2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.

[Underdog 28,118]

Stormy Daniels / Ben Dover 2028. 

[Mo Horn 8,696]

2 hours ago, TexEx15 said:

Reminds me of my dad when he had Alzheimer’s. Of course he served so he was just reliving his past. Trump is just a piece of shit losing his grip on reality.  

I said this in the MTG thread. I really need to leave this country. I have a true visceral reaction, and pure hatred, for him and all other MAGA/right wing fucksticks. It's truly unhealthy. 

Edited May 27 by Mo Horn

[Dbeasy 14,756]

The recession will hit in the fourth quarter. Just in time for people to protest vote for Trump. Ugh. 

[BamaATL 16,009]

17 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Stormy Daniels / Ben Dover 2028. 

I'm a bit more partial to an Afroman/Stormy ticket, but hey, that's me.  

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

Trump’s people had Secret Service confiscating rubber chickens..

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4687060-donald-trump-squeaky-chicken-libertarian-controversy/
 

Rubber, squeaky chickens were handed out this weekend at the Libertarian Party convention in Washington, D.C., to call on former President Trump to debate independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The rubber chickens, which had the words “Debate Bobby” on them were passed out by the pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 super PAC at the weekend convention, where Trump was met with a raucous crowd and a mix of boos and cheers.

Tony Lyons, the co-chair of American Values 2024, confirmed to The Hill that the group distributed the rubber chickens to attendees Saturday.

“Biden and Trump are scared to death to debate Bobby because they know what the voting public is learning rapidly—that Bobby Kennedy can win, that he alone will end the corruption, end the wars, end the chronic disease epidemic and rebuild the middle class, the engine of our democracy,” Lyons said in a statement. 

In one video of Trump’s Saturday address, an apparent silhouette of a rubber chicken could be seen being held up by an audience member. 

CNN reported that Secret Service agents confiscated some of the rubber chickens ahead of Trump’s speech.

Nate Herring, a spokesperon for the U.S. Secret Service, told The Hill the agency often publishes a list of prohibited items that are not permitted in protected sites. 

“Although this list specifically identifies several objects that are not allowed in secure areas, the list also includes a general prohibition on any items determined, at the agent’s discretion, to be a potential safety hazard or disruptive to the event,” Herring wrote in a statement. 

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

10 hours ago, StassneyHorn said:

Libertarians don’t want to win. They want to pat themselves on the back for being above it all. They want to say they aren’t a part of the problem. Actually winning an election would be bad for them. That’s what attracts everyone to that freak show and other 3rd parties. Both parties already have coalitions that include them, they just reliably refuse to join.

10 hours ago, Bojack said:

I don't know about y'all but every Libertarian I've ever known is an insecure, know it all, contrarian jackass that likes to scrutinize the political  views of others while never wanting to hear scrutiny of their own. The fact that they'll never win and hold any office makes it where they never have to admit that their ideas are childish and unworkable in the real world. 

Hello fellow former libertarians

[Sawbonz 26,808]

6 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Trump’s people had Secret Service confiscating rubber chickens..

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4687060-donald-trump-squeaky-chicken-libertarian-controversy/
 

Rubber, squeaky chickens were handed out this weekend at the Libertarian Party convention in Washington, D.C., to call on former President Trump to debate independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The rubber chickens, which had the words “Debate Bobby” on them were passed out by the pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 super PAC at the weekend convention, where Trump was met with a raucous crowd and a mix of boos and cheers.

Tony Lyons, the co-chair of American Values 2024, confirmed to The Hill that the group distributed the rubber chickens to attendees Saturday.

“Biden and Trump are scared to death to debate Bobby because they know what the voting public is learning rapidly—that Bobby Kennedy can win, that he alone will end the corruption, end the wars, end the chronic disease epidemic and rebuild the middle class, the engine of our democracy,” Lyons said in a statement. 

In one video of Trump’s Saturday address, an apparent silhouette of a rubber chicken could be seen being held up by an audience member. 

CNN reported that Secret Service agents confiscated some of the rubber chickens ahead of Trump’s speech.

Nate Herring, a spokesperon for the U.S. Secret Service, told The Hill the agency often publishes a list of prohibited items that are not permitted in protected sites. 

“Although this list specifically identifies several objects that are not allowed in secure areas, the list also includes a general prohibition on any items determined, at the agent’s discretion, to be a potential safety hazard or disruptive to the event,” Herring wrote in a statement. 

[Anastasis 23,207]

1 hour ago, Mo Horn said:

I said this in the MTG thread. I really need to leave this country. I have a true visceral reaction, and pure hatred, for him and all other MAGA/right wing fucksticks. It's truly unhealthy. 

It would be nice to have a Mediterranean option imo.  

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,712]

4 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

It would be nice to have a Mediterranean option imo.  

Let's flesh this out. I'm not rich enough for Spain or Italy. Was always planning on Mexico, so what's the Mexico version on the Mediterranean? 

[Anastasis 23,207]

14 minutes ago, Doc Sam Beckett said:

Let's flesh this out. I'm not rich enough for Spain or Italy. Was always planning on Mexico, so what's the Mexico version on the Mediterranean? 

IMO, lots of options in Greece within walking distance to great beaches and scene and the other cultural aspects if you are in to them. Halkidiki is under the radar for Americans, but getting bought up by eastern europeans. Problem is working out reliable and trust worthy property management if you are going to spend most of the year stateside. The Greeks got their own words for getting over on people. Whether it is the tax man, or other, don't really matter. It's not the Mexico I remember as a kid on holidays, but it is something. A reliable property management firm that didn't fuck over ex-pats and play enough by the rules would print money imo.  

 

[TexEx15 17,069]

 

[4th&Five 41,111]

Nope. Too hard. Can’t decide. 

[David Dennison 17,754]

BuT mAh EgGs aNd MiLk CoSt MoRe ThAn FoUr YeArS aGo!

[Pato del Muerto 52,036]

I look forward to his holiday boilerplate airing of grievances that is preceded by “happy holiday to ALL, including…” 

it’s robotic, as if it’s a software program. 

[Macanudo 12,743]

12 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Trump’s people had Secret Service confiscating rubber chickens..

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4687060-donald-trump-squeaky-chicken-libertarian-controversy/
 

Rubber, squeaky chickens were handed out this weekend at the Libertarian Party convention in Washington, D.C., to call on former President Trump to debate independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The rubber chickens, which had the words “Debate Bobby” on them were passed out by the pro-Kennedy American Values 2024 super PAC at the weekend convention, where Trump was met with a raucous crowd and a mix of boos and cheers.

Tony Lyons, the co-chair of American Values 2024, confirmed to The Hill that the group distributed the rubber chickens to attendees Saturday.

“Biden and Trump are scared to death to debate Bobby because they know what the voting public is learning rapidly—that Bobby Kennedy can win, that he alone will end the corruption, end the wars, end the chronic disease epidemic and rebuild the middle class, the engine of our democracy,” Lyons said in a statement. 

In one video of Trump’s Saturday address, an apparent silhouette of a rubber chicken could be seen being held up by an audience member. 

CNN reported that Secret Service agents confiscated some of the rubber chickens ahead of Trump’s speech.

Nate Herring, a spokesperon for the U.S. Secret Service, told The Hill the agency often publishes a list of prohibited items that are not permitted in protected sites. 

“Although this list specifically identifies several objects that are not allowed in secure areas, the list also includes a general prohibition on any items determined, at the agent’s discretion, to be a potential safety hazard or disruptive to the event,” Herring wrote in a statement. 

The Trump/RFK debate would be off the chain.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13,406]

It's like all politicians are just clones of each other.

[mdmost 42,316]

His constantly airs his grievances about other people, just like me!

[BevoAbyss 1,943]

Hey Everybody … As Rex and other good people conservatives informed us about our “unhinged” delusion and paranoia, there is nothing to really worry about with MAGA-GQP.

The Texas Tribune reports the following: The Texas GQP voted Saturday on a platform that called for new laws to 

— require the Bible to be taught in public schools

— require statewide elected leaders to win the popular vote in a majority of Texas counties

— to make abortion a homicide 

— reverse recent name changes to military bases

— “publicly honor the southern heroes” 

— demand that the U.S. government disclose “all pertinent information and knowledge” of UFOs.

And the declare that illegal immigration is the “greatest threat to American security and sovereignty” and calls for the state and federal governments to devote all available resources to deporting undocumented immigrants.

Again, nothing to worry about … especially when Trump is gone. 

This is not fascism or building a theocracy.

Just "good people" doing good people things!

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/25/texas-republican-party-convention-platform/

 

Edited May 27 by BevoAbyss

[BamaATL 16,009]

18 minutes ago, BevoAbyss said:

Hey Everybody … As Rex and other good people conservatives informed us about our “unhinged” delusion and paranoia, there is nothing to really worry about with MAGA-GQP.

The Texas Tribune reports the following: The Texas GQP voted Saturday on a platform that called for new laws to 

— require the Bible to be taught in public schools

— require statewide elected leaders to win the popular vote in a majority of Texas counties

— to make abortion a homicide 

— reverse recent name changes to military bases

— “publicly honor the southern heroes” 

— demand that the U.S. government disclose “all pertinent information and knowledge” of UFOs.

And the declare that illegal immigration is the “greatest threat to American security and sovereignty” and calls for the state and federal governments to devote all available resources to deporting undocumented immigrants.

Again, nothing to worry about … especially when Trump is gone. 

This is not fascism or building a theocracy.

Just "good people" doing good people things!

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/25/texas-republican-party-convention-platform/

 

This is exactly why the Republican Party doesn't need to just be beaten, it needs to be completely destroyed.  These aren't law abiding Americans with different opinions they are active terrorists.  

[YGIFS 19,445]

Maybe we'll get lucky and after his incessant airing of grievances, Krueger will pin him down and shove an aluminum pole up his ass and end him.  I dunno. 

Say, how'd my horse do?  

[Doc Sam Beckett 5,712]

1 hour ago, BevoAbyss said:

 

— “publicly honor the southern heroes” 

 

 

[Biff Tannen 45,013]

1 hour ago, BevoAbyss said:

Hey Everybody … As Rex and other good people conservatives informed us about our “unhinged” delusion and paranoia, there is nothing to really worry about with MAGA-GQP.

The Texas Tribune reports the following: The Texas GQP voted Saturday on a platform that called for new laws to 

— require the Bible to be taught in public schools

— require statewide elected leaders to win the popular vote in a majority of Texas counties

— to make abortion a homicide 

— reverse recent name changes to military bases

— “publicly honor the southern heroes” 

— demand that the U.S. government disclose “all pertinent information and knowledge” of UFOs.

And the declare that illegal immigration is the “greatest threat to American security and sovereignty” and calls for the state and federal governments to devote all available resources to deporting undocumented immigrants.

Again, nothing to worry about … especially when Trump is gone. 

This is not fascism or building a theocracy.

Just "good people" doing good people things!

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/25/texas-republican-party-convention-platform/

 

You left this one out. I’m guessing it’s a nod to the texit whackadoos?

Quote

support for declaring gold and silver as legal tender

 

[Neonmoon 38,126]

lol of course GQP are goldbug crypto nutcases 

[Brisketexan 103,515]

Hey, I’m all about honoring every one of the “southern heroes.” Here, I’ll list them for you:

……


……


Yep, that covers it. BECAUSE THERE ARE NO FUCKING SOUTHERN HEROES. JUST FUCKING TRAITORS WHO TOOK UP ARMS AGAINST OUR COUNTRY. The only good confederates are the ones we shot fucking dead, and the only thing “good” about them was “they’re fucking dead.”

The GQP is openly and proudly the party of treason. Traitors. Every one of them, and every person who votes for them. Not because we have some political difference of opinion, but because they LITERALLY PUT “PRAISE TRAITORS” IN THEIR GODDAMNED PLATFORM.

Fuck them all to hell.

[Revolution512 1,461]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Hey, I’m all about honoring every one of the “southern heroes.” Here, I’ll list them for you:

……


……


Yep, that covers it. BECAUSE THERE ARE NO FUCKING SOUTHERN HEROES. JUST FUCKING TRAITORS WHO TOOK UP ARMS AGAINST OUR COUNTRY. The only good confederates are the ones we shot fucking dead, and the only thing “good” about them was “they’re fucking dead.”

The GQP is openly and proudly the party of treason. Traitors. Every one of them, and every person who votes for them. Not because we have some political difference of opinion, but because they LITERALLY PUT “PRAISE TRAITORS” IN THEIR GODDAMNED PLATFORM.

Fuck them all to hell.

You’re quite hilarious to me. You must be constantly fighting this internal mechanism. Your online persona, anyway.

Edited May 28 by Revolution512

[Anastasis 23,207]

Totally off the deep end. We’d all be better off if he just had the balls to jump off that ledge instead of doing his extremist rhetoric. 

Edited May 28 by Anastasis

[SmokeyTheBear 5,554]

7 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Totally off the deep end. We’d all be better off if he just had the balls to jump off that ledge instead of doing his extremist rhetoric. 

[SizzleChest 8,092]

9 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Totally off the deep end. We’d all be better off if he just had the balls to jump off that ledge instead of doing his extremist rhetoric. 

 

 

[Brisketexan 103,515]

You’re quite hilarious to me. You must be constantly fighting this internal mechanism. Your online persona, anyway.

I’m against celebrating traitors.

And in 2024 America, that’s an “extremist” and “unhinged” position. That seems great for us.

I guess the next step is to honor those brave men who fought for their god against a far superior enemy, putting their sacred faith first.
I’m just not sure where we’ll put the “9/11 Heroes of Al Qaeda” monument. Maybe right outside the Pentagon would make sense.

[Anastasis 23,207]

Equivocating 9/11 terrorists with Robert E Lee. Brain worms. Unsurprising form from a poster that runs out analogies to deflect from American arming and funding ethnic cleansing cause he maybe jaywalked one time or raised his voice in unjustified anger at one of his paralegals. 

[mdmost 42,316]

Telling someone that they should jump off a ledge because of internet posts and you want to say other people have brain worms. 

[Js1 82,948]

Just now, mdmost said:

Telling someone that they should jump off a ledge because of internet posts and you want to say other people have brain worms. 

I thought telling people to kill themselves gets you a warning or ban

[mdmost 42,316]

Just now, Js1 said:

I thought telling people to kill themselves gets you a warning or ban

Oh but he'll come along to tell us that wasn't what he meant. Again, talks about someone being unhinged and then says that. What a fuckface. 

[Anastasis 23,207]

Is it actually lethal if someone jumps off their rhetorical ledge?

[mdmost 42,316]

Just now, Anastasis said:

Is it actually lethal if someone jumps off their rhetorical ledge?

Does it make you any less of a prick? 

[Anastasis 23,207]

3 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Does it make you any less of a prick? 

 Do you need some haldol too?

[Brisketexan 103,515]

Equivocating 9/11 terrorists with Robert E Lee. Brain worms. Unsurprising form from a poster that runs out analogies to deflect from American arming and funding ethnic cleansing cause he maybe jaywalked one time or raised his voice in unjustified anger at one of his paralegals. 

You’re right.
It’s an unfair comparison.
Lee is responsible for many, many, many more American deaths.
Please, continue to defend people who actively want to HONOR traitors. Imagine naming an American military base after someone who took up arms against and killed American soldiers….except you don’t have to imagine. It happened. And we did so as part of our national petulance to tell black folks that we’re damned well gonna keep em in their place: we’re going to name our own military bases after men who fought to keep you enslaved, and we’re also gonna fly confederate flags and shit, so remember your place, boy.
Yes. That’s a great thing to see in the platform of an entire state-wide political party.
Fuck, honoring Al Qaeda would be an improvement for these assholes.

[mdmost 42,316]

2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

 Do you need some haldol too?

Not as much as you need validation of how awesome you are. 

[Anastasis 23,207]

4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Please, continue to defend people who actively want to HONOR traitors.

I am not defending anyone. Just pointing out absurdity. 

[Brisketexan 103,515]

I am not defending anyone. Just pointing out absurdity. 

I’m thinking that if you’re itching to point out some absurdity….MAYBE you could start with a statewide party being so butthurt about us NOT honoring traitors that they actually put “we must honor these traitors” in their official party platform. That seems pretty absurd to me. But you’re right, a single dude on a website pointing out how utterly fucking batshit and sick that is..that’s the REAL absurdity.
Never change, dude.

[SaucyJack 3,473]

39 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I am not defending anyone. Just pointing out absurdity. 

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

Hey, I’m all about honoring every one of the “southern heroes.” Here, I’ll list them for you:

The cult of celebrating losers is weird as fuck, at least outside of sports.  The Germans aren’t pressuring their government and going around erecting monuments to Himmler and Goering and Hitler.

And I’ve said this before, but there’s a whole shitload of people who want to celebrate their “ancestral heritage” when their fucking ancestors weren’t even living in the South (or the US) or fighting in the Civil War. And when I do find ancestors for people, well there’s a lot more deserters and people dying from shitting their guts out than they realized.  They have such an idolized view of the Civil War, even though there’s been plenty of material out there showing that it was a fucking cluseterfuck and that these “southern heroes” like Lee, Jackson, etc. got way too many of their men slaughtered needlessly in battle, and they gave no shits when they’d fucked up.  “Marse Robert cared about his soldiers” they say, but if so, then why the fuck did he keep taking risks and getting them slaughtered?  Why did he let clearly inept generals and colonels lead soldiers to their deaths?  He gave no fucks about his men.

[Willfully Horn 7,854]

We talking Southern heroes? By all means (from Reddit):

Old Austin Tales: Guerilla Warfare on Bull Creek - 1861

 Inspired by [recent events](https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/6191ei/austin_oaks_advances_at_city_council_after/), I thought I'd post a story today instead of the usual history pic about a time when some of the NIMBYs of north Travis County decided they didn't want that thing called the Confederate States of America in THEIR backyards. They make today's NIMBYs seem docile and accommodating in comparison.  But first some backstory: 

 Among the first American settlers in the area were Will Preece Sr., his wife Elizabeth, and sons Richard Lincoln Preece and Will Jr.. (there were also other unknown siblings) About 1838, the year before Waterloo was designated Austin by Mirabeau Lamar, the Preece family left their Illinois homestead and moved to either stretch of land near where Marble Falls is today or a hilly plot near where Common Ford Ranch Park is today off 2222. (They apparently owned both.)  The parents were originally from Kentucky and Virginia. The father took after Daniel Boone and fancied himself a 'Mountain man'.  The sons Dick and 'Little Will' (as the brothers were known) became Texas Rangers in the 1850s and eventually acquired many various plots of land in the area, including a 3000+ acre tract  stretching from today's Lake Travis to Cedar Park along modern 1431. 

For about the first 30 or 40 years of Austin's existence, the area to the north and west of Shoal Creek was the borderlands of [Comancheria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comancheria). The Preece children were hardened by a state of constant warfare with the natives growing up and became expert hunters and trackers, which served them well as Rangers.  They were intimately familiar with the geography and the hidden nooks and crannies in the area. According to lore, they named the nearby creek "Bull Creek" in honor of a particularly large buffalo bull (some say the last one ever seen in the area) which either Will Sr. or young Dick shot in the creek one day.

I'll let some better storytellers than I pick up the story from there:

 The following is an except from Mike Cox's Central Texas history column on [TexasEscapes.com](http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/267-Bull-Creek-Battle.htm) and also appears in his book Central Texas Tales. 

>Remote and hard to reach in the days of horse and wagon travel, the hills west of the Capital City were peopled by scattered families who came from the mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky and settled there because the terrain reminded them of home.

>But not all of them hailed from the South. The Will Preece clan had come to Texas from Illinois, and when southerners started talking about leaving the Union, the Preece’s brooked no interest in the concept. In fact, old man Preece’s cousin was Tom Lincoln, father of the man recently elected president.

>That set of circumstance led to a long-forgotten series of gunfights and ambushes in the hills of Travis County, a Civil War conflict for which no historical markers stand in commemoration. Texas’ Battle of Bull Creek hardly compares with the Battle of Bull Run, but the partisan feelings that triggered the fight went as deep.

>Generally lost in most Civil War stories is the fact that not everyone in the South, particularly in Texas, favored secession. In fact, Travis County voted to stay in the Union.

>The first movement in the battle came shortly after the secession election results became known. A squad of Confederate recruitment officers, “flushed with good bourbon and electoral victory,” rode into the hills to enlist “mountain cowboys” for the CSA cavalry.

>As the rebels approached Will  Preece’s cabin, which stood in the immediate vicinity of Bull Creek, a rifle bullet cut the bridle of one of the riders. A second shot from another of the Preece family removed the eyebrow hair from another secessionist.

>More lead followed, but none of the rebels caught any. Since the Preece’s provisioned their larder with deer and squirrel they shot, the misses may have been intentional, mere warning shots.

>The riders turned and rode back to Austin. Four months would go by before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, but the Civil War had started in Texas.

>That June – Preece did not give the day – 20 Travis County Unionists calling themselves the Mountain Eagles ambushed more than twice that number of Confederate cavalrymen on their way to the pro-Union German settlements farther west.

>The half-hour gun battle near Martin’s Well claimed nine “Secesh” as the hill men called the Southerners. Another six men suffered wounds in the battle.

>In response to the attack, the governor commissioned a special Ranger company to root out the pro-Union element west of Austin. The Southern partisans scoured the hills, giving young men the choice of conscription in the Confederate Army or a permanent draft deferment at the end of a rope. Those considered incorrigible did not get the military option.

>...

The following is an excerpt from ["My Grandfather, Dick Preece"](https://archive.org/stream/MyGrandfatherDickPreeceByHaroldPreeceRealWest1964/My%20Grandfather%20Dick%20Preece,%20by%20Harold%20Preece,%20Real%20West%201964_djvu.txt), written by his grandson Harold, which was first printed in [Real West Magazine (Volume VII, Number 38, Nov. 1964)](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cLLm-8hqGr8/Vq45BOOnMxI/AAAAAAAAEXo/BuuztJ3syks/s1600/Real%2BWest%252C%2Bcolor%2Bcover.jpg). This is part of the original story Mr. Cox based his version on.
...

>***By 1859 most of the wild tribesmen 
had been driven to a reservation set 
aside for them by the federal government in the Wichita Mountains of 
eastern Territory. By 1860 only a few 
roving bands remained in the remote, 
unsettled Texas panhandle. 
By 1861--*** 

>***That year the Union fell apart. And 
so did Texas. Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president of the crumbling 
nation. That ugly shambles we call the 
Civil War began. Across Red River, 
into their old domain of the Lone Star 
state, rode the Comanches.*** 

>***County after county in the western 
half of Texas voted against secession 
including Travis County of the Preeces 
and of Austin, the capital. Thousands 
of Union men, including distinguished ex-Rangers like Dick Preece, refused, 
from principle, to fight in the armies 
of the foredoomed southern Confederacy. But grandfather and other loyalist leaders hoped that all Texas, 
whether Unionist or Confederate, might 
unite in common defense against the 
new onslaught of the returning Comanches.*** 

>***The dice rolled differently. 
Grandfather with his outstanding 
Ranger record found himself a fugitive 
from men wearing the Ranger badges. 
That many of these wore it unworthily 
is now generally admitted. Giving 
grandfather the most trouble was a 
pathological character named Jeff Maltby who had his special sick reason for 
hating the Preeces.*** 

>***Maltby was a native of Springfield, 
Illinois, where he had known and feared the town's leading citizen, Abraham 
Lincoln. Lincoln, it is said, had once represented a man who had beaten the 
hot tempered sadist Maltby, in a lawsuit. After coming to Texas, the unpopular drifter had reputedly tried to 
enlist time and time again with the 
Rangers. He blamed grandfather for 
blocking the way.*** 

>***Three months after Fort Sumter, 
grandfather who'd tacked up reward 
posters for so many wanted men, was 
seeing billets with his own name tacked 
on the trees of the hill country. "A 
deserter from conscription" — he was 
branded. The designation made him feel 
proud even when he had to keep shifting his residence from one Bull Creek 
cave to another.*** 

>***Yet from other such "deserters", 
lots of them ex-Rangers, came some 
of the most effective of the resistance groups springing up in a 
rebellious south from Virginia to Texas. 
"The Mountain Eagles" his corps was 
called because the eagle was the emblem 
of the American republic to which its 
members would not foreswear allegiance.*** 

>***Time and time again Maltby, the 
northern-born leader of Confederate 
irregulars, invaded the hills looking 
for boys to conscript in the Confederate 
armies and stock to be requisitioned 
for the confederate state "home guards." 
Time and time again, grandfather, the 
southern-born chieftain of Unionist irregulars, blocked him.*** 

>***Maltby scored some triumphs, but he never conquered that detached, unsurrendering patch of the United States which was Bull Creek. Grandfather, 
the very symbol of the Loyalist counter 
rebellion, turned caves into citadels 
which belched death on the mounted 
thugs every time they rode into the 
hills Within the dense caverns he cached stocks of rifles and ammunition 
supplied to him through the widespread 
Unionist underground operating from 
Mexico, across the far away Rio Grande 
River, but honeycombing western Texas 
with clandestine political organizations 
and bands of sure trigger bush fighters 
Grandfather became one of the finest 
sharp shooters and best scouts in a 
Unionist regular outfit, the First Texas 
Cavalry of the Federal Army, after the 
Mountain Eagles were drafted into official service by Colonel Andrew J. 
Hamilton appointed by President Lincoln to head a sort of a state government functioning underground from ranch to ranch in far western Texas.***

>...

As Mike Cox finishes the story:

> By Jan. 1, 1862, only 40 of the Mountain Eagles remained in the hills. Their ammunition supply low, the men had holed up in a makeshift piled-stone fortress atop a prominence offering a good view of all approaches.

>Opting not to celebrate New Year’s Day, state forces attacked the Unionist stronghold. Preece wrote that his uncle claimed 30 “Secesh” and 3 Unionists died in the battle near Bull Creek but admitted that “half that number for Confederates and double that figure for the Eagles would probably be a less biased estimate.”

>In truth, the numbers likely came to even fewer than that or the battle site would have been better remembered. But the location of the fort did come to be called Dead Man’s Peak.

>The fight ended the mini-war in the hills west of the Capital City. The surviving Mountain Eagles rode to Mexico, four of the Preece’s ending up in New Orleans. After the war, their loyalty to the Union never having wavered, they returned to Bull Creek

Dick Preece and his brother Little Will had many adventures and battles, especially with The Comanche.  You can read much more about them and their families' lives in early Travis County in [this comprehensive 5-star history blog post](http://txcompost.blogspot.com/2016/02/texas-ranger-dick-preeces-comanche-trail.html) written by Dick O'Dennehy, complete with maps, pics, and documents from the era, from which I have borrowed tiny bits of info without permission for this post. (along with Mr. Cox and the late Mr. Preece) Please forgive me sirs, if you see this. I really can't say enough good things about that blog of Mr. O'Dennehy, many great articles on there with good insights, good reading for anyone interested in Austin history. Mr Cox's column is decent in that regard as well with hill country lore. 

~~The part of the Preece family's land along the Colorado where the original family cemetery was located was inundated when the construction of the first Austin "Great Granite" Dam created Lake McDonald in 1893 (roughly the same as Lake Austin today).~~   When Dick died in 1919 they buried him in the [new Preece family cemetery on Vaught Ranch Rd.](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Preece+Cemetery/@30.3728753,-97.8094546,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x865b3497d0d77b9b:0x44fcfe0126d70fbf!8m2!3d30.3728707!4d-97.8072659) near City Park Rd. off 2222. The University of Texas’ Briscoe Center for American History is home to the “Richard Lincoln Preece Papers, 1859-1919”

P.S. If anyone has any theories where the hilltop they made the "makeshift piled-stone fortress atop a prominence offering a good view of all approaches." is, or if you have some info about The Preece's, or "Martin's well" (What and where is that?), please speak up.  I'd love to hear people's thoughts and  ideas. 

P.P.S. Apologies to those offended by tl;dr walls of text or were counting on seeing a history pic today. have some bonus pics.

 

Tl/dr In the hills around Bull Creek, throughout the Civil war, pro-Union Texas Rangers conducted guerilla operations against the secessionists. They kicked traitor ass.

Edited May 28 by Willfully Horn

[atomheartbevo 88,913]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

I’m thinking that if you’re itching to point out some absurdity….MAYBE you could start with a statewide party being so butthurt about us NOT honoring traitors that they actually put “we must honor these traitors” in their official party platform. That seems pretty absurd to me.

It’s racism, disguised as some Lost Cause bullshit (which in and of itself was covering up the racism of the South).  

Most Texans living today had families who came here long after the Civil War, but they aren’t wanting to put up monuments to the Mexicans who owned Texas before it broke away, or the Conquistadors or the Catholic missionaries or the Comanches.  No, they single out Confederates as deserving of our public monies to erect monuments too, losers in a war that didn’t last half-a-decade.  A pimple on the timeline of Texas history,

[Chuckie Finster 22,285]

The out of nowhere decision to call for a debate combined with this weird press conference outside the Trump trial has me convinced that Joe's internal numbers match the external ones.

 

[Brian Fantana 6,615]

How did we get stuck with the one guy who could conceivably lose to Trump at this point

[Brisketexan 103,515]

Just now, Brian Fantana said:

How did we get stuck with the one guy who could conceivably lose to Trump at this point

It may feel good to think of it as a Biden problem, but trust me....the best person you could imagine could be running, and the numbers wouldn't be much different.  It doesn't matter who the Dem candidate is, what they do, etc.  Fox news and the right-wing propaganda machine would paint them as an evil communistmarxistsocialist who wants to take your guns and eat your babies and also is crooked and is sleepy and has a bad case of scurvy and is a fascist but is also a communist and is both owned by China and too tough on China and he doesn't hug the flag like a true patriot does, etc. etc.

It doesn't matter.  Nothing but Trump matters.  There is no resisting him, no opposing him, no alternative to him.  Everyone in this country who is right of even moderately liberal has fallen in line or will fall in line.  THAT'S HOW CULTS WORK.

[immamac 41,617]

27 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said:

The out of nowhere decision to call for a debate combined with this weird press conference outside the Trump trial has me convinced that Joe's internal numbers match the external ones.

 

Biden has done a terrible job of consistently and constantly talking about all the shit he's unfucked from trump.

[Chuckie Finster 22,285]

4 minutes ago, immamac said:

Biden has done a terrible job of consistently and constantly talking about all the shit he's unfucked from trump.

i think there's room for improvement, but I think the biggest issue is that we live in a country that cares about vibes over facts.  How do you communicate a message to a person who has absolutely no interest in hearing it?

[LCHorn 2,529]

11 minutes ago, immamac said:

Biden has done a terrible job of consistently and constantly talking about all the shit he's unfucked from trump.

Oh come on, that's ridiculous.  He's a professional politician and totally incapable of remaining silent when there's an opportunity to give himself a pat on the back. 

The challenge is that the media either a) isn't interested in repeating it or b) they are repeating it but the story of those accomplishments simply isn't that compelling (or both). 

This may be false hope but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that, as the election nears, all this money he's raised will be used to flood the airwaves with SOMETHING. 

Unfortunately, the truth is most of the media would far rather report on whatever imbecilic thing Trump has done that day because outrage sells.