Try That in a Small Town

So according to the big town folks this is a racist song:

As Tennessee lawmakers, we have an obligation to condemn Jason Aldean’s heinous song calling for racist violence.

Justin Jones
State Rep. Democrat
July 19, 2023
Jason Aldean’s ‘Try This in a Small Town’ is shameful. Naturally, it’s the right’s song of the summer

By lyrically and visually equating meaningful rallies condemning police brutality to violent crime, Aldean is shamelessly touting how much he—and this country, quite frankly—devalues Black life.

Candace McDuffie
July 19, 2023
Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Is the Racist Anthem White Folks Have Been Waiting For

My take on it is that it is only racist if you believe violent crime is almost exclusively the domain of the targets of the racism. I suppose Jones and others could be right about that. I just know that twice as many people in prison identify as Democrats as all other political affiliations combined.

Hence, my take on Jones opposition to the song is that it is not really about racism and he knows it. He is opposed to the song because it expresses opposition to the people who vote for him.

Gun Rights Policy Conference

I have been to this event three times. The event itself is free. Your travel expenses and time are your only costs.  Highly recommended:

Dear Second Amendment Activist,

On behalf of the Second Amendment Foundation Board of Trustees and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Board of Directors, I am thrilled to invite you to the 38th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) in Phoenix, Arizona, September 22-24, 2023, as we plan the ROAD TO LIBERTY. 

With the recent rash of draconian anti-gun legislation, the courts ignoring the SCOTUS Bruen and Heller decisions and the critical 2024 elections, now is the time to come together and plan the winning strategy for our Second Amendment civil rights VICTORY!

Confirmed and invited speakers include Massad Ayoob, Stephen Gutowski, Tom & Ryan Gresham, Bob Cottrell, Mark Walters, Stephen Halbrook, Dave Kopel, Chuck Michel, AWR Hawkins, and many others. 

At GRPC, you get to network with other 2A activists and meet national leaders. This interaction is vital to developing new plans and the continuation of the successful strategies that have won recent Second Amendment victories.

There is no charge for GRPC, but pre-registration is required.  The conference will include a day and a half of the best and brightest minds in the Second Amendment field (Saturday/Sunday) and wonderful opportunities to network at a Friday and Saturday evening reception.

REGISTER NOW to reserve your spot at GRPC. 

The conference will be held at the Marriott Phoenix Airport.  We have negotiated a limited number of rooms at a special conference rate of $159.00 per night from September 21-25.  BOOK now to take advantage of this deal.? 

We are all looking forward to seeing you!

With warm regards,

Alan M. Gottlieb
Founder Second Amendment Foundation and Chairman, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Alternate Universe?

Quote of the Day

Justice Frankfurter warned 80 years ago that the Supreme Court was going down a bad path by getting into the business of ranking constitutional rights, protecting some at the expense of others, and today his dissent illuminates what has gone very wrong with our current Supreme Court. In a string of cases decided by an unchecked conservative super-majority, the court has established a tiering of constitutional rights, elevating rights to religious liberty (for some), free speech, and guns over and above other fundamental rights such as equality, public health and security, and bodily autonomy.

Katherine Franke
James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia University and the founder and faculty director of the Law, Rights, and Religion Project.
July 18, 2023
We’ve Entered a New Era of Tiered Constitutional Rights

Is Franke a visitor from an alternate universe and is working from a different U.S. Constitution? In my universe and reading my copy of the U.S. constitution there is no mention of “fundamental rights such as equality, public health and security, and bodily autonomy*.”

I would attribute the addition of these new rights to ignorance or poor schooling. But Franke claims she is a Professor of Law at Columbia University. If true, I find it hare to imagine she is so ignorant or poorly schooled that she did not have an accurate copy of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and been required to read them on multiple occasions. Hence the I am forced to conclude there must be an alternate explanation.

One could claim this is a deliberate lie intended to deceive the masses. But the lie is so obvious one could not expect it to accomplish, in the best case, a cause for laughter at her expense.

Hence, my leading hypothesis to explain this outrageous misrepresentation of the words and meaning of the constitution is that she is delusional and/or is a visitor from an alternate dimension.

I also find it quite telling there is no means to leave comments on her opinion piece.


* The Fourth Amendment reference to “secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures” appears to be limited to “searches and seizers” and it would be difficult to stretch it to mean “bodily autonomy.”

Consolidation of Power

Via email from John S. we have this article on how, as John put in, “Trump’s plans to massively consolidate power under the executive branch.” John stated:

Surely even hard-core Trump fans don’t want that?

Not that you’re a hard core Trump fan. I’m more referring to some of the folks who comment on your posts who clearly are. It’d be interesting to hear both your view and theirs on this issue.

It’s behind a paywall but I managed to capture the text with a quick select and copy. I then pasted it into a text editor for reading.

Just as there is with sources which favor Republicans, strongly suspect the New York Times has engaged in more than a little hyperbole to make Trump look bad.

That said, I am opposed to congress, presidents, judges and regulatory agencies which exceed the scope enumerated in the constitution. That 99.9%, or more, of those regulatory agencies even exists is repugnant to the constitution and to me. That congress “gives”* agencies the authority to create new law as long as they call it a “regulation” instead of a law is just wrong. If a president would consolidate all that power and destroy it, and “salt the earth” where those weeds flourished I would probably give him a pass on doing a task he didn’t have the enumerated power given to him by the Constitution to do such a thing, simply because congress didn’t have the power to create such a powerful agency in the beginning.

But that’s not reality. Hence, I’m sort of “meh” about the claims of doom and gloom. It is sort of like voting when the only options on the ballot are Joseph Stalin and Chairman Mao.


* I don’t see where the U.S. Constitution gives congress the ability to delegate their lawmaking authority to any other entity.

UFO Evidence?

Quote of the Day

If they can travel light years or at the speeds that we’ve seen, defy physics as we know it, fly underwater but don’t show a heat trail, then we are vastly out of our league. We can’t handle it. We couldn’t fight them off what we wanted to. That’s why I don’t think they’re a threat to us, or they would already have been.

Tim Burchett
U.S. Representative (R-Tenn.)
July 12, 2023
Evidence Shows UFO Tech ‘100 Percent’ Not From Earth, but That’s Not a Threat: Rep. Tim Burchett

“If.”

As cool as it might be to make “first contact” I’m waiting for the clear and convincing evidence to be made public and get a few million more eyeballs on it.

Idaho Sunsets

It seems I see the most incredible sunsets and sunrises in Idaho.

Last night I climbed to the top of a pile of dirt near my gun range and took some pictures of the sunset.

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I sent the first one to Barb and she replied with one she had taken the evening before from the driveway to the gun range which is a 100 feet or so away from where I took mine:

IMG-20230716-WA0007

She wins.

Childish Insults it is What They Do

Quote of the Day

Ok little penis guy. Go love on your gun it’s all you’ve got left. I understand

HawaiiWiley @HawaiiWiley
Tweeted on April 24, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

Childish insults, it is what they do when they lose the argument.

Via In Chains @InChainsInJail

Logic is an Alien Concept

Quote of the Day

As the Court previously explained, the issue in this case is whether ATF may properly regulate a component as a “frame or receiver” even after ATF determines that the component in question is not a frame or receiver. It may not. Logic dictates that a part cannot be both not yet a receiver and receiver at the same time. Defendants’ reliance on that logical contradiction is fatal to their argument.

Reed O’Connor
June 30, 2023
VanDerStok v. Garland

One should not be surprised the antigun people tried doing something that did make logical sense. Logic has always been an alien concept to their type.

Those 80% receivers, at least at the Federal level, continue to be legal. At the state level please seek the advice of a firearms lawyer before you post your new build on social media.

We Have the Evidence

They know the truth and are lying. We “knew” have known that for decades. But it is rare we direct evidence of that. Now, for this one person, we have the evidence:

Democratic St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones’ support of gun control is coming into question after an open records request released thousands of her personal texts, including one that argued gun crackdowns are ineffective.

“Chicago has strict gun laws as well but that doesn’t deter gun violence,” Jones texted in a group chat to her dad, Virvus Jones and advisor Richard Callow on March 21, KSDK reported.

They know strict gun laws do not “deter gun violence”. But they still advocate for strict gun laws. Therefore, you know the reason for the gun control advocacy is not a desire to reduce “gun violence”. There is some evil motivation at work.

Prepare appropriately.

I’m for the Second Amendment, BUT

Quote of the Day

I’m for the Second  Amendment, but if it saves just one life to eliminate gun free zones, pass constitutional carry in all states, and ban all magazine limitation laws and ban laws that ban AR15s then it’s worth it.

Colion Noir @MrColionNoir
Tweeted on July 11, 2023

Nice twist!

I’m for the Second Amendment, but not everyone will get the joke here.

The Left are Not Against the Death Penalty

Quote of the Day

It’s not that the Left are against the death penalty, it’s that they’re against the death penalty for crime.

Alice Smith (@TheAliceSmith)
Tweeted on Sat, Aug 13, 2022

Where “crime” is defined as the violation of property and/or individual rights.

This gave me flashbacks to Darkness at Noon, Bloodlands—Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, and especially The Gulag Archipelago.

Prepare appropriately.

Trying to be Sneaky and Failing

One does not have to put on a tin-foil hat to be suspicious of this:

Several major holster manufacturers/providers received notices from the Department of Commerce Census Bureau requesting order numbers, product descriptions, and where the items were being shipped. A few holster companies have refused to turn over the requested information to the federal government.

Some companies reached out to Arbiter Weston Martinez of Texas for help. Mr. Martinez is the former Texas Real Estate Commissioner under former Governor Rick Perry. Mr. Martinez is well connected in the political sphere and believes that the companies are being targeted to gather intel on the gun market. He has vowed to help push back against the alleged government overreach.

If they were asking what state the holsters were being shipped to, and without order numbers, then okay, I could imagine the requested information was not intended for abuse. As it is worded here, I just roll my eyes. That isn’t fooling anyone.

Via email from Rolf

How Many Lies Per Sentence?

Quote of the Day

Why are we tolerating the slaughter of innocent children at schools? For that matter why are we tolerating the mass murder of innocent Americans in stores, malls and the workplace. The common denominator in most shootings is an AR-15 assault-style rifle developed for the military, where soldiers need to be able to shoot a lot of bullets in a hurry to stop the assault of an enemy.

David Op’t Hof
David Op’t Hof: Only banning assault weapons will stop the slaughter

One has to wonder if this guy was trying to set some sort of record for the number of lies he could pack into a single sentence:

And secondarily, am I imagining it or are there some sort of visual characteristics such that you “just know” some people are anti-gun?

image

It seems there might be some sort of thing like “Gaydar” for anti-gun people.

ATF Agents Have Problems With Obesity

If this is true it is very “interesting”. The ATF was (is?) having difficultly maintaining staff for entry and quick reaction teams.

image

Many of them are obese and they are losing staff due to injuries from obesity, cardiovascular disease and parallel conditions.

Perhaps they should just shut the entire anti-gun operation down and stop infringing upon our rights.

Via a tweet from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

Prepare appropriately. Don’t let your dog get close enough to an ATF agent that the agent might fall on them.

Socialism Works Great

Quote of the Day

My father is a surgeon who’s worked for decades in some destitute & devastated places all around the world. He’s never seen a place where the sick are made to wait like in Canada. He can’t believe doctors have been brainwashed into accepting this truly criminal system.

Saifedean.com (@saifedean)
Tweeted on August 12, 2022

Socialism works great until you run out of other peoples’ money.*


* Rephrasing the Margret Thatcher quote:

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money.

Electrical Engineers Extinction

Interesting observation.

Engineers on the brink of extinction threaten entire tech ecosystems

While computer science course take-up had gone up by over 90 percent in the past 50 years, electrical engineering (EE) had declined by the same amount. The electronics graduate has become rarer than an Intel-based smartphone.

That part of the technology industry which makes actual things has always been divided between hardies and softies, soldering iron versus compiler, oscilloscope versus debugger. But the balance is lost. Something is very wrong at the heart of our technology creation supply chain. Where have all the hardies gone?

I have a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering but switched to software after about 10 years because there were more and better paying jobs in software at the time. So… in a sense they are talking about me.

If You See a Bulge

Quote of the Day

If you see a bulge in a conservative woman’s pants, it’s a gun. If you see a bulge in a liberal woman’s pants, it’s a penis.

image

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Blaire White @MsBlaireWhite
Tweeted on February 27, 2023

I do not think knowing her political affiliation is required to distinguish between a penis and a gun in her pants.

What is this thing? Is that a light?

image

The scope seems a little odd to me too.

Mutating Cyber Event

This could be “interesting”:

Cyber Apocalypse 2023: Is The World Heading For A ‘Catastrophic’ Event?

As the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum wrapped up in Davos, Switzerland, it ended with a disturbing prediction from one of the leading voices. Delivering a presentation on the 2023 Global Cybersecurity Outlook report, forum Managing Director Jeremy Jurgens revealed that 93 percent of those surveyed believe that a “catastrophic” cyber security event is likely in the next two years.

According to the WEF report, one of the biggest threats is a “mutating” threat. This could take the form of an AI-enabled virus that transforms as it infects various systems and organizations to evade defense systems or even detection. Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, whose country suffered an attack that brought down critical infrastructure in 2022, spoke about what he had learned since:

“It’s about viruses that can not only block our way of living but can control it and deviate it. So it can use our systems like, God forbid, our air transport systems to hit us back. Imagine if there is a cyberattack on our air transport systems that turn a huge number of airplanes that are flying into bombs.

Skynet smiles.

I need an underground bunker in Idaho.

Guns, With All Their Phallic Force, are the Best

Quote of the Day

The answer to that is based in the psyches of men for whom violence is a form of power, a means to force respect; who view guns as symbols of manhood, and manhood as requiring power over women. Machismo, male supremacy, guns, violence, power, and respect are all interlinked, so that, for such men, neither respect nor power nor manhood can be achieved without violence, and the use of violence against those—especially women, but also nonwhites and other minorities—over whom they demand power. (Without which, to complete the circle, they cannot truly be men.) And guns, with all their phallic force, are the best possible means.

Abigail R. Esman
July 6, 2023
The Most Egregious Case the Supreme Court Agreed to Hear Next Term

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

An opinion writer on Slate demonstrating Markley’ Law is unusual. I expect it as a matter of course in a Twitter debate. But an opinion writer doesn’t have to fall back on childish insults because they have lost the debate. She invokes it as part of her main arguments. That’s really demonstrating how weak their case is.

Other things to point out are:

  • No apparent concern about constitutional law.
  • No mention of why, if the defendant is so dangerous, which I’m inclined to believe he is, why he had not already been placed behind bars due to his crimes other than being a domestic abuser in possession of a gun.
  • No apparent awareness criminals will continue to acquire firearms or substitute other weapons and commit violent crimes whether they are prohibited from owning a firearm or not. Only the physical removal of these thugs from public life can make the public safe.

But what do you expect from someone so ignorant, stupid, and or evil they insist gun ownership is an indicator of compensation for inadequate masculinity?

Guns DO NOT Murder People: Criminals Do!

Via a tweet from Jay (Parody) @jayhafe who tagged it with #JustOneQuestion

See also Just one question.