Category Archives: Politics

Quote of the day—Jacob Sullum

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Republicans who claim to support the Second Amendment voted not only to continue punishing people for exercising the rights it guarantees but to increase the penalties they face. So did Democrats, despite their avowed concern about excessively severe sentences and racial disparities.

This is what bipartisan compromise means for members of Congress: I will compromise my principles if you compromise yours.

Jacob Sullum
July 20, 2022
A New Gun Law Reflects the Worst Instincts of Both Parties
[I gave up on the legislative process for removing restrictions on our rights years ago. Instead I donate thousands each year to organizations (SAF and FPC) which are getting things done in the courts.—Joe]

Green is Red

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Via Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith:

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It’s isn’t exactly new information. This was pretty clear, if not the 1960s, then, by the 1970’s. But in this case I give the meme maker a lot of slack for poetic license.

Quote of the day—Shawn

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There is only one outcome: The Supreme Court affirming that there is no right to carry a firearm outside of your home this meaning that there is no right to self-defense outside your home.

In the one in a trillion chance they rule for us the scope will be so narrow it will be rendered worthless and meaningless.

Shawn
April 27, 2021
Comment to Quote of the day—Independent Firearms Owners Association
[This was in in regard to NYS Rifle and Pistol Association V. Superintendent of NYS Police (No. 20-843) which was decided 14 months later on June 23, 2022.

I was pretty sure things were going go conclusively in our favor. I was certain enough that I offered to make a small bet with him. This would have been the first I had made since the one with Caleb back in 2008.

If you wish to stand by the odds given I would like to make a small bet with you.

The offer was silently declined. I really don’t understand why. I was only going to bet a single penny.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays

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I disagree that something like Jan6th “shouldn’t happen again” in the United States.
It’s a feature, not a flaw.

Doesn’t mean the protestors were right. It does mean that if you send signals of fraud to the American public (real or not), the crowd is coming.

Every time.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Tweeted on July 19, 2022
[I can see that.—Joe]

Doomsday cult

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Tweet on July 17, 2022 by The Redheaded libertarian @TRHLofficial:

The democrats run a doomsday cult and I’m gonna break it all down for you. Walk with me.

1. Authoritarian yet Charismatic leadership structure Obama repealed Smith-Mundt, made it legal to detain American citizens indefinitely, & banned protesting government sessions which paved the way for the controlled demolition of the economy. BUT LOOK AT HOW RELATABLE THEY ARE

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2. Deception in recruiting. Go ahead and join up and then tell them you think there should be limits to abortion and sexually transitioning children. Tell them communists aren’t people. I’ll wait.

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3. Use of thought-reform methods You know like struggle sessions for 6 year olds and diversity training for the military and nominating biological men with penises for women’s awards while forbidding the questioning of any of it.

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4. Isolation (physical and/or psychological) Mask up. Stay home. Save lives.

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5. Demand for absolute, unquestioning devotion and loyalty

Check these fundraising emails, jabbed 4 year olds and STAND WITH UKRAINE.

You must pay heavily and support the current thing to show loyalty to the party.

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6. Sharp, unsurpassable distinction between “us” (good) and “them” (bad) They leave that to the media. DJT is the best example.

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7. “Inside language” that only members fully understand Here is a list of their pronouns, the connection between CRT & Marxism, and a link to 33 pages of Critical Race Theory vocabulary. https://racialequitytools.org/glossary

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8. Strict control over members’ daily routines While it’s a gentleman’s agreement that Democrats wear masks, love abortion, and drive electric cars, policies derived from The failed Green New Deal aim to control & limit people via taxes & regulations from mileage to consumption.

9. Scripture “[insert party platform] is a human right.” “Our democracy is at stake” “Diversity is our strength” “Post-Roe world” “Credible evidence” “Putin’s price hike” “No one needs and AR-15” “Meaningful gun reform” “Common sense gun reform” “Abortion is healthcare”

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10. Group thought All Thought is lead by Hollywood, big Tech, Big Pharma, universities & politicians. You are allowed to dissent in approved topics, but not in others. If you disobey, and question the forbidden, they will have you kicked out of the public square indefinitely.

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11. And of course, the Day of reckoning. This all needs to have a deeper meaning. Climate change is their second coming but the dates keep passing, so the leaders will create new dates until eventually, everyone puts on their Nikes and drinks the koolaid together.

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The observation I found most telling was the last one. It is like a new example for the book When Prophecy Fails — A social and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world (emphasis added):

Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen?  The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before.  Indeed, he may even show a new fervor about convincing and converting other people to his view.

There is something wrong with these people.

Prepare and respond appropriately.

Quote of the day—Robert Spencer

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The endgame is not just to make Americans despise Thomas Jefferson, but to make the average American ashamed of being American. That’s what this has been about from first to last. If the complexities of human experience have to be obliterated in the process, with cartoonish one-dimensional heroes and villains put in their place, so be it. We cannot celebrate Jefferson for all that he did to lay the groundwork for the freest society the world has ever seen. We cannot see him as a remarkable but flawed human being who was exemplary in some ways but not in others.

What’s more, the reason why the Left hates him with such burning intensity is not that he was a slave owner. Leftists love Fidel Castro, who enslaved an entire nation. They love all manner of authoritarians, totalitarians, and mass murderers. They’ve never minded the eggs that have to be broken to make their socialist omelets.

No, the real reason why the Left hates Thomas Jefferson is for all the things for which he should rightly be celebrated: Because he fought against tyranny. Because he helped create a free republic.

Robert Spencer
July 10, 2022
Thomas Jefferson’s Home Has Been Taken Over by Leftist America-Haters
[I do not have a better hypothesis..—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith

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Liberty without responsibility is decadence.

Responsibility without liberty is slavery.

Lack of liberty and responsibility is childishness.

Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith
Tweeted on June 26, 2022
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

If you need a disarmed society

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Via Matthew Bracken:

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Quote of the day—Kamala Harris

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Because those weapons are available, and we have to stop allowing those weapons to be available to civilians living in communities of people who have a right to believe that they are not in a war zone.

Assault weapons were specifically and intentionally designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly. It is a weapon of war. If you’ve ever looked at, if I may be so blunt, an autopsy photograph to see what it does to the human body. And the fact that we can’t get Congress to renew – it’s not like we’re pulling something out of our hat. We’ve done it before as a nation – to renew the assault weapons ban, is outrageous.

You can support the Second Amendment. I support the Second Amendment, but we should agree we should not have weapons of war on the streets of America.

Kamala Harris
July 10, 2022
VP Harris calls for ‘assault weapons ban’ on guns ‘intentionally designed to kill’ people
[“Assault weapons” use account for smaller percentage of the murders than those committed using bare hands and feet.

I see the greater wounding potential as a feature. That makes it a good defensive weapon.

The Second Amendment is about the protecting peoples right to defending themselves from a tyrannical government. Harris either doesn’t understand the Second Amendment, or more likely, understands and realizes the Second Amendment is an impediment to her goals.

Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you no one wants to take your guns. Harris and Biden are both advocates for enabling tyranny. Don’t let them get their way.—Joe]

Evidence of Idiocracy

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As if you didn’t already have sufficient evidence with the current administration now there is a study confirming what everyone should already know:

A new study published today shows how natural selection effects are stronger in groups with lower income and less education, among younger parents, people not living with a partner, and people with more lifetime sexual partners.

Meanwhile, natural selection is pushing against genes associated with high educational attainment, high earnings, a low risk of ADHD or major depressive disorder, and a low risk of coronary artery disease.

Our future is an Idiocracy.

Quote of the day—Scott Galloway

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China is not America’s friend. There is a dangerous sentiment emerging in the U.S. that members of the “other” political party are the enemy. No, Americans are still the best allies for other Americans. If you blanched at the previous sentence, in my view, you have been targeted by propaganda from bad actors and/or manipulated by algorithms or cable news editors whose profit incentive pits us against one another.

The Chinese government aims to weaken the U.S. Its investment in kinetic power is massive (a third aircraft carrier took to sea last month), but it probably won’t match raw American might for decades. So the Chinese press on our soft tissue strategically and play the long game with tactics that offer a greater ROI: IP theft and propaganda. America is most like itself when we perceive an external threat as the real threat, and when we’re optimistic about the return we’ll realize from long-term investments at home: education, infrastructure, research and development. Pessimism is our kryptonite.

Scott Galloway
July 8, 2022
TikTok: Trojan Stallion
[Via email from John S.

Valid points. If you doubt their hostility to the people in this country spend some time talking to someone who grew up there.—Joe]

Unconstitutionally vague?

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Why is this not considered unconstitutionally vague:

Gun makers and dealers in California will be required to block firearms sales to anyone they have “reasonable cause to believe is at substantial risk” of using a gun illegally or of harming themselves or others, under a new law that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he had signed.

It’s a subjective requirement that goes farther than current background checks or prohibitions on selling guns to people prohibited from owning them.

The regulation is part of the new law creating a good conduct code for gun makers and dealers that also allows anyone who suffers harm from violations to sue.

…

The state’s firearm industry standard of conduct, starting in July 2023, will require those making, importing or selling guns to “take reasonable precautions” to make sure the weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands through sales or thefts.

That includes having “reasonable controls” to prevent sales to arms traffickers, straw buyers, those prohibited from owning guns, and anyone deemed to be at “substantial risk” of using the gun improperly.

Or is it deliberately written this way so as to cast a chilling effect upon the specific enumerated right and cause us to spend money challenging them in court?

And what about retailers being sued for discrimination for failure to sell on the basis of race and/or sex? Or the woman visibility upset because of her stalker being denied and later injured when unable to defend herself?

These characters really need to be prosecuted.

Quote of the day—Clarence Thomas

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If they are going to kill they are going to kill me.

…

I don’t like bullies.

I’ve never run from bullies.

I never cry uncle. And I’m not going to cry uncle today.

Clarence Thomas
1991 Confirmation hearings
[Via a tweet from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.—Joe]

Reaping what they have sown

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Communists have frequently regarded criminals as an ally in their war against capitalists. I suspect this is why so many Democrat dominated areas have high crime rates. They are disinclined to prosecute their comrades.

They are now reaping the rewards of those decisions:

Starbucks to close 5 Seattle stores over safety concerns

Starbucks will close five Seattle stores and one in Everett with high rates of crime as part of a broad initiative to boost security at the cafes, the company announced Monday. 

The closed stores include five in Seattle — stores in the Central Area, on Capitol Hill and in the Roosevelt neighborhood, as well as those at Union Station and Westlake Center, are slated to close — and one in Everett. In total, 17 U.S. stores will close July 31. The stores were chosen based on level of crime-related complaints each has seen, and whether attempts to lower crime rates were successful, a company spokesperson said.

This didn’t end well last time

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Via an email from Rolf:

Left-Wing Minister Wants to Confiscate Guns Owned by Members of Right-Wing AfD

A left-wing interior minister in Germany has launched a plan to confiscate all firearms owned by members of the right-wing political party AfD.

Interior minister of the German state of Thuringia, Georg Maier, wants to withdraw gun licenses from Alternative for Germany members, a political party that holds 81 seats in the German parliament and 9 seats in the European parliament.

“Maier, who belongs to the Social Democrat Party (SPD), has tasked his employees with establishing a working group on “Weapons and Extremists” to move forward on the issue,” reports Remix News.

“They plan to create the “AG WaffEx,” which would be located at the state administration office and help local authorities “in the processing of relevant cases.”

The move would ostensibly target “right-wing extremists,” but that list includes AfD members, over 30,000 Germans, who would have “appropriate revocation procedures” initiated against them under the plan.

AfD members who are hunters or marksmen and legally own guns would have them confiscated by the state, with Maier citing the reason that the AfD in Thuringia is “proven to be right-wing extremist.”

See also pages 57 and 59 in  ”Gun Control”: Gateway to Tyranny:

§ 12

A firearms acquisition permit is not needed by:

…

3. Departments of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and their offices as specified by the Fuhrer’s deputy;

…

§ 15

(1) Firearms acquisition permits or firearms carry permits are only to be granted to persons of undoubted reliability, and only if a demonstration of need is set forth.

(2)  Issuance should not take place.

  1. to persons under 18 years of age;
  2. to persons under trusteeship and the mentally retarded;
  3. to Gypsies, or to persons who are itinerant like Gypsies;
  4. to persons under police supervision or known to have lost their civil rights, for the duration of police supervision or the loss of their civil rights
  5. to persons convicted of high treason, or against who facts are presented which give reason to suppose that they are actively subversive,
  6. to persons, who, on account of: deliberate attacks on life or health; public disorderly conduct or trespassing; resistance to government authority; an offense dangerous to the public or misdemeanors; for the punishable offense against property; a hunting or fishing offense legally punishable by more than two weeks imprisonment, if three years have not elapsed since the sentence was served. The punishment of imprisonment may stand as prescribed, be reduced, or commuted into a fine; in these case the three-year periods begins with the day on which imprisonment ends, or is reduced, or is converted into a fine. If this punishment is wholly or partly imposed after probation, the probation period should be added to the time period.

That was March 18, 1938. As an exercise for the reader, I’ll leave the determination of the details of what happened in the next few years to the Gypsies and others not favored by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

Quote of the day—John Cardillo @johncardillo

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The left pushed deviance and their hatred of America way too hard.

Normal Americans are finally pushing back much harder.

The tide is turning so the left is going to become even more demonic and vicious.

Take nothing for granted. Do not let your guard down. Buy guns and ammo.

John Cardillo @johncardillo
Tweeted on July 1, 2020
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kathy Hochul

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We’re not going backwards. They may think they can change our lives with the stroke of a pen, but we have pens, too.

The founding of a great country that cherished the rights of individuals, freedoms and liberty for all.

I am standing here to protect freedom and liberty here in the state of New York.

Kathy Hochul
New York State Governor
July 2, 2022
N.Y. Lawmakers Respond on Guns and Abortion After Supreme Court Rulings
[This was shortly before signing a gun owner control bill:

The state’s new gun law bars the carrying of handguns in many public settings such as subways and buses, parks, hospitals, stadiums and day cares. Guns will be off-limits on private property unless the property owner indicates that he or she expressly allows them. At the last minute, lawmakers added Times Square to the list of restricted sites.

The law also requires permit applicants to undergo 16 hours of training on the handling of guns and two hours of firing range training, as well as an in-person interview and a written exam. Applicants will also be subject to the scrutiny of local officials, who will retain some discretion in the permitting process.

As Lyle has frequently said (paraphrasing), they demand the freedom to do evil.

They won’t stop until they are prosecuted or die off.—Joe]

Quote of the day—The Editorial Board @ WSJ

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When the Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that segregated schools were illegal, many politicians in the South refused to obey. In Virginia opponents of the Court’s decision proudly called this “massive resistance,” and a decade of social strife followed. These days the massive resistance is on the political left, as exemplified by New York state’s new gun law that defies the Supreme Court’s late June ruling solidifying individual gun rights.

The Editorial Board
Wall Street Journal
New York’s ‘Massive Resistance’ to the Supreme Court on Guns
Albany passes a law that willfully defies the ruling that the right to bear arms extends beyond the home.
[I find it very telling that in both cases it is the Democrats who are opposed to the exercise of civil rights to the point of defying the Supreme Court of the United States.

I hope they Enjoy Their Trial.—Joe]

Long live Clarence Thomas

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I found this interesting:

Clarence Thomas is at the peak of his power

Clarence Thomas is suddenly, for the first time since his confirmation, the main character at the Supreme Court.

Why it matters: Thomas is more powerful than he’s ever been inside the court, and ideas that the legal establishment once treated as his quirky hobbyhorses now carry increasing weight.

…

The big picture: Thomas has spent years essentially laying out a whole parallel understanding of the law. He’s one of the court’s most prolific authors of solo dissents, according to Adam Feldman of Empirical SCOTUS, and has also written a slew of solo concurrences similar to last week’s.

  • Thomas doesn’t just write a dissent here and an additional point about a majority holding there, but rather has created a whole ecosystem of opinions that build on and reference each other almost in the same way as the court’s actual precedents, except for the fact that they are all one man speaking only for himself.
  • Thomas’ solo opinion in last week’s abortion case cited 11 of his past opinions, 10 of which were solo opinions. It drew more heavily from the Clarence Thomas Cinematic Universe than from the rest of the court’s historical precedents, dissents and non-Thomas concurrences.

But as the makeup of the court has shifted around him, Thomas’ views have gotten more influential. And that influence will only grow.

Thomas is a huge influence for good. Not just in the gun rights arena, but in rolling back the power of big government.

Quote of the day—Edward-Isaac Dovere

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After string of Supreme Court setbacks, Democrats wonder whether Biden White House is capable of urgency moment demands

Edward-Isaac Dovere
CNN on July 6, 2022
[Read the entire article! It is as if they were writing some of their best fiction about President Trump.

When the Democrat President has lost CNN you known things are really bad.—Joe]