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Two different American peoples, two different languages

Conservatives are treated to a daily barrage of “Can You Believe This Person” reports about awful responses to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. These reports emphasize the worst of the worst, which is always a statistical outlier, in order to get more clicks and keep the audience whipped up. I do admit to being surprised at how much open mockery and sneering has been done towards Charlie Kirk, his wife, his friends and followers, as well as the steady flow of outright lies and hate.

These are not appropriate or responsible responses to a political murder. Especially of someone so young and so gentle.

This makes me curious, because in my innocent naivete I cannot imagine so many big-hearted Americans deliberately lying about or hating someone they do not know. The very same people who openly pride themselves on being open minded, kind, nice, tolerant, factually correct… right? Their professed qualities seem to be starkly contrasted and at odds with their lousy behavior in this instance.

Made me wonder How are American liberals experiencing Charlie Kirk’s murder?

Since Kirk’s 9/10/25 assassination, I have spent a fair amount of time with liberals in two locations. Generally, they are either unfazed or not thinking about the murder. It does not appear to be foremost in their minds one way or another, unlike conservatives, who are understandably talking about it 24/7. Liberals are not socially talking about the murder in any way that I can see. If the subject is raised, it catches them by surprise, and the moment is uncomfortable.

One half day was spent with a gathering of people from around south central PA, the day after Charlie’s murder; the other was three days with liberals from all around the country in southwest PA last week.

These people did not watch Charlie as fans, or listen to him out of curiosity, as far as I can tell. If they did, their response was negative and they filed it away with the “not this guy” stuff. No one I encountered said anything like “Yeah, I have watched some of his videos and I like his style but disagree with his policies” or anything like this.

My impression, and that is all I am reporting here, is that the opinions of liberals I was around run the gamut from Charlie Kirk earned his murder because he said things Leftists strongly disagree with, to something like There are bad apples and violent radicals everywhere and on both sides; today it was Charlie Kirk, tomorrow it will be a liberal leader who gets whacked.

Again, my impression only, but liberals are experiencing this political assassination very differently than conservatives. This is obvious to anyone who reads the news at any site, but I had to see it for myself to believe it.

More broadly, it looks like there are two different languages being spoken in America, one language spoken by one political side and the other language by the other political side. It’s why firing late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel was important to both sides: The Left needs these big sources of partisan disinformation like Kimmel to hold onto their inaccurate political narrative, and the Right wants to break the Left’s stranglehold on disinformation flow, so that Leftists are forced to seek out new sources and, hopefully, encounter new information.

But the Left seems to be like crack addicts over this information sourcing thing. They really really do not like to give up what they like, nor do they want to hear anything different than what they are comfortable with. Thus, they are mad as hell about Kimmel being fired for what he said, but they are not all that upset about Charlie Kirk being murdered for what he said.

One thing I saw (again, it is the same as I have observed over my past lifetime) past two weeks was liberals get their information second hand. Happily. A newspaper or tv channel they trust or like tells them something, and they accept it.

Alternatively, dueling podcasts and websites are huge on the political right. The political Right’s information ecosystem is wildly diverse and raucous. Because there is so much source competition and diversity on the right, so much hands-on/ eyes-on/ street-level reporting, so much direct fact checking or argumentation, the political Right thinks it has better answers to political questions. There is real dynamic debate on the right, and it attracts people comfortable with debate.

On the other hand, leftists seem allergic to debate or questioning their narrative. “Fact checking” by legacy media only started when the truth started coming out from new media sources, like Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit, and the legacy media needed a symbolic way of stopping it. Legacy media fact checks are just as ridiculous and innaccurate as the original spin-narrative they put out in the first place.

Liberals formed BlueSky as an alternative to Twitter/X, not because they were being censored on Twitter/X, but because conservatives were not being censored there. Liberals fled from inconvenient truths and uncomfortable facts on that platform, and have done all they can to suppress, censor, and chase off different points of view on every other platform, too. Is it any wonder, then, that they seem generally unaffected by Charlie Kirk’s assassination?

So, Charlie’s murder is not on the Democrat leftist radar except as a distant, cold data point. Not an emotional thing. He did not speak to them or for them. He scared them.

Said a friend to me, “Which is why even those Liberals who know not to comment about Charlie’s murder really dont care about it. Most have been completely lied to about him, and the far leftists who are the ones lying about him are happy. Godless people dont care about this type of thing.”

That is one way of describing it. I don’t disagree, and I also believe these leftist people have been heavily programmed for a very long time. They think they are godly. To them, God is pacifism, appeasement, open borders and endless spending on the government credit card. They believe that Americans who do not share their policy views are mean, heartless, unkind, un-Christian, etc.

Two really different languages are being spoken, and neither side understands the other. And while the political right has had to learn the language of the left over the past fifty years (due to not controlling the means of information production), the left has never had to learn the language of the right.

Obviously the left is resistant to hearing our point of view. They do all possible to censor, suppress, punish, and stamp out ideas contrary to their own. They do not want to think about this huge political assassination, except in ways that are strategic. Like, how can they beat it, and defeat it, so they don’t lose more power.

America, you are in big trouble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese swords — caveat emptor

Taking breathers from political screeds may be rare here, but this is an oddball necessity. One cannot see bloodthirsty fakery and sit silently.

To wit: A lot of guys collect old militaria. Swords, bayonets, guns, helmets, etc. Cool stuff. Inspiring. Evocative of sacrifice and bravery.

Most of this rusty old junk is tough to fake, and even more to the point, pointless to fake, as the rip-off scheme costs more than the item is worth.

Except in the world of old Japanese swords.

The iconic katana and wakizashi have been sought after for decades as both extremely appealing for a red-blooded man to look at, and as artwork; refined craftsmanship that’ll easily cut off an arm. What normal guy wouldn’t be attracted to such art?!

For the past ten years or a bit more, a certain well known, popular, big auction site on the internet has been filled with many obviously faked Japanese swords and daggers. There were and still are some for sale in the past week and presently, hawked as “gendaito” in shingunto mounts. These would be valuable hand-made art blades holstered in relatively rudimentary war-time (WWII) scabbards that saw service in the field. If they were actually old and authentic.

But these are not authentic, historic blades. They were made recently and are being sold as old.

So sad to see such obviously faked signatures, and faked blades, set into authentic WWII mounts and carriers, with blazingly brand-new shirasaya! It’s an obviously winning combination, as buyers pay thousands of dollars for something worth a few hundred at most.

C’mon guys. Use your heads. Do your research. How many gendaito blades really made it out, after WWII? So many that individual sellers seem to constantly, endlessly pull them out like white rabbits from black hats?

Alarm bells not going off?

If your hearts weren’t telling you Yes, your eyes would be telling you “FAKE!”

Run. Run away fast from these too-good-to-be-true bargains with new handles, purposeful minor scuffs, and signatures so clearly punched in by a modern Chinaman, not a Nipon-To maker sitting cross legged eighty years ago.

If nothing else, demand NHTK papers with each sword. Or consider your investment wasted. Sorry to say.

This Public Service Announcement has been brought to you by a fellow dude.

Americans awaken from stupor, kick butt

Nationally, Tuesday night was a day to remember for many years.

The American people awakened from a stupor.

Obama was rejected by the voters, as one might expect. He has been an utter catastrophe.

Normal people are running Congress now.

My choice for presidential candidates in 2016 are Dr. Ben Carson and Col. Allen West. Look for them. Support them; they’re awesome, real, authentic Americans.

Here in Pennsylvania, a decent man with generally good policies but with the interpersonal skills of a walrus went down to defeat. It goes to show that communication is the heart of politics and government.

While Tom Corbett may ultimately be responsible for his own loss, it was the kids, the kids!, running the Governor’s office who really dragged him down. Jen, Patrick, Luke. Nan. The list of ordained, arrogant, know-it-all but failed insiders is as long as my arm. Please, people, go get jobs in the private sector. Please stop driving our party over a cliff.

The Pennsylvania Republican Party needs a major overhaul. New leadership. Obviously. So let’s get that done, pronto, and get back in the game with a winning team.

Happy New Year, Everyone

Although 99% of my subject matter is usually politics in some form or another, there are times when words should fail and feelings must dominate. Thus it has been these past eight days, consumed with irreplaceable family time, visits with dear friends and distant family, and with no time or stomach for debate or bickering. Charles Dickens challenged his readers to find some time to respect and love one another, to take a break from the mundane and instead exalt the simple pleasures of life. And unless a person is a Scrooge, how can we not happily embrace this time of the year, and but smile at those around us?
Happy New Year, everyone. May your new year be successful, pleasant, and filled with the love and respect of those you care about. Here’s to you…