It’s Thursday - nearly there!

Watching the Biden Administration function (their word, not mine) from the Philippines is like witnessing an 18-car pileup in slow motion that I can do nothing to stop.

I know The Donald wasn’t perfect.  But he was a damn sight better than the current occupant of the Oval Office, who’s not really there, even when he’s there.

It’s only been about 150 days since Biden was inaugurated, so let’s pull back the curtain on the last few weeks or so.  If you’d like to whet your appetite before you start reading, just watch the great Thomas Sowell deal with Our Dear Leader back in 1987.

On the Fence With the Border

#BuildTheWall.  It offended some, mostly on the left. It seemed sensible to others, mostly on the right.

Suddenly, it seems sensible to the current administration, which is the most leftist in American history.  In fact, one gets the impression they’d like the border issue to go away altogether.

Everything is political nowadays, but life would be so much better if people understood their history.

When America opened the gates in the late 1800s, it had two fabulous things going for it.

The first thing was an overabundance of land.  The second thing was perhaps the best legal system on the planet.  That is, if you made something on the land you were given, you got to keep the proceeds.

You didn’t need an educated migrant class, as America was still mostly agrarian.

But times have changed, and for the better.

Let’s take Mexico.

Mexico gets loads of flack because their emigrants are front and center of the border issue.

But Mexico is now the 15th largest economy in the world.  Per capita GDP is about $10,000, putting it in a league with Brazil and Turkey.

The issue isn’t “Mexicans.”  The issue is the type of migrant America wants is not the type of migrant that hops a border to enter a country.

It seems the Biden Administration is finally onboard with that.  And Kamala Harris, the US Vice President, will finally grace the Southern border with her presence.

"I, and I haven't been to Europe. And I mean, I don't -- I don't understand the point that you're making," Harris said her ubiquitous laugh to Lester Holt earlier this year when he pressed her about the fact that she hadn't visited the border.

I doubt she’ll do anything while she’s there.  Maybe she’ll tell everyone not to come again.

As for her late arrival, the White House disagrees that they caved into pressure from the Republicans.  Right.

The Voting Rights Bill

VP Harris was also in charge of getting the Voting Rights Bill through the Senate.  But the Senate Republicans successfully blocked it.

This new bill’s aim was to create minimum standards for voting in the US and establish election day as a federal holiday.  It requires all states to offer automatic voter registration and at least 15 days of early voting.

Why you need an 888-page bill to secure those 4 things is beyond me.

As the Vice President of the United States is empowered to preside over Senate deliberations at any time, this was seen as Harris’s job.

(The VP cannot cast a vote unless it’s in the event of a tiebreaker.)

Of course, the Senate Democrats are upset she didn’t do more, while the White House alleges she did all she can.

But enough about Kamala, let’s get to the Big Cheese.

Gun Rights

The Second Amendment, from the day it was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldn’t buy a cannon. [Those who] say the blood of the, the blood of patriots, you know, and all this stuff about how we’re going to have to move against the government.

Well, the tree of liberty is not [watered with] the blood of patriots, what’s happened is that there never been, if you want, if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.  The point is that there’s always been the ability to limit, rationally limit, the type of weapon that can be owned, and who can own it.

Yes, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. said that yesterday.  I don’t care how you feel about guns.  That’s not the way to defuse the situation.

Anyway, there are quite a few Afghans laughing at him.  They’ve kept the US troops mired in that godforsaken country for the best part of two decades with a few slingshots and a rocket launcher.

Social media crushed Biden after the flub.  Here are a few choice tweets, starting with Michael Malice, who’s been on fire lately.

Defund… No... Refund… Police

There are many libertarians who read the Rude and are probably happy to defund the police.

Personally, I’d be a lot happier in a private law society than in the state-sponsored Leviathan we have today.

At the risk of committing the “No True Scotsman” fallacy, I think we agree some sort of protection is necessary.

That’s why doing away with state police forces who’ve had a monopoly on violence, and not replacing them with private police forces, is lunacy.

You may ask, “What’s an example of a private police force?  And who would provide it?”

Fair questions.  Let’s answer them.

In fact, Murray Rothbard once did in his book, For a New Liberty:

The situation would be different if police services were supplied on a free, competitive market. In that case, consumers would pay for whatever degree of protection they wish to purchase. The consumers who just want to see a policeman once in a while would pay less than those who want continuous patrolling, and far less than those who demand 24-hour bodyguard service. On the free market, protection would be supplied in proportion and in whatever way that the consumers wish to pay for it. A drive for efficiency would be insured, as it always is on the market, by the compulsion to make profits and avoid losses, and thereby to keep costs low and to serve the highest demands of the consumers. Any police firm that suffers from gross inefficiency would soon go bankrupt and disappear.

Hollywood stars have their bodyguards.  Private subdivisions have their private security officers.

The City of Atlanta is proposing a private police force in Buckhead after that horrible shooting of a 7-year-old girl.

Now is the perfect time to explore this genuine solution.  “Defund the Police” is a brainless rant that creates more problems.

Just ask Portland.

Portland Begs for Tourists

How embarrassing for Portland.

I’ve never been there, and I’ll probably never go.  Not my kind of people.

But this takes the cake.

After months of “revolution” and “rebellion,” Portland has - surprise, surprise - no tourism revenue.

Who the hell wants to visit right now?

Here’s the ad the city took out in newspapers around the country:

Townhall’s Julio Rosas said, “I only plan on going to Portland for riot coverage.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it?

I’ll leave you with one final tweet that had me laughing this morning:

Have a great day ahead! 

All the best,

Sean