As Tal Bachman notes at Steynonline, it’s now our state religion, a state religion in a country that—constitutionally and for good reason—isn’t supposed to have one.
But “Wokism” is yet more than that, too. It’s a mass psychosis similar to many that have arisen throughout history when the masses followed leaders who, in their zeal or self-interest, took them to disastrous ends.
Roger L. Simon
May 9, 2021
How ‘Woke’ May Be Leading Us to Civil War
[See yesterday’s QOTD as well.—Joe]
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.—In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.
Karl Popper
1945
The Open Society and Its Enemies
[See also Paradox of tolerance.—Joe]
Either national debt is not a real problem or our government knows there is an asteroid the size of Mars heading directly towards Earth so it doesn’t matter.
I have to believe one of those things is true. Otherwise we are governed by morons.
Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Tweeted on May 12, 2021
[There are many more than those three options. The most obvious and likely are:
Prepare accordingly.—Joe]
People are constantly going on and on about how we have too many guns, but then they say they don’t want to take our guns. They fail to address guns in criminal hands but instead focus on those firearms being sold lawfully.
With this story, desperate to try and link increased gun sales to school violence, it’s almost sad. You’d think that people would understand that correlation doesn’t equal causation, yet they don’t. Then again, they still think gun control works.
Tom Knighton
May 9, 2021
Media Continues Meltdown Over Gun Sale Surge
[For certain definitions of “works” gun control does work:
But I don’t think that is what Knighton was referring to.—Joe]
This is a humongous loss for anti-gun Democrat State Attorneys General. They consistently attack Second Amendment rights any way they can.
This legal debacle was led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson who became famous for suing the Trump administration in a series of partisan legal actions that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
SAF and Defense Distributed look forward to sharing technical firearms information with millions of interested people on the Internet.
Alan M. Gottlieb
April 29, 2021
NINTH CIRCUIT VACATES INJUNCTION IN 3-D PRINTING CASE, TELLS LOWER COURT TO DISMISS
[This is incrementalism at work for us.
The proposed new regulations on “ghost guns” (page 21) will not nullify this ruling:
…nothing in this rule would restrict persons not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms from making their own firearms at home without markings solely for personal use (not for sale or distribution) in accordance with Federal, State, and local law.
As long as parts are available for AR-15 repairs, AR-15 lower receivers can be made to subvert bans on common sporting rifles. Thank SAF.—Joe]
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday from among more than 1,000 U.S. adults found that Americans overall are less supportive of new gun control legislations than they were just three years ago. People between the ages of 18-29 saw the sharpest decline in backing for new weapons laws, with fewer than half now saying new legislation is needed to reduce the risk of future mass shootings or to block “red flag” buyers.
In April 2018, the last time the ABC/Washington Post survey was conducted on this issue, 65 percent of these young Americans said they support gun control laws. That percentage is now 45.
Benjamin Fearnow
April 28, 2021
Americans Under 30 Have Rapidly Turned Against Gun Control Laws, Poll Finds
[It frequently takes a while but reality does have a way of making itself known.
And what’s with this name, “Fearnow”? Apparently it’s real.—Joe]
There really are limits to how much governments can spend without inflicting pain on the people suffering under their mismanagement. Not that the people elected to Congress and the White House have shown any signs of comprehension or concern.
Given that these are people capable of running for public office without feeling any apparent sense of shame, is it possible that they’re just too stupid to understand our reports? you can imagine CBO economists asking one another as they tossed around the idea for the recent infographic. Does anybody have any crayons?
J.D. Tuccille
May 5, 2021
Looming Budget Catastrophe in Pictures So Simple Even Congress Can Understand
[There is at least one other alternative not mentioned in the article or by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That alternative is that the economic destruction of our country is intentional.—Joe]
A major point of disagreement among Second Amendment supporters was how to approach the problem. One group claimed anything but full and complete recognition of Second Amendment rights was futile and counter-productive. The argument was: any lesser legislation, moving incrementally toward full Second Amendment rights, would only legitimize infringements on those rights. They were/are the “All or Nothing” group. Some called/call themselves “principled”.
The other group of Second Amendment supporters argued Second Amendment rights could be restored bit by bit. Pass legislation first, for a permit system. Keep reforming and improving the permit system. Reduce requirements, reduce fees, reduce “gun free zones”. Keep on incrementally improving the law, until Second Amendment rights were fully restored. They were/are the “Incrementalists”. In the middle 1990’s it was not clear if either approach would be effective.
Twenty years later, it was clear. Incrementalism worked.
Dean Weingarten
May 3, 2021
Restoring Second Amendment Rights: Incrementalism vs All or Nothing
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Cap Hill/Seattle voted for this.
Voted for the violence by supporting Durkin, Holmes, Ferguson, & Inslee
When the left votes in politicians who have not prosecuted violence for over 6 years, you want this.
sacrebleu14 / SA Hinchcliffe @sacrebleu141
Tweeted on May 1, 2021
[This is not news. This is yet another example demonstrating that violence is the language of the political left.—Joe]
In my mind, I’ve been replacing any RWNJ reference to guns with “penises” – it makes for some fun and revelatory imagery, and it deflates their power in the same way that imagining ones opponents in the underwear does. Try it, it could be key in battling these cretins.
Katbuns @katbuns
Tweeted on April 24, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!
Ahh.. yes. The facts and the law mean nothing nothing to these people and we are the cretins. Funny!
Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.—Joe]
Signal doesn’t have access to your messages; your chat list; your groups; your contacts; your stickers; your profile name or avatar; or even the GIFs you search for. As a result, our response to the subpoena will look familiar. It’s the same set of “Account and Subscriber Information” that we provided in 2016: Unix timestamps for when each account was created and the date that each account last connected to the Signal service.
That’s it.
Signal
April 27, 2021
Grand jury subpoena for Signal user data, Central District of California
[Good to know.
See also here.—Joe]
Even though the Supreme Court left open the option of regulation to combat the dangers of gun violence in Heller, it is this Court’s opinion that the FOID Card Act goes too far. The Act makes criminals out of law-abiding citizens who are attempting to protect their lives within their homes.
After analyzing all the evidence in this matter, this Court finds that FOID Card Act is NOT substantially related to an important government interest as applied to the Defendant in this case. In addition, the Court finds that any fee associated with the exercising the core fundamental Constitutional right of armed self-defense with the confines of one’s home violates the Second Amendment.
T. Scott Webb
White County Resident Circuit Judge
April 26, 2021
People of the State of Illinois v. Vivian Claudine Brown
[This case started on March 18, 2017. It has taken over four years for this case to get this far. It went to the state Supreme Court once already and may will go back up again. Why aren’t these delays considered unconstitutional?
See also Illinois Circuit Judge T. Scott Webb ruled against Illinois’ Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card requirement on Tuesday and ILL. JUDGE RULES FOID CARD REQUIREMENT UNCONSTITUTIONAL FOR GUNS IN HOME.—Joe]
White girls kicking out a non-white girl to fight white supremacy…. Love it.
Woke – is there anything it can’t do?
Rolf Nelson
April 25, 2021
The whole diversity thing isn’t about acceptance…..
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
The Supreme Court today granted certiorari in the case NYS Rifle and Pistol Association V. Superintendent of NYS Police (No. 20-843)
The case will be heard in the fall term of the court later this year with a ruling expected in the spring of 2022. The Independent Firearm Owners Association will file an Amicus brief in the proceedings.
The issues raised are straightforward. Does an individual right of self protection with a handgun extend beyond the property of the owner? “Can a government which cannot protect its citizens deny them the means to protect themselves?” asked Peter Sullivan, former NYS Assemblyman from Westchester, NY and Board Member of the IFOA.
Firearm owners have been asking this question for a generation in NYS ever since the police have denied carry licenses to ordinary law abiding citizens for no reason, while granting them to wealthy, powerful, and politically connected “big shots”. (Mayor Lindsay, Donald Trump, Eleanor Roosevelt, & Howard Stern)
The issue raised in this case is not about training or other restrictions before issuing licenses, but of fairness and equal rights. “Either the government trusts its citizens or it does not, they can’t have it both ways”, concluded Richard Feldman, President of the IFOA.
Independent Firearms Owners Association
April 26, 2021
Media release via email.
[See also:
This is a really big deal in more than one way.
The first is that there is a good chance this will overturn all the “may issue” concealed carry laws. It even has the potential (a big stretch with the SCOTUS rewording of the question being asked) of overturn all licensing requirement for carrying a firearm.
The second important point I want to make is that court review of concealed carry licensing should have taken place and been settled law shortly after the Sullivan Act was passed in 1911. That it is happening 110 years later tell us something is very broken with our legal system.—Joe]
Leftists view every robbery, every burglary, and every dispute that begins and moves to fists or weapons, as governed by the “rules” of a bar fight. They can’t tell who started it, they don’t care who started it, but don’t kill anyone in my bar. Bar fights escalate with fault equally given to both parties. There is no resemblance between a bar fight and some burglar coming in at 2 am waking the family, but they can’t see it. They won’t see it.
Windy Wilson
April 22, 2021
Comment to Things happen fast
[That is a very interesting observation. I like that.—Joe]
The equation is: if property owners benefit from state violence then they are appropriate targets of people trying to dismantle state violence.
Joshua Blount @stickwithjosh
Tweeted on April 20, 2021
[Via Andy Ngô @MrAndyNgo.
Interesting.
Extrapolating a bit I come up with:
If Mr. Blount does not benefit from state violence then property owners could target him for personal violence without concern of state protection or prosecution.
That probably is not the best way to a civil society but I can see it has the potential to work.—Joe]
We must join together to defeat the racist Critical Race Theory and other maddened toxins oozing from leftists.
Andrea Widburg
April 27, 2021
When it comes to woke tyranny, are the worms beginning to turn?
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Arizona Senate to Start Major Audit of 2.1 Million 2020 Presidential Election Ballots
The Arizona Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, is ready to start a major audit of 2.1 million ballots for the 2020 presidential election. The recount will be done by hand this time.
The state Senate said in March that they would be conducting a “broad and detailed” audit, adding that they’ll test voting machines, scan ballots, look for IT breaches, and perform a hand count.
I find this part of the article particularly interesting (emphasis added):
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers told Fann in an email obtained by the Epoch Times that the upcoming audit “is not a joint effort between the County and the Senate Republican Caucus.”
In a response to an April 2 email from Fann, Sellers wrote: “Maricopa County performed the audits of the election required and permitted by law. As required by law they were bipartisan and transparent. There has been no suggestion that those audits were in any way deficient. The County then properly authorized two further forensic examinations of its machines that it was permitted to perform as possessor of the machines.”
He also said that because of the unsettled legal ramifications of the documents, “Maricopa County cannot be involved in supporting your audit as to do so may expose it to liability for which it has no similar legal protection.”
I look forward to the report “in about 60 days.”
A police officer arrives on the scene to reports of teenage girls trying to stab other girls. Nine seconds after opening his car door the officer draws his gun as the perpetrator chases a girl while trying to stab her. Two seconds after that he fires his first shot as she winds up to stab a different girl. Four shots are fired in two seconds and the perpetrator is on the ground with a knife by her side. That is how fast things happen in real life.
It’s tragic, but everything I see in this video indicates it was a legally justified use of lethal force. Yet we have people saying things like this:
Are these people just ignorant? Or are they evil? It’s difficult to decide given the current data. Regardless of the correct assessment of this set of people (and millions of those who have similar attitudes) I don’t want them in my neighborhood or even in the same state. They are seriously messed up.
You and I both know the cops are all in on guns and the NRA. I see a lot of them as the problem.
bgugin
April 20, 2021
Comment to Can Utah ignore federal laws that restrict gun rights? Lawmakers are asking.
[With an attitude like this you have to conclude they are either delusional in their view of reality and/or are knowingly enabling evil.—Joe]