Category Archives: Quote of the Day

Paying the Price

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Quote of the Day

Despite a busy news cycle, CNN had a smaller average audience from 8-11 p.m. than 29 other cable networks, including Bravo, TV Land, Freeform Investigation Discovery, FX, Food Network and History. 

…

CNN had its lowest-rated week among the key demographic of adults aged 25-54 in nearly 30 years, averaging a dismal 41,000 viewers from the group coveted by advertisers. But MSNBC was even worse in the critical category, averaging only 29,000 total day viewers among the demo. 

MSNBC had a smaller audience among the demo than 36 other cable options, including Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, E!, The Cartoon Network, Oxygen, MTV, Hallmark Mystery and a pair of Lifetime networks. It was MSNBC’s worst week among the demo since November 1997. 

Brian Flood
December 4, 2024
Fox News Channel dominates cable news as CNN, MSNBC collapse to embarrassing weekly lows

For comparison:

  • Joe Rogan has 12.3 million followers on X and 14.5 million on Spotify.
  • Mark Smith of the The Four Boxes Diner has 20.4K followers on X and 165K subscribers on YouTube. Smith is a law professor and advocate for Second Amendment rights.

CNN and MSNBC have been leading the pack in lies and giving Democrats what amounts to free advertising for a long, long time. I remember when people called CNN “Clinton News Network” for their biased reporting and opinions. And that was Bill Clinton, not Hillary!

That people have finally wised up and moved on is great news. It is time these talking heads paid a price for the harm they have done. I will be even happier when the companies collapse into bankruptcy. Most of all, I want to see the talking heads unemployable, and their old office space turned into gun shops and indoor shooting ranges.

They Always Want State Violence

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It would be useful if state violence extended to killing gun freaks

rumtytum @rumtytum
Tweeted on June 4, 2022

This is what they think of you. They want you dead.

And, of course, they want someone else to do their dirty work for them. They want the state to kill the people they don’t like. Also, note that it is an entire class of people they want dead. Considering people as individuals on a case-by-case basis would take too long.

Communism is a crime against humanity.

Finland, the Baltic States and Alaska?

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We need to reclaim a lot more historic land, restore historical fairness… Finland, the Baltic States, everything is ours. Let’s take Alaska too

Vladimir Soloviev
May 5, 2024
“We have to take back Finland, Poland, the Baltic States, Alaska…”

Funny stuff!

I suspect that is some vodka talking. The last time Russia took a bite out of Finland… well, Ukraine is turning out to be more cooperative than Finland was. Even if Finland ended up being a pushover… all the Baltic States and Alaska? I suspect there would be a vote on that initiative whether Russia wants one or not. Expect the vote results to be delivered to the Kremlin via drone and missile.

Doubling Down on the Childish Insult

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Quote of the Day

Nah y’all just have smol pp’s

LiL MopHead (@XxSPINELxX)
Tweeted on July 1, 2022

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

This QOTD was the response when I pointed out Markley’s Law to them and suggested their previous childish insult helped reduce their fear of gun owners.

People Have their Own Falsehoods

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Democrats didn’t like what voters told them on election night, and they don’t seem to like hearing what they have to say to each other in the fallout. 

If they want to avoid defeat and become a reasonable party again, they will have to learn how to listen to each other, and their voters, again. 

Max Thornberry
November 24, 2024
Democrats turn on each other in battle for soul of the party

I get it that reality is tough. But reality eventually wins.

This gets back to something I have been saying for years. There is a process by which one can determine truth from falsity. Many people not only don’t use a process, but they also can’t comprehend that such a process exists.

For some people truth is what they believe. Many people have beliefs which not only lack evidence but are in despite of evidence. They may not say this explicitly, but they use phrases that mean that. My “favorites” are variations of “people have their own truths.”

It would be more accurate to say, “people have their own falsehoods.” There is some ultimate truth “out there.” But frequently it is tough, really tough, to get at it. Some people have beliefs much closer to truth/reality, but ultimately it boils down to people believe different falsehoods.

Just because everyone is “wrong” it does not mean everyone is equally wrong. I think this truth escapes the majority of the Democrat Party leaders. They can correctly find flaws in the in their political opponents’ beliefs. This does not mean the Democrat Party belief system is correct or even better.

No Reason to Believe They Are Not That Stupid

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If New York’s powers that be really are stupid enough to go after Peanut’s family on this — and there’s no reason to believe they aren’t — they not only will get their anti-gun butts handed to them in court, but they’ll deserve to be ravaged by all of the furies of PR hell they’ll raise along the way.

Either way, it seems that Peanut may get the last laugh.

Jennifer Sensiba
November 24, 2024
How Peanut the Squirrel Might Get Revenge on New York’s Gun Control Laws – Shooting News Weekly

Via Richard.

I think the problem is the powers that be cannot comprehend there are or should be limits to their powers. And, of course, they also believe they are the smartest people “in the room.” This leads to a whole cascading wall of failure.

They Are Not Distracted by the Truth

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Our reverence for the truth… might have become a bit of a distraction that is preventing us from finding consensus and getting important things done.

Katherine Roberts Maher
CEO and president of National Public Radio
2022 TED Talk

See also here.

Those following the gun owner’s rights movement should not be surprised by this attitude. Our opposition certainly gets things done without being distracted by the truth.

I am, of course, reminded that some people can’t handle the truth.

Excellent Point

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Quote of the Day

Governments do not censor articles that they could expose as lies.

markm
November 16, 2024
Comment to A Low Bar

Concise, obviously correct, and very powerful.

The Best in Life Arrives Next Summer

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We are on a path to have “assault weapon” and standard capacity magazine bans declared unconstitutional nationwide by summer. If SCOTUS decides to accept the case, which most observers think they will, then we probably will win.

See also what Mark Smith has to say:

If it is successful, it will be just short of 31 years after the original national “assault weapon ban.” It will “only” be 17 years after the Heller decision.

The 1994 ban and Ruby Ridge motivated me to buy my first gun and start advocating for gun owner rights. It has been a long fight for me and much longer for a lot of other people. And even if we win this case, it will be far from over. We need to start prosecuting the perpetrators of these rights infringements. Otherwise, it will be another 30 years until their constant whining is little more than noise.

That said, a win will be a really big deal. A win will crush our opponents moral and create a powerful precedent. It will be among the best things that has happened on this long journey.

As said by Conan when asked, “What is best in life?”

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

Why Do Humans Mate in Seclusion?

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Despite considerable cultural differences, a striking uniformity is argued to
exist in human preferences for concealing sexual intercourse from the sen
sory perception of conspecifics. However, no systematic accounts support
this claim, with only limited attempts to understand the selective pressures
acting on the evolution of this preference. Here, I combine cross-cultural and
cross-species comparative approaches to investigate these topics. First, an
analysis of more than 4572 ethnographies from 249 cultures presents sys
tematic evidence that the preference to conceal mating is widespread
across cultures. Second, I argue that current anthropological hypotheses
do not sufficiently explain why habitual concealment of mating evolved in
humans but is only seldom exhibited by other social species. Third, I intro
duce the cooperation maintenance hypothesis, which postulates that
humans, and a specific category of non-human species, conceal matings to
prevent sexual arousal in witnesses (proximate explanation). This allows
them to simultaneously maintain mating control over their partner(s) and
cooperation with group members who are prevented from mating (ultimate
explanations). I conclude by presenting a comparative framework and
predictions to be tested across species and human cultures

Yitzchak Ben Mocha
June 7, 2020
Why do human and non-human species conceal mating? The cooperation maintenance hypothesis | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Interesting.

I didn’t read the paper in detail, but it appears to me he is ignoring a significant subculture. There are lots of people who video their sexual activities and post the video on the Internet. There are sex clubs in all western large cities. At these clubs’ people have sex with their spouse in front of other people. They also have sex with people not their spouse in group settings. If this were an evolutionary beneficial behavior, why would people seek out others and places to defy the norm?

I agree that this is far from mainstream. And I have often wondered why people seek seclusion. Growing up on the farm it was common to see the cattle, cats, and chickens mating. It just did not make sense to me that people were so private about it. There was no emotional damage to any of the animals. And it was my understanding chimp, monkeys and other primates mated in public. So, what is going on with humans?

If Mocha’s hypothesis is correct, it’s a restriction created by men for their benefit. One would then expect women to be more inclined than men to engage in public sex. I don’t believe this is the case. On the other hand, women are much noisier during sex than men. This lends credence to the idea that they have an evolutionary bias toward getting attention when they are highly aroused.

I’m glad Mocha put some thought into it. His hypothesizes are far better than anything I came up with. I’m not entirely convinced they are correct, but they are worth discussing and testing.

They Can’t Run, They Can’t Hide, The Internet is Forever

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Just the ones with TDS!!

(tiny dick syndrome)…

Karls_quest (@Karls_Quest)
Posted on X, November 20, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday; it is another science denier (see also here)!

His account is deleted, but the Internet is forever:

I’m Going to Need a Deeper Bunker

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The head of America’s largest bank told an audience at the Institute of International Finance that his team is running scenarios in preparation for a global conflict involving nuclear powers.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, told the crowd that war was imminent and nuclear proliferation was a greater existential threat than climate change.

“World War III has already begun. You already have battles on the ground being coordinated in multiple countries,” Dimon said at the annual event in Washington, DC.

William Koblensky Varela
November 18, 2024
Jamie Dimon Says He and His Team Are Preparing for Serious Conflict with Russia, China.| Moneywise

I need a deeper bunker, and more supplies stored away. Nuclear winter is tough in an already cold climate.

Trump was Made a Martyr

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The yearslong effort to vanquish Donald Trump in court was a dismal failure. For liberals like me, it may be tempting to attribute the collapse of the various cases against him to convenient explanations of process or personnel. The more uncomfortable truth is that our search for political salvation primarily through the law has backfired. To oppose Mr. Trump in his second term, liberals must learn the lesson of this defeat, which is that there is no alternative to persuading our fellow citizens of our beliefs.

Samuel Moyn
Yale professor of law
November 22, 2024
Opinion | The Legal Battle Against Trump Was a Miserable Failure – The New York Times

Basically, they made President a Trump a martyr. The overreaching on all the legal claims made Trump a sympathetic figure. People related to him on this because they have been suffering abuse inflicted by the “liberals” for decades. The more they attacked him with such thin legal cases, the stronger the sympathy became. People became more and more convinced the attackers were on the side of evil.

Moyn doesn’t understand a key point. Alternatively, he is deliberately dodging it. His political bedfellows know what he avoids saying here. They are pushing a faulty belief system that cannot be sold to the majority of the people. In today’s world, lawfare is of one of the only tools they have to achieve their goals. The Internet exists, so restricting information through “approved gatekeepers” does not work as well as it used to. The remaining other primary option they have is criminal violence. And they don’t have the numbers or the monopoly on firearms to win on that front either.

Hence, they are losing their battles for mind share.

As a side note, here is a useful hack. You can use it to read some pay walled websites, such as the New York Times. This works on Windows Edge. I’m not sure about other browsers or operating systems.

  1. Go to the web page you want to read.
  2. Type “Ctrl-A” (select all).
  3. Type “Ctrl-C” (copy).
  4. Open up something that will accept HTML from the clipboard, such as Word.
  5. Paste the clipboard into the document.
  6. Read the entire web page.

National Concealed Carry Reciprocity and Suppressors Deregulation

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Trump defeated Harris handily and pro-gun senatorial candidates secured a GOP Senate majority and the House is poised to remain in GOP control. This trifecta provides an opportunity to secure pro-Second Amendment legislation that has heretofore eluded both the White House and Congress.

Such legislation includes national reciprocity for concealed carry, which Trump supports, and a hearing protection act, which would remove suppressors from NFA (1934) oversight and regulation.

The previous Trump administration was on the cusp of securing a hearing protection act in 2017, but it was torpedoed by then-Speaker Paul Ryan (R) following the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas attack. Although Yahoo News reported that Ryan tabled the act “indefinitely,” Trump and the GOP-led Congress can pursue suppressor deregulation anew.

AWR Hawkins
November 7, 2024
With Trump, Gun Rights Groups Seek to ‘Make America Pro-Gun Again’ (breitbart.com)

We should try for this. Even if we only move the Overton Window a bit, it will make future actions easier. Future action options include court rulings and reintroducing the bills in the next legislative session.

Already WWIII?

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Joe Biden‘s administration has allowed Volodymyr Zelensky to launch American-made missiles into Russia, with allies of both Donald Trump and Putin decrying the move as escalation towards World War Three. In his statement, Medvedev took the warnings a dramatic step further, declaring it is “already WWIII”.

In response to the move by the US, Putin has signed a new decree, titled the “Fundamentals of State Police in the Sphere of Nuclear Deterrence”, which, state-run news agency TASS reports relaxes the parameters by which Russia will respond to attacks with nuclear weapons. The document reportedly states: “Nuclear weapons (NW) are an extreme measure to protect the sovereignty of the country.

Liam Doyle
November 19, 2024
Vladimir Putin’s top crony Medvedev warns West and NATO ‘World War 3 is here’ – World News – Mirror Online

Is this just saber rattling? A bluff? Or is this a serious threat that requires I now need to head for the hills of Idaho?

Political Philosophy Questions

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Are individuals a means to social ends or an end in themselves?

Is society supposed to serve individuals or do individuals serve society?

Do conscience and reason function at the individual or the collective level?

These are the questions of our time.

Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith)
Posted on X, August 13, 2022

I think the answers are obvious, but these are political philosophical questions I will let you answer on your own.

How to Attack the NFA

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The NFA never should have been enacted but we are (unfortunately) stuck with it for now. In my view, the proper way to attack in the courts the NFA is incrementally, i.e., one case at a time. As I see it, we need SCOTUS victories on AR bans and Mag bans first. Then attack the NFA by arguing “suppressors” and perhaps “short barrel rifles” are protected arms and, of course, look to attack the NFA via going after the Hughes Amendment as per the Rybar dissent in the Third Circuit by then-judge Alito. We have several 2A issues to clean up first before I think we can launch a serious legal assault on the NFA. That’s just the political and legal reality today.

As to my views, I unfortunately do not possess the power to waive a magic wand and eliminate unconstitutional and and/or stupid gun control laws. So, I have to work within our constitutional system, which is not perfect but it certainly beats all the other political systems out there.

Mark W. Smith/#2A Scholar @fourboxesdiner
Posted on X, November 17, 2023

Yes, this was posted a year ago. I’m trying to clean up my queue.

If you follow Smith’s YouTube channel (164 K subscribers), you will find his predictions about SCOTUS. He predicts they will take the semi-automatic ban case out of Maryland this term. That would likely mean “assault weapons” and normal capacity magazine bans in all states would be “dead men walking” by next summer:

With that out of the way the NFA would soon see front line action in the courts.

Make Believe Psychology Degree

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That Mr “Tactical” combined that truly ridiculous man-spreading/crotch shot with all those guns is a blatant confession that he has a very tiny penis & he’s really self-conscious about it.

Sometimes a cigar *isn’t* just a cigar…how many phallic symbols does this guy need?

Kim Votes Blue @nkanow
Posted on X, November 20, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier (see also here)!

Everyone should know by now that Freud was wrong about the whole penis envy thing. She must have received her psychology degree from the back of a cereal box.

If You Want Our Vote, Be What We Want

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It’s kind of hard to market yourself as cool when there’s video of them being cringe.

It’s kind of hard to market yourself as “not communist” when there’s video of them being wearing soviet symbols, have a Che flag in their office, and articles written by them saying “we’re communists”.

It’s kind of hard to market yourself as “not sexualizing children” when they’re inviting drag queens to the White House for story time.

It’s believable that they “care” about the economy. What’s not believable is that they’ll do anything to make it better. See “we’re totally communists” above.

As for being the “adults in the room”? We have video of their supporters screaming at the sky, and Democrat-heavy organizations in and out of government are having coloring books and puppy therapy days. Hard to be mistaken for an adult when the public perception is “toddler temper tantrum”.

Stop trying to market yourself as something the public wants, that you absolutely aren’t. If you want their vote, it is way easier to BE what the public wants.

Tirno
Comment to Your Lying Eyes.
November 15, 2024

I have nothing to add.

If They Actually Did This

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Dude…
If they actually did this, and have that massive of a roll back of government regulation and power, it would be one of the most important things in American history.

I don’t think most people grasp just how awful Chevron was, and how it empowered the government to meddle in literally everything.

SCOTUS just kicked Chevron in the junk, which enabled people to push back against government regulation, but we all expected the government to fight back and cling to power every expensive and time consuming step of the way. Having the government actually curtail itself? That would be astounding.

Larry Correia @monsterhunter45
Posted on X, November 14, 2024

Corrreia was referencing this post:

I agree with Correia with special emphasis on the “if”.

Here’s a key point about our mission at DOGE: eliminating bureaucratic regulations isn’t a mere policy preference. It’s a legal mandate from the U.S. Supreme Court:

  • West Virginia v. EPA (2022) held that agencies cannot decide major questions of economic or political significance without “clear congressional authorization.” This applies to thousands of rules that never passed Congress.
  • In Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024), the Court ended Chevron deference, which means agencies can’t foist their own interpretations of the law onto the American people. Over 18,000 federal cases cited the Chevron doctrine, often to uphold regulations, many of which are now null & void.
  • In SEC v. Jarkesy (2024), SCOTUS restricted the use of “administrative law judges” by agencies. The same agency that wrote the rules shouldn’t be able to prosecute citizens in “courts” that it controls.
  • In Corner Post v. Board of Governors (2024), the Court held that new businesses can challenge old regulations, greatly expanding the statute of limitations & opening many more rules up for scrutiny. So we shouldn’t just look at rules passed in the last 4 years, but over the past 4 decades (or more).

DOGE is ready help the U.S. government conform to the U.S. Constitution once again. @elonmusk and I are ready to serve.

Vivek Ramaswamy @VivekGRamaswamy
Posted on X, November 13, 2024

That is a really big IF. I can believe the intention is there. I can believe they are the best people for the job. I am not convinced they will overcome the incredible resistance they will encounter. This resistance may even include assassination attempts.

I wish them well.