweight, cardio and no carbs is the key. Getting in shape is like a bicycle in that you need both wheels of diet and exercise in order to run it.  One without the other is a losing battle.   It is just that simple.  There are more ways now than ever before to get healthy and in a fighting shape.  Take advantage of it now while you can.  It is slow and painful but looking good naked is the byproduct.

Much of what I have written is not new ground.  Thousands of other Vets have had similar or better, harder experiences than I regarding living and working in a tenuous area between stabilizing the community and fighting.  Whatever your stripe of preparedness, I would ask that you seek out those Veterans and learn from their experiences.  As time permits I may reflect on more lessons learned and produce a follow up.   I would love to hear from the community as to what their lessons learned are from either following a disaster or conflict.  Depending on the response, we can hang them on another post.

Rules for Comments

As I have started going through comments I started seeing the utility in reaffirming the ground rules as to what is acceptable and what gets deleted.  Please see the following criteria.

1.  Stay on point.
2.  Don't be a jackass.  If you feel you want to attack a point, great.  If you personally attack a commenter your comment will be deleted. 
3.  Links are perfectly fine so long as it is not to misinformation sites or hate groups.  However well intentioned, if I see a "godlike productions" link it gets deleted out of hand.  I got my orders.

If I may, I would like to directly address the troll(s) to this site.  I am not now, nor have I ever been a communist.  I am not a member of a secret society but I did make it through Air Assault school.  I honestly cannot muster a single feeling as to whom will win the election. I served 14 years active duty in the Army and did a few tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  I was not a Special Forces Sniper Ranger Frogman Ninja Second Class, like everyone else seems to be, but I did some cool stuff and have no regrets.  I am not aware of any babies I may have killed or people of color I oppressed.  I am now a weekend warrior/civilian/student. I have three kids and am on my second marriage.  She is probably not interested in you.  I know I am not giving you much to work with but I know you will come up with something that will doubtless crush my soul and/or put me on the path or righteousness.

I feel like there should be more but this is really it.  Simple, right?

Change of Command

 

 

As many have observed, it would be a tragedy to simply let this blog go to archive.  This blog was the first of its kind dedicated to the principles of the three percent.  Mike, my father, started this blog with the intention to give himself a platform to educate and proselytize a very simple and profound message that no one should to bend a knee. Since its inception in 2009, Sipsey Street Irregulars has given a voice to a community of the last free men and women in this country.  This community has grown larger and flown higher than anyone could have dreamed.  People discovered that they were not alone.  This is a community stewards, not leaders.  Shepherds, not wolves. Mikes presence on this blog may have diminished but his message will not.  That is my charge and the promise I make to the community that has given him so much friendship and support over the years.  The voice on this blog will not go silent.

 

 

That's me.  I am not my father but I am my fathers son.  God only made one of him.  To say the least, the man can certainly turn a phrase.  The vision and clarity he gave us, dearly purchased over lifetime of street level advocacy, will be missed.  What I do have is his unwavering commitment to keep this blog and what he built alive and to advocate the founding intent of the III Percent.  I may fail some of you along the way.  I deeply apologize if I do.  I would ask that you give me some time to grow into these very big shoes that I need to fill.  



 

 

 

Getting down toward the end.

My apologies for no posts, but I'm in the end stages. The docs give me about 4 weeks and I still have a lot to get done before I check out. I'll have more later today (I hope) about projects still in motion but right now that's all I can muster. God bless you all for the many prayers and support you have extended to me and my family.

Nice to know we had the Constitutional criminal's attention.

House Memo Claims Eric Holder ‘Intensely Followed and Managed’ Fast and Furious Obstruction

The memo.

Magpul’s Oil-Bottle Grip Insert

Magpul Industries Corp., makes an accessory for carrying an oil bottle in some of their rifle grips. The MIAD/MOE Lube Bottle Core is an internal grip core that holds an included 1/2 ounce reusable lubrication bottle. It comes standard with the MIAD GEN 1.1 Grip. The Lube Bottle Core also works with the MOE, MOE-K2, and MOE AK Grips. It retails for $14.95.

"Donald Trump Tweets Like a Latin American Strongman."

Despite these differences, Trump shares a defining, insidious trait with Latin American populists as a group: the supposed championing of democracy, even as he erodes its foundations.

See also: Donald Trump, Hillary's stalking horse --"Donald Trump is the best thing that has happened to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race."

Reports of my death are only somewhat exaggerated.

Sorry, but it will take me until tomorrow to get caught up on tee shirt business. I've been knocked for several loops these past days. My apologies.

Gun show was a modest success, but plowed me under.

Came home to a house whose furnace/air conditioning doesn't work so we'll have to have that fixed ASAP. Will be trying to arrange that today and tomorrow. Those of you who expressed an interest in getting the last of the 100 Heads Life Insurance tees at the gun show price are welcome to them at $15-- per shirt plus shipping but you must, because the quantities are finite, arrange for you order in advance. That is, send me your order (color, size, quantity) BEFORE you send me the money and I will tell you what I have and how much it will be. Obviously email is faster than snail nail to the PO Box. At present we have a good selection of sizes and colors, but that will change. We only sold one shirt at the AGCA show, so get them while you can. There won't be any more procured to fill orders at this end. Remember, tell me what you what BEFORE sending any money and I'll reserve yours and tell you how many I can ship. This will prevent any hard feelings/refunds.

I will have a similar list of military surplus later this week, to be handled in the same fashion.

LATER, re: tee shirt inquiries: PLEASE INCLUDE ADDRESS TO BE SHIPPED TO AND UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE NO TRIPLE X SIZES IN STOCK. DOUBLE X IS THE LARGEST WE HAVE. ALSO IF YOU GET BOUNCE BACKS ON THE EMAILS I CANNOT FIND ANY IN MY SPAM FOLDER SO YOU'LL HAVE TO SEND IT VIA SNAIL MAIL.

David Codrea answers my question on twisted soul trolls: "What Sort, Indeed."

A sadist/psychopath, Mike. An infiltrator/disruptor. Tellingly, someone who needs to, which means you're actually the one who has power over him. And yes, absolutely, a coward who must hide, because he knows what he is and is terrified others will see. Such a demon-haunted creature cannot be happy or loved, or even genuinely liked. Talk about pathetic.

"What Donald Trump Doesn’t Understand About ‘the Deal’"

I have spent much of the past few months trying to make sense of Trump’s policy proposals. His website lists his major priorities as, in order: health care reform, China-United States trade agreements, Veterans Affairs reform, tax reform, gun rights and immigration reform. There are no other issues addressed at length. It’s a puzzling mix. Any serious economic proposal to ‘‘make America great again’’ would surely mention education, fiscal policy, entrepreneurship and trade with the entire world, not just China — issues he makes little or no reference to. No doubt Trump’s list of priorities reflects the issues that he and his advisers perceive, probably correctly, to be red meat for Republican primary voters. But tellingly, it’s also a set of issues for which the ‘‘deal’’ — that is, Trump’s unique ability to make deals — can be presented as his crucial promise. . .

It’s easy to dismiss Trump as a loutish ignoramus who simply doesn’t understand how modern economies function. But I’ve come to see him as a canny spokesman for a different sort of economy, one that often goes by the technical name ‘‘rent seeking.’’ In economics, a ‘‘rent’’ is money you make because you control something scarce and desirable, whether it’s an oil field or a monopolistic position in a market. There is a bit of ‘‘rent’’ in nearly every transaction. When you pay rent on an apartment, some of the money is for the value the landlord has added to the property, by upgrading the kitchen, say. But much of the money your landlord makes comes from the fact that he or she controls property in a desirable location. If you think of the transactions that make people the most frustrated, they are, most likely, rent-seeking transactions in which some force is imposing a better ‘‘deal’’ for one party. Your cable service costs more and is less responsive because local monopoly allows the company to make a better ‘‘deal’’ for itself. The owner of the local pro-sports team can make a ‘‘deal’’ with the city for a new stadium, or else the team packs up and leaves town. Without real competition, one or both sides of a rent-seeking transaction lack leverage, and so decisions can be hashed out only by powerful people making deals in back rooms.

I learned a great deal about rentier economies, as they’re sometimes known, when I spent a year in Baghdad, covering the American occupation of Iraq between 2003 and 2004. I met many of Iraq’s leading businesspeople, and they always talked about ‘‘deals.’’ As one explained to me, there would be some business opportunity — building a hospital, say, or getting a license to import a new line of cars — and Saddam Hussein’s family would essentially auction off the opportunity to the handful of wealthy businesspeople whom they deemed trustworthy. Success came not from being better at building hospitals or more efficient at importing cars. It came from understanding the internal family politics of the Husseins and the power of the state bureaucracy.

As an economic journalist, when trying to explain the idea of rent-seeking, I have always used one quintessential example from the United States — a sector in which markets don’t function, in which excess profits are held by a few. That world is Manhattan real estate development. Twenty-three square miles in area, Manhattan contains roughly 854,000 housing units. But there are many more people than that who want to own property there. A Manhattan pied-à-terre has long been a globally recognized sign of wealth and status — especially in recent years, as billionaires the world over have come to see a Manhattan condo, even one rarely visited, as a vessel for laundered wealth or a hedge against political upheaval at home.

Manhattan real estate development is about as far as it is possible to get, within the United States, from that Econ 101 notion of mutually beneficial transactions. This is not a marketplace characterized by competition and dynamism; instead, Manhattan real estate looks an awful lot more like a Middle Eastern rentier economy. . .

But this descent into a rentier economy would only accelerate with a mentality like Trump’s in the White House. The native-born population of the United States is aging rapidly; without immigrants the nation would quickly face a disastrous level of debt. Middle-class workers may be struggling now in a changing economy, but a clampdown on global trade would only make that worse. Any health care reform that revolved around the president’s ability to ‘‘deal’’ would inherently be one more prone to corruption. In a rentier state, every ambitious person knows that the way to become rich and powerful is to grab the sources of wealth and hold onto them, by force if necessary. It’s no accident that, around the world, rentier states tend to be run by unelected dictators — the ultimate dealmakers in chief.

Exit Hillary, enter Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden, hand in hand, (And Trump's chances dwindle exponentially.)

FBI chief James Comey and his investigators are increasingly certain that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton violated laws in handling classified government information through her private email server, career agents say. Some expect him to push for charges, but he faces a formidable obstacle: the political types in the Obama White House who view a Clinton presidency as a third Obama term. With that, agents have been spreading the word, largely through associates in the private sector, that their boss is getting stonewalled, despite uncovering compelling evidence that Clinton broke the law.

Kurt Schlichter: "Astonishingly, the Establishment Losers Have Learned Nothing."

"Even morons don’t slap their paws on a hot stove twice, but then the GOP Establishment would have to work pretty hard to rise to the level of “morons.” Exhibit A in the case against the cloistered, sheltered Ruling Class is the latest column from mainstream media conservative catamite David Brooks. I’d link to it, but I don’t want to send traffic to the hateful New York Times. Just Google 'David Brooks smug clueless jerk' and it should pop right up."

Brooks opposes Trump for all the wrong reasons. He thinks Trump is low class, which Trump is, but that’s where his analysis really ends. Trump, and his followers, are uncool – and even worse, they refuse to acknowledge the natural right of Brooks and his ilk to command them.

Substantively, except for Trump’s recent conversion to actually enforcing immigration laws (which offends both Brooks’ finely tuned sense of decorum and his desire to underpay his housekeeper), Trump and Brooks often seem agree on a lot – until Trump changes his mind and starts believing something else. Both are really centrists pretending to be conservatives. Both are terrible Republicans. And both are New York bubble dwellers.

But while Trump knows his market – people who aren’t New York bubble dwellers – it is only in this column that Brooks admits he does not actually know anyone who Trump appeals to. For that, he sort of apologizes and promises that in the future he will try harder to do better to comprehend the residents of the country he presumes to write about. So good of him. Hey Brooks, all is forgiven … you crease-fetishizing, sycophantic snob. How condescending. “Oh, I really should have understood the actual people who make up the conservative base better. Duly noted. Now all kneel before me!”

Understand that he’s no fan of Ted Cruz either, mostly because Ted Cruz is so uncouth that he actually presumes to fight the progressive elite that gently pats Brooks on his noggin and invites him to all the best parties, secure in the knowledge that on command he will obediently denounce, disavow and repudiate the same Republicans he is supposed to be representing.

So, Trump gets about 40% of the primary vote and Cruz about 30% and, while I did go to a public school, I still think that adds up to at least 70% of the GOP electorate voting for one or another candidate whose platform is essentially a middle finger to the people like Brooks who ran the party for the last 30 years.

We need to be clear on who the people supporting Trump are. I’m a Trump opponent, though I will vote for him against that evil harpy Hillary Clinton in the general because her combination of unhinged malice and bottomless stupidity will lead her to create a climate that invites lasting damage to the Union, including but not limited to actual violence. But many who agree with me about Trump’s perfidy are seeing what they would like to see rather than what truly is when it comes to the people who support him. SunTzu was very clear – you need to understand your opponent as he is, not as you wish him to be, to defeat him. So let’s understand who Trump’s voters are.

They are not leftists. There is this notion that Trump himself is a leftist because some of his positions are or have been (as if there is a difference with Trump) liberal. He’s not a leftist; leftists are socialists and hate America and Americans. Trump is many things, often all at once, but he’s not that. And neither are his supporters. To try and dismiss him as a leftist like Clinton or Sanders is counterproductive.

They are not just impoverished victims bitter because they can’t make Buicks anymore. There’s this meme that they are all dirt poor Appalachian oxy addicts, and that’s just silly. (Side Note: Kevin Williamson of National Review has gotten grief for his unflinching reporting on white poverty; I don’t agree with all his conclusions, but his gripping work is some of the best reporting out there and demonstrates that the underclass’s problems are related to a poisonous culture rather than to factors like race that liberals exploit.)

While there is a huge economic displacement component to Trump’s appeal, most of his followers are the “work hard and play by the rules” people who get disrespected by the elite (when people like Brooks bother to notice them at all) but who do much of the work building and defending this country. Note the prominence of American flags, veterans’ issues, and promises not to squander more lives on elitist-contrived Middle Eastern crusades at Trump rallies. And then there is the talk of prioritizing America’s interests – do not underestimate the appeal to Americans of a politician willing to take America’s side.

Trump fans are not all racists and xenophobes. A lot of conservatives have used the same kind of leftist slanders to tar these people that helped alienate them in the first place, hence the way Trump’s rejection of political correctness is always cited as a yuge part of his appeal. Sure, some of the people who glommed onto his campaign are freaks, but anyone who has ever been around any campaign knows that they all attract a few weirdos who won’t ever shut up. And while the media will never, ever interview the La Raza creeps with the Mexican flags and the unironic signs reading “U.S. Out of North America” at Sanders rallies, they’ll swarm all over the IQ-challenged self-proclaimed “Nordic activist” drawn to a Trump rally.

True, Trump’s followers refuse to follow the rules of the PC kabuki dance that coastal elitists instinctively adhere to when discussing issues of race, sex, or Islam. That doesn’t make them terrible – it just makes them honest. Sure, the coastal types who carefully refer to illegal aliens as “undocumented workers” may frown when some guy from Phoenix calls these criminals what they are – you think the kind of citizen who supports Trump would get a pass if he broke the law? – but it’s the elitists who are the liars. It’s the elitists using PC to cover up the truth about the economic disruption and crime illegals cause, not the Trump voters. The elitists need to change, not the Trump fans.

But, of course, change is the one thing Brooks never even considers. Sure, he now acknowledges the need to socialize with people outside of Manhattan, by which he no doubt means flying to Iowa next time and awkwardly picking at a plate of French toast in some diner adjacent to a couple farmers in John Deere caps, silently wondering if the butter was locally sourced and counting the minutes until his flight back to La Guardia. But Brooks displays no intention whatsoever of altering any of his views based upon what he claims to have learned. Illegal immigration? Nope, he’s still at “Shut up racists.” Guns? Nope, he’s still at “Let me determine what few weapons you hicks should be glad I allow you to keep.” Obama? Nope, he’s still at “We can’t possibly actually oppose him – look at those creases!”

See Brooks, you and your buddies haven’t really learned anything because you haven’t shown any inclination to change anything. Deep down – actually, not that deep down – you don’t think you’ve done anything wrong. You think your own base is stupid and easily led, and you’re just mad because they are too smart to let you and your ilk lead them anymore.

See you at the show again today.

Tables to the left of show in E row. Deal of the day, 100 Heads tee shirts @ $15.00. Lots of MOLLE and ALICE gear still available.