Category Archives: Politics

Imagine the Other Side

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Quote of the Day

Many ppl can’t imagine what it’s like to be the opposing side; you subconsciously imagine the other people must ‘feel’ evil or not ‘really’ believe what they claim, and since you yourself *don’t* feel evil and *do* feel genuine belief, this is quiet proof that you must be right.

Aella (@Aella_Girl)
Tweeted on May 31, 2023

Did Hitler, Stalin, and their followers think they were evil? If not, then how do you know that you are not evil? Perhaps opposition to one and/or both of national socialism and world socialism is evil. Perhaps support of one and/or both is evil. How do you know?

How do you determine truth from falsity?

Philosophy. Who Needs it?

All interesting stuff.

These People are Evil

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People think this is moral and/or legal?

The state-level trial court sided with the union, finding that the Garmon precedent shielded the Teamsters from state tort liability for intentional destruction of property.

The Washington Court of Appeals reversed that opinion, finding that “the intentional destruction of property during a lawful work stoppage is not protected activity” under the NLRA.

But the Washington Supreme Court overturned that ruling, reinstating the trial court’s dismissal of the company’s lawsuit. It held that the union’s intentional destruction of company property was a “legitimate bargaining tactic” that trumps the state law’s interest in protecting property.

If the legal system in Washington state is that far gone I need to retire to my underground bunker in Idaho. I knew they completely ignore the Washington State constitution’s protection of the right to keep and bear arms. But their distain for property rights extends to thinking striking workers can deliberately damage employer property? Wow!

These people are evil.

A Simple Dichotomy

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Quote of the Day

To me, the debate comes down to a simple dichotomy:

With an armed population, we run the risk of tragedies. With a disarmed population, we run the risk of genocide.

It staggers my imagination that, so very soon after the mass killings of the 20th century, so many people have lost sight of this.

Daniel Schwartz
May 28, 2023
Comment to Gun Control is About the Oppression of Minorities

I have nothing to add.

Socialism is Barely on the Seattle City Council Ballot

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A glimmer of hope for Seattle?

Bland is back? In Seattle the fiery far left is barely on the ballot

It appears the revolution has petered out.

Or maybe it’s just on pause. But Seattle’s great civic experiment of the past decade, dabbing in socialism and far-left progressive experiments in public policy, is all but a no-show in the current City Council campaigns.

It wasn’t long ago that candidates for public office here would routinely declare things like, “We’re going to make Seattle the most progressive city in America.” The campaigns were movements, centered around first-in-the-nation policy ideas involving wages, tenant law, anti-corporate campaign finance measures or such utopian fantasies as completely abolishing the police.

Seattle became one of the only cities to elect a real-deal socialist, of the type that wants to end capitalism — the outgoing Socialist Alternative Councilmember, Kshama Sawant.

Now candidates are talking about potholes. Building sidewalks. Hiring more cops. Fixing stuff.

There are 45 candidates running for seven seats. I can’t say that none of them are socialist at heart, and I definitely wouldn’t say that progressivism is on the run. We’re all liberals here, after all. But the mojo of the once-rising left sure seems missing.

I suspect the wolves have donned their sheep’s clothing but we will know more in a year. There has been so much damage done to Seattle that it would probably take a decade to heal even with the best wound care. And it isn’t going to get the best care. As soon as it appears to have life in it, the wolves will again attack and try to drain more blood.

They are Making it Easy for Our Lawyers

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For ANY firearm to be legal in New Jersey, it must now meet two criteria established by this law:

1) the firearm must be imprinted with a serial number; and

2) the serial number must be registered with a federally licensed manufacturer.

Under these requirements, the following types of firearms are now banned in New Jersey with no grandfathering or exceptions:

1) All pre-1968 rifles, shotguns, and handguns without serial numbers. Warning: Prior to 1968, there was no federal law requiring guns to have serial numbers.

2) All modern rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers with serial numbers, but are not registered with a federally licensed manufacturer. This would include most modern imported rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers, plus foreign firearms, and military surplus firearms from countries around the world, if these companies were not federally licensed manufacturers (e.g., Lugers, P-38s, Mausers, Arisakas, Enfields, SKSs, Carcanos, Webleys, Norincos, Mosins, etc.).

3) All BB guns without serial numbers. New Jersey includes BB Guns/Air Guns in its legal definition of a “firearm.”

4) All BB guns with serial numbers but are not registered with a federally licensed manufacturer. This would include most BB guns made, because there is no federal firearms manufacturing license required to make BB guns (e.g., Daisy, Crossman, Gamo, etc.).

5) All muzzleloading/black powder firearms without serial numbers. New Jersey includes black powder guns in its legal definition of “firearm.”

6) All muzzleloading/black powder firearms with serial numbers but are not registered with a federally licensed manufacturer. This would include most muzzleloading/black powder firearms made and/or imported because there is no federal firearms manufacturing license required to make or import muzzleloading/black powder firearms.
5) All antique firearms without serial numbers. Antique firearms are “firearms” under New Jersey law.

6) All antique firearms with serial numbers but are not registered with a federally licensed manufacturer. This would include most antique firearms because a federal firearms manufacturing license did not even exist at the time the antique firearms were manufactured.

Evan Nappen
May 26, 2023
New Jersey Politicians Enact Largest Gun Ban in U.S. History

Emphasis in the original.

What these ignorant and/or evil people don’t know is that when they make the law so egregious it becomes a cakewalk for our lawyers to take a healthy bite out of the law. That bite creates a precedent which makes the next bite easier than it would have without the first bit.

As irritating the stupid unconstitutional law is, it creates a slippery legal slope we can take advantage of.

Via email from Rolf.

Pistol Brace Rule Partially Blocked

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We are very excited and encouraged by the Fifth Circuit’s decision this morning. We intend to ask the court for additional information about who is covered under the injunction, but cannot stress enough just how important this decision is. The fight is far from over, but this is a huge victory in the battle against the ATF’s unconstitutional and unlawful brace rule!

Cody J. Wisniewski
Senior attorney for constitutional litigation at FPC Action Foundation.
May 24, 2023
Federal court deals blow to ATF pistol brace rule ahead of gun accessory registration deadline

The courts are slow moving but they are moving in the correct direction.

I’m rather exited about some of the polling numbers I’m seeing. For example:

image

It’s a biased sample, but the numbers are good enough that it at least partially makes up for the bias.

Other numbers I look at that are encouraging are the comments to news articles about gun laws. The progun side just absolutely dominates the online discussions.

Universal symbols

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Quote of the day:

It’s the intentional symbol for, “I have no penis”.

JustHereToGloat @ToGloat
Tweeted on February 3, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

He was responding to this tweet:

I’m old enough to remember when members of Congress wore flag pins instead AR-15 pins on the House floor.

I presume he meant “international” instead of “intentional”. But attention to detail is not something you should expect anti-gun people to be good at.

Actually, (plagiarizing Greg Hamilton) it is the universal symbol for, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” Note, it is the precursor of the universal symbol for, “LIE DOWN!” People only need to be taught the latter symbol once and they remember it for the rest of their life.

Smart Federal Gun Control

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By “ Wealthy Nations “ you mean France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Poland, Italy, and such?

The same nations the United States and others had to fight to liberate from fascist dictators? The same nations that saw extermination camps to remove people that were seen as undesirable? A genocide far outstrips any gun massacre?

Let’s not mention that these nations today don’t for fill their promised contributions to the defense of their nation, instead depending on the United States for protection?

I’m sure they feel so superior sitting on the sidelines telling us how to live.

Grant Sulham
April 28, 2023
In answer to the question:

Will Americans have to come to terms with their rights to own and bear arms to stem gun massacres over time and join other wealthy nations with smart federal gun control laws and regulations?

I strongly suspect many of the questions on Quora are trolls or people creating questions for something they want to write about. Still, I like the answer.

A more succinct answer would be:

We have smartest federal gun control law in the world. It is called the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

The 2nd Amendment is the Balance

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The First Amendment contains the freedom-of-speech guarantee that the people ratified, which included exceptions for obscenity, libel, and disclosure of state secrets, but not for the expression of extremely unpopular and wrong-headed views. The Second Amendment is no different. Like the First, it is the very product of an interest-balancing by the people—which JUSTICE BREYER would now conduct for them anew. And whatever else it leaves to future evaluation, it surely elevates above all other interests the right of law-abiding, responsible citizens to use arms in defense of hearth and home.

Justice Antonin Scalia
U.S. Supreme Court
June 26, 2008
District of Columbia v. Heller

Emphasis added.

The essence of this quote was repeated in the Bruen decision. This is very important.

The gun grabbers get attention by claiming the sky is falling because “gun violence” is increasing and yet the states must “let” people get concealed carry licenses and carry guns in public. Never mind that the people with licenses to carry are not committing the violent crimes and the gun grabbers include the legal shootings of violence criminals in their statistics. They claim justification in banning the most common rifle in the country because, well, some sort of “reason”.

They claim there must be a balancing between the literal words of the Second Amendment and public safety hence they can impose whatever restriction eases the torment in their twisted and/or evil minds. But, as stated in Heller, and repeated in Bruen, the balancing was done at the time of the writing of the Second Amendment. The highest court in the land has now repeatedly stated, in essence, “There will be no more means-end balancing act to make an end run around the literal words of the Second Amendment.”

Our opponents apparently cannot comprehend this and/or think if they keep repeating themselves and whining the court will change its mind. Surely, they claim, another school shooting (in a “gun free zone”) will be sufficient justification to ban more guns and from more locations.

No, the court has spoken, there is no crime which can justify an infringement. Scary black rifles will not be legally removed from public access to ease your troubled mind. All that balancing was over long before you were born.

What part of “shall not be infringed” don’t you understand?

Habitual Dishonesty Reduces Applied Intelligence

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In modern intellectual life, honesty is punished and dishonesty is rewarded; honest brain pathways decay, dishonest brain pathways enlarge.

After years and years of conditioning in dishonesty, the typical modern intellectual (whether journalist, scientist, lawyer, teacher, doctor or whatever) becomes physically unable to think straight.

Bruce Charlton
July 19, 2013
Dishonesty reduces applied intelligence: re-wires the brain

Emphasis in the original.

If true, this would explain the stupidity of so many politicians. For quite some time I’ve known liars will frequently lie without any possible motive and, in fact, it is against their best interests. How strange, I thought. They seem to be unable to help themselves. This could explain why that happens.

Via email from Rolf.

A Revolt Over Gun Control

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If the Supreme Court eventually says that states or the Congress can’t pass universal background checks or can’t take these assault weapons off the streets, I think there’s going to be a popular revolt over that policy.

Chris Murphy
U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut)
May 14, 2023
Possibility of ‘popular revolt’ about gun control, Sen. Chris Murphy says

Perhaps it would not be quite a popular as the Senator claims to believe:

image

America’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Moment has Arrived

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As cities and blue states become more confiscatory and hostile to property rights, they drive out wealthier people and wealth creators. And as prosperous people leave, the politics become more confiscatory and hostile to property rights. And the cycle continues.

Jon Miltimore
May 8, 2023
America’s ‘Atlas Shrugged’ Moment Arrived, New IRS Data Show

Interesting observation. It is possible that all positive feedback loops in the social order are bad news for the participants. The only thing I know for certain is this feedback loop is not an exception.

I would like to have a good model for the state of things a decade or so after “Atlas Shrugged”. Somehow, I don’t think it will bear much resemblance to Gault’s Gulch in Colorado as envisioned by AI:

Seattle is Going to Get Worse Before it Gets Better

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We are walking down a very well taken path. And this board will be the ones leading us.

Tammy Morales
April 28, 2023

Watch through the end pic.twitter.com/PjKeMtCWn9

To be fair, there are others on the board as well. See this announcement for more information. There is damning material it is as well. I especially “like” the part about “social housing” where the rental price is according to what people can afford to pay. This slogan echoes from 150 years ago:

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

This is indeed a well taken path.

It is What Communists Do

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The political left will not and cannot tolerate dissent. Read The Gulag Archipelago for just one of millions of horror stories demonstrating this. The Second Amendment Foundation Second Amendment Foundation and its founder have been a victim of this and are fighting back:

According to the complaint, “Over the last two years, the Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s Office (“CPD”) has carried out an expansive, highly intrusive probe into the private affairs of SAF, CCRKBA, CDFE, SBA, LPP, MMM, Mr. Gottlieb, and his family. It has served Civil Investigative Demands (“CIDs”) on each of the plaintiffs, including two on Mr. Gottlieb, citing the same consumer protection laws Mr. Ferguson was recently found to have abused.” The complaint refers to a recent Washington Supreme Court ruling which “held unanimously that Mr. Ferguson’s office improperly used Washington Consumer Protection and Charitable Solicitations Acts to suppress constitutionally protected speech with which he disagreed.”

This is the complaint filed in court.

I hope Mr. Ferguson enjoys his trial and those to come.

You are Not Paranoid

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to tarnish its own reputation by vastly downplaying — by a factor of more than 10 — the number of incidents in which armed Americans stop spree killers. According to the FBI, the same people who can find no evidence of crime on Hunter Biden’s laptop, only 4.4% of these incidents were stopped by a good guy “civilian” with a gun. Analysis by the Crime Prevention Research Center shows the actual number is closer to 50% or more in some instances.

John Boch
October 7, 2022
FBI Massively Understates Shooting Statistics: Analysis Show Armed Americans Stop About Half of Active Killer Attacks

When I read things like this I frequently think, “You are not paranoid if they really are out to get you.”

This Should be a Clue

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When more than half of your residents would leave if they could it should be a clue to the public servants that they are doing something wrong:

Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they would move to another state if they could, compared with 39% who said the quality of life in Washington is worth the cost. The remaining 10% said they didn’t know.

I didn’t read this until a few minutes ago but Barb and I talked about this on our walk this morning. It is very expensive to live here, but the “Bellevue Bubble” has its benefits.

Anti-gun Activist has Delusional Beliefs

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Those of us who are not gun fetishists are supposed to “keep our powder dry” on the subject, but it must be said: The Second Amendment is as antique as a muzzle-loaded long gun, and should be treated as a historical artifact.

…

The need for a well-regulated militia, crucial to the early history of the country, is no longer in play. We need to rewrite the amendment, dispensing with the oddball capitalization and punctuation, to fit the times:

The right of the people to serve in the armed services or the National Guard, or to serve as law enforcement officers if duly qualified, shall not be infringed.

Kirk Swearingen
April 23, 2023
The Second Amendment is a ludicrous historical antique: Time for it to go

It is as if he misses the entire point of the 2nd Amendment. It is for the people to preserve their free state by defending against a tyrannical government. It is not the right of the people to learn to shoot guns under the direction of government.

Reading the entire screed, I find it very telling that he ignores that in the Heller decision all nine Supreme Justices agree that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. They were not unanimous on the application to the particulars of the application of it to the D.C. law. But, they did all agree on the individual right aspect. Swearingen apparently believes he is a better constitutional scholar than all nine SCOTUS justices combined.

Lots of other “errors” could be pointed out but with that delusion, ignorance, or indicator of evil intent in your pocket you know you can confidently ignore anything further he has to say.

But don’t ever let someone get away with telling you that no one wants to take your guns.

Checkpoint WA-ID

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You can’t help but wonder how long before the border, for decades little more than a welcoming line on maps, becomes hardened somehow.

It already is, psychologically. It’s getting so you have to remind yourself that the two states are still part of the same country, with a common history and traditions. (The governors definitely need this counsel.) But when one side is threatening doctors in say, Coeur d’Alene, with a crime for even suggesting that citizens might travel to the other side — to Spokane, say — for their health care, wouldn’t a logical step at some point be to try to stop the citizens from going?

Same with buying assault weapons, except in the other direction?

I am not making a prediction that we will someday have a literal “Checkpoint Charlie” on the Idaho-Washington border.

But everything else written in this column sounds completely insane, yet it’s all true. So I’ve learned in this era of America fracturing — don’t shrug about the prospect that the crackup may be only just beginning.

Danny Westneat
April 22, 2023
The Cold War between WA and neighbor Idaho gets hotter

I have sometimes wondered about a similar checkpoint. Although I envisioned it at the line between King County (which contains Seattle) and anything east of there.

In any case, the difference in gun availability will be resolved in a year or two as the most oppressive of Washington gun laws will be struck down by the courts. I expect the abortion issue will remain for some time.

Enemy of the State

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History is repeating. In today’s America, the rightists are those who don’t conform. They are labeled as the extremists, racists, the bigots, the white supremacists, domestic terrorists, haters..  in short, they are regarded as the enemy of the state.

Xi Van Fleet @XVanFleet
Chinese by birth; American by choice. Survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Defender of liberty.
Tweeted on April 21, 2023

Consistency

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Via The Redheaded libertarian (@TRHLofficial):

Them: Banning abortions won’t make them stop.
Me: okay but will banning guns stop mass shootings?
Them:
Me:
Them: f*** you.

When the debate response is an insult you know you have won. Markley’s Law is a case in point.