Then vs. Now...

Sit back, relax, grab a cool adult beverage.  This one will take awhile...

                   \\\\\\  +++  //////

I was just thinking.  We came from "Our Greatest Generation," we were told.  That's the one that saved us and the entire world from the horrors of Nazism and Marxism and communism.  Our generation proved to the world that we had bought and paid for our Freedom.  The Freedom some of us still hold so very dear.  The one I fought for.  The one so many of my fellow veterans fought for.  That one.    

So how, I wondered, would today's generation answer such a call?  A future call of such monumental import?  Would they save our bacon?  Again?  Or would they fold like a cheap suit?    

                          Then:

Just imagine.  It was early in the morning of April 14th, 1945.

Members of the 445th Bomb Group were all quietly assembled to receive their briefing prior to their mission.  The single most important mission of our military up to that time.  

8,000 bombers, in fact, were assembled that morning into the very largest bombing raid in history.  Bomb groups from the U. S. and Canada and Poland and the United Kingdom were focused on destroying the factory that built the Messerschmidt ME-262, the German's jet fighter "doomsday" weapon.

The ME-262 was revolutionary.  It flew at more than 500 mph with a service ceiling of 35,000 feet, when the best we had was propeller-driven and more than 100 mph slower.  It scared the crap out of the allies, hence that morning's bombing raid.  Featuring the B-24 "Liberator," my favorite bomber.

The B-24 was 74 feet long, 18 feet high, and with a wingspan of 100'.  It could fly at more than 300 mph and higher than 30,000 feet.  It could also carry 8,000 lbs. of bombs and fly for 3,000 miles without refueling.  It was so essential to our war effort that Ford Motor Company dedicated a one mile-long assembly plant in Dearborn, MI, to build them.  A phony city with hundreds of empty houses was built nearby to fool any spies that might peek in.  And they covered it with netting, like you use to keep out birds, to try and hide the plant from the air.  Toward the end of the War, Ford Motor (Get a Load of This!) was turning out a brand-new B-24 every 56 minutes!

They, along with other companies, made more than 18,000 of these bombers during the War.  It carried a crew of 10, including a nose gunner, two waist gunners, the ball turret gunner and the famous tail gunner.  They each had a .50 caliber machine gun and lots of ammo.  

BTW, there was almost no way out in the event the bomber was shot down.  Sort of "clarifies the mind," as they say.  That certainly served as incentive to shoot straight.  Very straight.

Each of the 10 men chosen for that morning's mission climbed into their Liberators and lumbered off into destiny.  None of them knew if, and/or when they would return.  They were tasked with destroying the Waffendorf Air Base in Eastern Germany, some 1,500 miles away, where the ME-262 was being manufactured.  They succeeded.  The base was completely destroyed and the "doomsday" weapon was defanged.  

All 265 of the 262's undergoing manufacture were destroyed in the raid that day, paving the way for the Allies ultimate victory.  But three of our Liberators, and their crews, were shot down.  Brave young souls, averaging only 20 years old, gave their lives that day so that we could live free.  They volunteered.  Volunteered to save us, and all who come after us, from tyranny.  We pray for their souls.  

                           Now:

Harvard University just dedicated what they call a "Cleansing Space" for all those who were "triggered" by the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.  They were horrified that so many Black people had to die, and that a White nationalist murderer got to go free.  Of course, you know that all of the wounded and dead, all of the participants in fact, were White!  See what happens when you actually pay attention to the Left-wing cable news channels?*  When the world does?  They wind up dumber...

Oh yeah, and Levi Strauss has provided its pansy sheeple with a "Fireside Chat," to be lead by their own "Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer," Elizabeth Morrison.  (The fact that there's a "Chief" indicates, BTW, that there's got to be more than one of them, right?  Perhaps there's too much profit in a pair of Levi's jeans.)  That's worrisome in and of itself... 

A Clinical Psychologist" who specializes in these things (what things?) will be along for the ride as they "Zoom" their little "Chat" out to their triggered masses.  Most likely cowering in fear behind tightly-closed blinds.  

And so you don't think Taxifornia escaped this public display of idiocy, humiliation and self-flagellation, Long Beach State is hosting a "Debriefing" for all their students, teachers and faculty having a tough time over the Rittenhouse verdict, wherein "counseling and psychological services" staff will be present.  They didn't indicate it, but I'm sure crying towels will be provided as well...    

What do you think would happen if that metaphorical "balloon" were to go up today?  That "world-ending" balloon?  What if one of our many enemies decides to test our mettle, once again?  And the current generation's families and friends - and maybe kids - are on the line?  And what if those now sucking their thumbs over Kyle Rittenhouse going free and "global warming" killing us all and the "rich" not paying their "fair share" were called upon to now rise up and defend us and our Nation?  Like we did, and our forebears did before us?  How do you think they'll respond?  

Sorry to maybe poke a hole in your "balloon."

*  Among the most horrifying bits of news out the past year was the results of a Pew Poll, where some 62% of the American public stated they received "all, or substantially all" of their news from Yahoo and Google.  Silicon Valley fiefdoms dedicated to destroying Conservatism, both.  And, considering these outfits have admitted to censoring the news they deign to share with their sheeple, or even disappearing it entirely (no Hunter Biden laptop, no open southern border, no XL-Pipeline closure, etc., etc., etc.), perhaps the only thing surprising is that the half of America that relies on these socialists for information get as much of it as they actually do!

Hating on our Jury System...

What follows is a partial list of the famous (and some clearly infamous!) who have come out publicly, stating that they do not agree with, or believe in, our jury system.

The one that's served us well for more than 240 years.  That same one.

It appears the following folks have come by that opinion because one Kyle Rittenhouse, a now-18 year-old kid, was found not guilty by a jury of his peers of defending himself against a mob of felons and criminals and perverts who had threatened to kill him.  Something that used to be not only legal, but encouraged!  Like it's supposed to be.

Ready?  Here goes...

     -  Joe O'Biden, POTUS, for awhile Yet.  He said "The jury has spoken."  Until his handlers got ahold of him.  You know, the puppeteers behind the curtain who trot him out when their wishes need to be conveyed.  He then said he was "...angry and concerned."  Crusty old wimp.  Bag of bones.  Vacuous twit.

     -  Carmala Harris, Vice President, for awhile yet.  She's the one who donated to a fund to bail last summer's rioters out of jail.  Following the Rittenhouse verdict, she, an ex-D.A., offered up the following about our jury system, "There's a lot of work to do yet."

     -  Bill de Blasio (nee Warren Wilhelm, Jr.), aka "Big Bird," aka "Tallest Pile of Puke on Earth," and "Ex-Worst Mayor in the History of these United States."  Also the dumbest.

     -  Keith Olbermann, used-to-be sportscaster, before he became a rabid Leftist loudmouth, hateful dumbass.

     -  Joy(less) Reid, famous for being Black and pissed off.  And also for hating White people.  CNN race-baiter of the 1st Magnitude.  This woman graduated from Harvard, thus severely eroding the value of a Harvard degree.  I've heard they've asked her to stop telling people they had anything at all do with her.

     -  Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), used to be really, really fat, REALLY FAT, lost most of it somewhere, but hasn't bought any new shirts.  He now looks like a circus clown.  Talks like one, too.  

(BTW, what happens to fat when you lose it?  Fat's energy, right?  And you can't destroy energy, right?  We were told that in science class, right?  So it must go somewhere.  My guess is that somebody on the other side of the Earth must gain the weight Fat Jerry lost.  For which I'm guessing they thank him.  Unless it was from his face...)

     -  Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-GA), confused older Black fellow who seems lost most of the time.  Asks the "Congressional Black Caucus" how to vote.  BTW, where's the "Congressional White Caucus?"

     -  Susanna Arquette, used-to-be actress, I think.  I think she also invented "pussy" hats.  Given her acting, I'm pretty sure she'll be known for that most of all.  

     -  LeVar Burton, "C" actor looking for attention.  Used to be Kunta Kente until he changed his name.

     -  Whoopi Goldberg, famous Black woman who spews venom on a TV program called "The View," which I'm told a few folks still watch, offered up that she simply did not care what the jury in the Rittenhouse trial had to say.  "I'm sorry.  The White boy is still guilty of murder!"  With a name like Whoopi, you'd think she'd be happier, wouldn't you?    

     -  And lastly, there's that smarmy little late night host of one of the many TV talk shows polluting our airwaves.  You know the one.  The one who mispronounces his last name because he thinks it's funny.  He stated about Rittenhouse, "If he didn't break the law, then the law needs to be changed."  Spoken like a true "Progressive."  If it doesn't fit your worldview, change it.  That's the same thinking that's resulted in statues of General Lee and Jefferson to be torn down; revisionist history is the history "Progressives" love the best.  'Cause then they get to change it to match their perverted thinking...   

Well now, I'm sure you and the rest of 'Murica are happy to learn the opinions of so many fine folks who didn't bother to watch the trial, or learn why Rittenhouse was not guilty of all the charges.  I did.  Every minute of it.  Being retired, and also an expert on firearms, I had the luxury of focusing intently on the facts.  Those things our loudmouth celebrities seem averse to considering.  Oh wait... 

NEWS FLASH!  

This just in!  Eleven White people and one lovely Black soul, the jury in a well-publicized trial down south, just found the three White men who hunted down and executed Armaud Arbery...guilty.  Of all charges.  Starting with Malice and Felony Murder.  The three will never breathe a free breath again.  As it should be.  Yes, I watched every available moment of that trial as well.  Something that surely cannot be said about all of those (in)famous folks who will now choose to opine.  And I'm sure there must be many.  

In view of the Arbery trial findings, here's a list of all the celebrities who have now come out against our jury system:

     (Crickets...)

(I'd like every thinking American who believes we still have a chance in Hell as a Country to line up on the left.  All you others who think we're just too far gone, on the right.  Hmmmm.  Thought so.  We may be toast...)

   

       

"Wild Bill" Hickok...

It was the evening of July 20th, 1865.

"Wild Bill" Hickok was playing poker with a number of the regulars at a local saloon in Springfield, Missouri.

Springfield, as you may know, was just about the last true frontier town at the very end of what's come to be known as the "Old West."  That's the period from 1850 - 1895.  And I, The Chuckmeister, happen to be a generally-recognized expert thereon.  

Hey, we all have to be expert in something, don't we?

And so I thought I'd pass along one of the more colorful, and I trust thought-provoking, stories that springs forth from that time.   

One of the folks "Wild Bill" was playing poker with that night was a guy named Davis Tutt.  He and Bill were old acquaintances, if not actually friends.  They certainly knew one another well, Bill having "knocked up" Davis' sister, and Davis having secretly been courting Bill's girlfriend, a fact not withheld from the public.  

Being "cuckolded" back then was a big deal.  Ahem.

Anyway, Davis and Bill were playing poker.  Bill was disputing a $20 debt he supposedly owed Davis, and Davis wouldn't leave it alone.  And Bill by that time was flat broke and unable to pay this old debt.  Davis continued to carp about it until Bill gave him his prized pocket watch as collateral until the next morning, when Bill told Tutt he could get him the cash.

The next morning came.  Bill, through an emissary, sent Davis his $20.  Davis, through his spokesperson, refused to accept it, demanding an additional $10 as a "fine."  Bill, not surprisingly, took umbrage at this demand.  He sent word back to Davis that he'd meet him at the Town Square (yes, that was - and is - its name) if he didn't change his mind.  By this time Tutt couldn't back down.  Saving face was a Big Deal back then, just as it is today.  Except today it's couched as receiving "respect." 

So the die was cast.  The last "high noon-style" gunfight was set into motion (and the template for the Movie of the same name).  Wild Bill, the aging ex-sheriff and Army scout and Indian fighter and buffalo hunter and cattle drover, was about to burnish his already-rich legend.  And it was quite a legend, to be sure.

I've heard, but cannot confirm, that upon arising each day Bill would exit his dwelling and proceed to empty his matched set of .36 caliber Colt Navy revolvers at a handy nearby target.  And I gather there would usually be a crowd gathered to witness this bit of showmanship (he was famous by this time due to the plethora of "dime novels" about the Old West).  

His pistols, you see, were of the "cap and ball" variety, meaning one had to pour a measure of powder into each of their six cylinders before seating a round lead bullet on top.  The bullets would keep the powder from leaking out, but the moisture in the air might make the powder unable to fire after several hours.  Thus, Bill would shoot, and then reload, his guns every morning to make sure they were at the ready whenever needed.  

And they were needed that evening in Springfield, Missouri.

It was 6:00 p.m.  Bill walked onto the East end of the Town Square.  He called out, "Davis, here I am."  Davis slowly moved onto the Square from the West, toward Bill.  As soon as he stopped walking, he pulled his pistol and shot at Bill.  Bill saw him draw and pulled his pistol and shot, almost simultaneously.  The bullet from Tutt's gun whizzed over Bill's head.  Bill's bullet entered Davis Tutt's body between his 5th and 7th ribs, right through his heart.  He crawled a few steps toward the nearby saloon and uttered with his last breath, "Boys, I'm killed."

Wild Bill Hickock shot Davis Tutt from a distance of just over 75 yards!  That' 225 feet!  With a Colt Navy revolver!  Among the least accurate weapons one could choose at that distance.  Unless one was a true professional gunfighter.

There's a moral to this story, and one I'm happy to pass along.  In fact, I'll use one of my midwestern colloquialiasms (pardon the language) to help drive home the point.  Goes like this:

     "You F*** With The Bull,

         You Get The Horn."

I might pass along a word of warning to the O'Biden Administration.  The main difference between the United States and let's say Venezuela, or Cuba, or even Germany, Australia or Austria these days, places where their citizens' weapons have been seized by their governments, and the wildly authoritarian stances they've taken of late, is that some 100,000,000 of us still own just over 475 Million Guns here in America.  

And just might be incented to use them.  

A small indication of which might be the number of hunters who submitted requests for deer tags in the State of Wisconsin 2019.  Just this one state as an example.  That would be 600,000.  Or, if all assembled together, the 4th Largest Standing Army in the world.  It's true.  Google it.  And that's just one of our states.  Just imagine if ALL of those whose citizens are still armed got together and decided our Gubmint needed to be brought into check.  Which is why the 2nd Amendment was written.  Remember, 475 Million Guns.  And if we're forced to use them to remind our Gubmint who they work for, like a guy named Thomas Jefferson* warned us we just might, I'm pretty sure they just might...  

As the old adage goes, "A word to the wise should be sufficient." 

*  "The tree of liberty needs to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Ever Get the "Itch" to Buy an Electric Car?

Then do yourself a favor; don't "scratch" it.

Have you ever wondered why an inordinate number of TV commercials these days are for electric cars?  Not hybrids, the plug-in, all-electric variety.  Well, so did I, The Chuckmeister.  Especially since less than 2% of all our fleet of more than 210,000,000 automobiles are electric, and less than 2.1% of all new car sales are for electric vehicles, one would just have to wonder why?  Is there some "special" reason why our auto makers are so upbeat on electrics?  Why they are dedicating the majority of their R&D resources to electric?  

A resounding "Yes," fellow Patriots, there is!  And here are but a few...

To start with, new electric cars contain only about 20% of the parts of automobiles with conventional, internal combustion engines.  No carburetor, no pistons, no crankshaft, no radiator, no transmission, no nothing.  Almost no moving parts, in fact.  Just a reeeely big battery, a tightly-wound electric motor, and a constant-velocity, single-speed transmission to get you on down the road.  Sooooo, the manufacturers don't have to buy - or pay union rates to install - those other parts and pieces.  Those thousands of separate and distinct parts and pieces.  They just collect a few thousand AAA-style batteries and lash them together into a reeeely big battery pack, usually weighing 1,000 pounds or more, and attach them to a tightly-wound electric motor and a constant-velocity transmission.  

So, to sum up:  80% fewer parts to buy and pay some union thug to assemble at inflated hourly rates.  Anybody for some coffee and a danish?

Oh yeah, it gets better.  Mucho better.  These self-same manufacturers then tout the difficulty and research associated with putting out these magnificent brutes, by increasing their price!    

We're talking a brand-new, all-electric, super-shiny Mercedes-Benz "ELS," going out the door right now, today, just introduced to the yawning public, for "only" $119,989.  Right now.  Today.

And the "regular" M-B model?  The one with a crankshaft and pistons?  The one with all the moving parts?  $47,894.00 less.  

And once you've bought your overpriced, inflated golf cart, you can then concern yourself with where do you go to charge it?  Most electric car buyers install about $2,500 worth of 220 v. stuff in their garage so they can charge their cars in six hours or so.  If they don't, plan on 12 hours or more.  Usually an overnight charge works just fine.  

But God help you if you want to charge less or drive more than your car's "range."  And you won't really know what that range is until you reach it.  That's called "range anxiety," BTW.  And you know if it's been given a name, then it's a problem for most folks.  

Oh, the manufacturer will guess your car's range for you, but you'll have to find out in the Real World, where you live.  And the temperature outside can help determine that range.  When it gets cold outside electric cars can lose as much as 20% of their efficiency and range.  You didn't know that, did you?  They don't tell you that, do they?

And where do you charge when you're out and about?  You'll have to figure that out for yourself, Grasshopper.  And sometimes the chargers you need to keep on going on will be busy.  Or the opposite.  I was in Sedona recently and saw a bank of 20 or so Tesla charging units, with one lonely Tesla needing a boost.  That means somebody waaaay overguessed as to charger need (Musk?), or the public is buying far fewer Teslas than was projected...  

And then it can get comical.  I've seen, actually SEEN, a portable gasoline battery charger charging a Tesla alongside the freeway.  I chuckled.  Mightily.  Dwell on that mental picture for awhile...

And Teslas, our most popular and most expensive electrics, are at the bottom of Consumer Report's Reliability Index, due to their poor build quality.  Hmmm.  $100,000 for a slapped-together piece of crap?  Don't think so!  

Oh yeah, and electric cars depreciate faster than regular old cars like the 200,000,000 or so of them we're driving right now.  Do they tell you than only 2.1% of all new cars sold these days are plug-in electric?  No?  Would it help you to decide if you knew?

And then there's the little factoid that electric cars make no noise.  No "vroom!" "vroom!"  No nice, warm, utterly lovely analog mechanical sound that we performance car lovers just love to love.  There's simply nothing quite like the idle of a warmed-over small block Chevy motor heard through a nice set of mandrel-bent headers.  Or the wail of a Porsche as it nears the top of the tach.  Or that "ripping canvas" sound of a Ferrari.  You don't get that with an electric.  They make the sound your dining room rheostat makes when you turn up the lights...

(Crickets)  

And for those who are really in it to save money, a new Toyota Yaris will return 47 mpg for $15,600, out the door.  So there.  I just removed that objection...

And lastly, don't get into a big crack-up with an electric car.  These beasts ride on 1,000 pounds or more of electric batteries.  Half a ton.  That's why they corner so well.  Low center of gravity and all.  But don't ask the local paramedics to use their Jaws of Life to pry you out when you're in a blazing fire.  One of the many that have started all by themselves in Teslas, BTW.  Because they just might get electrocuted.  

Paramedics are funny like that...

Of course, if you buy an all-electric you'll be saving the planet.  There's that to consider (cough, cough).  Especially since we rely on natural gas for nearly 41% and coal for more than 20% of our electric power grid.  

And did CNN and MSNBC tell you that China plans to open some 3,500 new coal-fired electric plants in the next 10 years?  No?  Yeah, they just announced that, while we were patting ourselves on the back for closing our own.  And considering that China and India are together responsible for more than 51% of the planet's total carbon emissions, and we're way down there at 25%, one wonders exactly why we're punishing ourselves when we're not the problem. 

And see all those windmills clotting up the scenery?  Yeah, less than 3% of our electric power.  In the summer.  And the wind doesn't blow so good in the winter.  Funny, huh?  And not in a good way?

So do with all of this what you will.  We went away from electric cars and on to gasoline more than 100 years ago because fossil fuels are so energy efficient.  Perhaps that's why 98% of us see no reason to go back...            

Supply Chain Issues? Blame O'Biden...

Fellow Patriots, I, The Chuckmeister, am here to deliver some truly Great News!

You now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to slap inflation right in the kisser and save a boatload of money on Christmas, at the very same time, by simply refusing to spend any money. 

Any money at all. 

Annnnnd, fellow Patriot, you can get away with it by blaming it all on our rickety old President-for-Awhile-Yet, Mr. Joe O'Biden.  

How?  Well, sit back, grab a cool adult beverage, put your feet up, put your blaster on "stun," and lemme' tell ya' how...

You've heard of this whole "supply chain" problem, right?  That's the pickle we get into when too many dollars are chasing too few goods.  Like the normal flow of goods and services which might be expected to occur as we're coming out of your basic pandemic.  Exceppppt, if the whole Magilla is interrupted when your Friendly Gubmint prints up $8.7 Trillion Dollars which we don't have, thus reducing the value of the dollars you do have, and ships it out the door.  

That's called inflation.  And one of the many side effects of this sort of inflationary pressure (BTW, I'm an actual graduate economist, meaning in this one rare instance, I know whereof I speak) is a few dozen massive container ships lounging around off Long Beach Harbor, where they've never, ever been before, waiting to find somebody to unload them.  Isn't it funny when a really super plan to turn America into Cuba, cooked up in the Yale faculty lounge, is put into motion...and then goes over like a turd in a punchbowl?  

And guess what?  Those container ships contain the little "Boobie Jessie" doll Suzie wants, and the "Mad Scientist" nuclear-capable laboratory set that your dear little Johnny wants.  The unnecessary crap you would have been forced to buy, but didn't want to.  

Anyhoo, so it's Christmas morning, and there's no doll for Suzie or chemistry set for little Johnny under the tree!  And when they start to cry those reeely big tears, you play the "Dumb Card;" you blame it all on creepy Joe O'Biden.  It's all his fault, you say!  You would have bought them, you say, with a straight face, but Joe got in the way!  You would have paid double, you say, just to get them for your little treasures!  But it's not your fault!  You were thwarted in your efforts by the elite, effete snobs in the White House!  Their kids no doubt got their goddam dolls and chemistry sets, you say!  Notice you got the goddam Christmas presents you wanted when Big Bad Orange Man was in orifice, right kiddies? 

Right?  

Now?  Those $95 dolls and $110 blow-up-the-world lab sets?  Sorry, kiddies!  Your President took them away from you...

(Heh, heh...)

And you?  You've got an extra $Few Hundred in your pocket you thought you'd have to spend.  Which helps to make up for the extra $Buck-fifty a gallon good ol' Joe is stealing from us.  He's peeled our finances like a grape.  Here's our chance to shift the blame, back to where it belongs.  And not have to listen to the damn doll moan "mommy" over and over.  Or fear that your home will be blown up by little Johnny.  Annnnd, save a few bucks in the process!

You don't get chances like these very often, fellow Patriots.  Let's all take advantage now, while we have the chance.  Remember, when the kids start to whimper and moan, all together now, it's all Joe's fault!  

Maybe they'll remember this and vote the right way when the time comes around...

Let's All Feel Sorry for the Rich...

                       "Don't tax you,

                         don't tax me,

             tax the man behind the tree."           

The author of the above quote has been lost to history.  But the sentiment behind it remains all too common, even today.  

I may be the only one, but I'm feeling kind of sorry for our really wealthy friends out there.  You know, the relatively few who start all the companies and hire all the workers and buy all the private jets and yachts and really big houses that somebody has to build and spread their money around so the rest of us can enjoy it.  

Those folks.

They're being demonized like never before by the Democrats who wish to take an ever-increasing chunk of their money (and their hide?).  To pay for their ever-more loopy little projects.  Little multi-$Trillion Dollar Projects.  Like "fixing" the weather.  

We already know from the Treasury Dept. that the Tippy Top One Percent of our society earns 29% of all our income while paying some 41% of all our income taxes.  That, BTW, is not a "fayah shayuh" according to multi-millionaire, 3 house-owning Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-NH) and multi-millionaire, 3 house-owning Joe O'Biden (POTUS...for awhile yet).  He thinks 110% would be "fayuh," I'm guessing.  So having to witness these Democrats arguing every day in Congress about which of your bones they're going to pick clean must seem like a hollow reward after all their striving and struggling, and finally winning.  Can't have that, now can we?  

"Democracy is two wolves and a sheep fighting over what to have for dinner."                               -  Benjamin Franklin

Regardless of how many companies you start and jobs you create and taxes you pay, or avoid paying, using Congress' own laws and rules, which they could change but they don't, it's never enough for these folks.  No matter how much you pay, the ideal arrangement according to these Democrats is to simply sign over your paycheck. And, oh yeah, the deed to your house. And your farm.  And your business.  'Cause they're gonna' get it with their confiscatory "Death Taxes" anyway.  

I bring your attention to the most recent tax-grab legislation the House just passed.  A day or two ago.  Good ol' Joe said no tax increase for those earning less than $400 Grand a year.  The Congressional Budget Office just scored the Bill at costing everyone earning over $50,000 a year a tax increase, while handing a tax decrease of $47 Billion Dollars to our Wealthiest Few!

I thought highway robbery was illegal!

I dunno' about you, but if I were uber-rich I'd be checking out the real estate in Costa Rica and Belize and Panama and anywhere else they speak English and value freedom.  Like we used to...

Here's my prescription to avoid all this nonsense.  Quit work.  Buy a six-pack of Colt-45 Malt Liquor, go home, sit on the couch and wait for the next check from the Gubmint.  And the food stamps.  And Aid to Families With Dependent Children.  Even if you don't have any children.  And Supplemental Rental Assistance.  And Who The Hell Knows What Else?  For it will come.  As long as the Democrats are in charge...it will come.

God help us...it will come...  

The Democrats get voted out?  Go back to work.  Start remembering that whole "Life, Liberty and the PURSUIT of Happiness," thing.  Start generating wealth for yourself, for your family...and unfortunately, for every commie pinko dumbass Liberal weenie Tax Grab Expert in Congress.  Who will conjure up new and inventive ways to separate us from our money.  Have I about got it?  

Ahhhhh yes, Chuckmeister, I believe you've got it!  

"2SLGBTQQIA+"

Ted Savandar, the Co-CEO of NETFLIX, apologized profusely to his staff over his "unwise" decision to provide Dave Chapelle with a platform for his little movie.

From what Chapelle says, he shopped his documentary of one of his stand-up performances to every single indy theater in America, as well as every TV and cable outlet.  Only NETFLIX would air it, he says.  And yet, Savandar's staff was so triggered by his views on transgenderism that they went ballistic.  And so, in the modern-day practice of groveling, Savandar apologized to them, hat in hand.  Not sure for what, free speech still being our operative Constitutional Right and all...

For awhile yet.

Well, that's okay with me.  And Chapelle, apparently.  He's so pissed he's booked 10 venues all across the Fruited Plain to show his film, and deliver a little stand-up, too.  So he'll hopefully get the word out.  What's the word?  Oh, I don't know.  Whatever you and I - and Chapelle - thinks it should be.  For in this Wonderful Land one can harbor unpopular points of view.  Unpopular opinions.  And thanks to the First Amendment, one can still share them.  Widely.  And should.   

Free speech, and all.

Don't like what he says?  Don't watch him.  I personally find some of his views abhorrent, but that's okay; he's still free to share them.

Not sure for how long yet, but as of now, he's still free to share them. 

And on the way out the Digital Door, so to speak, I'd like ask:  Does anyone out there in Internet Land have any idea what the letters "2SLGBTQQIA+" stand for?  I think I know about that whole "LGBTQT" stuff.  But what's the "2S" stand for ?  And the extra "Q?"  And that "A?"  I figure they threw in the "+" in order not to leave anyone out (God!  Don't let them do that!).  But they keep on putting people in!  People whose special identifier with which I don't yet identify.  

So, fellow Pilgrim, get back to me if you know.  And don't worry if you don't.  No doubt they'll change it in the coming weeks, if for no other reason than to keep all of us, ummmm, well, "letter-less" people confused, I'm guessing.  You know, the 98% of us who need no identifier.  Besides 'Murican, that is.  And if you're one of the folks these letters describe, you're invited to comment as well.

You might as well us that "free speech" thing as long as you still have it...    

And, thanks in advance for your help.. 

The Price of Gas...

I just returned from gassing up my mid-sized car.  Six cylinder engine, delivers decent fuel economy, never before lamented not having an electric bike.

I purchased 13 and some-gallons of regular unleaded, "winter blend" petrol and left the giant sum of $64.35 at my local discount Energy Place.  Discount.  Harrummph!  I asked the attendant if he had an application for a second mortgage.  He thought that was a pretty funny joke.

It wasn't a joke.

While nursing the painful hole now left in my meager bank account, which isn't of much account, I reminisced back to a kinder, gentler time.  A time when gas companies were fighting it out with each other at the gas pumps.  Gas wars!  Ever hear of them?  I lived them.  Here's a bit of the story...

It was the fall of 1961 ("It was a dark and stormy night...").  I had just turned 18 and had just acquired my first somewhat fast car.  In a town full of fast cars.  VERY fast cars.  At one time there were 10 American Hot Rod Association national record holders there.  For a town of under 10,000, fast cars, indeed!  

And I'd say it was damn nice of the Standard Oil Company and Phillips Petroleum, in a period of crude oil glut (this was right after Standard's "ARAMCO" started pumping Arabian crude), to decide to try and out-cheap the other guy.  To lower prices in an effort to put the other guy out of business.  Or force it to sell at a discounted stock price.  So the price of gas began to fall.  Precipitously.  Every day.  So that by the end of November, 1961, the price of a gallon of Premium was $0.19 cents a gallon!  

You read that right.  Nineteen - maksalotta - sense!  It was seemingly worth less than water, and we treated it as such.  Talk about wasting gas!  We would drive up and down the "four-lane" highway, which ran through the center of Chillicothe, Missouri.  About five miles of it.  A four-lane highway, with a wide, concrete median, and tall streetlamps, right through town.  So we'd drive north to the end, turn around, burn out, laying loooonnnng streaks of black rubber (hello, "Happy Days!"), drive back south to the end of town, turn around, burn out, repeat.  

All.  Night.  Long.

Got it?  And each time we'd see each other, we'd wave and flash our lights.  And God help us if we didn't!  That'd mean we weren't friendly, and the rumors would start to fly.  Yeah, nothing's changed.  At all.  Everywhere's the same.  

I recall on several occasions I'd fill up, empty the tank, refill it, and then drive most of it out again.  In the same night.  In a town with nothing else to do, this would do.  It did quite nicely, in fact, for hundreds of us over dozens of years.  Don't feel sorry for us.  We didn't.

And oh yeah, when the taunts got too much, one driver would challenge the other to a "contest of speed" at the "Old Highway."  That's one-time Highway 36, which by that time had been replaced by one newer and wider, and much one more protected from annual local Grand River flooding.

So picture an unused two-lane highway, completely deserted, unlighted and just waiting for crazed speed enthusiasts, like me, and like everyone in my home town, to head on out there and drag race.  Like they do on the Discovery Channel's "Street Outlaws."  It's usually on Monday nights, if you'd care to watch.

So dozens of us would head out around midnight to the Old Highway and drag race 'til dawn.  We named it the "Bear Lake Bottoms Timing Association."  Funny.  We made decals for our cars and displayed them prominently.  The cops knew.  Some of them even were known to participate with their private cars...

And back to that "$0.19 Cents per gallon.  When we drove in to the local gas emporium, the bells rang to announce our arrival.  And a paid attendant, usually a retired old gent, would come right out and pump our gas for us, check our oil, check the air in our tires and the water in our radiator.  Each time we bought gas.  All included.  Even if it was the second time in an evening.  Or even third...

So how about that for your "customer service?"  And all for bupkus.  Ahhhhh, but Utopia was not to continue.  The gas companies resolved their issues, to our detriment.  And the price of gas went back up.  I cannot recall to how much, exactly.  But I remember it was still considered cheap.  

So back to the price of gas.  Where you live it might now cost $3.50, or a $1.20 higher than a year ago.  Here, in Taxifornia, where I live, and in New York, it's now approaching $5.00 a gallon.  And from what I hear those who wind O'Biden up and trot him out to spew their Progressive garbage are not done yet.  We can count on the price of gas going up, waaaay up, for some time to come.  

And they even have the chutzpah to tell us that this is a reason to more quickly move to alternative energy, so we don't have to pay these inflated prices for gas!  They inflate the prices, and then present us with an unpalatable remedy for their carnage.  Like your doctor first giving you cancer, and then offering you a treatment for can't live with.  We can thank Joe O'Brandon each time we fill our tanks and deprive our kids of food.

Remember:  A year ago we were Energy Independent.  We pumped more than we used, and exported it as a weapon against socialism and communism.  And its price reflected our World Dominance.  Joe O'Brandon is now begging OPEC to pump more...so we won't have to.  

Join me in a rousing, "Let's Go Brandon!"

I Saw UFO'S!

Yeah, I/we really did!  And here's how it all unfolded...

My daughters know that my belief in the existence of life on other planets runs deep.  And in the life forms that may indeed be visiting us therefrom.  And that I've been threatening to go where they seem to hang out for about 20 years.  That would be Sedona, Arizona.  Soooo, my daughters conjured up this plan to take me there for my birthday.  My, ummm, four score minus two birthday.  

After initially blowing off this idea as crazy, I warmed to it.  I got to thinking, hey, I live alone, and mostly don't go anywhere, and could use a vacay desperately, so why not?  The only risk we took was hoping we could all be civil with each other for a Road Trip.  We thought it worth a try.  And so we did...

We know that Sedona, Arizona is considered a locus for UFO sightings, as well as vortexes, and lay-lines, and crystals, and red rocks, and a collection of kind of quirky, weird spiritualists.  And as it happens I've been paid by a series of companies to travel all over the place on business, as in something more than 1,000 commercial flights, but I somehow never made it to Sedona.  Yup, I've visited 37 countries and 49 states.  Never somehow made it to North Dakota, either, although I never really missed it.  But I've missed Sedona.  And my daughters knew it...

So they got together and conjured up a plan to scoop me up and take me there for my birthday.  And to experience the red rocks, and the vortexes, and the weird people, and the UFO's for myself.  They treated me to a "UFO's Sedona" tour, so we could see for ourselves if they're "out there."  And the results were somewhat surprising...

Our tour guides took us out of town a few miles to a dark area of the desert where light pollution wasn't a problem.  And then they provided us with night vision goggles so we could see for ourselves.  After a short course in astronomy, we focused our attention on the billions and billions of stars we could now see.  And the stuff flying around below them.  Within our atmosphere.  And if what we saw, several high-flying bright objects scooting along, were UFO's, as our guides inferred, then we saw UFO's.  They were indiscernible as to shape, being so far away, but were much bigger than the stars, were flying briskly north to south, over the desert, where our satellites don't normally travel (what's to look at from above in Sedona?), without a noticeable means of propulsion, or heat signature, or blinking lights.  

Which means they are "UFO's" by definition.  Or, as our Gubmint now chooses to call them, after lying to us for more than 70 years as to their existence, and now being forced to admit they are real, "UAP's."  Or, Unidentified Areal Phenomena.  

BTW, if you saw a UFO, and you subsequently identified it, and then it landed, would it therefore only be an Object?  Just askin.'

Ahem...

Anyhoo, back to the subject at hand.  It was a very cool tour and a very cold tour.  The temp dropped and we shivered.  But we soldiered on for the hour or so we looked up at the bright sky through goggles that magnified the lights by 4,000 times or so, for the folks who'd just taken the 3:14 from Sirius B to come visit their "pets" in their "zoo."  I mean, Little Green Men need recreation too, right?  And it's my theory that they first colonized us about 12,000 years ago, and they keep on coming back to check up on their handiwork.  Especially once we invented atomic bombs.  With which we could blow up the "zoo."  

And yes, I'm "sirius."

So we went, we saw, and we all got reacquainted as a family.  We'd not been together since the girls' Mother died four years ago.  And the chance to get their Dad off his ass and make him go visit the place he'd always threatened to go to was just to rich to miss.  So they conspired to take me there, and I'm so happy they did.  We had a tremendous time.  We had hours to share ideas and concepts and stories and beliefs and fears and thoughts and loves and hopes and dreams.  And remembrances of their Mom.  Yes, a very fine time.  The "Grand Tour," I call it.  Certainly the first, and perhaps the last.  

But then again, maybe not!  Maybe this is but the first such time we'll get together and tour!  They've threatened now that they know I can take it to make me take it again in the future.  To the wine country, perhaps.  I certainly hope so.  I'm primed and ready.  These old bones are weary, but they haven't given up quite yet.

And yes, it was a gas to see filling stations along the way selling gas for $3.29 a gallon.  Being from Taxifornia, that was a rare treat.  Maybe that's why so many are leaving here and going there...

Thanks, kids!  You did your old Dad proud! 

Let's Sue the Illegals!

If you're not a Liberal, who watches Liberal TV channels, and reads Liberal newspapers, and talks only with other Liberal friends and associates, you've no doubt heard that the O'Brandon Administration intends to pay foreigners who broke our immigration laws, and perhaps had a child separated from them and misplaced, for a time at least, an amount up to, wait for it...

$450,000 per individual illegal, and up to $1,000,000 per illegal family.  

Ummm, what?  Paying foreigners who broke our laws nearly Half A Million Dollars?  Each?  For breaking our laws?  And suffering family dislocation as a result?  Under the very same laws Obama used to detain illegals during his term?  And often in the very same "cages?"  Are they serious?

Unfortunately, this was not a headline from the "Babylon Bee" (I originally thought it was; I was wrong).  They're serious.  They're so serious about buying votes, from wherever they can, simply arresting illegals and turning them loose to blend into the interior of America, illegally, is no longer enough.  Now, they want to... 

                      PAY THEM!  

And all they can say is it's O'Brandon's Justice Department negotiating with the uber-Liberal ACLU, which has brought some 940 lawsuits on behalf of these law-breakers.  Can you get your brain around that?  Greedy, Anti-American louts!  

So they're saying "It's not us!  It's those other guys!"  They so desperately want to point the finger at Trump.  But it's them.  It's O'Biden and his sycophants, who are running things (does anyone, anywhere actually believe that this scrawny, phlegmatic old goat has any idea what's happening?  Anytime?  Anywhere?  Exactly...).  And they're running amok!  And we've got to stop them!  And we can't wait to vote the bastards out, so let's get creative.  As creative as they are.  So here goes...

I suggest some organization which holds Constitutional Rights dear sue each and every one of these 940 illegal aliens who stand to receive a settlement from this flawed, Orwellian plan, for exactly the same amount they're due to receive.  

For what?  How about for damaging our soil?  Or forcing our Border Agents to become hoteliers?  Or causing our immigration enforcement agents psychological harm?  Or maybe we just charge them $100,000 per hour for lodging while in our Country illegally?  

Plus, I propose we sue the ACLU attorneys $1 Million Dollars for each of these bogus lawsuits they file.  For whatever reason they can come up with.  I suggest "treason," but that might be a bit harsh.  And also sue the O'Brandon Administration for not enforcing our immigration laws.  And for being dumbass idiots.  Whatever.  These actions should not only stop the wheels this socialist train is running full-blast upon, it just might serve to freeze the commie fools at the ACLU from continuing with their anti-American activities (I can hope, can't I?)

Up with this anti-American crap we shall no longer put (with apologies to Yoda)!  The O'Brandon Administration risks the Major Wrath of the American People should these activities continue.  And I'm talking...

Major Wrath... 

"Critical Race Theory," Exposed...

We shoulda' seen it coming.

All the clues were there.  We shoulda' been smart enough to see them.  But we got lucky.  The stars aligned themselves so that this crime against democracy and freedom and fairness could be exposed.  And those who sought to perpetrate it could be exposed as well.  

The effort to inject "Critical Race Theory" into our lives began a long time ago.  Long before it had even been given a name.  And long before our recent successes at exposing it.  Major successes.  To wit: 

  -   First, you have your basic pandemic, complete with the Gubmint scaring the crap out of you so you comply with its unrealistic, draconian demands.

  -   Then, you close down all the schools and send all the little kiddies home.  To their parents.  Who must now either provide for child care, which costs $Bundles, or stay home from work and watch their kids themselves.  And take a yuuge financial hit.  

The very same parents who've been paying yuuuge house taxes all these years so their kids would have a nice, safe place to go while they were at work, earning the money to pay for all of it (are there to be any refunds?).  And to be taught all that boring "readin,' writin,' and 'rithmatic" stuff like they were so those kids can get good jobs and become productive citizens.  

  -   Next, we set up all sorts of remote teaching arrangements so kids could sort of continue with their education.  While the virus was killing us.  

Sort of.

  -   Then, some of this "Zoom" teaching began to catch the eye of parents who like to know what their kids are learning.  So they started looking over little Johnnie's and Suzie's shoulders.  At their curriculum.  

And boy, Howdy, did they get a shock!  They learned that their little White kids were the oppressors, and that all the little Black kids are dumb and weak and need the care and feeding of the Democrat Party.  And its sycophants.  

This so-called "Critical Race Theory" blew up in educators' faces.  That's the idea that America didn't actually begin until the first Black slave set foot upon our soil in the year 1619.  1492 was no longer operative.  Columbus was out.  He was a genocidal maniac anyway, they thought, so no big loss here.  

They'd been quietly, surreptitiously slipping in this CRT garbage for years, hoping to stay under the radar until Martin Luther King's admonitions about the "content of their character" were long forgotten by some future generation.  White teachers expunging their Liberal White guilt and privilege by teaching other peoples' kids they are bad if they are White, and hopeless, without the Democrats, if they are Black.  Bad to the bone.  From the womb. 

And so parents are rebelling Bigly nationwide.  And it won't stop anytime soon.  Not until well after the mid-term Election come November, 2022.  And I'm loving it.  I hope you are as well.   

My solution?  Put closed-circuit TV cameras in every classroom in America, on a 24-hour, continuous loop.  And then have members of the local PTA review the recordings.  And any teacher who has been found to violate fair teaching standards should be immediately terminated.  Shown the door.  Ushered out.  Without redress or fanfare of any kind.  Regardless of what their union has to say.  And if the local school board doesn't enforce this policy, then they need to be replaced with those who will.

Starting now! 

The Next War Between the States...

I'm prescient.  That means I can foretell the future.  Sometimes.

And this is one of those times...

I would project that within the next few weeks a caravan of "migrants," those desirous of coming to American without going through the necessary legal "niceties," will present itself at our southern border.  Probably right about Del Rio, TX.  Where it happened last time.  Where 15,000 illegals from more than 150 countries broke into America.

Unannounced, uninvited, unwanted. 

They might have arrived already had their members not been waylaid by a dengue fever outbreak  amongst them (say wha...?).  They are being treated by a team of volunteer doctors, so we're assured they'll be back on the road very soon.

Whew!  Well that's a relief!  

The Rio Grande flows quite low and slow there.  An illegal alien is able to walk right across.  Aided by his/her coyote.  Who he/she paid $7 - $8,000 to guide them across.  And to kill them if they tried to get across without paying.  O'Biden's stupid dumbass foolish wasteful actions at the Border are making the Cartels $Billions!  

Hey Joe!  At least put a cash register on a card table and a Border Guard at the border and charge the illegals directly!  You could deprive the cartels of revenue and put another $2 Million a Week into our Treasury!  

So anyway, I'm guessing that a caravan of 10,000 - 20,000 will try and overwhelm the Border within the next few days.  But I predict that TX' Governor will rebuff this assault.  This attempt to subvert our sovereignty.  Although a cripple,* he stands tall in defending America's interests.  

He's most likely spending the time between now and then working out all the details how he and his Texas Rangers will manage this assault.  He'll be assisted by his National Guard, and the volunteer National Guard troops which I'm guessing will be provided to TX by Florida, and Arizona, and Tennessee, and So. Dakota, and Mississippi, and Oklahoma, and a whole bunch of other states.  I'm guessing there will be a regiment awaiting the arrival of these "migrants."  They'll all man the barricade of shipping containers and ex-Army trucks and concertina wire all lined up there at Del Rio.  They'll have live ammo, ready to defend our sovereign interests against an illegal foreign invasion, which may well wind up as an instant replay of The Alamo!  

Just imagine: the interests of Texas, and the American People, and all the other Border States, and all Americans which disavow "sanctuary cities," which is at least half of them, and the Rule of Law, and History, and Reason, and Common Sense, and our Constitution, all lined up against the interests of The O'Biden Administration, the Democrat Party and their sycophantic crazed lunatic Leftists everywhere.     

I don't think it'll be a fair fight.

One just has to wonder whether the O'Brandon Administration will choose to insert itself into this volatile situation.  Will it try to stop Texas and the other Southern States in its/their efforts to protect us from invasion?  Will Texas tell O'Biden to pound sand?  Will the Feds send troops?  Will Americans do an instant replay of Les Miserable?  Federal troops, patriots behind (shipping container) barricades, wave after wave of Federales pouring over the battlements, hand-to-hand combat, the ACLU waving banners?  Wouldn't any disinterested observer have to call this the...

Next War Between the States?  

Stay tuned, America, this could get really good...

*   (NOTE:  "Cripple" is not a pejorative term.  I, The Chuckmeister, being a proud cripple myself, started "Proud Cripples of America" a few years back.  And I'm proud to say that TX' Governor has received my invitation to join.  He hasn't responded yet, but I'm sure he's busy, what with doing O'Biden's job of protecting America from foreign invaders and all, so I'm sure he'll get back to me when The Invasion has been thwarted...)

Schadenfreude...

You'll forgive me I trust for taking inordinate glee at the wailing and gnashing of teeth going on in the more Liberal enclaves.  I'm sort of unevolved like that; I engage in "Schadenfreude"* at every opportunity. 

And so I was anxious to check out the Liberal websites on Wednesday morning to see how they were faring after last night's monumental electoral drubbing.  The poor folks at MSNBC and CNN were looking mighty forlorn, I'd say.  Some no doubt had to seek medical attention, I was thinking, after the "Defcon 4" meltdown they were suffering.  In fact, the opening masthead on MSNBC's website yesterday morning, up there at the very tippy-top, was...

"Glenn Youngkin's win proves White ignorance is a powerful weapon." 

They just don't get it.  Fortunately.

I understand that others of a Conservative nature like me, The Chuckmeister, spent a lot of time on Tuesday watching Election returns not on the "Fair and Balanced" Fox News, but on MSPMS and CNN(LOL).  I moved over to these uber-Liberal enclaves when it became apparent that Youngkin, against all odds, had slam-dunked the Virginia governor's race, and Citiarelli was running even, if not ahead, in New Jersey's.  So I could relax and take a tour of the Far Left cable channels to see how they were handling the news, and, of course, to take joy in their displeasure.  

They weren't dealing with it very well.  I gorged on MSNBC's Nicole Wallace, Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow as they went through the "Five Stages of Grief."**  It was delicious.  Their arms flailing, they each proclaimed that the Virginia Election was "...stolen by white supremacists!"  And "...CRT isn't real!  It isn't being taught in Virginia's schools!"  Of course, had Ms. Reid taken the time to visit Virginia's school system's own website, it clearly states that it not only supports Critical Race Theory, but it lists several publications on the subject it highly recommends for reading.  Had they just taken the time.  Or more likely, had the interest.  Or, perhaps the willingness to consider other points of view...

Oh, pardon me.  I'm sorry!  That was an outrageous thing for me to say!

*        An olde-timey German word that means, "taking pleasure at the misfortune of others."  Yeah, like what I said...

**      Dr. Kubler-Ross' book, the "Five Stages of Grief" details what one goes through following the death of someone close or other major trauma.  They are:  denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  I'd say the fine folks at these two failing cable stations*** are in about State One, or maybe Two.  Doncha' just love this?

***   The October cable channel viewer reports are in:  CNN averaged 626,000 daily viewers in the most important demographic.  One million is considered acceptable.  They came in at 25th.  Right behind the Home and Garden Channel (LOL).

Independents Shall Reign!

It's Election Day, America!  It is in Virginia, at least, and in Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, and dozens of other state and local spots all across the Fruited Plain.  And I mention this because our friends at ABC and NBC and CBS forgot to mention that fact last night!   Not a word!  NBC mentioned how desperately some in Minneapolis are to abolish their police force.  CBS talked a bit about "climate change" and how O'Biden is going to fix it.  And ABC gave a food truck in Austin a full two minutes, but couldn't find time to mention that there's an Election in Virginia today and a certain Democrat gubernatorial candidate is poised to go down in flames.  It's like if they ignore it, it'll go away.  

It's not going away.

And there's another thing I'd like to pass along to my Faithful Readers.  It used to be, and I mean for several decades now, that America's two major political parties could claim just about the same percentage of the electorate as its own.  And those percentages would routinely vary up and down a bit.  The Republicans have most recently claimed about 39%, the Democrats, 41%, and the Independents, those apparently too (willfully) ignorant on the issues, or scared to pick a side, about 20%.

It's been that way forever.  Even the two memorable Independent Party nominees over the past several decades each attracted only about 20% of the popular vote.  So, live with it, right?  Evenly divided electorate, with a smattering of Independents that go back and forth with the wind to clot up the process, and just might elect one candidate or the other.

NO, NO, NO!!!

According to a recent Pew Poll, reality has been turned on its head.  The Pew guys, no right-wing zealots, just told us that we now have 29% Republican, 30% Democrat and...wait for it...

41% Independent!  

All of a sudden, over night, as if by magic, a yuuuuge number of members of each political party have bolted, and the number of Independents has doubled.   Can you say "portent of things to come?"  I can...

The Independents used to sway elections.  They could swing an election either way depending upon the issues or their preferences.  And that was THEN.  Now?  Hoooo boy!  "You betta' fasten your seatbelt, it's gonna' be a bumpy ride."  

Or, if you don't prefer that ancient black and white movie quote, try this one: The Democrats lost 63 seats in the House in the 2010 election,  the first one following his Party's excesses with the Stimulus Plan, and 3 in the Senate.  And that's when they had a 41 member majority.  Their majority now?  

5...

So, the trends are favorable; If we can just gird our loins and prepare for a long onslaught of socialism-light, go forth knowing that the future seems bright.  I'd predict the next Election will send them all packing.  Skulking back to their lairs, banished for a long, long time...

The sane among us can only hope...