Category Archives: Politics

Winning

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Support for ‘assault weapons’ ban hits all-time low following Uvalde shooting: Poll

New polling shows that support for an “assault weapons” ban in the United States has hit an all-time low despite calls from Democrats to implement a ban following a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

In a Quinnipiac University poll, conducted last week and published on Tuesday, 50 percent of registered voters support a nationwide ban on semi-automatic long guns compared to 45% who oppose which represents the lowest level of support since February 2013 when Quinnipiac began asking that question.

The highest level of support for the ban was 67% in February 2018, days after the Parkland school shooting that left 17 people dead.

From a legal and philosophical standpoint it doesn’t really matter if 99% of the population disagrees with you. And of course just because 99% of the population is totally convinced the earth is flat does not mean that it is flat.

But from a practical standpoint it sure helps if the number of people in opposition are relatively low. That only 50% of the population is in favor of violating our right to keep and bear modern sporting rifles and the trend is in our favor is good news. It will make it easier to get court decisions in our favor and to get legislators and politicians in the executive branch to stand up to the criminals. And ultimately, with enough support, to prosecute the criminals who have infringed upon our specific enumerated rights.

We are winning.

Quote of the day—House Democrats @HouseDemocrats

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Semiautomatic rifles are weapons of war. Refusing to act and save lives in this moment is an immoral abandonment of your constitutional duty.

House Democrats @HouseDemocrats
Tweeted on June 8, 2022
[I hope they enjoy their trial.—Joe]

AR-15 magazines for court battles

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SAF and Aero Precision have teamed up to sell specially marked Magpul PMAG® magazines:

2A Foundation Marked Magpul PMAG® 30-round Non-Window M2 - Black

In addition to getting a high quality magazine SAF and Aero Precision share this:

With the passing of SB 5078 we have partnered with the Second Amendment Foundation to help in the legal battle against this unconstitutional law. The net proceeds from each of these magazines sold will go directly to the Second Amendment Foundation to help fund legal action to defeat this unconstitutional bill.

I bought a few. You should consider doing the same.

Quote of the day—Matthew Yglesias

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Continuing to insist on new rules while shying away from enforcing existing ones, meanwhile, burns credibility with conservative voters, who see a left that’s eager to penalize their hobby and reluctant to punish criminals.

Matthew Yglesias
June 3, 2022
The flaw in the progressive stance on guns
[Via email from Chet.

Reading the entire opinion piece you can see he has a glimmer of self awareness about the weakness of the gun control position. But if he actually believes the 2nd Amendment, the specific enumeration of a basic human right, is just a hobby then he has no clue why so many people are opposed to restrictions on personal arms.

The mindset of the opposition is much closer to “people that wish to disarm me must be intending to inflect violence upon me and/or innocent people I care about.” This completely changes any attempts to get even minor concessions

Why would anyone grant someone they believe to be intent on murdering them to tie one hand behind their back? If, after saying “No!”, the person attempts to forcibly tie the hand it seems entirely justified to use lethal force to stop them.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Carl "Bear" Bussjaeger

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Perhaps the Constitution has only been an illusory paper restraint on government. But it has been a potent symbolic restraint on the people, preventing them from eliminating abusive politicians and government agents out of hand. I do not truly comprehend the willingness — nay, the eagerness of the Left to go there, to surrender that protection, given the likely consequences.

We’d be starting from scratch, with new rules written by the survivors.

Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger
May 29, 2022
SO YOU WANT TO REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT
[Interesting observation.-Joe]

Quote of the day—Rep. John Kowalko

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I’ve got a suggestion for you and your fellow gun worshipers (sic), Instead of wearing a mask stick the barrel of your piece in your mouth. Maybe those 14 children killed in Texas would have been safer from the virus and you psycho, small-penis gun fondlers.

John Kowalko
Delaware state Rep. (D)
Posted on Facebook May 26, 2022
Dem State Rep. Goes On Fake-Fact-Checker Facebook Meltdown, Tells ‘Small-Penis’ Gun Supporters To Kill Themselves
[It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

Via email from Rolf.

This is what they think of you. They want you dead.—Joe]

Quote of the day–UR a Smart Ass, Carl @Ur_a_Smartass_C

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Any black person who fights for gun control is nothing more than a tool for their own destruction.

UR a Smart Ass, Carl @Ur_a_Smartass_C
Tweeted on May 23, 2022
[Carl has an interesting story to tell about his conversion from “a young gun control Democrat” to owning a safe (or three, I’m not sure) full of guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

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Yet be warned: once you get snagged by a surveillance camera, flagged by an AI predictive screening program, and placed on a government watch list—whether it’s a watch list for child neglect, a mental health watch list, a dissident watch list, a terrorist watch list, or a red flag gun watch list—there’s no clear-cut way to get off, whether or not you should actually be on there.

You will be tracked wherever you go, flagged as a potential threat and dealt with accordingly.

If you’re not scared yet, you should be.

John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
May 10, 2022
You’ve Been Flagged as a Threat: Predictive AI Technology Puts a Target on Your Back
[Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Julia Jacobo

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California water officials unanimously struck down a $1.4 billion plan to build a seaside desalination plant amid a water crisis sparked by megadrought and climate change.

The California Coastal Commission, which is responsible for protecting the state’s shores, voted Thursday to deny a permit to seawater desalination developer Poseidon Water to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the supporters for the plan, which promised to produce 50 million gallons of drinking water a day. Steve Sheldon, president of the Orange County Water District, said the plant would make the county “drought resilient.”

Julia Jacobo
May 13, 2022
California panel unanimously rejects proposal for plant to turn ocean water into drinking water
[It is easy to make a case that these creatures hate humans.—Joe]

The original “assault rifle”

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Via Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras:

image

Quote of the day—Sen. Chris Murphy

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There are not a lot of moments where everybody goes from Position A to Position Z. You need to build political power in order to enact important, controversial social change.

…

I think that we have made enormous progress over the last nine years, and I sort of look at Sandy Hook as the before and after moment.

Sen. Chris Murphy
May 22, 2022
From Sandy Hook to Buffalo: Ten years of failure on gun control
[I found the article fascinating. No hint of awareness that gun control might not help public safety, let alone thoughts it enables violent criminals. No hint of awareness that the Second Amendment protects a specific enumerated right and SCOTUS is about to slap down New York for their abuse of gun owners. No hint of awareness that since Sandy Hook, gun sales have exploded and the Antifa “summer of love” have changed the political landscape regarding gun ownership.—Joe]

This is what they think of you

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VIa email from pkoning.

Tyrants gotta tyrant:

IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may deny a license under this section if the Attorney General determines that the applicant poses a significant danger of bodily injury to self or others by possessing, purchasing, or receiving a firearm, after examining factors the Attorney General considers are relevant to the determination, including…

(gg) any recent acquisition of firearms, ammunition, or other deadly weapons;

This is one of those “can’t win” scenario those who have mental issues create for you. If you buy some ammo they can declare you unfit to buy a gun because you might actually have the ability to use it.

I’ve experienced and put up with a mental issues environment… for decades. Highly discommended.

The other case you see this sort of behavior is the situation described by Ayn Rand regarding the creation of criminals. This is a situation you want to avoid even more than an individual with mental issues.

But what I find most telling about this proposed legislation is what such a politician must think of you. It must be one of the following:

  1. You are too stupid to see the trap this creates, or
  2. They believe that the desire to exercise a specific enumerated right demonstrates criminal intent.

Just say no, and keep saying no, until you run out of ammo.

Tyrant tool

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Via Stephanie:

AI may be searching you for guns the next time you go out in public

When Peter George saw news of the racially motivated mass-shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo last weekend, he had a thought he’s often had after such tragedies.

“Could our system have stopped it?” he said. “I don’t know. But I think we could democratize security so that someone planning on hurting people can’t easily go into an unsuspecting place.”

George is chief executive of Evolv Technology, an AI-based system meant to flag weapons, “democratizing security” so that weapons can be kept out of public places without elaborate checkpoints.

…

Evolv machines use “active sensing” — a light-emission technique that also underpins radar and lidar — to create images. Then it applies AI to examine them. Data scientists at the Waltham, Mass., company have created “signatures” (basically, visual blueprints) and trained the AI to compare them to the scanner images.

This tool is worse than useless. It will create opportunities for more murders. That is, unless you are a tyrant intent on disarming your subjects.

First off, the mass shooter will start shooting before they pass through the detector, taking out the guards before they even had a clue a threat was present. And, since there is a “funnel” for people going through the detector there will be a group of people ready for “harvesting” by the perp. It also will make it difficult or impossible for people to defend themselves where these systems are deployed.

Hence, if your threat model is a mass shooter, the device will actually make things worse rather than better. Many other threat models suffer similar degradation of public security.

The threat model that doesn’t degrade is the one where you want your subjects to be more dependent on you for security and to make it difficult for them to threaten your position of power. In that case this system will be a useful asset to disarm your subjects.

Quote of the day—Floyd Neeland

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The only reason ten blacks murdered in Buffalo are getting so much news coverage is because that supports the false government narrative that white people pose the top threat to America, and guns are evil.

In 2019, nearly 8,000 black people were murdered.* News media failed to cover it or bring the point home. Few arrests, few trials, murderers roamed free amidst newslessness. The following year black murders increased, and again little or no coverage. But now, the so-called “news” media harps on one teenage psychopath who made advanced threats, posted his intentions, never got treatment, and media uses the tragedy to falsely claim whites are part of a scheme. Whites are more racist than blacks or other clinging ethnic groups, they say, guns are evil, while ignoring the real dead stacked in a corner like firewood.

Floyd Neeland
May 20, 2022
9,941 Black People Murdered in 2020*
Saturation coverage of 10 dead in Buffalo is misdirection
Here is hard proof that Black Lives Don’t Matter
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kathy Hochul

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I want to silence those voices now.

…

So yes, Lord, forgive the anger in my heart, but channel that into my passion to continue to fight to protect people, get the guns off the streets and silence the voices of hatred and racism and white supremacy all over the internet.

Kathy Hochul
New York State Governor
May 15, 2022
Video, Audio, Photo & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at True Bethel Baptist Church
[See also New York’s Governor Wants to ‘Silence’ Constitutionally Protected Speech.

So… she is saying she is going to ignore both the 1st and the 2nd Amendments. Got it.

Governor, I hope you enjoy your trial

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Will those at the top be brought to justice?

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FBI Deemed Trump–Russia Claims False in Less Than a Day, Agent Says

FBI agents tasked with analyzing claims about Donald Trump and Russia took less than a day to figure out that the data didn’t support the allegations, one of the agents testified in federal court on May 17.

Agent Scott Hellman was part of the team that examined white papers and data on thumb drives handed in 2016 to FBI lawyer James Baker by Michael Sussmann, an attorney who was representing the campaign of Hillary Clinton—Trump’s rival for the presidency.

On the first day of Sussmann’s trial for allegedly lying to the FBI when he said he wasn’t bringing the information on behalf of a client, Hellman told the court that he and another agent took less than a day to ascertain that the information didn’t support the allegations that Trump’s business and Russia’s Alfa Bank had a secret connection.

“I think the person who drafted [the main white paper] was suffering from a mental disability,” Hellman said.

So, they were nearly certain it was all a lie on day one. Yet the President of The United States and the entire country were subject to years of legal abuse and the almost certain change of an election result.

The criminals at the top of this should be fined into oblivion and spend the rest of their lives in prison.

I won’t be holding my breath.

Quote of the day—Glenn Reynolds

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If you’re the president, if you’re a member of Congress, if you are a TSA agent, the only reason why somebody should listen to what you say, instead of horsewhipping you out of town for your impertinence, is because you exercise power via the Constitution. If the Constitution doesn’t count, you don’t have any legitimate power. You’re a thief, a brigand, an officious busybody, somebody who should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail for trying to exercise power you don’t possess.

So if we’re going to start ignoring the Constitution, I’m fine with that. The first part I’m going to start ignoring is the part that says, I have to do whatever they say.

Glenn Reynolds
Feb 18, 2013
Glenn Reynolds on Politics, the Constitution, and Technology
From the partial transcript at The Raj Koothrappali Approach to Constitutional Law.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Michael Malice @michaelmalice

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The beautiful thing about gun rights is that there is no longer any pretense that there is value in having a conversation with those who would disarm you Tweet away, gun proliferation is through the roof and increasing (thank god)

Michael Malice @michaelmalice
Tweeted on May 13, 2022
[Via email from Lee H.

Our opponents have no interest in having, and never have had an interest in, a conversation. It has always about silencing us. Remember their insistence upon “reasoned discourse”?

There is a price to be paid for being morally, legally, and philosophical wrong. It even has a name. It is called, “On the wrong side of history.”—Joe]

Hope

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Email from Chet:

‘Seeking Excellence’: Netflix’s updated culture memo that was sent to woke staff

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10813409/Netflix-tells-staff-LEAVE-theyre-offended-content.html

In their culture memo Netflix invites woke employees to find other more suitable jobs.

“As employees we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful. If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”

The political left has pushed too far and they know it.

I’m “sure” this is unrelated but, from the same article:

Stocks have nosedived over the last six months from nearly $700 to as low as $166 yesterday.

Quote of the day—Elon Musk

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Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential—I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.

Elon Musk
May 8, 2022
Elon Musk Puts Twitter Employees on Alert
[Nice words.

I look forward to seeing those words backed up by action.—Joe]