Quote of the day—Victor Davis Hanson

Our 21st century revolutionaries are multibillionaires with flip-flops, tie-dye T-shirts and nose rings, but with the absolute power and desire to censor how half the country communicates — or cancel them entirely.

They don’t flock to campus free-speech areas; they are the campus administrators who ban free speech.

They don’t picket outside the Pentagon; they are inside the Pentagon.

They don’t chant “eat the rich”; they are the rich who eat at Napa Valley’s French Laundry.

They don’t protest “uptight” values, because they are more intolerant and puritanical than any Victorian.

They don’t believe in racial quotas based on “proportional representation,” because they are racists who demand underrepresentation of “bad” racial groups and overrepresentation of “good” groups. The color of our skin is their gospel, not the content of our character.

Our revolutionaries hate dissent. They destroy any who question their media-spun hoaxes.

Truth is their enemy, and fear is their weapon. Sixties paranoid revolutionaries warned about George Orwell’s “1984,” but our revolutionaries are “1984.”

Victor Davis Hanson
June 10, 2021
This Isn’t Your Father’s Left-Wing Revolution
[There are some astute observations here.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ara Sagherian

Canadians are forbidden from owning firearms [there are a few exceptions]. The average Canadian has no course of action to oppose big Government should individual freedoms be threatened as they have the past year and a half.

In America things are different. The 2nd Amendment protects Americans from the government overstepping boundaries and threatening civil liberties.

Try enforcing a curfew in Texas or Florida like they did in Quebec. Not likely.

The checks and balances embedded in The Constitution are what keeps America great.

Ara Sagherian
June 7, 2021
The Beacon Nation
[I know gun owners in Canada. I have offered them whatever assistance I can. But there isn’t a lot I can do beyond encourage them to get out.—Joe]

Quote of the day—George Skelton

All these bad guys are law-abiding until they’re not. Then they sometimes become heavily armed mass killers.

George Skelton
June 7, 2021
Column: An AR-15 is like a pocket knife? Maybe federal judges shouldn’t get lifetime appointments
[This is just one item which illustrates my point. From the same article is another item:

“The Bill of Rights prevents the tyranny of the majority from taking away the rights of a minority,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

Sure, but in a democracy, there’s also something called majority rule.

I sometimes give people such as him the benefit of the doubt, perhaps they do not really understand the content and/or intent of the Bill Of Rights, right? Skelton makes it clear he understands and that he wants to do away with it.

He understands the BOR protects the rights of the minority from the will of the majority and he wants that protection eliminated. He understands innocent until proven guilty and wants to replace it with guilty until (never) proven innocent enough to own a common firearm.

Respond appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Paul Bedard

The Biden administration’s new push to regulate highly popular AR-style pistols could net Uncle Sam billions in new tax revenue and rub out a small industry involved in the production of the firearms.

In a newly proposed regulation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, most owners will have to pay a $200 tax per weapon or radically change it or turn the gun in to be destroyed.

And because ATF said it doesn’t expect anyone to give up their guns, the money would roll in if the rule is adopted.

Paul Bedard
June 9, 2021
New taxes under Biden gun registration push will reach billions
[At first reading I laughed at the ignorance. Apparently this knucklehead had not thought of the option which will be taken by 90% or more—non-compliance.

But it’s possible he and others have thought of that and are telling the lie to try and sell the idea. You can imagine fellow Democrats saying, “Tax the knuckle-dragging gun nuts and use the money for funding abortions or health care for illegal immigrants just for the giggles.”

And a still darker option that is just as likely is the observation made by Ayn Rand:

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them.  One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

And there darker options still. But many of those shadows are cast in the other direction.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Neo

A brand new day has dawned, in which the ACLU is in favor of civil liberties only for those who support the left, making the “civil liberties” in the title something like Orwell’s Ministry of Truth and Ministry of Love, the opposite of what it professes to be.

Neo
June 8, 2021
The ACLU has made the name of the organization Orwellian
[Their distain for the 2nd Amendment is a concrete example.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lyle

The criminal mind is indeed terrified of the lawful, armed citizen. No one else, of course, has the slightest thing to worry about.

Lyle
June 7, 2021
Comment to Quote of the day—Andrew Cuomo
[This explains why so many Democrats, politicians in particular, want to ban guns. Democrats, as a group, have twice as many people in prison as all other political affiliations combined. They, for all intents and purposes, are the criminal class and rightly fear being shot by their victims.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Keith Olbermann @KeithOlbermann

That’s Judge Roger Benitez, a death-worshiping fascist who has never noticed that the word “own” – or anything like it – is absent from the 2nd Amendment. We can no longer tolerate gun nuts in the judiciary.

Keith Olbermann @KeithOlbermann
Tweeted on June 5, 2021
[He was referring to the decision released last Friday declaring California’s ban on “assault weapons” was unconstitutional.

Via  a tweet from Sean D Sorrentino (@SorrentinoSean) who said:

This is what insanity looks like.

Insanity is one diagnosis but I’m inclined to believe “insanity” is going too light on Olbermann and would like to suggest alternatives.

If Benitez is a fascist then he is sure going about it wrong. What self respecting fascist would allow the average citizen to posses the weapons to resist their authority? Of course, the fascist labels Olbermann is throwing around in his tantrum is projection.

Another obvious point to be made is that one or more of the following things must be true:

  1. Olbermann hasn’t read the 2nd Amendment.
  2. Olbermann has a reading comprehension problem.
  3. Olbermann doesn’t know the meaning of the word “keep”.
  4. Olbermann is deliberately lying.
  5. Olbermann is insane/delusional.

In any case, I look forward to laughing at his continued tantrums and demonstrations of stupidity, insanity, and/or evil..—Joe]

Quote of the day—Charlotte Clymer @cmclymer

Let’s be real: they are not. Your small piss AR-15 doesn’t stack up against even an M249 mounted on a heel, let alone an actual fucking tank.

This isn’t about “government tyranny”. It’s about cis men who tragically suffer from erectile dysfunction. Sad.

Charlotte Clymer @cmclymer
Tweeted on June 5, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via an email from Rolf.

I find it telling Clymer didn’t cite any papers to back up her claims. She doesn’t have any data. She only has childish insults. We have findings of fact and conclusions of law from a Federal Court.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Andrew Cuomo

The NRA’s (National Rifle Association) dream of a society where everyone is terrified of each other and armed to the teeth is abhorrent to our values.

Andrew Cuomo
Governor of New York
May 28, 2021
New Yorkers demand right to carry hidden guns as America reels from bloody week of mass shootings
[Anyone who believes an organization with five million members has a “dream of a society where everyone is terrified of each other” is delusional and/or pushing “the big lie”.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Inez Stepman

He wants that unelected department staffed by trained academics, presumably by him, to have veto power over every municipal state and federal law in the country, if it creates, in his eyes, any kind of disparity between groups. And he wants that body to have veto power over who stands for political office.

I call it woke Stalinism … his position is that a group of unelected academics should have complete veto power over all laws in the United States, and kind of similar to how it works with the mullahs in Iran, to basically select the slate of candidates. The people may vote, but only on the candidates or among the candidates selected by people who think like Ibram X. Kendi.

Inez Stepman
June 4, 2021
Biden’s Proposed Funding of Critical Race Theory Puts US on a ‘Very Dark Path’: Inez Stepman
[We live in interesting times.

Complete elimination of disparity can only be achieved by death for all.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Francisco

All of which points directly to many Americans increasingly realizing that individual independence, sustainability, and resilience matters, and it’s not a big reach from there to deciding “if I’m taking care of myself, why do I need any of those people?” Official Washington can safely be left behind their patrolled fence, they’ll be superfluous, a theatrical performance only for each other.

We’re certainly not there yet, but I think I may be able to see parts of it from here. Don’t stop working toward the goal, and provide what assistance you can to those traveling the path with you.

Francisco
June 3, 2021
Comment to Quote of the day—Caroline Glick
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Caroline Glick

The polarization of opinion on Israel that we are witnessing in American politics between Republicans who support Israel and Democrats who oppose Israel, is an expression of a much larger division within American society. The heartbreaking but undeniable fact is that today you can’t talk about “America” as a single political entity.

Today there are two Americas, and they cannot abide by one another. One America – traditional America – loves Israel and America. The other America – the New America – hates Israel and doesn’t think much of America, either.

Traditional America believes that the U.S. brought the promise of liberty to the world and that even though it is far from perfect, the United States is the greatest country in human history. In the eyes of the citizens of Traditional America, Israel is a kindred nation and the U.S.’s best friend and most valued ally in the Middle East.

New America, in contrast, believes that America was born in the sin of slavery. New Americans insist America will remain evil and an object of scorn at home and abroad so long it refuses to exchange its values of liberty, capitalism, equal opportunity and patriotism with the values of racialism and equity, socialism, equality of outcomes, and globalization. For New Americans, just as the U.S. was born in the sin of white supremacy so Israel was born in the sin of Zionism. In New America, Israel will have no right to exist so long as it clings to its Jewish national identity, refusing to become a “state of all its citizens.”

Caroline Glick
May 28, 2021
Dark Clouds: Google, Amazon, Israel and the New America
[Via email from Paul K.

In recent months, more so than in previous years, it has been made more and more clear the conflict of visions (no, not this conflict of visions) may be irreconcilable via peaceful means. One vision is of collective rights, planning, and responsibility. The other is of individual rights, planning, and responsibility.

This collective rights and collective responsibility inevitably lead to individual injustice. The process of achieving equality of outcomes because a moral imperative and an easy sale to many people. Today we have calls for reparations. Even if this were conceded it would not end. Distribution of property equally or according to need will follow. Some time after that would be the demands for retribution. And so it would continue until the final true equality is clearly in sight and a remaining majority, or powerful enough minority, put a stop true equality.

The bottom line is that achieving equality of outcomes becomes an unending task because:

Full equality comes with death. And it should come as no surprise the political left is well acquainted with death on a very large scale.

This is the unspoken promise of the collective vision. Today, the collective vision is making itself more visible and more insistent on making “progress”.

Prepare appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Operation Blazing Sword / Pink Pistols

We oppose David Chipman’s nomination as ATF Director with the same vigor as we would if a known homophobe were nominated to oversee hate crime investigation, and for exactly the same reasons.

Operation Blazing Sword / Pink Pistols
May 29, 2021
Chipman Appointment: “Like a Homophobe Investigating Hate Crimes”
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy

The ATF’s entire reason for existing is to restrict liberty. Proposed rule 2021R-05, which seeks to redefine “frame or receiver,” is a perfect example of this. An agency like that cannot be redeemed. Submit a comment and stand for natural rights at Fight ATF!

Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy
Tweeted on May 27, 2021
[With all the people supporting the “defund the police” movement you would think abolishing the ATF could get some traction. It’s not going to happen.

As a side note, I find it interesting that the people most interested in defunding the police don’t want to defund the ATF. And those most interested in abolishing the ATF don’t want to defund the police.—Joe]

Quote of the day—FreeRangeChicken @chicken_range

You just told me to refresh myself on period verbiage, so refresh yourself on period guns. You just jump all over the place to advocate for your little dick stick.

FreeRangeChicken @chicken_range
Tweeted on May 27, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday! Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.

We have SCOTUS decisions. They have crude, juvenile, insults.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Robb Allen @ItsRobbAllen

The problem isn’t who is being picked to lead the ATF, the problem is that there an ATF to be lead.

Abolish it.

Robb Allen @ItsRobbAllen
Tweeted on May 29, 2021
[Why should there exist a government organization to regulate an specific enumerated right? Is there a government bureau for the regulation of churches?

See also: Some questions don’t make sense in a free society.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alan M. Gottlieb

All law-abiding citizens of this country are considered adults at the age of 18 for nearly all purposes. They can vote, enter into contracts, start businesses, get married and join the military. But the state prohibits them from exercising the fundamental right to bear arms, that is, to carry a handgun outside the home or in an automobile, even though the state allows other adults to obtain a license to carry firearms in public.

We’re asking the court to remedy this situation by issuing an injunction against further enforcement of the ban on our individual plaintiffs and other young adults facing the same situation. Citizens in this age group enjoy nearly all of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution except when it comes to the Second Amendment. This cannot be allowed to stand.

Alan M. Gottlieb
May 27, 2021
SAF FILES FEDERAL CHALLENGE TO ILL. CARRY BAN FOR YOUNG ADULTS
[Incrementalism at work.

It’s a good venue as well. Judges in the Seventh Circuit have been good to us.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sam Jacobs

Red August was effectively a series of politically motivated riots; however, the riots were not stopped by the police force of China. The Red Guards often received official protection from the police, who instead enacted harsh measures against anyone who dared to resist Mao’s Red Guards. Red August is generally considered the beginning of the Red Terror in China. Red Guards from Beijing No. 6 High School famously wrote “Long Live Red Terror!” on the wall with the blood of their victims.

It is easy to get bogged down in the various details of the Cultural Revolution, but it is the broader points that are most important. The Cultural Revolution was, at least ostensibly, wages against “the Five Black Categories:” landlords, rich farmers, counter-revolutionaries, bad influences, and rightists and “the Four Olds:” Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Customs.

Finally, it is worth noting the ferocity with which people were attacked for holding opinions that were until very recently uncontroversial. There was a massive, hysterical push to destroy symbols of Chinese history that had become unfavorable due to the current political climate. Those who were being persecuted by the government were, somewhat perversely, painted as if they were an oppressive class being uprooted by a revolutionary government that was going to equalize society by addressing historical injustices.

Sam Jacobs
May 2021
How Totalitarianism Rhymes Throughout History: Czechoslovakia, China, & Venezuela
[Does this sound familiar? Perhaps even “rhyme” with current events?

Take appropriate action.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Lee Reiners

Crypto enthusiasts call me a Luddite, statist, technophobe or worse. Asset bubbles are maintained by a common narrative, and anyone who dares question it must be attacked. But a growing chorus is pointing out the emperor has no clothes.

Lee Reiners
May 25, 2021
Ban Cryptocurrency to Fight Ransomware
[I’m certainly no fan of cryptocurrency. I might even concede that banning it would put a serious dent in ransomware. But I am very reluctant to advocate a ban on it. Doesn’t the First Amendment protect it?

When I first heard of Bitcoin I was rather enthused about it until I discovered it wasn’t completely anonymous. Anonymous financial transactions are a critical component of a free society. Anonymous financial transactions with anyone in the world who has access to a computer would solve a lot of freedom issues. To the best of my knowledge all anonymous financial transactions still, and will in the foreseeable future, require a physical exchange.

Hence, I am inclined to agree with Reiners:

It isn’t obvious that cryptocurrency provides any benefit at all beyond the chance to make a quick buck. I have been studying the crypto market since its inception, and I have yet to identify a single task or process that crypto makes easier, better, cheaper or faster. Don’t take my word for it. Ask any friend why he owns cryptocurrency, and the answer will invariably be “to make money.” In other words, speculation.

With all the above in mind what I would like to see is the natural death via a loss of faith in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general such that it can’t be used for criminal acts.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Francisco

Write that down and pin it to the corkboard in your office.
It will turn out to be one of the greatest understatements you will have ever made.

Not that quantum computing will not produce many absolutely amazing positive results, it will, but the view of them will be obscured by all the smoking craters QC causes.

Francisco
May 25, 2021
Comment to Quantum computing as a threat to Bitcoin
[I’m currently of the opinion the positive results will be on par with the smoking craters. But I’m not knowledgable enough on the subject to claim any expertise.

We live in interesting times.—Joe]