I come to you today bearing only good news. I’m back from Illinois, I had a great Father’s Day, and I’m in a great mood. So today we’re going to stay on the sunny side.
In political news, Democrats nationwide scrape together $24 million, and then take a vote on what to do with it. While many of them voted for
Option A – Put it in a big pile, light it on fire, and dance around it wearing Guy Fawkes masks and Antifa hoodies while screaming obscenities aimed at Trump – the narrow winner was
Option B. Which was to donate it to the Georgia House campaign of 15-year-old Jon “Pajama Boy” Ossoff, a ne’er-do-well from two counties over.
And he wisely used it to win… (trumpet fanfare)… a moral victory… (sad trombone fanfare).
By which I mean, he lost. In the most expensive House campaign ever. In a bellwether contest to demonstrate that Trump is done for. In a harbinger of the glorious leftist victories to come.
He lost.
I know, the lefties are already counter-spinning. This was a red district, and the GOP spent a lot too, and Handel under-performed the previous GOP seat holder. And the sun got in our eyes, and the dog ate our homework, and the Russians did it.
You’re probably right. You just need to double-down on the Trump hatred, and things are bound to turn around for you. But there have been 4 congressional elections since November, and you guys are 4-0 in moral victories. And 0-4 in actual victories.
That gigantic cash bonfire idea is looking pret-ty good about now, isn’t it?
In happy international news, an ISIS chief cleric who called himself “the Grand Mufti” – probably because “Grand Kleagle” and “Exalted Cyclops” were already taken, and his real name was Turki al-Bin’ali – caught an air strike in the face on May 31st.
I would like to renew my call that instead of a respectful moment of silence, we greet this kind of news with a few moments of raucous and celebratory noise. I’m recommending a garage band playing the first 45 seconds of the Beastie Boy’s Sabotage, followed by the open to Stranglehold, followed by my dad’s 1972 Gran Torino with the pedal floored, and then a wood chipper working through a cedar tree.
(“Hey Martin,” I can almost hear you asking, “What dad joke did you tell your 15-year-old-daughter about this international incident that made her roll her eyes and slap her forehead and mimic the dry heaves?” Since you asked so nicely: That’s one Turki who didn’t make it until Thanksgiving. Boom!)
One news source called al-Bin’Kaboom “one of the most visible ISIS preachers.” Am I the only one who sees the irony in a group who forces their women to wear tarps in public being done in because their Grand Mufti was too visible?
I am? Fine. I get it. Everyone’s sooooo much more mature than me. Moving on…
Crime stories don’t usually make me happy, but this week two of them did. The first took place in Tennessee, where two felons and alleged (HA!) murderers who escaped from prison had exchanged gunfire with cops and were engaged in a high speed chase. A local guy who lives in the area with his wife and daughter got a warning phone call from a neighbor. He did several wise things: he “prayed like I had never prayed before,” and he “load[ed] every weapon I could,” and shortly afterwards he saw the criminals climb over a barbed wire fence onto his property.
They saw him, and before he could even show them the shotgun that he had with him, they both laid down on his driveway and surrendered. One possible reason for their action can be gleaned from the statement of a local resident: “When you mess around out here in the county, most of us here have carry permits and carry (weapons). And it’s our job to protect our families and our homes.” If that statement doesn’t warm your heart, there’s something wrong with you.
(For comparison, consider a typical quote from a Chicago or New York resident in similar circumstances: “We huddled in our living room defenseless, because the leftists who run our lives have decided that we shouldn’t be able to defend ourselves. Thanks, Mayors Emanuel and De Blasio!”)
When I read the story online, everybody in it was straight out of central casting: young Jimmy Stewart-esque gun owning father, pretty wife, adorable 3-year old daughter. The convicts were what you’d expect: an older, mopey looking one who doesn’t have “Born to Lose” tattooed on his forehead but looks like he should, and a younger one who does in fact have prominent facial tattoos – including a sweet set of devil horns that just screams out, “Gainful employment? No thank you!”
I love every bit of this story, but my two favorite details are:
- The dad loaded “every weapon he could.” Does that imply that of course he has more than one weapon available to him? You’re damn right it does.
- His name, which I’m not making up, is Patrick Hale. Obviously the bloodlines of Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale have merged to produce… this badass guy.
In the second good news criminal story, two model citizens had broken into a woman’s home in Georgia, and were in the process of stealing her tv, when she surprised them by being home, and by yelling at them. They fled the scene, but while doing so, Genius #1, who was in the lead, fired back in the direction of the house. Genius #2 was following him, and graciously stopped the bullet. With his head.
You’ll be shocked to learn that he was a 41-year old career criminal who was out on parole. Maybe he’d been inside for so long that he didn’t realize that you can buy a tv now for $27 at Wal-Mart. Any tv worth stealing would be so big you’d need a forklift to move it.
Also, if you were driving the tv away with a forklift, the bullet that your Mensa-member buddy fired your way might have struck the forklift. Instead of your defective forehead.
Quote of the story goes to the local lawman, Sheriff Buford T. Obvious: “I’d much rather see one burglar shoot another burglar than an innocent homeowner.”
In a media story that threatened to intrude on my good mood, I heard that Reza Aslan was fired by CNN. The headline that I saw said, “Aslan fired by CNN over vulgar anti-Trump tweet.”
Of course, my first thought was, “Why would a magnificent lion/Christ figure be writing vulgar anti-Trump tweets?”
My second thought was, “Why would a magnificent lion/Christ figure work for CNN?”
Then I read the story, and found out that it was Reza Aslan, and that he is an angry, angry little man. The story is still amazing though: would you have believed that CNN would fire someone over vulgarity directed at Trump? How is there still anyone on the air over there?
On a final, personal note, my wife got me a present for Father’s Day.
Before you can ask if it was a man romper, or a little scrunchy thing I could use to give myself a man bun, or a “Now You’ve Pi**ed Ossoff” bumper sticker, I rhetorically slap you. (Though the bumper sticker would have been cool. I thought of it weeks ago as a slogan for the Dems who were supporting Pajama Boy. And I kept it to myself. HA!)
No, my wife gave me… drumroll…a mug with a picture of Mad Dog Mattis on it, with the question, “What keeps you awake at night?” at the top, and his answer below: “Nothing. I keep other people awake at night.” I love looking at that mug first thing every morning.
It’s true that being a good spouse is not a competition. But somehow, my wife is winning anyway.
Martin Simpson 