The Nut Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

Insanity doesn't run in our family. It gallops.

Let us turn away briefly from the awful news of the day, and instead take a moment to celebrate fathers in time for Father's Day. Specifically my father, although I've never heard a bad word said about your father.

I lost my father 10 years ago, but plenty of colorful memories survive. He was a kind and gentle man, a great husband and father, and the most creative and funniest man I've ever known or hope to know.

He was a gifted writer, an award-winning painter, prolific cartoonist, part-time inventor (with multiple patents, including the one for the yo-yo seen with the bikini babe above), successful entrepreneur, and flamboyant cross-dresser. Okay, he wasn't actually that last one, although he was certainly willing to wear whatever Easter outfit he thought would give others a laugh.

Of the many gifts he bestowed, it is likely that this desire to make others laugh (and a delightfully skewed view of the world) is what has influenced me most. In every way imaginable, I'm my father's son and glad to be so.

So here's a big Hope n' Change cheer not just for my dad, but for all dads who invest their lives and love doing so much for their families.  Best wishes to all for a very happy Father's Day!

POLITICAL PS: I really wanted to give us all a break from politics today, but an additional (and pessimistic) cartoon/commentary squeezed out of me anyway. You can find it immediately below this post - although I won't blame you a bit if you choose to instead focus on the happier topic above.

The Good Old Bad Old Days

No, we're not nostalgic for terror, tragedy, and death. But we were surprised and saddened today to find ourselves nostalgic for an America which actually stood united when attacked...an America we haven't seen since 2001.

Sadly, this is probably the biggest victory achieved by the 9/11 hijackers - ably abetted by too many on the Left. Not the least of whom was Hillary Clinton, who stood on the Senate floor and declared "Bush knew!" about the September 11 attacks and did nothing to stop them.

The hijackers set the wedge...but it took the concerted efforts of many on the Left to follow through with the splitting and fragmenting of our country.

The New York Times (which seems to have forgotten what used to stand at the Ground Zero monument) recently editorialized that the Orlando attack only happened because of...Republicans. There was no mention whatsoever of ISIS or Islam.

It's entirely possible that the terrorists (and we include quite a few domestic politicians and media members in that broad category) may have already won.

Uncharted Terrortory

As additional information comes in about the despicable killer in Orlando, the complexity of the story continues to grow. Was the man a self-hating gay? Was he genuinely radicalized by ISIS, or was he simply in love with the thought of using his religion as an excuse for a killing spree? Did authorities who cleared him from the terror watch list make a clumsy mistake, was there political pressure to take him off the list, or was his blood-soaked rampage entirely unpredictable?

Hope n' Change doesn't know - we're in listening mode right now. But a lot of what we're hearing is extremely disturbing.

In remarks made yesterday, Barack Obama showed far greater anger and passion about the call to use the words "radical Islamic terror" than he exhibited when speaking about the dead and wounded Americans in Orlando. He openly mocked the idea that there was any point or value in putting a name to those who would destroy our nation.

Hillary Clinton, pushed by her Republican opponent, actually voiced the words "radical Islam" in a speech which suggested that, if elected, her anti-terror strategy would be an extension and expansion of the administration's current "Operation Diddly Squat" initiative.

The ACLU blamed the attack on fundamentalist Christians, making us think that the Feds are way overdue in raiding ACLU offices in search of meth labs.

And then there's Donald Trump.

In a speech about the murders on Monday, the presidential wannabee pushed into frightening rhetorical territory. "If we don’t get tough, and if we don’t get smart, and fast, we’re not going to have our country anymore," quoth The Donald. "There will be nothing, absolutely nothing, left."

Well, no. Terror attacks of the type that occurred in Orlando are painful, frightening, and absolutely unacceptable - but they do not pose an existential threat to our country at this point.

And how did this nightmare happen? According to Trump, "we have, just, no intelligence gathering information." Wow - none? Really? Even though this attack wasn't prevented, intelligence agencies had interviewed the perpetrator twice, tailed him, and kept him on a terror watch list as long as was feasible.

The suggestion - and not just from Trump - is that the government should surveil more and be willing to take a person of interest out of circulation before he or she acts. Or might act.  But where do we really want those lines drawn?

In the past 8 years, Conservatives have been routinely referred to (from Obama on down) as hostage takers, terrorists, and violent extremists. Homeland Security suggested that military veterans should be considered potentially dangerous. The IRS made a point of investigating and punishing groups which favored balanced budgets, reduced taxes, Constitutional government, and a preference for legal immigration.  Hillary Clinton is currently shrieking that Conservatives are active and dangerous aggressors in the "war on women."

All of this being the case, ask yourself if you're on someone's political hit list before enthusiastically embracing the idea of preemptive incarceration of American citizens.

Our nation is hurting and angry right now, and the do-nothing "blame America first" coalition of politicians and media members on the Left make Donald Trump's call to action sound appealing. And we'll admit, some of his suggestions make sense (by the law of averages alone, it had to happen eventually). Yes, we need to get tough and smart. And we need to do it fast.

But let us not be stampeded into a genuine existential threat to our freedoms and way of life out of fear, confusion, or deliberate misdirection.

Nightmare

Yesterday, terror returned to the United States in the form of an ISIS-inspired lunatic who (as of this writing) killed 50 people in an Orlando dance club and wounded another 53 before being sent straight to Hell by a policeman's bullet.

The story is coming in a little at a time; confusing, frustrating, and sometimes contradictory bits and pieces of information.

According to the shooter's father, the American-born Muslim's rampage had "nothing to do with religion" but was based on the shooter's rage at having seen two Gay men exchange a kiss in Miami.

According to the shooter himself, who left a 9-1-1 message, it was all about religion. He swore allegiance to ISIS, and shouted "Allahu Akbar" while on his obscene killing spree.

ISIS has claimed responsibility, which strikes Hope n' Change as an excellent reason to burn a message into their black hearts as quickly as possible (surely we have some low-yield nuclear weapons which could get their attention). Not that we expect this president to do so.

In a very brief statement, Barack Hussein Obama tap-danced around the issue of whether or not this was "terror" connected to a "radical group," but was very specific about this being further proof that guns are too easy to obtain (damn that 2nd Amendment!), and that under his leadership we will fight hate with a renewed sense of love for people of every ethnicity, religion, race, and sexual orientation. Which, we're thinking, will be less effective than that nuke we were just mentioning.

This tragic story has all of the elements for a media and political feeding frenzy: Islam, ISIS, guns, Gay rights, election year politics, and more. It will - and should - take up every news cycle in the immediate future.

It is too early to make sense of this (if sense can ever be made of such horrors). Rather, this is a time to grieve for those lost and injured, to be thankful for our law enforcement personnel, and to gather strength and resolve for whatever must be done to redress this evil.