Are conservatives going to start shooting people?

The Beltway Right is defending so-called “assault weapons” because they are the final check on government repression. After Alex Jones’s typically bombastic performance on Piers Morgan, Breitbart.com contributor and controlled opposition Ben Shapiro appeared to play the “reasonable conservative” across from the C-list celebrity hacker. He argued that the American people need AR-15s because they provide a concrete way to resist the state. Piers Morgan was of course indignant, arguing that the military could easily kill any Americans that dared oppose them.

Let’s leave aside the obvious conclusion that the likes of Piers Morgan are fantasizing about the military mowing down conservatives. We already know that progressivism has grown to love the police state. What is more interesting is even the simpering castrati of the Beltway have taken a break from denouncing the “black genocide” of abortion, condemning Nazis like Chuck Hagel, and urging more immigration to indulge in their own dreams of righteous violence.

They are, after all, correct—the Second Amendment, is, as they say, not about deer hunting. As America’s military is well into year 11 of the War in Afghanistan against illiterate tribesman armed with antiquated weapons, the likes of Shapiro seem to have a better grasp on the potential of insurgency and guerrilla warfare than Field Marshal Morgan.

That said, even though they’re right, what are conservatives really saying here? Let’s spell it out. Resisting government tyranny with rifles means that Americans will someday shoot the servants of the state when some line is crossed. This means killing police officers, soldiers, security personnel, and, presumably, politicians. Forget euphemism: are conservatives willing to say what they are actually proposing?

Of course, a typical American conservative would protest that he’s not saying we should shoot people now, but at some future point when a line is crossed. Some of my more dedicated libertarian colleagues are fond of saying that “we are at that awkward point where it is too late to work within the system but too early to start shooting the bastards.” Fair enough. Who do we shoot and when? Where is the line?

Is it when the government starts telling you what you can do with your property? Well, we haven’t had that right since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and various additions, court rulings, and regulatory expansions have restricted it further. While the abuse of eminent domain hasn’t quite reached Chinese levels, the Kelo ruling from the Supreme Court gives government the right to confiscate your property for minimal recompense, in order to help the investments of the rich.

How about government taking your children from you? Well, they can do that. It can be because you lost a divorce case. It can be because the government doesn’t like the names you gave them. It can be over your political beliefs. It can be over your religion—assuming they don’t just kill your family in order to “protect” them, like they did atWaco and Ruby Ridge. It can even be just for the hell of it.

How about telling you what you can eat or drink? Well, the government sends armed men to arrest people for drinking raw milk in the land of the free. And don’t you dare try to open a lemonade stand.

Shutting down your business and destroying your livelihood? Well, that happens all the time. It can be because of the “environment.” It can be because of “racism.” It can be because of regulation. It can be because they just don’t like you.

Waging wars of aggression based on faulty information? Well . . . conservatives, at least some of them, tend to like that. But yeah, we do that too.

That’s it! God! People fight in the name of God. Will the dreaded American Religious Right rise in righteous fury against the Babylon on the Potomac that sanctions infanticide, celebrates gay marriage, and wages unrelenting war against Christianity in the public square? Actually, evangelicals are more likely to die for the Beast, though they are despised by their masters. And the main concern of evangelical leaders right now is that America doesn’t have enough Mexicans.

What about freedom of speech? It’s true that the United States still has the First Amendment. While it is used to defend pornography, obscenity, and various other filth, in theory it should actually protect political speech. In this country, it does. You won’t be arrested for saying something politically incorrect. The state will just help your enemies have you fired, threatened, stripped of property, defamed, and physically attacked.

But you won’t be arrested. Definitely not. That only happens in dictatorships like Great Britain, France, or Germany, which presumably American conservatives are willing to overthrow.

Arbitrary taxation? Sending “swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance”? Hounding people to the grave so the government has more money to give to powerful bankers? Yup, yup, yup.

Ah! Discrimination. We can all agree the oppressed should rise up against that. Well, whites are discriminated against in jobs and education. Schools defame them as a group. Minorities and immigrants receive preferential treatment when starting a business, making it difficult to compete. And the real problem the country faces is . . . white privilege.

Well, at least you can vote your way out. Like when Michigan outlawed affirmative action. Oh wait . . . actually the courts threw that out because they said it would hurt minorities. The law is the law, unless a Leftist says it will make blacks feel sad. Then it doesn’t count. So that doesn’t work either. Same with Proposition 187 in California a decade ago. Good thing that immigration never had any bad impacts on California.

Well, there is one thing which definitely serves as the definition of tyranny. If government can seize you, without trial, without charges, without counsel, and then have you killed, that is tyranny.

Oh . . . actually they do that too.

Here’s the problem. You have a country where whites are officially discriminated against by the government and have their earnings savaged by taxes and inflation. They work long hours if they are lucky enough to find a job so they can subsidize people who hate them. They send their kids to schools that teach them they are evil. Meanwhile, other laws are openly ignored so non-white immigrants can displace them from jobs, resources, and political power. If, out of desperation, they join the armed services, they will be sent to die in wars fought for the benefit of someone else. In fact, one of the people they are supposed to be fighting “for” will probably be the one who shoots them. And there’s no way out.

All of this exists today in what used to be our country. Elsewhere in the Western world, it is actually worse. What is more likely—that National Review publishes a call to take up arms or that it pushes a new editorial about how conservatives can win minority voters with talk about the economy?

That said, there is an answer as to when people will finally be ready to start shooting back. People will use their guns against the government . . . when the government comes to take their guns.

Of course, this has it all backwards. The guns are supposed to protect something other than themselves—property, family, liberty, anything. Instead, Americans are only willing to use their guns in order to defend their guns.

The fact is this country is far more repressive, tyrannical, and totalitarian than anything we revolted against the British for. As James Mason points out about His Majesty George III, “This man could have been called a lot of things, but he couldn’t be called evil.” The American government, as a collective entity, is evil. Yet here we are, pretending we are free, defending our revolutionary heritage when all of the critical battles have already been fought and lost. If self-government means anything, we’ve already lost it. If tyranny means anything other than “scary uniforms,” it’s already here.

Conservatives aren’t going to shoot anybody. They soil themselves when someone calls them racist, and we are supposed to believe that they are going to take the “God bless our troops” stickers off their SUVs and start mowing down Marines?

Even though I despise gun-grabbing liberals, let me give them some unsolicited advice. Call conservatives’ bluff.

Let’s have progressives ask conservatives when they think it is right to start killing people. Let’s cut the nonsense. Let’s see what conservatives actually think they are fighting for and what they think is important. My guess is they don’t even know.

Perhaps it is better if they take our guns. At least then the Beltway Right won’t have any more excuses. We’ll be serfs, but at least we’ll be serfs without illusions. Then, maybe, we can do something about it besides bluster.

We’re so pleased that the PROMISE Dissertation House sessions are so popular, and we are especially thankful to all of the people who have been involved and who have finished their dissertations as part of the DH! Since space is limited, and since we know that everyone has busy schedules, we maintain a Dissertation House online for those who can’t join us in person. All participants in the DH who are with us in person must blog daily while they are in the session, but we invite all and all who desire to join us to come into the “DH Online.” We’ll see you there! https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summer-2016-challenge/

We’re spending part of our holiday answering messages, and we’re looking forward to assisting you as you jump in to meet your writing goals!

The Dissertation House – Summer 2016 Challenge is open! Post! Let us know what you’re doing. Are you working on… https://t.co/y1F02ZIl1z

— PROMISE: MD’s AGEP (@PROMISE_AGEP) July 2, 2016

Working on dissertations? Join coach @drwcarter & me for our @PROMISE_AGEP Dissertation House #SummerChallenge https://t.co/Xj73eaZCsP

— Renetta G. Tull (@Renetta_Tull) July 2, 2016

Coaches: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale, Dr. Renetta G. Tull

Over the holiday weekend, the Dissertation House online opened, and we already have several students who have come over to join! The Dissertation House at UMBC which will house approximately 12-15 students in-person during the week with workshops, writing sessions, and meals, will also feature blogging activities. Since space is limited, we have invited others to join us online. This invitation extends to you. If you are working on your dissertation this summer, or if you SHOULD be working on your dissertation, we invite you to join us. Click here: https://dissertationhouse.wordpress.com/blog-online-challenge/summer-2016-challenge/

The Dissertation House – Summer 2016 Challenge is open! Post! Let us know what you’re doing. Are you working on… https://t.co/y1F02ZIl1z

— PROMISE: MD’s AGEP (@PROMISE_AGEP) July 2, 2016

Working on dissertations? Join coach @drwcarter & me for our @PROMISE_AGEP Dissertation House #SummerChallenge https://t.co/Xj73eaZCsP

— Renetta G. Tull (@Renetta_Tull) July 2, 2016

Coaches: Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale, Dr. Renetta G. Tull

Summer Dissertation House Challenge Photo Credits: Paul J. Everett, “Hot Air Balloon Summer Heat Festival,” and DarlArthurS’ “Colorado Springs Hot Air Balloon Competition,” under Creative Commons attribution 2.0. The Summer 2016 Dissertation House is co-sponsored by The Graduate School at UMBC, and by PROMISE: Maryland’s AGEP.

Hi everyone,

I hope you all are having amazing summers! As you make your schedule for the fall, start to think about these two great opportunities to serve Maryland's refugee community through Refugee Youth Project. The attached flyer gives information about tutoring at our after school program or mentoring with our college access program. I know it's only summer, but the round one application deadline to mentor with College JUMP is July 31, 2016. Round two deadline is September 14, 2016. To increase your chances of being selected, apply by the first deadline! The after school program fills up quickly, so you'll want to apply early for that one as well! Please contact me if you are interested in either of these opportunities!

For the past five years, For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights, an exhibition organized by UMBC’s Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC) in partnership with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, has traveled the nation through the National Endowment for the Humanities’ NEH on the Road program. Now, the NEH has extended the exhibition’s tour for an addition five years, marking the first time that the NEH on the Road program has doubled to ten years a tour period for an exhibition. 

Through a host of media— including photographs, television and film, magazines, newspapers, posters, books, and pamphlets — the project explores the historic role of visual culture in shaping, influencing, and transforming the fight for racial equality and justice in the United States from the late-1940s to the mid-1970s. 

The first full-scale version of the exhibition opened at the International Center of Photography in 2010 and traveled to six venues through 2013, including the National Civil Rights Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the DuSable Museum of African American History, and UMBC.

The NEH on the Road version of the show opened in Kansas City in April 2012, and has toured to more than 20 venues since then, including stops in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Wilmington, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Las Cruces, New Mexico; Eu Claire, Wisconsin; San Antonio, Texas; and Wichita, Kansas.

Maurice Berger, research professor and chief curator at the CADVC, noted:

…the role of the National Endowment for the Humanities, as the principal funder of For All the World to See, has been extremely important. But no more so than its support of the NEH on the Road version of the exhibition. By allowing the show to travel across the United States, to more than 50 venues, the NEH will also allow its novel ideas about the civil rights movement to reach many more people.

So much research and writing about the modern civil rights movement — and so many exhibitions — have focused on photography or have ignored visual culture completely. The NEH on the Road version of For All the World to See will help thousands of new visitors to understand the powerful role that visual media — including film and television, graphic art and posters, advertising, photography, and even toys — played in altering prevailing ideas about race in America. By 2023, more than a million visitors will have seen both iterations of the show.

Image: Ernest C. Withers, Sanitation Workers Assemble in Front of Clayborn Temple for a Solidarity March, Memphis, TN, March 28, 1968; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Museum Purchase, ©Ernest C. Withers, Courtesy Panopticon Gallery, Boston MA

I am currently looking for FEMALE to sublease my room this summer for July – August

The townhome located in Boardfield Townhome – Badger Gate Ct (Across the street from Giants)

5 minutes driving from campus. Safe neighborhood!

You will be sharing the house with 3 other people.(2 UMBC PhD students and 1 UMBC undergrad student)

The bedroom is on the second floor with shared bathroom with another female roommate

UMBC Arbutus-line shuttle bus picks and drops off students right at Giants.

Furnished room – bed, closet, chest of drawer, nightstand, study desk, ceiling fan and chair.

The room is available for immediately move in from mid -July until August, if you like to extend the least that is also possible as well.

Conducive for college students or youngprofessional.

No pet and No smoking

Laundry room is in the basement (washing machine and dryer)

The room is medium size easy to take clean, very close by the school, Giants and Shuttle bus stop and very convenience neighbourhood. 

Rent is $430 the landlord is willing to negotiate. (My landlord he is a very nice in person).

 (electricity, water and high speed wifi)

Feel free to e-mail me with any further question

at menna1@umbc.edu or text me at 202-341-3737