Odds and ends number 117

Since I'm using the concept from monoblogue, I'm keeping the numbering system, too. Here are thinner slices of bloggy goodness.

A sure sign of spring. I took this at our old house just about this time of year back in 2018. Must have been global warming.

If this keeps up I’m going to end up making these odds and ends a monthly thing. I believe it’s been about a month but things that are interesting to me keep coming up.

Normally I do these for a Saturday, but in this case I lead off with a time-sensitive item.

A couple upcoming events

Back in the day I used to do an election calendar - when I found out a candidate was holding an event, I would add it and post about weekly during the campaign season.

In this case, I’m choosing to promote one single-time event and an upcoming class that may be of interest.

The single event is a rally being held by COS Delaware on Tuesday, March 5 to remind our legislators that there’s still a resolution regarding a Convention of States languishing in the Delaware General Assembly. SCR100 has been on the table since shortly before the DGA convened for the summer last year and still awaits resolution. Will the Democrats simply choose the gutless move and run out the clock, knowing a vote is a record of support or opposition?

(One thing I didn’t know: a COS resolution was also introduced in 2015, but was stricken later that session.)

Another thing I’ve written about on occasion is the Institute on the Constitution, and it turns out they have an upcoming class in Seaford beginning March 7. (Bummer: it’s a seven-week course on a Thursday and that evening is no bueno in the spring and summer for me.) But the good news is that I can also take a free online course, and I may indeed do that this summer.

More and more gun stats

You know, I’ve often linked to articles from the seemingly unlikely source of ammo.com on these odds and ends posts. They’ve been busy beavers over there when they’re not slinging bullets, doing a lot of research on gun-related issues - most recently concealed carry, accidental shootings, and a good lengthy treatise on gun laws over the years.

It’s been said that one can slice and dice statistics in any manner to suit any purpose. But people are more than statistics, and all people have a natural, God-given right to defend themselves with the tools they have at hand. A gun has become the weapon of choice to equalize the odds between a large, hulking attacker and small, weak would-be victim. No longer did a small man or woman have to hope he or she would have to get off a lucky shot with a rock like David did against Goliath.

Yet with rights come responsibility, and that’s where we’ve fallen short. Certainly a gun is a tool with a purpose, but those who lack the moral training and value for life are less qualified to own a weapon - yet they’re still allowed to by both our Constitutional and God-given rights. We wouldn’t be having most of our issues if people had a sound moral background, and that’s the part we’ve been lacking. Something to do with Proverbs 22:6?

Taking the red pill

It used to be called Conservative Treehouse, but the website now known as

America First News

(much to my chagrin, because I subscribe to another Substack called

America First Report

and it can be confusing) has what some may call a uniquely populist perspective.

But the recent visit to Russia by Tucker Carlson seems to have brought them even further into their collective skepticism. One recent piece by Sundance talked about why things are so cheap in Russia, but it didn’t make as much sense to me until I read an earlier piece about how Russian sanctions are the precursor to creating a central bank digital currency.

One thing I like about Substack is the additional perspective. This thought by Sundance was worth sharing:

I am not smarter than the U.S. intelligence community, so what does this mean?

This means the U.S. government knows exactly why the Russian economy is thriving, the Ruble is stronger against the dollar, and there is nothing -not one thing — visible or different on the ground in Russia that an ordinary Russian citizen would notice.  In fact, the Russian economy is doing fine, better than before the Ukraine conflict initiated, albeit with new financial industries created by the sanctions.

The Western sanctions created a financial wall around the USA, not to keep Russia out, but to keep us in. The Western sanction regime, the financial mechanisms they created and authorized, creates the control gate that leads to a U.S. digital currency. In essence, the Ukraine war response justified a system that creates a digital dollar. I will have more, but for now just think about this aspect.

We all know Russia is a one-man dictatorship, with the imprimatur of a legislative body that’s composed of one party. But a government which has always had the Constitutional authority to coin money for general circulation shouldn’t have the level of control implied in this article. It’s our money, not theirs (despite what the IRS may believe.)

This also brings up the subject of the blank check we’ve seemed to have for Ukraine, which is itself lurching into dictatorship as the presidential election was cancelled until martial law ends. (Bear in mind we held elections in the midst of our War Between the States and during each World War.) Rather than throw money down a rathole, isn’t it time we demand negotiations? We demand a cease fire in Gaza - and may well yet browbeat Israel into giving one - but where is the call for peace in that part of the world?

Time to bag the ban

If you live in a blue state or a liberal-leaning area of a red state, chances are you are living under a ban on plastic bags. Going to the grocery store now involves either getting a paper bag that’s prone to tear apart, bringing your own cloth bags from home and risking cross-contamination, or buying bags from the store.

But there’s a problem. While there’s not as many plastic bags floating around the highways and byways of these areas, there’s still more plastic than ever making it to landfills. How is that possible? Jane Brady of A Better Delaware explains:

The purported purpose of this social engineering experiment was to save the environment. A recent study calls the success of that objective into question. Fredonia Custom Research examined the impact of the single use plastic bag ban in New Jersey. It found that, since the ban was implemented, actual plastic consumption went up 300%. Additionally, the most utilized of these reusable bags are comprised of woven polypropylene, which is not widely recycled in the United States, and they are not usually made of recycled materials. Their use has been accelerated by escalating availability of delivery services for groceries and other items, which also are banned from single use containers. And, it turns out the increased production of woven polypropylene results in a significant increase in greenhouse gases.

So these fancy-schmancy bags they’re selling you are worse for the environment!

Here’s the thing about these plastic bags, which I still occasionally receive when shopping in certain stores in particular areas. I use them as lunch bags, mini-garbage bags, and occasionally item collectors. They have more of a life than just carrying groceries. Now when I was a teenager paper bags had a use because you could start the fire in the burn barrel with them, but most places don’t allow that anymore.

I guess the state would rather waste resources to make a point. The reason we got plastic film bags in the first place was to save the forests by using fewer paper bags, but I guess that’s out the window now.

Shots fired regarding the border

A couple weeks ago I resumed my discussion of Campaign 2024 by talking about the U.S. Senate seat. Maybe it’s bearing fruit because GOP candidate Eric Hansen is taking some of the money he loaned himself and making a good point on a popular hot topic:

My Democrat opponent supported turning Delaware into a sanctuary state. She said so during her 2016 campaign. In fact, she even went so far as to call policies designed to crack down on illegal immigration as “hateful, racist, and discriminatory.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe that trying to reduce the record number of illegal border crossings is “hateful.” I support legal immigration 100% and believe a strong, diverse population is good for the country! But the reality is that we simply cannot handle the record number of migrants illegally crossing our border every single day - especially when we know record amount of fentanyl brought by cartels and human traffickers are taking advantage of the lawlessness.

It’s worth pointing out to readers that our slice of Delaware has been a magnet for illegal immigration for years - the Chamber of Commerce types who run our local poultry industry like it that way. So I can see the “they just want to work and make a better life for themselves” argument; however, we have work visas that can be tailored for the purpose. Unfortunately, what the Biden administration has done is substituted “asylum” for an orderly system, and Lord knows who’s coming in with what intents.

But you can see the Reagan 80% and Buckley Rule at work here as Hansen talks about a “strong, diverse population.” I’m cool with people celebrating their heritage, since I’m proudly of German and Polish stock myself. But my ancestors quickly assimilated themselves, and that’s what seems to be missing from this crop of aliens who casually break the laws.

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So let’s see what happens in another month and find out if I have more goodies in my e-mail and beyond.

Until my next edition of odds and ends, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.