Category Archives: Recent Posts

Recent Posts

“Coffee or Die”

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You may have never heard of this company. I had a while back but never thought much about them until my friend Doug who reads the WSJ daily sent me this article. I hope I am not stepping on any toes at the WSJ by posting this. Every Veteran needs to read this. I’ve not tasted their brew, but plan to. What is interesting is how the company was (is) treated by some of our major commercial banking institutions and prestigious law firms. I do business with one of those banks, and you can bet your sweet bippy they are going to hear from me. How about you?

If you’ve tasted their brew, let us hear your comments on it.

Friday September 16, 2022

A Socially Conscious but Politically Incorrect Company

You might call Black Rifle Coffee Co. a socially conscious enterprise. “This is a veterans’ corporation,” founder and CEO Evan Hafer, a former Green Beret, says in a Zoom interview. More than half of Black Rifle’s employees have served in the military or are family of veterans. In 2021 the company put $5.3 million in shares toward starting the BRCC Fund, a charity dedicated to helping wounded or traumatized veterans and their families. That was on top of $1.2 million in charitable contributions and $3 million worth of coffee and related products to active-duty military and first responders.

But Mr. Hafer says Black Rifle struggled to find banks and law firms to help it arrange an initial public offering. Since he founded the company in 2014, companies have told him that it was “too irreverent” and poses “reputational risk.”

You can see why Black Rifle wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Its blends include AK- 47 and Silencer Smooth, and its social media presence is colorful, to say the least. The company’s YouTube channel features a shooting contest that ends with Mr. Hafer trying to get a bull’s-eye after taking a direct shot of bear spray to the eyes and a video titled “Could You Be a Pregnant Man?” Mr. Hafer’s personal politics have also drawn outrage from the media—he voted for Donald Trump twice—as has the company’s popularity with some controversial figures on the right. Kyle Rittenhouse was photographed wearing a Black Rifle T-shirt. But none of this seems to have hurt the company’s revenue, which reached $233.1 million last year.

Mr. Hafer thinks the numbers should be evidence enough that Black Rifle’s reputation isn’t a material risk. But his company “started hitting a lot of resistance” from high-level finance companies and law firms, although they claimed they were interested in working with veteran- run corporations.

In 2019 and 2020, a Black Rifle spokeswoman says, company leaders were talking to Chase, Bank of America and Macquarie Group about raising capital. After initially showing interest, all three companies declined to work with Black Rifle, citing the company’s image. In 2018 Black Rifle had tried to open an account at a Chase branch in San Antonio and had been turned away over reputational concerns. The spokeswoman says that Macquarie was particularly fixated on the name of its in-house magazine, Coffee or Die, which covers military issues and won the Military Reporters & Editors Association’s 2022 journalism contest for overseas coverage.

Bank of America and Chase declined to comment. Macquarie said in an email: “We take into account a broad range of factors in making financing and investment decisions. We do not comment on confidential commercially sensitive discussions, including those that did not move beyond a very preliminary stage like this one.”

Black Rifle hit similar roadblocks in 2019 and 2020 with Skadden Arps, Latham & Watkins and Simp-son Thacher & Bartlett. All three law firms passed on working with the coffee company because of its image. According to the Black Rifle spokeswoman, Latham & Watkins said that its reputational risk committee thought no one from top law schools would be willing to work at the firm if it took on Black Rifle as a client, especially because its name included the word “rifle.” The name “is an homage to the service rifle,” Mr. Hafer says. Like the guns he taught special-operations soldiers to shoot, he says, coffee is “ lifesaving equipment.”

Simpson Thacher declined to comment. Skadden Arps and Latham & Watkins didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Despite these obstacles, Black Rifle is thriving. The company went public in February through a special- purpose acquisition merger with SilverBox Engaged Merger Corp and this summer rolled out marketing partnerships with the Dallas Cowboys and Amazon Prime Video.

Yet Mr. Hafer worries what the seemingly arbitrary treatment he experienced will mean for other veterans. “I think it’s going to be really important for those guys—men and women both—to understand, these are the types of doors that are going to be slammed in your face if you’re not conforming to a very specific narrative,” he says. “I don’t want them to go through some of the same issues that we’ve had to go through to get access to capital.”

Ms. Keller is an assistant editorial features editor at the Journal.

Originally posted 2022-09-17 11:01:29.

Current Events, Recent Posts

Northerners Feel the Pain.

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FL, TX and AZ have had enough of sloppy Joe’s and Harris’ BS about the border being secure This issue is, in my mind, the biggest problem facing this country today, and it’s about time those liberal northern states who have been immune to the realities of the open border feel the pain. Suck it libitards.

There is a lot to read here folks if you click on the links, LOL. Several states having to call out their National Guard to help. Don’t you just love it? Help by donating to FL and TX to send these illegals north!

Read more at Fox

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed through on his promise to drop off illegal immigrants in progressive states, sending two planes full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday.

A video provided to Fox News Digital shows the migrants deboarding the planes at Martha’s Vineyard Airport in Massachusetts.

“Yes, Florida can confirm the two planes with illegal immigrants that arrived in Martha’s Vineyard today were part of the state’s relocation program to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations,” the governor’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, told Fox News Digital.

 

“States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support for the Biden administration’s open border policies,” she said.

“As you may know, in this past legislative session the Florida legislature appropriated $12 million to implement a program to facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants from this state consistent with federal law,” she said, later adding that the state’s “immigration relocation program targets both human smugglers found in the state, but also preempts others from coming to Florida.”

The office of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker responded to an after-hours email from Fox News Digital, saying it was aware of the situation and that the arrivals were provided short-term shelter.

“The Baker-Polito Administration is in touch with local officials regarding the arrival of migrants in Martha’s Vineyard,” Terry MacCormack, Baker’s press secretary, wrote. “At this time, short-term shelter services are being provided by local officials, and the Administration will continue to support those efforts.”

 

Fox News Digital reported in April that Florida’s budget since approved by the state legislature included $12 million for the Florida Department of Transportation to remove illegal immigrants from the state and relocate them.

Martha’s Vineyard is famously known as a playground of rich progressives, including former President Barack Obama, who bought a multimillion-dollar house there in 2019.

DeSantis, a Republican, proposed Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard as a destination for such migrants, but his office explained at the time that they could also be sent “to other ‘progressive’ states whose governors endorse blatant violations of federal immigration law.”

“It is not the responsibility of Floridians to subsidize aliens to reside in our state unlawfully; we did not consent to Biden’s open-borders agenda,” the governor’s office said at the time.

In November, DeSantis said dozens of migrant flights landed in Florida at the behest of the Biden administration, and he threatened at that time to send them to Delaware on buses.

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, began sending thousands of illegal immigrants to Washington, D.C., in April as the migrant crisis overwhelmed border states. In August, buses from Texas started heading to New York City and Chicago. Arizona has also sent buses to Washington.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who was put in charge of tackling the border crisis by President Biden shortly after they assumed office in 2021, sparked a firestorm this week after she twice declared the U.S. southern border is “secure” while administration officials estimate an average of 55,000 so-called “gotaways” each month — illegal immigrants who successfully make it into the country without being detained.

TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT DIRECTS USE OF BUSES TO DROP OFF MIGRANTS AT STEPS OF CAPITOL IN DC

God bless Governors Abbott and Desantis!

Originally posted 2022-09-15 11:29:35.

Current Events, Recent Posts

Robin Hood Reversal

6 Comments

You know folks, it is getting so hard trying to figure out what I should post on here. Why? Because there is so much wrong going on in this seemingly third world shithole we find ourselves living in today. I mean SO MUCH it pains me even to try and decide what to post. This fellow Biden is doing so many things deemed illegal and beyond his authority everyday, but no one is doing anything about it. I mean what the heck is going on, how can he get away with things the constitutional scholars are saying he doesn’t have the authority to do? How is he doing it? Why isn’t congress doing anything, saying anything, why isn’t everyone screaming from their rooftops, “I can’t take it anymore!” Unbelievable. Here is an example of what I am talking about.

 

 

 

By Greg Maresca

After several months of great anticipation, President Biden pulled the trigger cancelling up to $20,000 of college debt for nearly 40 million Americans worth $330 billion – conveniently before the November midterm election. Biden is also extending loan forbearance for another four months even as unemployment among college graduates is at two percent.

Biden dodged Congress that legally controls the nation’s purse strings. Biden admitted in December 2020 it was “pretty questionable” whether he had authority to cancel any debt.

Speaking at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Biden claimed democracy is under attack. However, it was Biden who used the FBI to raid his political rival’s home and used the agency to quash his son’s crimes. Biden then usurps the Constitution he swore to uphold by granting loan forgiveness. In Article I, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution: “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.”

According to the Office of the General Counsel, a president “does not have the statutory authority to provide mass cancelation, compromise, discharge, or forgiveness of student loan principal balances, and/or to materially modify the repayment amounts or terms thereof.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed. Pelosi did however instruct her husband that when he has the urge to imbibe – he should load up on student loans.

The Biden bailout is political bribery paying off the college-industrial complex – the Democrats’ most ideologically avowed electorate. Providing taxpayer monies to finance a private enterprise underscores the widespread contempt the D.C. bureaucratic swamp has for the American taxpayer.

Adding insult to injury, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said canceling student debt will add to inflation and undermine the Inflation Reduction Act and add nearly a half-trillion dollars to the deficit.

The federal government took over student-loans in 2010 under the Obama administration claiming it would turn a profit of $68 billion. Such a canard was on par with Obama’s infamous “If you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor.  The only change you’ll see are falling costs…” Instead, billions were lost as tuition increased.

Jason Furman, one of Obama’s economic advisers, tweeted: “Pouring roughly half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless.”

Loan forgiveness punishes those who did the right thing and incentivizes those who didn’t. Uncle Sam will pick the taxpayers’ pockets and in particular those who paid off their loans who now will pay twice.

No $10,000 or $20,000 for you.

Provided one’s car loan, credit card, mortgage, bar tab, bookie, identifies as student debt, why can’t that be forgiven?

The term “saddled with debt” is quite misleading. It’s as if people were forced to take on debt to pursue meaningless degrees. No need for responsible behavior because the socialistic nanny state has got your back.

Taxpayers should not be beholden to anyone’s debt, period. Congress needs to legislate that colleges pay for any outstanding federal loans which, in turn, would incentivize them to keep tuition reasonable and assist graduates in finding suitable employment. Too many colleges are nothing but a hedge fund with a school attached. Minus true reform, loan-forgiveness is just another Democrat socialist push on the nation’s future.

A decade ago, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Biden had been on the wrong side of every major issue for the last 40 years. That has now stretched to half a century.  Biden and the Democrats are spending your tax dollars to buy votes for the November midterm election.

Republicans need to galvanize voters in November’s upcoming midterm election in reforming government-backed loans that got us into this mess. If not, academia will keep raising tuition, and students will have incentive to take out more loans.

This is not loan forgiveness, but debt transfer from the tax paying working class to the future class of entitlement seekers cultivated by Democrats.

How’s that for social justice?

Many folks do not comprehend Constitutional government. There is a reason schools prefer to teach Critical Race Theory rather than civics.

If this does not get your attention, what will?

How about this idea Biden, you POS!

 

Originally posted 2022-09-10 12:14:25.

Recent Posts

Observations

11 Comments

Hi Folks, it’s ole Jim here; finally home. My bride and I just returned home from a seven week, 4,559 mile trip in the RV to visit children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. The trip took us through sixteen States: FL, GA, TN, KY, MO, KS, IA, IL, IN, OH, WV, PA, MD, VA, NC, and SC. Such a trip through so many states has left me with several observations of  our country and its citizens, or let me just say our society at large, and I thought it may be interesting to some of my readers to share some of my observations.

First, our roadways suck. With only one exception the Interstates are in such horrible shape it is dangerous to drive on them. That exception is OH; theirs are literally wonderful to drive on; I did not have to dodge one pothole on the entire East/West length of I-80, while on some of the other state’s major roadways the potholes were so big and deep one could easily blow a tire or break an axle. What those states are doing with their fuel tax revenue and federal funding has to be secret.

Secondly, I have traveled a lot throughout the country for many years and I have never seen so much truck traffic. Goods are definitely on the move. There were times where I could look across to the other lane and see nothing but a sea of semis, one behind the other for miles; hundreds of them in both lanes. Perhaps that’s why the Interstates are in such bad shape, but then why not OH since I-80 was the first time I noticed the plethora of trucks.

Thirdly, I refuse to accept anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, bitching about the price of gas. Everybody is complaining that gas is too expensive. Well, if they think it is, why not slow down and try to get the best miles per gallon as you can? On Interstates, I drive 60 MPH in the right lane, even though the speed limit is 65/70. Why? Well I am driving a 26,000 LB vehicle while towing my 2,500 LB Mini Cooper behind me. My 6.7 L Cummins engine’s sweet spot seems to be 1600 RPMs (60 MPH), which gave me 11.4 MPG. Plus, I don’t have to look at both mirrors, except of course when passing a merge lane where those folks who got their license at Walmart’s do not know what that upside down red triangle “YIELD” sign means. I am only doing 60 and the speed limit is 70, yet they cannot step on the gas to get into the flow of traffic. Since I’m bigger I simply ignore them and their blaring horns and watch them run onto the shoulder. I know I will catch hell from some for saying this, but trust me folks, more often than not they are young women.

My travels were probably about 50/50 on Interstates and state/county roadways. I can honestly state that I did not pass a dozen vehicles during this entire trip. That includes non-Interstate roadways. I DO NOT SPEED! If the speed limit is 55, I drive 55 and I do not care if a line of idiots begin to form behind me. I refuse to pull over and stop 28,500 LBS so they can speed while bitching about the price of gas. Think about it. If you are on a 200 mile trip and you drive 60 MPH, you should get there in about two hours. If you drive 55 MPH, it will take you ten minutes longer, and will probably save a gallon or two of gas. I am in no hurry, if I were in an emergency situation such as taking my wife to the ER, I would have my “emergency” flashers on and I would push the speed limit as long as it was safe. Otherwise, I obey the speed limit. In my home state of FL, I am the only one who drives the speed limit and believe me I do catch hell for it from blaring horns and obscene gestures from the idiots. How dare I drive the speed limit! We have the worse drivers in America because they all came from up north.

I’m an observant driver and you want to hear something funny? I noticed so many people driving 20 miles over the speed limit with their windows down in 95 degree temperatures. I guess they think they are saving gas by not running their AC. LOL

Fourth, drivers of all makes, models, genders, ages, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. are horrible, ignorant, inconsiderate drivers who must get in front of the one in front of them no matter the costs. They drive as though they own the roadway and could care less about anyone else. I mean it is horrible out there folks. I literally had folks pass me, pull right in front of me, and hit the damn brakes to merge off an exit. The only ones who have any patience and are considerate are the truck drivers. The majority of them are still polite, and like me, are wary of all four wheelers. I would not take a long trip in a car. I feel safe driving our RV as I am sitting up at the height of the truck drivers so I see far out in front of me thus allowing me to anticipate what the idiots in front of me are about to do. And I don’t tailgate; I can’t since everyone is going faster than me. LOL I’ve never seen so many horrible accidents on the Interstates, which of course caused us numerous delays while they policed up the body parts. I often doubted if anyone made it out of the multiple car carnage alive.

Fifth. Construction is going on everywhere. Building, building, and building in every county, town, and city. Massive buildings, condos, homes, factories, shopping centers are going up everywhere. I have never see so much construction, and my home state of FL is one of the busiest!

Sixth. At every turn all we saw were “Help Wanted,” Hiring,” “Need Help” signs on store fronts, fast food places, factories, etc. Every proprietor and owner is looking for employees. Every semi-trailer has a “Drivers Wanted” sign on the back offering all sorts of benefits and wages. Many even offering to train free of charge to get their CDL license. I mean, damn, why is the unemployment rate so high when everyone is looking for employees? LOL, Of course we all know the answer to that question.

One more thing. We Floridians know which license plate adorns the cars with America’s worst drivers – NJ. Those folks could care less about anyone else! They all got their license’s at Walmart or maybe Wendy’s because they do not know how to drive. Oh, they might know, but could care less about you and me.

Anyway, I thought I’d share with you some thoughts of having travelled through so many States. Personally, the one thing that bothered me more than anything is the state of our society—it sucks. People simply do not seem to care about anything or anyone except perhaps their own close family. Oh there are exceptions, and I consider myself one of them. Despite everyone else’s arrogance and ignorance, some of us continue to be considerate and polite toward other drivers Thank God we made it home safe and sound!

It’s great to be home! I will never do this again. If kin want to see my bride and me, let them come to FL.

 

Originally posted 2022-09-01 14:17:58.

Recent Posts

Independence Day – Really?

2 Comments

Another thought-provoking message from Greg. We have so much to think about this 4th of July, but in today’s society I fear that many folks will think of nothing but hamburgers, hot dogs, pop, beer, and a day off from work, that is for those who are working and not  taking government handouts. Meanwhile the “silent majority” sleeps.

 

Freedom’s landscape

By: G. Maresca

As America plans to celebrate the nation’s birth by taking inventory of the hotdogs, hamburgers, soda and beer, the most treasured and esteemed American stock lies forsaken along freedom’s continuum.

In his seminal work, “Crisis and Leviathan,” economic historian Robert Higgs argued how in the 20th century the federal government grew as a result of three crises: World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. In the 21st century, you can add 9/11 and COVID-19 to the list. During those crises, the federal government went about raising taxes, instituted more spending programs, and added to their arsenal more regulatory power.

With the heady combination of 9/11 and COVID, the government continues to fester as America devolves into Gotham City. I was reminded of this during a recent trip to the airport. I was not flying, just dropping off, and still had to remove my shoes, empty my pockets, and go through a full body scan in order to escort my daughter to her departing gate.

What Benjamin Franklin, our first self-made American, said over two centuries ago certainly resonated: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

As we traversed the terminal there was a sketching of the top ten skyscrapers in the world. The U.S. has only one on the list at number six – the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan – that was supposed to fill the void left when the World Trade Center met its untimely fate on 9/11. A generation ago, America had all ten.

Besides the overwrought airport security courtesy of The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), I couldn’t help but wonder what other things have been compromised all in the name of security in a time of heightened emotions “where something must be done.”

Never underestimate governmental mission creep.

Enter the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, TSA and an emboldened National Security Agency and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Courts that illegally spies on more than three million Americans, and this is according to that leftist fortress, The New York Times. Not to be dismissed was America taking on the costly role of being the unwanted landlords of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Government’s resulting muscle has grown too penetrating and too concentrated. Many throughout the federal bureaucracy are overly determined to inject this power into all aspects of American life. Proposals for more legislation, regulations, and interventions is akin to treating a poisoned patient with more poison.

Solving problems caused by too much government with more government is no answer.

Evidence of this can be found in the latest Gallup poll where only 19% said they trusted the government “most of the time.” Juxtapose that to the same 1958 poll where nearly 75% said they trusted the government to do the right thing “most of the time.”

Government has devolved into a centralized religion telling houses of worship to close, while giving abortion clinics the green light to remain open during a pandemic. Government bureaucrats sell voting and vaccines as salvation while indoctrinating America’s children through public education.

The government has banned God in the classroom, the locker room, the public square, public buildings, and ignores His teachings when writing its laws. Observing constitutional limits that does not provide for a “right” to abort an unborn child is depicted as violating “women’s rights” when the left cannot or will not define what a “woman” is.

The country is on a suicidal path culturally and taking our freedom along for the ride. The Founding Father that would not be surprised: Franklin.

On September 17, 1787, as the delegates departed the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Franklin was asked what kind of government the convention had created. Franklin famously replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Franklin also remarked how “freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.”

Freedoms ceded to government are rarely regained.

On the cusp of celebrating America’s independence, the nation is fighting a cold war with itself that has most Americans wishing for a sense of normalcy, but at what price?

Originally posted 2022-06-30 09:18:52.