Definition of Opinion:  A belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof.

Please be respectful to others with differing opinions. 

Dennis Moran

I GIVE UP ......... I'M DONE

Unable to get others involved in other events and share their feelings... I will keep my views to myself.

I have enjoyed many of the thoughts about records and what going on in the world.

So if your Conservative or Liberal; I pray that our country will end up in the middle.

Dennis

Greg Watkins

Mike Lorts

Greg,

How do you explain "a well armed militia ". Would that be The Proud Boys and The Oath Keepers?

Bill RIHS

Dennis, don't leave us. I enjoyed and agree with much of what you have to say. ,enjoyed you humor including your years a Catholic school, funny stuff for me. That experience is very different than mine. We are just focus on our lack of trust and beliefs in our government to do their jobs with integrity, honesty the values that this country use to stand for.

Bill RIHS

Lorts, No it's your antifa, and Black Lives Matter. They have proven their values and willingness to distroy property and kill people, without firearms? Do Not give me that militia bull shit Argument.

Mike Lorts

Bill,

I'm not aware that BLM have ever brandished firearms or killed anyone. Please enlighten me.

Frank Wiley

A comment was made that, (most Military experts say that if we got in a war with China we would win).  Yesterday being the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war reminds me that the Military experts said the same thing about Vietnam!!  By the way Patty, thanks for the remembrance on the "Home Page"!!  There was a guy In Baltimore that was shot to death by a BLM person while trying to protect his store from being burned.  Dennis, I agree with Bill!!

Patty Meyers (Anderson)

We spend time in Australia and New Zealand and have spoken to quite a few of them on many occasions.  It seems they are the ones to bring up the second amendment and how we view it.  Not one of them have ever said they liked their gun laws, quite the contrary, they hate it.  If someone is going to harm others, they will find a way to do it.

I am not into guns, I don't hunt, I don't shoot but I have also never seen a gun walk into a room an shoot anyone.

Michael Wetzel

Mike L.,

You need to revisit the post I installed regarding an Australian Police Officer's thoughs on their gun laws. He stated how their crooks kept their weapons, and their crime rates skyrocketed, since only the good guy were stupid enough to turn in their weapons...Several retired Generals have stated recently, that if the US were to go to war with China, that the Chinese would own us in short order..........

DeWitt Bacon

Great comment, Patty.

There has always been, and will probably always be, disagreement over the second amendment's wording. The Supreme Court last ruled on this in 2010. Of course, now, we have a President who believes he can ignore the Supreme Court whenever it suits him. Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers #29, describing the establishment of a militia and its powers and authorities.  This is what we call today, The National Guard. Hamilton goes into a lengthy explanation of how it would be formed and regulated and explains some of the pitfalls there can be within it. But NOWHERE IN HIS WRITING OR IN THE SECOND AMENDMENT does it disallow private ownership of firearms. Our gun laws today state that felons like Hunter Biden cannot own firearms, but he got one anyway. Remember the old meme, "WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS." That is true, and with the banning of firearms, innocent people will have no way of protecting themselves from them.

Greg Watkins

Mike Lorts

Recent polling shows that between 85-90% of Australian people are happy with the 1996 gun law. Not only did mass shootings are almost nonexistent but overall gun violence went down 50%. Take emotions away, how do you argue with the numbers. I don't dispute that both Patty and Mike W spoke with Australians that weren't happy with the law. Obviously they are part of the 10-15%.

Mike Lorts

If I were an Australian and had the choice between the current 1996 gun law and changing to the US model of gun ownership, which would I choose. Australians have an extremely rare mass shooting and the US has 1-2 mass shootings a week. Australian parents don't have the anxiety whether their children will be a victim in the next school shooting. Seems like an easy choice.

Michael Kelly

With the recent Christian School Shooting once again for the umpteenth time we must here the buzzing like so many flies of democrats looking for a way to paint a Transgender misfit with murderous intentions as somehow  a Victim. Why? Politics, always politics, because no doubt, the choices made by the Victim are somehow to blame on gun owners. We are all expected to pat the miscreant's head, or her Quet Room buddies heads and say Everything Gonna Be Okay when its obviously Not. She/He was not a Victim of our Mysogynistic Evil  People Society who shouldn't own any Guns, No Instead it's Facts that matter -------The person was seriously mentally ill, and should have been treated as such and locked up and received some Anger Management Training but because of her/his status, this whole subject will be avoided and we will have to endure more ranting and raving from the bumbler in chief about how Evil guns are. The Trans blamers claim that recent Legislation has glutted our national scene with mean thngs that hurt Trans types. I've never walked into a Restaurant, or Ice Cream Store, or Barbershop, or gotten on a Bus or Train or Jet, which said "TRANS PEOPLE NOT ALLOWED" In fact, I never knew what a Trans person was until a Friend told me that the word "Trans" had nothing to do with the country of Thailand. Thats when I discovered I was misspelling a very common last name for Thailandnese who have the last name of "Trahn" Sorry all you Trahndites.

Jim Coats

A couple of days ago, another horrendous attack was perpetrated on a school.  You know what the results were and you know who did it.  Mr. Lorts chastized me for not being sympathetic enough before I predicted that Biden, et al would use this as another gun control issue.  I pointed out where Mr. Lorts was wrong (see my #9779), but I received no mea culpa.  That's OK.  You never hear many from far left wingers.  And, of course, Biden and the left did screech about gun control.  That's not why I'm here, but you may see how this fits below into AMERICA, 2023. 

Violence every day somewhere in America.  It's always horrific, but sometimes it's worse (if you're directly impacted) than others, like at the school the other day.

Are there commonalities in the US regarding the violence and death caused by extreme bullying, by beating with fists, by pushing people onto subway tracks, by poisoning, by running people down with cars, by using knives, hatchets and machetes...and by using guns?  Absolutely there are.

The movement away from a belief in some Higher Power.  God is being pushed further and further aside.

Undiagnosed/untreated mental health conditions.  It appears we just saw evidence of this with the shooter at the school in Memphis.

Thousands of homeless, including veterans.

Illegal aliens pouring into our country and being allowed to decimate our economy, medical and educational systems.

The lack of consequences for criminal, unethical, or bad behavior by people of all ages.  Does D.A. Alvin Bragg come to mind?  

The disdain for heterosexual, two parent family life.

The lack of interest in marriage, in work, in education, in legal success..... even justice.

The need to point blame instead of taking personal responsibility.

The lack of tolerance, almost exclusively on the part of progressives.

The demonization of law enforcement by the left, creating an unjustified fear of police, particularly among blacks and young people.

The dumbing down of America through the teaching of critical race theory (black victims vs. white oppressors) in all its variations and the emphasis on pronouns and sexual identity instead of reading, writing and arithmetic.

The relentless liberal push to gain more economic, political, and social control over people by creating constant fear of everything - nuclear war, pandemics, and the end of the earth (climate change), "white privilege", Christianity, truth and, once again, justice for all.

The willingness to give up personal freedom in order to be taken care of by big government?

Recognize any of this??  It's the battle we're in right now and it is the battle for our freedom and our lives, the lives of our progeny and the very life of our country.

And to cap it off, a Wall Street journal poll conducted 3/1 - 3/13.....THE IMPORTANCE OF PATRIOTISM -  In 1998, 70% of those polled thought patriotism was important.  In 2023, that percentage is now 38%.  That's where we are and where we're headed.  All we can do is VOTE the far left and progressives OUT if we hope to salvage "our" nation.

SECURE THE BORDER!!  AMERICA FIRST!!  ENFORCE THE LAW!!  FOLLOW THE MONEY!!  ALL LIVES MATTER!!

P.S.  We saw dirty, apparently homeless panhandlers come into Chick-fil-A on Mayo Blvd. yesterday and leave with what appeared to be large bags of food.  I didn't ask, but it appears that Chick-fil-A is walking the walk and not just talking the talk.  Good for them.

Frank Wiley

Lyin Biden keeps telling us that our relationship with the world is so much better with him than Trump.  Saudi Arabia and now Brazil have made deals with China to not use the U.S. Dollar as their main trading currency.  In addition part of the Brazil deal is for China to drill for oil there and also build refineries.  I want to ask the Trump advocates something?  If Trump gets the nomination, will the Bush Republicans vote for him?  They didn't last time and I don't think they will this time.  We are going to have to get EVERY vote and I'm not sure we can win with Trump.  New Subject--The Democrats are O.K. with a "New World Order".  What these MORONS don't understand is that  what they will get is a "China World Order"!!   NewSubject---Our Interior Secretary is a Art Major.  But it's O.K. "BECAUSE" she's a Native American.  Yesterday, under oath, she was asked a question about why, when we have virtually all the resources in the U.S. to supply rare earth materials for the Electric Vehicle Industry we are buying them somewhere else and why she wasn't approving permits from OUR American Mining Companies.  She basically had no answer!!  I feel good though because she's going to look into it.  NOT!!!!!!!

Mike Lorts

Jim,

Where was your empathy for the victims in your post? You just said that you proved me wrong and you we're waiting for a mea copa.

Jim Coats

Lorts.  That's all you've got?  That was your rebuttal?  I might renew my suggestion that you move to Australia.

Frank Wiley

Damn, Jim and Lorts, I was posting while you were posting but you got in first.

Mike Lorts

It was discovered that sugar caused cancer. The public was aware but refused to give up soft drinks, candy, booze. The rally cry for the sugar advocates was "sugar doesn't kill people, it's what people do with sugar that kills people ". Anti-sugar groups tried to get the federal government to ban sugar but the sugar lobby was too strong. The people of Australia realized that by banning sugar they could save thousands of lives so they gathered enough support to pass a national ban on sugar. Companies and their employees that processed sugar were given financial support to transition to another business. As decades went by Australia found their cancer rate plummeted. Australia proved that by eliminating sugar from everyone's diet saved lifes. Anti-sugar advocates continued to use Australia as an example in hopes that the U.S. would finally get the ban. The sugar lobby spent millions to convince US citizens they had a right to consume as much sugar as they desired. When presented with The Australian example numerous times and pro sugar people had no rebuttal to those facts they finally out of desperation said to the anti sugar people, "why don't you just move to Australia".

Jim Coats

Lorts. Why don't you?  You obviously have so much disdain for Biden's America, why don't you GTFOD?

Mike Lorts

Jim, your reply is as expected and makes my point.

Frank Wiley

I have a Rotary Friend who is a Forensic Accountant and WAS retired.  During the S & L Crisis he and his employees would go into S&L's and Banks on a Friday and take them over while firing all the Management and sending the other employees home for the weekend while he and his team go through the computers.  The employees of the institution were instructed to return on Monday.  He shut down 12 institutions in the Scottsdale/ Phoenix area.  Last Wednesday he was contacted by the Feds and was asked if he would come out of retirement and be on standby to take any action necessary.  He agreed to help.  He gets paid big bucks to shut down a bank.  On Friday he was asked if he would come to New York.  He agreed to go.  On Saturday morning he received a FedX Package with his Airline Ticket, and his 4-star Hotel Reservation.  He got to New York City Monday afternoon and was met at his hotel where he was given keys to his office in the Empire State Building and the names of the people on his team.  On Tuesday morning he and his team got together at his new office.  I'm anxious to see if there will be an announcement of bank shutdown this Friday or Saturday.

DeWitt Bacon

Frank. Secretary of Interior, Art Major. It is just one of many left-wing Department heads that give that overused statement. I have been watching as much of the House and Senate hearings as I have time for, and I see this over and over again. It seems these people like Garland, Mayorkas Wray, and others don't know what is happening in their departments. "I'll have to look into that and get back to you"  seems to be the preferred response. And, of course, they never do. These people are either ignorant or lying. I choose the latter.

Mike L. Your 'Sweet & Sour' sugar comment is without merit. (For you lefties, that means it's Bull S**t.) Sure, Gun control may reduce GUN crimes by a certain amount, but, of course, criminals will still have guns. How about crimes in general in Australia, such as murders by other means? Anyone predisposed to commit murder will find other ways, such as those mentioned by me and others. I like to watch reruns of Forensic Files. I see that poisoning or Blunt force trauma are preferred alternatives. And none of this has anything to do with SUGAR!

Jim Coats

Nine members of the Army 101st Airborne Division (The Screaming Eagles) were killed last night on a night-vision training mission while flying Blackhawk helicopters.  Night vision flying is extremely dangerous.  My heart goes out to the soldiers and their families.  It hits particularly close because my son is a Blackhawk pilot in the Army.  From what I hear, the two aircraft collided and once that happens, it's usually over.