Can you spot the principled difference between these two statements?
JPFO @JPFO_2A
Tweeted on January 8, 2022
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
A top King County prosecutor told a group of South Sound law enforcement officials that they better “get used to” no jail time for juvenile criminals responsible for the alarming rise of violence in the region. He even joked about their concern, using a popular meme that some on the call found offensive.
Ben Carr is the senior deputy prosecuting attorney for King County. He offered a PowerPoint presentation on how the county treats juvenile offenders driving much of the crime. The meeting was called after mayors criticized the prosecutor’s office for going too easy on criminals, demanding answers. It did not go well.
Jason Rantz
January 4, 2022
Rantz: Prosecutor says ‘get used to’ no jail time for teen gun crimes, assault, theft
[King County encompasses Seattle and many of the nearby towns.
Other items of interest from the same article:
Things are going to get a lot worse around here before they get better.
Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
There’s just a lot of progressive buyer’s remorse right now.
Michael Shellenberger
December 16, 2021
Urban liberals rethink guns and policing amid crime spike on their doorstep
[But will this result in ‘progressive’ politicians being introduced to tar, feathers, and one-way tickets out of town on wooden rails? I’m inclined to go with public trials. But with the current administration in Washington that will not be happening so unless the supply chain for tar, feathers, and rails is broken the tar and feathers route is the most likely, while still extremely improbable.
Noting short of something of similar magnitude will allow us to recover the free exercise of our rights via a legislative path. I’m still betting on the courts.—Joe]
I’ve always been anti-gun. But I am right now in the process of getting myself shooting lessons because I now understand that there may be a need for me to know how to defend myself and my family. We’re living in fear.
Debbie Mizrahie
Beverly Hills
December 9, 2021
Beverly Hills residents arming themselves with guns in wake of violence
[Ms. Mizrahie, welcome to the right side of history!—Joe]
I knew California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and New York were nearly impossible to get CCW licenses in. Yeah, CA wasn’t bad if you live in the correct county. And New York would issue you a permit if you paid a lawyer enough money to make the appropriate bribe(s). I had not looked into the process of many of the others.
Not that I have a desire to visit let alone get a Delaware license (I’m covered by my Idaho and Utah licenses anyway) but things are pretty messed up there. It’s a six step process. This includes (highlighting added):
Step 2: Collect References
Delaware’s laws require you to produce five references. They must answer the questions on the Delaware concealed carry reference form. These are the main requirements for a reference to be valid:
Cannot be related to you.
Cannot live at the same address as you.
Must have known the person for at least a year.
Reference must reside in the same county.
Reference must be at least 18 years old.
It may strengthen your odds of approval if one or more of your references hold a distinguished title. For example, your application may be viewed more favorably if references from an attorney and a senator accompany it. Your references must declare why you want a permit, and they can simply state that you want it to protect yourself or your family. The reference form should state that you are seeking a Delaware concealed carry permit, are of legal age and are of good moral character.
Step 3: Publish Your Intention
Once you have your five references, you need to publish your intent.
…
The published notice of your intent to seek a permit should include your full name.
The notice should appear in a newspaper or publication that has a sizable reach in your zip code. For example, it is better to publish it in the main newspaper in your area than it is to publish it in a free circular that targets a niche audience. We recommend publishing in the News Journal because it is the main newspaper for all three counties,
References should include an attorney and a senator? Publish your intention in a wide coverage publication to get a license?
Wow! SCOTUS needs to slap this law down hard when they rule in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
8 is when we exercise the second FLUENTLY. #BlackGunsMatter
Maj Toure @MAJTOURE
Tweeted on November 27, 2021
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
If confronted by someone seeking to loot, destroy your business, or kill you, would you see your armed self as the best defense, or would you call 911, hoping the police will show up in time, if at all? Or would you be glad that a Kyle Rittenhouse is patrolling your streets like a neighborhood watchman, doing the job the police are unable, or reluctant to do?
Cal Thomas
November 27, 2021
Cal Thomas: The Rittenhouse verdict
[I think a bit more context is necessary to correctly answer these questions. I would be inclined to give the police a couple of free passes until it was clear they weren’t going to do their job. I would then reevaluate the situation.
There could be situations, much later in the timeline, where I would give people a pass for taking the action to the derelict and/or malicious politicians failing to do their job.—Joe]
Via Rolf.
Australia: Army Forcibly Throws Covid-Exposed Citizens in Quarantine Camps
Two Northern Territory communities in Australia, Binjari and Rockhole, have imposed strict lockdowns after nine new positive coronavirus cases were registered. The military has been called in to bring positive cases and close contacts to a quarantine center.
We live in interesting times.
Via Jonathan Sullivan on Facebook in November of 2016:
This must have been someone from the political party that celebrates diversity.
Prepare and respond appropriately.
Vanguard elite communists don’t care that you recognize their hypocrisy because they believe their hypocrisies to be trivial to their holy mission of creating heaven on earth… and that you cannot stop them.
Adam Baldwin @AdamBaldwin
Tweeted on November 1, 2021
[I just finished the book Dear Reader. It is a fascinating, and horrifying, look into the mind of an elite communist.
Baldwin is not wrong. Some of our politicians let slip glimpses of their true nature which is fully revealed in people like Kim Jong Il. If given the power they crave and believe they deserve the horror unleased is terrifying. The Great Terror could well be a how-to story rather than a warning.—Joe]
What is wonderfully surprising is the spontaneous emergence of a pure gold currency in a remote region of southeastern Venezuela around the towns of Tumeremo and El Callao. The region abounds with precious metal ores and has a long history of luring prospectors and miners seeking their fortunes. Today, however, many of the larger mines are controlled by the government military, which is battling local gangs and guerillas. Despite the violence and lawlessness, jobless Venezuelans from far and wide are flooding into the area to work in thriving illegal mines in exchange for payment in gold nuggets. As a result, gold flakes, which are peeled off raw nuggets with hand tools, have become the currency of choice in the region with prices for commodities and services quoted in grams of gold. Half a gold gram buys you a one-night stay in a local hotel, while a meal for two at a Chinese restaurant and a haircut will cost you a quarter of a gram and an eighth of a gram, respectively. The gold flakes are carried in people’s pockets—usually wrapped in the nearly worthless bolivar notes. While some shops are equipped with scales to weigh the gold flakes, most sellers and their customers have become so familiar with the flakes that they evaluate them by sight. For example, the barber and his customer who transacted for the haircut agreed that three gold flakes equaled the one-eighth gram price (approximately $5.00). Gold is also starting to penetrate the nearby cities, such as the regional capital Ciudad Bolivar, as stores in shopping malls gladly accept the gold in exchange for dollars from miners who are seeking to cash out.
Joseph T. Salerno
October 28, 2021
Venezuelans Turn to Gold Nuggets as the Local Currency Implodes
[From reading the article you can see how the use of other precious metals would also be a useful currency as well. Brass, steel, and copper jacketed lead would seem to be quite useful in getting and maintaining access to the mines and protecting private mints.
This may be coming soon to a country near you. Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
When the central State grows all-powerful, there is no reason to do the hard work of persuasion or humbly respect the “right to refuse” because it no longer exists. We should reclaim that which separates slaves and serfs from free men and women.
John Hayward @Doc_0
Tweeted on October 29, 2021
[We are long past the time when the reclamation should have begin. I fear we will have to endure the continuation of the dreadful path we are on to the point where the “central State” suffers economic collapse and/or revolution.—Joe]
Via Rolf and @LaughtingEyes::
President Biden’s much-hyped new strategy for fighting covid-19 is a tepid half-measure that falls short of the dramatic reset the country needs. The six-pronged strategy announced on Thursday can be summarized as “more of the same” — these are good steps in the right direction, but they’re not enough to get the job done.
…
Biden needs to acknowledge that we have reached the end of the line when it comes to asking individuals to get vaccinated. We’ve tried education, incentives and appealing to people’s patriotic duty. It’s not working. Now is the time for mandates, with the federal government using the full extent of its authority.
Leana S. Wen
September 9, 2021
Biden’s six-step covid strategy does not go far enough to compel vaccinations
[As President Biden said:
This is not about freedom or personal choice.
Actually, it is about freedom and personal choice. And the lack of authority of the executive branch to create law without going through the legislative branch. And the lack of constitutionality authority for the Federal government to force the injection of foreign substances into individuals without consent.
In short, this action is clearly illegal. It violates 18 USC 242 and probably numerous other laws.
Of course, the courts may not see this as clearly as the rest of us.
If the President has this authority then he also has the authority to force the injection of an abortifacient, a birth control drug, implant fertilized eggs, or sterilize those deemed unfit to reproduce (see previous link). We are no longer considered individuals with inalienable rights. We are little different from cattle in their treatment (no pun intended) of us.
For decades I believed the most likely spark to start Civil War II would be something related to guns. I now think the insanity over forced vaccinations could nudge out gun control.—Joe]
Initially, dictatorship is imposed via the abuse and manipulation of language, its function being to peddle falsehoods. Censorship comes next, and then the denigration and erasure of memories of the past. This process has an established pattern. First, the past is ridiculed. Second, it is demonised and, finally, criminalised.
It is when the first stage is segueing into the second that an open battle of wills begins to emerge between those demanding the reinstatement of their traditional culture, customs, and freedoms and the totalitarian few, gathered together with their imported alien foot soldiers, who are attempting to destroy everything that was and is.
At that point it soon becomes evident that the only viable end game is that one side must completely eliminate the other in order to survive. There is no longer any room, nor necessity, for the so often fatal trap of compromise.
Have no doubts about it: If the situation becomes kinetic, and history suggests this has a probability higher than 0.5, then only the brave, the most determined and ruthless will prevail.
Baron Bodissey
September 5, 2021
Crossing the Rubicon
[Interesting take on the current situation in Britain. I’m not sure Bodissey knows that much more on the topic than anyone else and I wonder how well it applies to the U.S.. But I can see some strong correlations to our situation.—Joe]
The Third Circuit panel found that not only did the township offer no evidence that its zoning rules are targeted to achieve a public safety benefit without imposing undue restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms, but that it neglected to explain why it chose to implement these specific restrictions, and why they did so only in the part of the township that was zoned for “sportsmen’s clubs.” Two other areas of town where “shooting ranges” are allowed to operate don’t have these same types of restrictions in place, but the township can’t explain why center-fire rifle firing should be banned at a sportsmen’s club and not at a shooting range.
Now the case goes back down to the district court for a third time, and hopefully this time around the judge makes the correct decision and finds that the township violated the rights of the gun range owner by arbitrarily imposing these zoning restrictions without being able to offer up any substantive reason for doing so.
Cam Edwards
August 17, 2021
Second Amendment In Gun Range Case
You want to be a protective spouse, a concerned parent, a good citizen, a patriotic American? Save your family and your community from danger by getting rid of your weapons, and especially your handguns. Don’t wait for the law. Do it yourself; do it now. Do it because you just bought your first home, do it because you just got married, do it because you just had the baby you cherish more than anything in this world. The gun you trust against your fears is itself the thing you should fear. The gun is a lie.
As more Americans recognize the lie, they may notice a powerful new possibility. Once emancipated from the false myth of the home-protecting gun, they will find it easier to write laws and adopt policies to stop the criminals and zealots who carry guns into the streets. Win enough elections, and the federal courts will retreat from their sudden gun advocacy—and return to their historic deference to state regulation of firearms.
David Frum
September 1, 2021
How to Persuade Americans to Give Up Their Guns
[Frum needs to review the 2nd Amendment and the Heller decision.
Then he needs to read some books on the risk of not owning firearms and the ethics of restricting firearms ownership. I would like to suggest:
Then, if he is still in the persuasive mood, I’d be glad to introduce him to the power of the word “No.” backed up by 100 million determined gun owners with their own means of persuasion.—Joe]
I have been listening to the book Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland on Audible on my commute.
It’s a difficult book to listen to.
In chapter 10, the author talks about the clearing of the ghetto at Międzyrzec to send the Jews to Treblinka.
What stuck out at me was that 11,000 Jews were deported and over 900 shot by a cadre of only 350 police.
…
And there wasn’t one report of Jews fighting back.
J. KB
July 23, 2021
Why I am the way I am
[The book sounds as if it has similar content to Hitler’s Willing Executioners which I have posted (this post is extremely relevant J. KB concerns) about before.
I just purchased the Audible version of Ordinary Men and will start it later this week when I finish the current book I’m listening too.
As difficult as the books may be to read/listen-to they present some very important lessons worth learning.—Joe]
Every gun owner wants to kill. That is the only reason to own a gun. Going to the range is just killing practice. There are other ways to keep yourself safe. The only purpose of a gun is murder.
Aaron P. Tutt @aaronptutt
Tweeted on Jun 29, 2021
[So… what do you suppose one should do with people that want to kill, practice killing, and have tools which have murder as their only purpose? I think Mr. Tutt has a pretty clear idea of what he thinks should be done with us.
The belief that one can read the mind of others is frequently the sign of a personality disorder. This typically is restricted to someone well known to them.
That Tutt claims to know want 100’s of millions of people think is an indication he is completely bonkers or is deliberately trolling.—Joe]
The government is made up of people in power who wanted to be in power and I think it’s important to remember that.
Kat Timpf @KatTimpf
Tweeted on June 25, 2021
[Never forget there are people who openly claim, “I was born to regulate.” There are also people who believe they are “born to rule”. They may be less public about it but they exist.
Power is addicting for these people. They get a thrill out of wielding power. And as time goes on to achieve the same thrill requires more and more power.
I suspect this was one of the reasons for the U.S. Constitution to have enumerated powers. Of course, as a practical matter, that didn’t last long.
A case could be made for nominations for political office to be made via lottery system. Perhaps then people would see the advantages of minimizing the power of government to the bare minimum of what cannot be done well via the private sector. But I suspect some other “lesson” and “solution” would be discovered to enable power hungry monsters to take over government.
I’m certain as long as there is a need for governments there will be a need for the citizen option of rooftop vetoing government overreach.—Joe]