The Left considers the fight over free speech to be a political death struggle, and they are right about that. If anything deserves to be strangled in its crib it is the Left’s current assault on the First Amendment.
Thomas DiLorenzo
December 9, 2022
Why the Left Must Destroy Free Speech – or Be Destroyed
[That is what I would call, “A good start.”—Joe]
Nationally, all crime rates except the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–designated firearm homicides decreased as firearm sales increased over the study period. Using a naive national model, increases in firearm sales were associated with significant decreases in multiple crime categories. However, a more robust analysis using generalized estimating equation estimates on state-level data demonstrated increases in firearms sales were not associated with changes in any crime variables examined.
Journal of Surgical Research
Mark E.Hamill MD
Matthew C.Hernandez MD
Kent R.Bailey PhD
Caleb L.Cutherell MD
Martin D.Zielinski MD
Donald H.Jenkins MD
Douglas F.Naylor MD
Miguel A.Matos DO
Bryan R.Collier DO
Henry J.Schiller MD
Legal Firearm Sales at State Level and Rates of Violent Crime, Property Crime, and Homicides
Journal of Surgical Research
Volume 281, January 2023, Pages 143-154
[This may be useful for exposing the lies of the anti-gun people who claim more guns cause more crime. It may also demonstrate benefits in reducing stress in the general population caused by the courts declaring existing gun laws unconstitutional.—Joe]
What a pathetic life you must live when your only purpose is to “trigger people” aka you have a small pecker and can’t get women so you need a long gun to compensate.
fukt (@mrluciferian)
Tweeted on October 20, 2022
[It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!
What a pathetic and delusional life they must live to think childish insults are an appropriate or viable response to SCOTUS decisions.
Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.—Joe]
I ALWAYS bring a knife to a gun fight.
I also bring a gun.
Maj Toure (@MAJTOURE)
Tweeted on December 10, 2022
[I bring two knives. Knives are for when thing end up being at contact distance. A knife on both the left and the right side makes it more likely access to at least one of them is unobstructed.
Learn how to use your defensive knife.—Joe]
CNN’s constant coverage of what it calls “mass shootings” disguises the fact that these are mass murders. The villains they always call shooters are actually murderers. America’s 100 million gun owners, they’re shooters—decent righteous people practicing, learning, teaching and when needed, defending themselves and others facing violent criminals. Self-defense with guns is absent from CNN but not in real life—a total misinformation and misdirection campaign.
The Associated Press once told me they don’t cover incidents of self defense because they don’t want to inspire copycats. So why do they give massive saturation coverage to mass murderers? I got no answer.
Alan Korwin
November 1, 2022
Most Gun Reporting is a Misinformation Campaign
[I suspect Korwin does have an answer but doesn’t want to say it out loud. The answer will have greater impact if you come to the realization on your own and many people would probably label it as a crazy conspiracy theory.—Joe]
In the bad old days, race was often used to discriminate against black applicants. Today race is often used to discriminate in favor of black applicants. I guess that is some sort of progress. But real progress will be achieved only if and when race is no longer a factor that trumps meritocracy.
Only then will Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of how his children and ours should be judged become a reality.
Alan M. Dershowitz
December 1, 2022
ALAN DERSHOWITZ: San Francisco Is The Canary In The Coal Mine For Where Wokeism Is Headed
[Just interact with people as individuals rather than some racial/religious/ethic/sexual-preference group. Does this person do good work and get along with people? If so, then except for a very few jobs, the other stuff does not matter.
By not hiring people based on merit society is made to pay more for goods and services. It is an waste of economic resources. Or, if you want to tweak the lefties, non-meritocracy hiring damages the planet.—Joe]
The judge struck down much of New York’s new gun law as unconstitutional. Suddaby painstakingly put to work Thomas’ historical test to decide the fitness of New York’s gun bans in dozens of locations.
For example, a state can ban guns from a school and a playground, but not a park. What about a zoo?
Guns may be banned on a local bus, but what about a Greyhound bus? Suddaby found the answer in the age before the invention of the car.
What about conference centers or movie theaters? The judge looked to 18th century meat markets and ballrooms.
Can New York require an applicant for a gun permit to provide his social media accounts? Suddaby invoked Alexander Hamilton’s death in a famed duel with Aaron Burr in 1804 to reason that you don’t have to provide your Facebook account.
…
What about airports? Or movie theaters? Again, he ruled, no historical tradition from the horse-and-buggy days provided constitutional grounds to ban guns there.
Douglass Dowty
December 1, 2022
Can you bring a gun to the zoo? On a bus? Syracuse judge eagerly rewrites NY firearms law
[I hope the issue of airports doesn’t drift into carrying on airplane too quickly. I think it runs the risk of backlash. Wait, maybe, five years then finish the job with right to carry on airplanes and in K-12 schools.
I think the anti-gun people are in some sort of shock and cannot believe what is happening. In support of this hypothesis, from the same article:
“The test that Bruen set up is unworkable in practice,” Charles said. “It doesn’t give clear guidelines to state officials or state legislatures. What do you need to do to pass constitutional laws? How do judges do this?”
He just doesn’t seem to get it. It is exceedingly clear. It is exactly as we have been saying for decades, “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!” Why is this so hard? Or is he just pretending to not understand?—Joe]
What purposes are served (and what risks are run) by allowing possession of assault weapons, by allowing those under 21 to purchase guns or by allowing concealed or open carry of firearms in college classrooms, churches and movie theaters?
One more commonsense point: Even more people with firearms will only make our extreme situation worse. Arming teachers is not an answer. The “good guy with a gun” is a political myth. Only in very rare and unpredictable circumstances does a gun make a person safer — and overwhelmingly more often, the presence of guns makes bad situations tragically worse.
Daniel Claiborn
December 1, 2022
I’m a police psychologist. So many guns, not mental health issues, cause mass shootings
[So many lies and misleading statements in so few words.
I was tempted to just comment, “Citations needed.” But I then realized he was a psychologist. Never mind.—Joe]
Ohhhh…. You want to bring 2A into this?!? Well I exercise my 2A right also but unlike you I realize gun cause so much pain when abused like in Uvalde, Parkland, and countless others. I don’t feel the need to open carry cause I have insecurities downstairs like you have
Jason Jay (@leftyleftyleft)
Tweeted on October 12, 2022
[It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!
Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.
He doesn’t even make sense. What do schools shootings have to do with open carry? But, as I have often said, expecting people to be rational is irrational. And with anti-gun people they have that truism dialed up to eleven or higher.—Joe]
Manitoba joins Alberta and Saskatchewan in opposing the expansion of the Liberal gun ban to include hunting rifles and shotguns. Amendment G-4 of #C21 bans a massive list of common hunting guns #HuntingGunBan #oppose #WorkOnCrime pic.twitter.com/wVZRcNv6f5
— Tracey Wilson (@TWilsonOttawa) November 28, 2022
[It is a very dark time for Canadian gun owners.—Joe]
Gun control is “collective punishment,” punishing everyone for the acts of a few. It’s considered a war crime under Article 33 of the Geneva Conventions. No civilian can be “punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed.” https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/WebART/380-600038
Richard Poe @RealRichardPoe
Tweeted on May 25, 2022
[Via Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.
Interesting…
But it appears this applies to the occupying force in regards to the treatment of the civilians. The Geneva Convention probably doesn’t apply to a country acting against their own citizens.
But still, just being able to say, “Under the Geneva Convention, this is considered a war crime” can be powerful in a sound bite environment. Or, if Civil War II were declared…—Joe]
I think it would be something. I think would be good not only to head off shootings, but good to live in a society where we cared more intimately about each other. And I would be willing to give up certain privacies for that to happen. But for many Americans that would just be a massive cultural shift to regard our community and regard our common good in more frankly a European style. I think it would benefit our society in a whole range of areas.
David Brooks
New York Times Columnist
November 27, 2022
It would be good for ‘a massive cultural shift’ toward European gun control: New York Times columnist
[And I think it would be good if people who prefer socialism and communism over individualism and individual liberty were to move to some other country and leave us alone.—Joe]
The gun-control shibboleth urged by the Left as the solution to every mass shooting incident, coupled with the government’s “run, hide, and fight” strategy for dealing with an active shooter, make as much sense as advocating duct tape and plastic sheeting as a way to thwart acts of terrorism.
Bob Barr
November 29, 2022
BARR: ‘Run, Hide, and Fight’ Makes As Much Sense As Duct Tape To Stop Terrorism
[Nothing says, “Please don’t shoot me” like multiple jacketed hollow points.—Joe]
They’ve decided they’re going to essentially refuse to implement laws that are on the books. That is a growing problem in this country. And I think we’re going to have to have a conversation about that in the United States Senate. Do we want to continue to supply funding in law enforcement in counties that refuse to implement state and federal gun laws? Red flag laws are wildly popular.
Chris Murphy
U.S. Senator, D-Connecticut.
November 27, 2022
It would be good for ‘a massive cultural shift’ toward European gun control: New York Times columnist
[I have news for Senator Murphy. The courts are agreeing with the law enforcement in those counties. The laws they are refusing to enforce are being declared unconstitutional.
The conversation we need to have is, why aren’t people like Murphy being arrested and prosecuted for their repeated felonies?—Joe]
At this point, we don’t know just how big of a deal Bruen is. Is it an existential threat to all our laws? … There are so many unanswered questions at this time.
Nick Wilson
Senior director for gun violence prevention at the Center for American Progress
November 27, 2022
[If he really doesn’t know “how big of a deal Bruen is” then he is in massive denial.
I have questions too, but mine are along the lines of, “When are we going to start prosecuting these criminals like Wilson?”
I have some expectations of having machine gun sporting events in our high schools in a decade or so. This will be the realization of my dream as my currently youngest grandchildren enter high school.—Joe]
Because you weigh 300 lbs and can’t run a block and it’s easier to shoot someone than fight them. And you have a micro-penis.
FormerlyPeabodyPress @CodeNamePeabody
Tweeted on October 5, 2022
[It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!
When a woman confirms Markley’s Law I always wonder if her husband or boyfriend has sent me a naked picture of her or will someday. At my age, I am little surprised it still happens but you never know. The odds are extremely low, but this could be the one.—Joe]
Remove all semi automatic weapons. If we start getting them off the street, in time the criminals will find the illegal ones too expensive and too much liability. It’s not criminals who are the mass shooters! #GunReformNow
ReneeFiredUp (@livingjoyful)
Tweeted on November 25, 2022
[If you don’t take anything else away from this, just remember, “no one wants to take your guns.”
There is a grain of truth in this quote. Most did not have a criminal record prior to going on their shooting rampage.
But something almost all have in common is they identified as Democrats or were the children of Democrats. See the updates to this post for the evidence. This should come as no surprise as criminal prisoners who identify as Democrats outnumber all other political affiliations combined by a factor of more than two to one. The mass shooters are just fulfilling their destiny early in their criminal career.—Joe]
The next step is to ask what is the impact on public health and public safety when guns are easier to carry. In a situation where you have a fight, do they contribute to the escalation and make it more lethal?
Ali Rowhani-Rahbar
The number of US adults carrying a loaded handgun every day doubled to an estimated 6 million in just 4 years
[That is the question if you believe all lives are equally important. That is, Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dahmer, Adam Lanza, and others of their ilk have lives just as important as their victims.
A more relevant question is, “Where does government get the moral, legal, and philosophical authority to restrict people from using the best tools available to defend themselves?”
Or if you want to strictly practical, “Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?” The answer is, of course, no.—Joe]
The idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. It’s just sick. It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.
Joe Biden
President of the United States
November 24, 2022
Remarks by President Biden After Visiting With Local Firefighters
[Enjoy your trial.—Joe]
It’s difficult to see the future as anything other than more closely surveilled, and in a more coordinated way. Law enforcement agencies are likely to coordinate their efforts through multi-jurisdictional efforts such as the U.S. Department of Justice’s Regional Information Sharing Systems which increase reach while reducing costs and technical challenges. They can also sign up as subscribers to one or more privately developed plug-and-play surveillance networks.
Those of us who are especially surveillance-averse will still take active measures to obscure our trail, through purchases made in cash, face masks, clothing that confuses algorithms, and leaving our cellphones at home. But we will still be watched, and chances are that making efforts to preserve anonymity will itself come to be seen by the powers that be as suspicious.
J.D. Tuccille
November 21, 2022
See the Surveillance State at Work in Your Own Community: The Atlas of Surveillance lets us monitor the agencies that snoop on the public.
[Via a message from Stephanie.
The Atlas of Surveillance gives you some clues as to how thoroughly you are surveilled. It’s not complete so just because your area of operation shows as relatively clean doesn’t mean it actually is. Bellevue, where Barb and I live, doesn’t show anything at all. Yet, I can show you cameras on traffic lights and know people who have received automated tickets from those type of cameras in Bellevue.
I have to agree with Tuccille. It is only going to get worse.
I was talking with Mike B. last night night about cellphone location data and how it might apply to the mass murders in Moscow a few days ago. And, as suggested by Tuccille in the last sentence quoted above, I suggested surveillance cameras in Moscow could be used to identity time and place of vehicle activity. Combine data around the time of the murders with cellphone location data. If a camera visible car did not have a cellphone, then it is suspicious and should be investigated.
Other suggestions included:
We live in interesting times.—Joe]