Category Archives: Villains

Imposters

Imitation may be the highest form of flattery, but there are cases when it’s simply imitation, at best and, more often, cases when it’s deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, artificial, bogus, etc. Bandolero is often the object of such imitation. Usually, the difference between the genuine Bandolero and his imitators is obvious to all, even those of challenged mental faculties. Nevertheless, it is not to be taken lightly, and Bandolero takes it seriously. Bandolero stands for the loftiest of principles; honesty, integrity, and loyalty being just a few. Bandolero has determined that it is time to emphasize the extent to which he takes these matters seriously, and to emphasize the extent to which he will act to defend his good name and reputation. To that end, those who would imitate Bandolero are put on notice that, should they do so, or attempt to do so, they act at their peril. They will, sooner or later, at such time, place, and opportunity as seems best to Bandolero, be dealt with in such fashion and in such manner as Bandolero considers to be most appropriate and most effective to terminate same; and “same” may be construed to mean either the imitation or the imitator, or both, as the case may be. Of course, this does not mean, and should not be construed to mean, or to suggest or imply, that Bandolero would intentionally harm the person or body of such an imitator inasmuch as this might be interpreted in today’s woke environment as a threat of bodily harm or injury. Such intent or action should never be attributed to Bandolero or to anything he or his advisers or his compadres or his loyal followers might say, write, or otherwise broadcast. Nevertheless, if and when such an imitator draws first, whether in words or otherwise, he/she/they can be assured that Bandolero will draw in self-defense in like fashion and the outcome will most assuredly end with Bandolero standing strong and the imitator, not so much.

Meanwhile, Bandolero takes this opportunity to assure his loyal fans and followers that he has not been resting on his laurels or his La-Z-Boy or anything else. While the length of time between his reports (“posts” as they say in social media circles) may cause some to wonder if he’s still out there crusading for the causes of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, it is only because he is so engaged in such pursuits that he is left with too little time to rest on his laurels or elsewhere and take time out to author reports of his actions and the progress of the cause. Fear not, worry not, and doubt not that Bandolero stands vigilant and, whenever the need arises (and it is always risen), he acts. But he must act without applause, without recognition, and without glory because these would impair and impede his effectiveness. Rest assured, Bandolero is there, wherever and whenever needed, for you.

And, imposters beware!

And, one more thing. Bandolero’s faithful webmaster has attended to several glitches and minor annoyances that were manifest in Bandolero’s website. Most were “behind the scenes”, that is, things that visitors wouldn’t recognize as defects or shortcomings, or things that when fixed would actually make anything look different. One exception to this is the addition of the “Go To Top” button at the bottom of pages. This button lets people get back to the menu without having to scroll all the way up from the bottom. Another exception is the restoration of the “hamburger” menu icon that shows up on small screens. It had disappeared quite some time ago, but has been restored. Well done, Harpshot!

 

Election Deniers

Bandolero has observed that the Democrats and MSM (Main Stream Media – although these days it’s questionable that it can be said to be main stream) are more and more strenuously shouting about “election deniers” who are a threat to democracy. They go out of their way to identify candidates they can brand as “election deniers”, and proclaim that the election of such Republicans would bring the end of democracy.

Wow. The outcome of an election would mean the end of democracy. Really? Such an assertion is patently irrational and, frankly, ought not to require a response. However, failure to respond before today’s electorate risks being taken as fear of exposure that it may be true. So, what has been the Republican response to this absurd claim? They dance the Tennessee Two-Step. As one of our favorite podcasters says to start his programs, “Oh, my goodness!” Where have the Republicans parked their cajones? And, yes, we are aware that female candidates don’t, literally, have cajones, we use the term metaphorically and apologize to anyone whose feelings may be hurt by our doing so.

What constitutes Republican “election denial” after the 2020 election pales, and pales tremendously, beside the election denial engaged in by Democrats after the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton is on record (video and audio) claiming that she did not, in fact, lose the election but, rather, that it was stolen from her. Schumer and Schiff and their Democrat cohorts engaged in a nearly four year campaign of lies about Trump’s collusion with Putin and Russia. They went so far as to fabricate false claims, and to present perjured documents, to conduct surveillance on Trump’s campaign in their efforts to get the Department of Justice to indict Trump for fabricated crimes. They brought groundless impeachments against him. They unleashed every sort of political assassination they could muster in their efforts to unseat the duly elected president. The waste of legislative time and resources that they devoted to their specious efforts instead of to their elected duties has been swept under the carpet by the MSM, in derogation of its obligation to inquire, investigate, discover and publicize facts and truths in pursuit of what they claim to be the public’s “right to know”.

Election deniers? ¡Díos mío! Give us a break! Anybody who wants to espouse an opinion that an election, or any other event, was contaminated by irregularities has the guaranteed right, by virtue of the First Amendment, to state their opinion, regardless of whether they have evidence to prove it. Everybody else has the right to point out that they have no evidence. But to declare, as a matter of government policy, that those who express such opinions are a threat to democracy, is by far the greater threat to democracy. The demonization by Democrats of “election deniers” is an affront to, and an attack upon, the Constitution and Bill of Rights. That, my amigos, is the real threat to democracy that’s at stake in this election. What Bandolero doesn’t understand is why the Republicans don’t have the cajones to just say so. It’s almost enough to convince a person that what’s needed isn’t just a Republican sweep, but a Clean Sweep. Throw them ALL out. For now, however, the first step is to put Republicans in the majority of the House and Senate. Then, we can work on 2024.

White Supremacy

El Bandolero has found much to lament during the past couple of years. There’s too much to write about in a single post, therefore, he plans to address them in a series of posts. As some have noticed, Bandolero does not have a record of posting on a regular, much less frequent, basis. He hopes to do better, even though it has begun to look like it may be too little, too late. But, as they say, better late than never. Bandolero has decided to start this effort on the subject of white supremacy.

In past decades, when people talked about white supremacists, they knew who they were talking about. White supremacists were a few small groups of white bigots whose binding ideology was that white people (particularly, white anglo-saxon protestants – WASPs) were the height of human evolution but were being targeted by social and political movements aimed at bringing them down and elevating other groups to superior status. They existed in remote (like Idaho) enclaves where they could feed each other’s sociopathic bigotry and talk about how to save the white race from an increasingly endemic racism favoring blacks. Sometimes they burned crosses, sometimes they vandalized property, sometimes they killed people. They occasionally showed up in public to brazenly display their bigotry, sometimes in association with Nazis. Yes, there have been, and are, groups comprised of somewhat like-minded zealots who claim to be of the Nazi persuasion. White supremacists most visibly directed their fanaticism toward blacks while the Nazis generally focused on people of the Jewish faith. Needless to say, few blacks or Jews were members of either of these groups. In fact, few whites were members of either of these groups, although they were pretty much comprised exclusively of white people. The vast majority of whites, regardless of political affiliation or social status, held white supremacists and Nazis in contempt. Nobody at the time would have conceived the notion of branding all white people as racist zealots because of the actions of a very, very few.

When Donald Trump came to the fore of the Republican party, his message appealed to about 50% of the citizenry. The other 50% might be categorized as liberals and Democrats, or, “the left”. Trump’s appeal was to those who might be categorized as conservatives and Republicans, or, “the right”. Pretty much all the white supremacists and Nazis who undertook visible political activity proclaimed fealty to Trump’s candidacy. Thus was born the seed of today’s Democratic strategy. The 2016 Democratic candidate got the ball rolling by labeling all Trump supporters as “deplorables“. Thereafter, the party and its propaganda machine, the MSM (Main Stream Media) commenced labeling everybody who supported Trump as white supremacists, Nazis, and ultimately, terrorists thanks to the egregious actions of a couple hundred Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Bandolero is a Republican, not so much by reason of fealty to party but by reason of inability to, in good faith, support the agenda espoused by the Democrats. He is also a conservative. Incidentally, “conservative” and “liberal” are, actually, more fundamental and meaningful labels than are “Republican” and “Democrat”. In any event, as is well known to all who know him, Bandolero is nothing like a white supremacist, racist, zealot, bigot, Nazi, or terrorist. Bandolero and every other person Bandolero knows who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election did so not because he thought Trump was the Saviour, or even that he was a good person, but because the fundamental principles of the country, as embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, stood in jeopardy of serious peril if the Democratic candidate were elected and the Democratic socialist agenda allowed to proceed.

When Trump was elected, the vitriol, lies, disinformation, obstruction, and even treason cast against him, not to mention the covid pandemic, was unprecedented. Despite all resistance the Democrats could muster, and despite covid and the World Health Organization, he still managed to accomplish most of his campaign promises, none of which can honestly be said to have been the product of a white supremacist or racist agenda. Since the vast majority of immigrants illegally entering the country were non-white, the Democrats painted Trump’s efforts to stem the tide as racist. No matter that Trump’s efforts to curb illegal immigration would apply equally whether the tide was non-white or white, they saw fertilizer for Hillary’s “deplorables” seed, that would grow to become their principle strategy looking ahead to elections in 2022 and 2024: Paint all Republicans and those who support them as “those deplorable white supremacist racists of the right”.

By his often unfortunate manner of speech, Trump made himself vulnerable to accusations of tolerance and even fondness of white supremacists. But all his official actions (except maybe during the interim between the 2020 election date and Biden’s inauguration) were premised on “make America great again” (MAGA). What’s that we heard? Ah, yes, it’s the “boos” and derisions hurled from the left in response to that statement. Bandolero can only shake his head in sadness and lament the outlook for the country he loves. Also sadness because MAGA is probably a key word that will pop a red flag on an FBI computer and result in Bandolero being hauled in for interrogation in the bowels of an abandoned warehouse with no address, possibly followed by public flagellation before a Congressional Committee. So be it. Bandolero must speak up against injustice and social insanity wherever he finds it.

The seed planted by Hillary Clinton finally grew to become a Democratic Party strategum that, by virtue of its sheer insanity, might just float long enough to gain sufficient power in the 2022 and 2024 elections to fend off the truth when and if it finally dawns on the electorate. We say “if” because it remains to be seen if enough of the electorate actually cares about truth or can see it when it slaps them in the face. According to the Democrats and their media machine, if you are a Republican or a conservative you are, by definition, a white supremacist and, quite possibly, a Nazi and/or a terrorist. If you criticize the Democrats or their liberal agenda, you are distributing misinformation as to be expected of a white supremacist and, therefore, promoting racism. You are, therefore, someone who needs to be watched, silenced, and investigated, if not imprisoned.

In the sort of a world made up of tribes whose conduct is governed by tribal mentality, there can be no dispute that the black tribe has suffered many grievances at the hands of the white tribe. This is also true in regard to the tribes of native Americans. In the South Americas, the subjugating tribe guilty of egregious conduct consisted more of people from Spain and Portugal than of people from England and Northern Europe. The tribe guilty of egregious conduct in North America consisted mostly of people from England, Northern Europe, and France (although the French seem to get little blame). Bandolero doesn’t know and, therefore, can’t say whether the subjugating tribe in Canada was comprised mostly of the English or the French. It seems pretty clear, however, that the white English (with certain other Northern Europeans) who colonized the original thirteen colonies were the tribe that subjugated the native tribes across the land that became the 50 States of the USA. In any event, a hallmark of tribal mentality is the drive to want, if not actively seek, revenge against the offending tribe. As any Christian knows, revenge is a counter-productive motivation; and harboring a craving for revenge for extended periods of time is unhealthy. Lest the public remember this essential lesson of civilization, the left has now resorted to labeling Christians as white supremacist racist zealots. This is a topic for another post.

Getting back to white supremacy, Bandolero is compelled to speak out against the efforts of the Democrats and its media machine to label all white people who are Republicans or conservatives as deplorable white supremacists and racist Christian zealots. In the opening paragraph of this post, Bandolero lamented that speaking out may be too little too late. The reason for such lament is that it appears that the audience to which the Democrats and their media machine has directed its effort has largely bought into their strategum.

Unless and until the 50% of the citizenry that counts itself on the “left” is able to lift the blanket of Democratic and MSM propaganda about white supremacy and racism and see the real motivation and consequences of the Democratic agenda, the amazing republic known as the United States of America is doomed. Bandolero will speak further about the crumbling pillars of speech, religion, and individual liberty. Meanwhile, he will continue to lament, but with some hope, and watch Tucker Carlson on the Fox TV network.