Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Let’s go!
First news item
President Zelensky has denied Russia’s claims that Ukraine was responsible for the drone attack over the Kremlin:
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY: You know, I can repeat– repeat this message, and I think it will– at least will be understandable for– for everybody. We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities.
We don’t have, you know, enough weapons for this. That’s why we don’t use it anywhere. For us, that is the deficit. We can’t spend it. And we didn’t attack Putin. We’ll leave it to tribunal.
Meanwhile, Russia is also accusing the U.S. of masterminding the attack:
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US was “undoubtedly” behind the alleged attack, without providing evidence.
“Decisions on such attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington,” Mr Peskov said.
The U.S. has, of course, forcefully denied having any role in the event.
The two obvious explanations for the event:
1) It was a Russian false flag operation (which is what Ukraine claims)
2) Ukraine sent the drone (which is what Russia claims)
Of course, while both Russia and Ukraine could be lying, I just don’t see how sending a drone over the Kremlin benefits Ukraine. So I was glad to see Timothy Snyder address this:
Ukrainian[s]…would have nothing to gain from such an operation, and very much to lose. Their allies already deny them weapons on the grounds that they might use them to attack Moscow. Such a high-profile Ukrainian attack would thus hurt Ukraine by making it less likely that they get the supplies they need to win the war and stop the killing in their own country. The question of Ukrainian motivation tends to lead us back to the Russians.
With regard to Ukraine’s claims that they don’t have the capabilities to send drones to Moscow:
[L]et us assume the Ukrainians are lying…and do have the capability to carry out operations in Moscow. Even if all of that were true, would such a special Ukrainian team then expend such a capability and reveal its own existence by attacking a symbolically resonant but operationally meaningless target — a flag tower on top of a building? That doesn’t make much sense. If they were to take such a risk, they would do something meaningful.
Snyder goes on to point out why it is likely a Russian false flag operation, despite their denials:
Why would Russia stage the Kremlin incident? That is the easy part: to try to rally Russians to support the war, and to claim that Russia is its true victim and is permitted to do whatever it wants. Russian propaganda television used the incident to call for war crimes measures. Russia’s former president, Dmitri Medvedev, called for the murder of Ukraine’s president. The day after the attacks, Russia’s own press spokesman said essentially the same thing, in less wild language: this gives us permission to “retaliate” in Ukraine. In other words, the idea is the reframe the narrative so that Putin and Russia are the victims….
There is a final reason why Russia might have staged such an incident at this moment. On May 9, there were to have been the usual parades in Moscow and throughout Russia, celebrating the victory of the Red Army in the Second World War. Traditionally, Russians carry photographs of relatives who fought and died then. Horrifying numbers of young Russian men have died in Ukraine. If Russians marching on 9 May carried photographs of those loved ones, the men killed in this war, things could get out of control. Russians might look at one another and realize the scale of the calamity their leader has brought to them. Russian authorities are hastily cancelling those marches. Staging an attack on the Kremlin gives them an excuse to do so.
Note too that after the Kremlin was hit, Ukrainian cities reported widespread bombardments.
Anyway, here is another interesting view:
Whereas, for the average Russian, I’d imagine the takeaway from a drone exploding over the Kremlin isn’t, “We must have revenge on Ukraine.” It’s, “Putin can’t even protect the seat of government from Ukrainian attack. He’s weaker than we thought.”
Which, of course, is precisely why Ukraine might want to execute such an attack. They weren’t trying to assassinate the czar; they can’t afford to do that, as an escalation that momentous would spook their American patrons and risk ending Western support. But sending a drone to buzz the Kremlin a few days before Victory Day is a pithy way of demonstrating how badly Russia’s winter offensive has failed. Not only aren’t the Ukrainians licked, they’re capable of delivering payloads to the enemy’s capital if they want to.
It’s the Doolittle Raid, in other words, except in this case the good guys can’t take credit since even a symbolic incursion by Ukraine into Russia’s capital might make the White House jittery. Better for Zelensky and his aides to maintain plausible deniability.
Second news item
Top scientists and tech experts are calling on the federal government to restrain ChatGPT following the development of its new version, ChatGPT-4, which achieves top scores on common standardized tests.
ChatGPT-4, the new model released in March, can score in the 93rd percentile in SAT reading, 89th percentile in SAT math, and can achieve the highest score on multiple AP subject exams, according to OpenAI’s website.
The software also passed a simulated bar exam with a score around the top 10 percent of test takers and “is more reliable, creative, and able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5,” according to the site.
The major ethical challenges for human societies AI poses are presented well in the excellent introductions by Vincent Müller (2020), Mark Coeckelbergh (2020), Janina Loh (2019), Catrin Misselhorn (2018) and David Gunkel (2012). Regardless of the possibility of construing AGI, autonomous AI systems already raise substantial ethical issues: for example, the machine bias in law, making hiring decisions by means of smart algorithms, racist and sexist chatbots, or non-gender-neutral language translations (see section 2.c.). The very idea of a machine ‘imitating’ human intelligence—which is one common definition of AI—gives rise to worries about deception, especially if the AI is built into robots designed to look or act like human beings (Boden et al. 2017; Nyholm and Frank 2019). Moreover, Rosalind Picard rightly claims that ‘the greater the freedom of a machine, the more it will need moral standards’ (1997: 19). This substantiates the claim that all interactions between AI systems and human beings necessarily entail an ethical dimension…
Third news item
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News prime-time host whose exit from the network sent shockwaves through political media last week, is reportedly floating the idea of hosting a Republican primary forum…
Carlson has even chatted about the idea with former President Trump, according to the report, who has threatened to skip one or both of the first Republican debates that are scheduled for the summer. The first GOP debate is slated to be hosted by Carlson’s former network, Fox News.
Carlson’s contract with Fox News reportedly runs through the end of 2024, which could limit his ability to dip his toes into other ventures until then.
The first Republican presidential debate is at least three months away, but Donald Trump is already stirring the pot.
He first declared last week on Truth Social that he’s inclined to skip one or both of the first two debates, and he blamed media hostility:
“When you’re leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the ‘questions,’ why subject yourself to being libeled and abused?”
That seemed like a pretty forceful statement that he’s going to blow off the early debates – the first one on Fox News, set for August – despite the schedule set by the RNC.
The former president soon offered a different explanation during a New Hampshire swing: “I have people at one half of 1%, one quarter of 1%, 1%, 3%, 2%, 4%, 7%. And Desanctis (sic) is very low and crashing… We’re at 60 and 70%. Why would you do that?”
Fourth news item
Border news. While President Biden will be sending 1,500 active-duty military personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border to do administrative work, thus freeing up Border Patrol officers to do their jobs, a bipartisan piece of legislation is in the works:
A Trump-era policy is set to expire next week, sparking warnings of an increase of migrants along the southern border. And now, a bipartisan pair of senators is trying to buy the Biden administration more time.
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are working on legislation that would grant a temporary two-year authority to expel migrants from the United States similar to what is currently allowed under Title 42, a law that permits the U.S. to deny asylum and migration claims for public health reasons.
Sorry, but I’m sick today and this is the best I can do.
Have a great weekend!
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (560c99) — 5/5/2023 @ 8:59 amThe two obvious explanations for the event:
1) It was a Russian false flag operation (which is what Ukraine claims)
2) Ukraine sent the drone (which is what Russia claims)
Let’s not overlook the possible role that Andorra might have played in all of this. They are a treacherous people, all 80,000 of them.
I hope you feel better, Dana.
JVW (3e0f6c) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:05 amThere are other possibilities, such as (1) Russians who are sickened by Putin’s war and trying to embarrass or topple him, (2) Ukrainian partisans not affiliated with the Ukrainian government.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:14 amI would put the above two possibilities ahead of the cesspool that is Andorra.
Hunter Biden laptop letter recruitment email wanted to give Joe Biden a debate ‘talking point’
BuDuh (1ce8aa) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:18 amHere’s a comment that I left on the NRO version of the border story about the Sinema-Tillis legislation. Keep in mind that they would likely need to have 60 votes in order to force Chuck Schumer to bring it to the Senate floor for a vote:
So sadly, I think a true bipartisan solution is not going to happen, because it would vex the hard left open borders Democrats. I hope to be proven wrong.
JVW (5b7eeb) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:18 amGet well, Dana. Vitamin D, C, and Zinc for the win.
BuDuh (1ce8aa) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:20 amI would put the above two possibilities ahead of the cesspool that is Andorra.
Another apologist for the treachery of the Andorrans. Has everyone forgotten the role they played in the attempted assassination of Gerald Ford by Squeaky Fromme?
JVW (8da2de) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:21 amDana – I hope it is nothing serious, and you are completely over it — soon.
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:21 amThe link for my 9:18am: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/hunter-biden-laptop-letter-recruitment-email-joe-biden-talking-point-trump-debate
BuDuh (1ce8aa) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:25 amIt’s Covid.
Dana (560c99) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:26 amFeinstein might be worth crossing fingers on and dragging along- a la the McCain Obamacare vote. Hubby would make money somehow. And Stab Me Wow was always the principaled/UAW token no vote on these type of bills back in the 2000s and 2010s.
urbanleftbehind (aa841f) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:01 am62 years ago today: May 5, 1961– when the U.S. was challenged to be great, tens of millions of Americans stopped, watched and listened– along with much of the Free World– as “Jose’ was sent ‘on his way…’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMptAi6Z8io
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qd-t3vFsxc
DCSCA (4ab320) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:07 am@10
Lots of rest and lots of fluid Dana!
Get better!
whembly (d116f3) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:08 am…which is why they blamed the United States
Sammy Finkelman (34ae93) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:40 amSad!
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 11:29 am$2000!!!!!! OH NOOOOO!!!!!!
This is a terrible setback….
Any wins for Lake in the ruling?
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 5/5/2023 @ 11:45 amSens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are working on legislation that would grant a temporary two-year authority to expel migrants from the United States similar to what is currently allowed under Title 42, a law that permits the U.S. to deny asylum and migration claims for public health reasons.
Fact: Biden wanted to scrap Title 42 while he still had the authority to use it
so, to say that this will “buy the Biden administration more time” is just another media lie
JF (958c58) — 5/5/2023 @ 12:29 pmTrump was banned from social media, but how dare he skip debates on national teevee.
JF (529073) — 5/5/2023 @ 12:38 pmMeanwhile, Biden can’t even hold an unscripted presser in front of a fawning press corps
JF (529073) — 5/5/2023 @ 12:39 pmRussian and Prigozhin are losing Bakhmut, so they’re resorting to white phosphorus for incendiary purposes, which is a war crime.
Regarding the drone “attack” on the Kremlin, Laughing Wolf has some options:
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/5/2023 @ 1:19 pmWhat has one got to do with the other?
Dana (560c99) — 5/5/2023 @ 1:32 pmSarcasm aside, the sanctions should have been 10x the amount to be meaningful.
Lake is still a loser.
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 1:52 pmWhy should Gulliver debate the Lilliputians?
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 1:53 pmKari Lake, Political Kingmaker
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:04 pmFeel better.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:17 pmOuch!
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:21 pm“It might not matter whom Republicans run for president in 2024.
America’s propaganda press traffics in disinformation. Its Big Tech oligarchs censor news and information helpful to conservatives, while elevating biased news and information that helps the Left. And its election systems have been overrun by privately funded groups that run Democratic “get out the vote” campaigns to traffic ballots into ballot boxes. We catalogued this particularly complex problem in Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections.
Instead of election day, we now have an “election season”–during which, over a period of months, we flood homes across the country with tens of millions of mail-in ballots, regardless of whether secretaries of state or local registrars have any idea if those ballots are being sent to the correct addresses. This in a country where 11% of residents move every year. We then wait for sophisticated partisan turnout operations funded by activist billionaires and run by ideological statisticians to round up those ballots in entirely selective ways.
This culminates with us all glued to our TVs on a Tuesday evening in November listening to “journalists” who spent the months leading up to the election smothering any accurate information about the state of the country with a pillow, making empty judgments about the health of American democracy based entirely on how much the results will further advance policies that favor a toxic admixture of their own corporate paymasters and woke Montagnards.”
https://americanmind.org/salvo/unrigging-our-elections/
Colonel Haiku (517275) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:26 pmTwo more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/world/europe/kremlin-drone-explosions-analysis.html
m It wasn’t the Ukrainian government because when it has done secret attacks in Russia, officials talk about it in a different way, and also this makes no sense.
It wasn’t anything like an assassination attempt.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:33 pmhttps://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/05/05/teachers-union-goes-full-communist-n548657
NJRob (ce79be) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:35 pm@10…Dana, would you consider sharing your “vaccination” status with us?
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:37 pmA possible Russian government motive is to have a plausible excuse to cancel May 9 parades where families of veterans typically carry pictures of soldiers who died.
If this was done for the current war, in many places people would be shocked by the number of deaths.
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:38 pm29. A front for ghosts?
Or something else?
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:40 pmTrump Civil Litigation Watch, NYT Loser Edition:
While Justice Reed’s ruling did not apply to Mary Trump, it does discuss the fact that she legally obtained the tax files from her own lawyer, and that as the client she was the legal owner of the records. Further, the prohibition on releasing tax records only applies to the government, not private parties.
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:47 pm@30
That matters… why?
whembly (d116f3) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:50 pmGet well quick, Dana. A good friend of mine who came down with it snarfed a lot of Gatorade, and it seemed to help.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:57 pm@10…Dana, would you consider sharing your “vaccination” status with us?
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/5/2023 @ 2:37 pm
That’s a rather impertinent question, and it smells like some kind of trap to score points off of.
There is plenty of data out there regarding Covid and vaccines.
Feel better soon, Dana! Read, rest, and hydrate.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/5/2023 @ 3:14 pmhttps://www.city-journal.org/article/race-and-gender-narcissism-at-the-university-of-texas
More communist indoctrination in our supposed institutions of education.
NJRob (7a555b) — 5/5/2023 @ 3:38 pmNot THAT Jose Padilla:
Padilla was convicted of the following felonies:
He was also convicted of two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds or buildings and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
The other Jose Padilla is safely imprisoned in ADX Florence, also known as Supermax or the or “the Alcatraz of the Rockies” (at least until 2026).
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/5/2023 @ 4:41 pmThe unemployment rates dropped lightly again, making this a good time to mention the April 15th Economist cover story.
Titled “Riding High: The lessons of America’s astonishing economy”. The Economist describes, in considerable detail, how the US has pulled ahead of competitors since 1990. For example: Despite the rise of China, India, and other developing nations, the US still has about 1/4 of the global GDP, which means that the US has gained, while Japan and the EU, for example, have lost ground, relatively.
(As free traders would, the magazine worries that we may be losing our competitive advantages.)
I have worried about our nation for decades, as have many others, but we can only clarify our thinking if we sometimes ask: Compared to who?
(For instance, if there is a long-term solution to China’s demographic problems, it is not evident to me.
Their work force is already shrinking, having lost, net, about 40 million workers inthe last three years.)
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/5/2023 @ 5:41 pm“slightly”, not “lightly”
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/5/2023 @ 5:55 pm@36 – No trap, just curious. I ask everyone who gets COVID these days the same question. Just hear the answer, it goes no further, and I don’t shake my head when they say they’re “vaccinated”. No recriminations, no argument, no gotcha.
My own private poll
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/5/2023 @ 6:35 pmI’m reposting this for comment from another thread
Unique marketing campaign from a Russian businessman/warlord
steveg (3b0381) — 5/5/2023 @ 7:23 pmhttps://twitter.com/i/status/1654300206328864769
Horatio
I got Covid after being vaccinated, boosted. I’ve been sicker and for longer with other things like the flu. I work outdoors, and most of my work is in or outside (3-8 feet) the range of what was called social distancing, so I don’t get sick very often. I can go years without cold or flu. That said, I did need cervical fusion surgery a couple years back so I guess its a trade off.
steveg (3b0381) — 5/5/2023 @ 7:40 pmI much preferred COVID to the condition that led to cervical fusion. COVID was easier than pre surgery, post surgery. I much preferred a very bad cold to constant burning gnawing pain punctuated by lightning bolts that only some oxycontin formulation could dull
I laughed. (Who doesn’t love some 19th-century-German-mathematician-emotional-intelligence humor?)
lurker (cd7cd4) — 5/5/2023 @ 8:13 pmNot the first time a math nerd didn’t read the room, lurker. Good story.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/5/2023 @ 8:31 pmI’ve told the story here before where the lawyer didn’t read the math nerd in the jury box during voir dire. “Oh you are a math professor at UCSB? You must be good with numbers..” She says “Oh, no, that is a very common misconception, we primarily deal with symbols….” Lawyer tries to make the pain stop, opposing counsel is enjoying it all immensely. The opposing counsel would probably think she should do the eulogy, but truth was, it had already been delivered… to his career at least
steveg (3b0381) — 5/5/2023 @ 9:25 pmContinuing evidence mounts that God is a woman:
NASA Selects Emily Nelson as Chief Flight Director
NASA has named Emily Nelson its new chief flight director, leading the group that directs human spaceflight missions from the Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Norm Knight, the agency’s director of flight operations, selected Nelson to replace Holly Ridings, who held the position from 2018 to 2022, and now helps lead the agency’s Gateway Program, an international partnership to establish humanity’s first space station orbiting the Moon. Nelson has been the acting chief flight director since Riding’s departure.
“Being a flight director is about accepting great responsibility and exercising excellent leadership and judgment – responsibility for the mission, for your team, and for the astronauts we fly,” Knight said. “Emily’s tenure leading our flight control teams has proven that she is remarkably knowledgeable on the realities of human spaceflight and eminently composed when facing daunting challenges. She is unequivocally the right person to lead our flight director office as we endeavor to push the boundaries of human spaceflight exploration.”
In this role, Nelson manages 31 active flight directors and flight directors-in-training who oversee a variety of human spaceflight missions involving the International Space Station, including integrating American-made commercial crew spacecraft into the fleet of spacecraft servicing the orbiting laboratory, as well as Artemis missions to the Moon.’ – https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-emily-nelson-as-chief-flight-director
Nobody- not even POTUS– can override Flight.
“NASA’s original flight director Chris Kraft once said, “Flight is God.”
DCSCA (a45012) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:26 pmSay what?
How about a heaping helping of MYOFB
Patterico (bee212) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:31 pmI hope you feel better Dana.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/5/2023 @ 10:59 pm(4) Hey they are soon to be democrat voters for AOC’s presidential run!
asset (e0912d) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:44 amDana, hopefully it’s just a minor case and you will be back to full power soon
AJ_Liberty (de2f99) — 5/6/2023 @ 3:02 amThe worst crime that Trump committed during his Presidency, against America, against men, against women, against children, against unborn babies, against all HUMANITY, at Warp Speed, was the Covid vaccine. That is undeniable.
But why did he do it? That is inexplicable. Was it for money? From whom? Was it to impress a girl? Who? Was it out of envy of the Rothschilds-Soros Leftist Communist Globalist Liberal Conspiracy, with their climate-changing space lasers and mind-corrupting subliminal indoctrination devices in every public school?
nk (3da6af) — 5/6/2023 @ 4:14 amGet well soon, Dana!
nk (3da6af) — 5/6/2023 @ 4:24 amAnother Misunderstood Tourist:
Schwartz was convicted of:
•Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon (3 counts)
•Civil Disorder;
•Obstruction of an Official Proceeding;
•Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon;
•Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds;
•Impeding Ingress and Egress in a Restricted Building or Grounds;
•Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds;
•Disorderly Conduct in a the Capitol Grounds or Buildings; •Impeding Passage Through the Capitol Grounds or Buildings; and
•Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings
Indictment and Statement of Facts
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:41 amHow about a big helping of put your money where your mouth is if you advocated for the “vaccine”, took the shots, and got COVID. How about transparency from those who advocated for the “vaccine”, supported the insane government controls to “stop the spread” and the punitive actions taken by both the public and private sectors?
Whether Dana was vaxxed or not, I can understand her refusal to provide info…if not vaxxed, she might be feeling regretful and and as such not offer her experience to those who refused the shots. If she was vaxxed, then she might be feeling embarrassed and angry that she fell for the government’s BS.
I don’t know whether you or she promoted the insanity of the last couple of years, but if you did, you deserve scorn from those of us who were of the contrary opinion
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:51 amFor the advocates of the government’s actions and what what ultimately transpired, don’t pull a Naomi Wolf seeking absolution, and hide behind “it’s none of your effing business”.
Be a mensch. State what you did, accept that you were either correct or incorrect, and go from there.
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:57 amAnother Misunderstood Tourist Group:
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/6/2023 @ 8:03 amRussian Media Watch:
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/6/2023 @ 8:40 amWow, just wow.
AJ_Liberty (de2f99) — 5/6/2023 @ 8:41 amYou lost me when you put “vaccine” in scare quotes, Horatio, which is just another flavor of anti-vax nuttery. The evidence is pretty clear that areas of the US with lower vaccination rates have higher death rates.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/6/2023 @ 9:43 amhttps://thepostmillennial.com/denver-councilwoman-says-white-owned-businesses-should-pay-higher-taxes-and-excess-revenue-should-go-to-black-owned-businesses
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:04 amhttps://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/05/05/why-are-they-hiding-the-manifesto-n548600
No issues releasing the documents of the evil racists in Buffalo and South Carolina. That helped the goal of pretending there’s a racial divide within the nation.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:25 amHang in there, Potatus! https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1654676873652174848?s=20
Colonel Haiku (c13251) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:51 amRussian Media Watch II:
Rip Murdock (a1e7d1) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:16 amThe Late Show: a crowning achievement.
https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-iii-coronation-westminster-abbey-britain-a4f05b3d7413521c439348684fd7a782
Good Luck, Chuck!
DCSCA (9e8611) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:34 amEvery Statement is a Confession:
Like it was for Fox News, discovery for DeSantis is going to be a b!tch.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:42 amWeaponizing someone’s health to make a political point is way beyond tasteless, but apparently it will be part of the presidential campaign.
Rip Murdock (b7d6fc) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:48 amAllahNick has a piece on Jordan Neeley, the erratic homeless guy who was choked out in a subway. No, AOC, it wasn’t murder, but it was tragic.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:00 pmHoratio,
There are plenty of places on the Web where you can go be a giant asshole. This is not one of them.
You are hereby banned.
Patterico (eea38f) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:02 pmRIP Newton Minow (97); former FCC Chairman who in 1961 described television as a “vast wasteland.”
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:08 pmJill Biden’s Political Statement at Coronation Condemned: ‘Hate America’
Jill Biden and her granddaughter Finnegan Biden wore coordinated yellow and blue dresses to the coronation ceremony, representing the flag of Ukraine. The move was viewed as a sign of solidarity with the Eastern European country, which for more than a year has been fighting off an invasion from Russia… “Jill Biden was disrespectful to the United States and her office of First Lady by wearing the colors of the Ukraine flag with her granddaughter instead of representing our flag and our nation,” tweeted Jenna Ellis, an ex-attorney for former President Donald Trump. “First Lady Melania would have been pure elegance and patriotism.” -newsweek.com
Joe just farted for Camilla; but these two insulted themselves, their hosts and embarrassed the United States of America. “Red, white and blue; what does it mean to you?” To Biden Bums, not much:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGrES89AKz4&t=4s
DCSCA (9e8611) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:16 pm@71. And how did the television industry respond?
Guess why the boat wrecked on the perpetually airing TV series, Gilligan’s Island was named the ‘S.S. Minnow.’ 😉
DCSCA (9e8611) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:22 pmA couple of thoughts come to mind.
One: why someone thinks they need to heap “scorn” on someone who has a different opinion about the vaccines.
Two: partisan media is amazing if it has convinced people like Horatio that the vaccines are bad. They are one of the miracles of modern science and saved countless lives. Yet there are so many people like Horatio who are cocksure that the vaccines were actually bad for society. Amazing.
Patterico (eea38f) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:26 pmA third thought is so obvious it goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway:
The idea that one of my commenters would use the occasion of Dana’s illness to berate her for (possibly) having taken the life-saving vaccines demonstrates a level of cretinism that will never be tolerated here.
Patterico (eea38f) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:29 pmRookie:
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:31 pm@36. Don’t mind sharing my own ‘vaccination’ experience. Did not get any government sanctioned Covid vaccinations, for two reasons. First, suspect I’d contracted a form of it in February, 2020 before the ‘epidemic’ became full blown and more defined and understood; as for that month was coughing deeply and incessantly- literally drank cough medicine for 4 weeks and was ready to go to the ER then it subsided and ended. Probably natural immunity… Remained masked and gloved, very limited travel and wiped down everything- from mail to groceries. Secondly, witness a terrible experience during the Swine Flu epidemic in ’75/’76. The government rushed out vaccines and some batches, then fermented in eggs, were tainted. While in college in PA, half the frat went to the infirmary for shots one day and the rest of us were due to go the next day if we chose to. But the guys who went first got pricked w/a bad batch and got violently ill that night. It was an awful sight; vomiting, fevers… really frightening. So the rest of us declined to subjecting ourselves to rushed out, suspect government vaccines. Still won’t trust them to this day.
DCSCA (9e8611) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:38 pmDana, hang in there! Took me a little while to get over COVID myself. I did find that good vitamins, lots of fluids and rest, helped. The common sense stuff.
Dustin (ca9131) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:38 pmYeah, hang in there, Dana. You’ll be okay… know it’s rougher as we get older… just pamper yourself, stay well hydrated and eat properly… and above all, rest and don’t subject yourself to any further exposure opportunities– like allergies that may pop up this time of year. Listen to your body talking to you and give yourself time to mend.
DCSCA (9e8611) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:46 pmMeanwhile, Russia is also accusing the U.S. of masterminding the attack
If the US wanted to kill Putin with a drone, it would have come a lot closer than blowing up uselessly. It at least would have trashed that flag.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:02 pmI really dislike some of the interactions and posters here based on their posts, but there are some people on this site whom I very much like and respect. In the interests of time:
1. Get well soon, Dana. If you need any advice or background on treatment from someone with a doctorate in biology and a lot of experience with this pandemic, Patterico can put you in touch with me. I’m happy to discuss my own positive experience with this mess if you wish, and any biology or genetics based questions you might have.
2. I fully support Patterico banning people for being braying jackwagons to other people. Patterico, I am currently applauding your actions.
3. I believe that everyone has a right to their own opinion…but they need to accept that their opinion is informed…or based on personal prejudices, usually tinged by politics. I am very unhappy with how this pandemic has been handled by just about everyone—so tired of people with axes to grind. Since I have taken coursework in virology, worked with viruses, and teach about molecular biology (including how vaccines work), my opinions are based on facts. This must be how DRJ, nk, and Patterico feel when folks with no background in the law pop off about the topic.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:14 pmI don’t have enough information to be confident on the origin of the drone attack on the Kremlin, but I do think we should not dismiss this possibility: It was staged by a Russian (or Russians), possibly inside the government, who is opposed to Putin’s war on Ukraine. And, possibly, it was intended as much as a warning, as an attempt to kill or do signficant damage.
(There have been a few much-publicized attacks on Putin supporters. In the latest, a group claimed responsibility:
When Putin decided not to follow the Geneva Conventions, he made it more likley that his enemies would not, either.)
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:24 pmVaccines are great science. They are imperfect and I detest when people imply that a vaccine should prevent anyone from getting Covid ever again in their life. It’s awful that vaccines got so horribly politicized. It’s also awful that people had to lose their jobs over not getting vaccinated. It’s not awful that Horatio is gone.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:28 pmIf you get COVID after being vaccinated, you are likely to have a milder case, and less likely to die of the disease. That’s what the numbers show us and that’s what happened in my own family. My brother and sister-in-law, both of whom have some health problems, were vaccinated, caught COVID anyway, and recovered fairly quickly. (They are younger than I am, but past retirement age.)
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:28 pmCovid
Paxlovid. Really. Don’t delay. It was designed to rescue unvaxxed ^H^H^H^H^H people, but it works fine if you are vaxxed, too.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:32 pm(For instance, if there is a long-term solution to China’s demographic problems, it is not evident to me.
“The Sixty“
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:36 pmIn September, Trump said he would issue full pardons and a government apology to rioters who stormed the Capitol and violently attacked law enforcement to stop the democratic transfer of power. “I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he said.
I wonder how many times I will see that tape in the coming months. I see no downside to his GOP opponents using it as a wedge.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 1:39 pmMy experience with Covid.
After two people I knew died in March 2020, one a friend of 30 years time, and neither in particularly bad health, I did the whole masking and social distancing thing, although in my state the governor implemented it stupidly (Walmart could not have more than 50 people in the store at the same time, same as for a 7-11). I actually had bought some real N95 masks in February, jic.
When the vaccine was finally available, after being reserved for emergency and medical workers, and teachers (who would not go into the classroom as it turned out), I got my shot the first day I could. As did my wife, who is generally included towards alternative medicine.
And I stayed masked in public for most of 2021. Did not get COVID until May 2022, when I went to a convention, unmasked, in Austin. Came back mildly ill (masked on the plane) and the real problems hit me overnight, and I was unable to keep any liquid in my system for the next 12 hours. Not even water. Doctor sent me Paxlovid, and that dropped my symptoms to tolerable later in the day.
So, I recommend Paxlovid. The only downside (this may have changed) was that the prescription was for only 5 days, and I rebounded (as did Biden and Fauci and others) but unlike them I could not get a second series of the drug.
If I had not been vaxxed, I probably would have gotten it sooner, before better treatments were available, and the prognosis might have been poor.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:10 pm*
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:11 pmincludedinclinedhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2023/05/eu-approves-dutch-governments-plan-to-shutter-farms-forced-sales-not-ruled-out/
Soylent Green soon to a supermarket near you.
NJRob (b542f0) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:16 pmI was onto Horatio’s game from the beginning.
@36 – No trap, just curious. I ask everyone who gets COVID these days the same question. Just hear the answer, it goes no further, and I don’t shake my head when they say they’re “vaccinated”. No recriminations, no argument, no gotcha.
My own private poll
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/5/2023 @ 6:35 pm
followed by this
How about a big helping of put your money where your mouth is if you advocated for the “vaccine”, took the shots, and got COVID. How about transparency from those who advocated for the “vaccine”, supported the insane government controls to “stop the spread” and the punitive actions taken by both the public and private sectors?
Whether Dana was vaxxed or not, I can understand her refusal to provide info…if not vaxxed, she might be feeling regretful and and as such not offer her experience to those who refused the shots. If she was vaxxed, then she might be feeling embarrassed and angry that she fell for the government’s BS.
I don’t know whether you or she promoted the insanity of the last couple of years, but if you did, you deserve scorn from those of us who were of the contrary opinion
Horatio (3fb8b5) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:51 am
Comedy gold!
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:36 pmNo recriminations, just a pronouncement that you deserve scorn.
Comedy gold indeed. What a maroon
Patterico (eea38f) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:45 pmAllahnick continues to dazzle. This is funny, sad, and true:
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/boilingfrogs/elected-republicans-have-no-reason-to-endorse-desantis/
I now know why Patterico likes him so much.
By the way, I see you getting big acclaim in the comments section at The Dispatch, AJ. (As you should).
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:50 pmI took all the shots, social distanced and wore a mask and didn’t get covid so far. A far higher rate of republicans/trumpsters died of covid because they didn’t take precautions then democrat voters (non democrat/minority rate slightly lower then republicans as they seem to have taken less precautions democrat voters) Thanks republicans for helping us out in 2022 election as only in chicago can dead people vote!
asset (4c008e) — 5/6/2023 @ 2:54 pmMr. Mylozanov has a definite pro-Ukrainian take on things but, because of the 2022 invasion, Putin made it more likely that the Ukrainians could reclaim the Crimean peninsula.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/6/2023 @ 3:18 pmMost Americans support anti-trans policies favored by GOP, poll shows (WaPo free link)
A majority of all age groups held this opinion.
Conversely, a large majority (up to 75%) oppose anti-trans discrimination in jobs, housing, school, medical care, etc.
Two thirds oppose transwomen participating in women’s sports.
Majorities oppose use of puberty blockers or hormone therapy in children, but are in favor of counseling or other psychiatric therapy.
Large majorities oppose trans information being taught before middle school. People are 50-50 about middle school and heavily in favor of the topics being taught in high school.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 3:22 pmThanks republicans for helping us out in 2022 election as only in chicago can dead people vote!
asset, if Trump had won re-election and pushed the vaccine, you would never have gone near it, and RFK Jr would be the leading Democrat candidate. Kamala Harris would still be going on about how it wasn’t tested enough.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 3:26 pmIt is interesting to see how the WaPo spins “concerns about children’s welfare” into “anti-trans.”
A better spin would be “majorities of Americans oppose genital mutilation and chemical experiments on children”
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 3:28 pmYou won’t see it being used by any of the other Republican presidential candidates. They are all in not offending Trump’s base, because they will need that base (in the unlikely event) that Trump is not the nominee.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 4:08 pmThe GOP minor candidates will wedge themselves right out of the race. I expect to hear at the Republican debates if not vocal, at least some support for the J6 defendants. At best candidates will say nothing.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 4:18 pmIn September, Trump said he would issue full pardons and a government apology to rioters who stormed the Capitol and violently attacked law enforcement to stop the democratic transfer of power. “I mean full pardons with an apology to many,” he said.
That is one of my top reasons for voting for anybody but Trump. We shouldn’t pardon or otherwise reward those J6 goons. Yes, Trump egged them on, and probably won’t do any time for it, but we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 4:27 pmnorcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 4:27 pm
the media is lying, and of course you’re happy to swallow it whole
What Trump actually said:
“Another thing we’ll do, and so many people have been asking me about it, if I run and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly,” Trump said to applause. “We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly.”
He didn’t say he would pardon all of them. He didn’t say he would pardon those who “violently attacked law enforcement.”
“Fairly” is open to interpretation. I suggest considering the fact that white collar insurrectionist Kevin Clinesmith, who doctored a Fisa warrant, served just a year of probation and got his law license reinstated in full, and the TN insurrectionists got invited to the White House.
JF (9688d4) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:03 pmhttps://www.foxbusiness.com/small-business/chicago-police-department-tells-businesses-buy-riot-glass-product-prevent-burglaries
Nk, you still live in this leftist utopia, right?
NJRob (b542f0) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:14 pmHe didn’t limit his statement to only those who non-violent offenses either.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:22 pmSource
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:26 pmThe GOP minor candidates will wedge themselves right out of the race. I expect to hear at the Republican debates if not vocal, at least some support for the J6 defendants. At best candidates will say nothing.
They have to differentiate themselves from Trump, or get out of the race. If they can’t call him on his bullsh1t, then they don’t deserve the job. If they want to keep their head down, they can do that at home.
No one is going to vote far a fake Trump when they have a real Trump to vote for. So, the rest of the pack needs to stop kissing the effing ring and call him for the criminal that he is.
They think that if they do that, they’ll be on the outs forever, and maybe they will be. But if he dies, or is disqualified, or simply loses again, they are going to be SOL when the deTrumpfication happens.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:45 pmWhich is why I think that DeSantis won’t last. He’s already too tied to Trump to be anything but VP (and would Trump really “move” back to NY?).
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:47 pmThat is one of my top reasons for voting for anybody but Trump. We shouldn’t pardon or otherwise reward those J6 goons.
At best, I could see pardoning minor offenses (e.g. trespassing or stealing an ashtray). But that’s not what Trump is talking about.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:49 pmThey are all in not offending Trump’s base, because they will need that base (in the unlikely event) that Trump is not the nominee.
If Trump is not the nominee, don’t they still have to vote against Biden? Binary choice, amiright?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:51 pmWhich is why none of the minor candidates have a chance. Hutchinson is the only candidate who openly opposes Trump, and he has no chance anyway. Haley and Scott will never take Trump on, and DeSantis and Vivek are Trump’s Mini-Me. They are hoping that Trump stumbles or is indicted, neither of which will change the minds of TrumpWorld to support someone else.
As long as Trump has an iron grip on the Republican Party nothing will change. There is no polling (as of now) that shows his support is diminishing.
The only candidate that will bring up Trump’s pardon promise will be Biden.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:59 pmNo. They always just not vote at all. Remember, they still believe 2020 was stolen.
Rip Murdock (b7d6fc) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:02 pmMorning Consult Tracker: Trump Holds Formidable Lead Over DeSantis
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:13 pmDeSantis’s 22% is close to RFK Jr.’s 20% RCP average.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:18 pmWhich is why I think that DeSantis won’t last. He’s already too tied to Trump to be anything but VP
The freefall of DeSantis started when Bragg indicted Trump
For Trump, NeverTrump is the gift that keeps giving
JF (396642) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:20 pmTrump hugged and praised the nutter convicted for her J6 crimes so, to me, he sent a clear message about pardons and apologies.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:28 pm@101. Not much of an argument. Peruse these folks pardoned by other presidents… just for example:
-Federalist president John Adams pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 20 people. Among them are: David Bradford, for his role in the Whiskey Rebellion and John Fries, for his role in Fries’s Rebellion; convicted of treason due to opposition to a tax; Fries and others were pardoned, and a general amnesty was issued for everyone involved in 1800.
-Thomas Jefferson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 119 people. One of his first acts upon taking office was to issue a general pardon for any person convicted under the Sedition Act.[5] Among them are: David Brown – convicted of sedition under the Sedition Act of 1798 because of his criticism of the U.S. federal government, receiving the harshest sentence of anyone; pardoned along with all violators of the act. Benjamin Fairbanks – Convicted with Brown of erecting a Liberty Pole in Dedham, Massachusetts. He received the lightest sentence of anyone under the Act.
-Democratic-Republican president James Madison pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 196 people. Among them are: William Hull – while Governor of the Michigan Territory, sentenced to death for surrendering Fort Detroit during the War of 1812; pardoned due to his heroic conduct during the American Revolution. Jean Lafitte and Pierre Lafitte and the Baratarian Pirates for past piracy, granted due to their assistance during the War of 1812; granted February 6, 1815.
-Democratic president James Buchanan pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 150 people. Among them are: Brigham Young – pardoned for role in the 1857 Utah War.
-Republican president Abraham Lincoln pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 343 people. Among them are: 265 of 303 Dakota Indians who attacked white settlers in the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862.
Clement Vallandigham – Copperhead Congressman from Ohio sentenced for disloyalty in 1863; sentence commuted, and deported to the Confederacy. Emilie Todd Helm – wife of Confederate General Benjamin Hardin Helm and half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln. During his presidency, Lincoln issued 64 pardons for war-related offenses; 22 for conspiracy, 17 for treason, 12 for rebellion, 9 for holding an office under the Confederacy, and 4 for serving with the rebels.
Democratic president Andrew Johnson pardoned about 7,000 people in the “over $20,000” class (taxable property over $20,000) by May 4, 1866. More than 600 prominent North Carolinians were pardoned just before the election of 1864. President Andrew Johnson pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 654 people. Among them are: Charles D. Anderson; Richard H. Anderson; Eli Metcalfe Bruce; Horatio Washington Bruce; Charles Clark; Jefferson Davis; Harris Flanagin; Augustus Hill Garland; Benjamin Harvey Hill; Wade Keyes; Enoch Louis Lowe; Andrew Gordon Magrath; Eugenius Aristides Nisbet; James Byeram Owens’ Walter Preston; James Seddon; Alexander H. Stephens; George Trenholm; Samuel Arnold – charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln Samuel Mudd – charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln; Edmund Spangler – charged with conspiring to murder Lincoln…
-Republican president Ulysses S. Grant pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,332 people. Among them are: Ex-Confederate leaders – All but 500 former top Confederate leaders were pardoned when President Grant signed the Amnesty Act of 1872.
-Republican president Rutherford B. Hayes pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 893 people. Among them is: Ezra Heywood – an Anarchist convicted of violating the 1873 Comstock Act; pardoned after 6 months.
-Republican president Benjamin Harrison pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 613 people.[3] Among them are: Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – On January 4, 1893, granted amnesty and pardon for the offense of engaging in polygamous or plural marriage to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
-Republican president Warren G. Harding pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 800 people. Among them are: Eugene V. Debs – Socialist convicted of sedition under the Espionage Act of 1917; sentence commuted in 1921; Kate Richards O’Hare – convicted of sedition under the Espionage Act of 1917; sentence commuted in 1921.
-Republican president Calvin Coolidge pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 1,545 people. Among them are: Marcus Garvey – Jamaican immigrant and founder of Universal Negro Improvement Association UNIA, convicted of mail fraud in 1923; sentence commuted and deported in 1927 Lothar Witzke – German spy and saboteur convicted in 1918; pardoned and deported in 1923.
-Democratic president Harry S. Truman pardoned, commuted or rescinded the convictions of 2,044 people. Among them are: George Caldwell – Louisiana building contractor convicted in 1940 of income tax evasion and bribery for requiring kickbacks from contractors, paroled the following year; pardoned; Oscar Collazo – A Puerto Rico nationalist, Collazo attempted Truman’s assassination in 1950; Commuted death sentence to life sentence James Michael Curley – Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts convicted of fraud and mail fraud in 1947; pardoned in 1950; Richard W. Leche – former Governor of Louisiana, convicted of mail fraud in 1940; pardoned in 1947; Andrew J. May – former Congressman convicted of accepting bribes in 1947; pardoned in 1952; Seymour Weiss – hotel executive and Democratic Party campaign financier, convicted of tax evasion and mail fraud in 1940, released in 1942; pardoned in 1947
1,523 people convicted of violating the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940; full pardon.
-The Big Dick pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 926 people. Among them are:
Jimmy Hoffa – prominent labor union leader convicted of fraud and bribery (tax evasion) in 1964; sentence commuted (with conditions) on December 23, 1971 Angelo DeCarlo – convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and extortion in March 1970; was pardoned in late 1972 due to poor health, died on October 20, 1973.
– Republican president Gerald Ford pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 409 people. Among them are: Richard Nixon – granted a full and unconditional pardon in 1974 just before he could be indicted in the Watergate scandal. This was the only time that a U.S. president received a pardon. Ernest C. Brace – pardoned of his 1961 court-martial from the United States Marine Corps in light of his almost eight years as a POW in Vietnam. Iva Toguri D’Aquino, aka – “Tokyo Rose” – convicted of treason in 1949, paroled in 1956. She was pardoned on January 19, 1977, Ford’s last day in office. The only U.S. citizen convicted of treason during World War II to be pardoned. Robert E. Lee – Confederate general during the Civil War, full rights of citizenship were posthumously restored. Vietnam war draft resisters – Ford offered conditional amnesty to over 50,000 draft resisters. Maurice L. Schick – military court-martial for brutal murder; commuted to life with the possibility of parole.
Democratic president Jimmy Carter pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 566 people, and in addition to that pardoned over 200,000 Vietnam War draft evaders. Among them are: Oscar Collazo – Attempted assassination of President Harry S. Truman in 1950; commuted to time served in 1979
G. Gordon Liddy – Watergate figure. Convicted for 20 years for conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping; commuted after serving 4½ years in 1977. Peter Yarrow – Singer-songwriter of Peter, Paul and Mary, had pleaded guilty to a morals charge involving a 14-year-old girl in 1970 and served three months in prison, was pardoned in 1980. Vietnam war draft resisters – Unconditional amnesty issued in the form of a pardon in 1977. Jefferson Davis – President of the Confederate States of America, was arrested and accused of treason in 1865. Charges were brought in 1868 but was absolved of any guilt for participation in the Civil War by President Andrew Johnson’s Fourth Amnesty Proclamation on Christmas Day of that year. Posthumously pardoned. Patty Hearst – Convicted of bank robbery in 1976 after being kidnapped and allegedly brainwashed; sentence commuted in 1979. Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores Rodriguez – opened fire in the U.S. House of Representatives and wounding five Congressmen in 1954; clemency; Frederic B. Ingram – Heir from Tennessee, convicted of bribing government officials in Illinois in 1977; jailed for 16 months. His sentence was commuted by Carter in December 1980.
– Republican president Ronald Reagan pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 406 people. Among them are: Mark Felt and Edward S. Miller – FBI officials convicted in December 1980 of authorizing illegal break-ins and fined. Pardoned on March 20, 1981. Mark Felt later in life admitted to being Deep Throat, the informant during the Watergate affair. Marvin Mandel – former Governor of Maryland convicted of mail fraud and racketeering in 1977; granted clemency in 1981; conviction later overturned in U.S. district court. Junior Johnson – a former NASCAR driver convicted of moonshining in 1956; pardoned in 1986; George Steinbrenner – Convicted of illegal Nixon campaign contributions and obstruction of justice in 1974; pardoned in January 1989
– Republican president George H. W. Bush pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 77 people. Among them are: For their roles in the Iran–Contra affair Elliott Abrams; Duane Clarridge; Clair George; Alan Fiers; Robert McFarlane – National Security Adviser to President Ronald Reagan; Caspar Weinberger – Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan; Armand Hammer – CEO of the Occidental Petroleum Company, contributed $110,000 to the Republican National Committee just before his pardon. Pardoned for illegally contributing $54,000 to Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign in 1972. Myra Soble – 1957 conviction of Conspiracy to Receive and Obtain National Defense Information and transmit same to foreign government in the Rosenberg spy ring; served four years, pardoned in 1991, died one year later.
– Democratic president Bill Clinton pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 459 people. Among them are: Almon Glenn Braswell – Nutritional supplement magnate, convicted of mail fraud and perjury in 1983; pardoned Henry Cisneros – Clinton’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count for lying to the FBI in 1999 about payments to a mistress, and was fined $10,000. Roger Clinton, Jr. – Half-brother of Bill Clinton. After serving a year in federal prison (1985–86) for cocaine possession. John Deutch – Director of Central Intelligence, former Provost and University Professor, MIT. He had agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for mishandling government secrets on January 19, 2001, but President Clinton pardoned him in his last day in office, two days before the Justice Department could file the case against him. Edward Downe, Jr. – convicted of wire fraud, filing false income tax returns, and securities fraud in 1992; pardoned Elizam Escobar – Puerto Rican artist and activist, convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1980; pardoned FALN – commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization operating mostly in Chicago and New York City. Henry O. Flipper – The first black West Point cadet was found guilty of “conduct unbecoming an officer” in 1882. Posthumously pardoned. Patty Hearst – Convicted of bank robbery in 1976 after being kidnapped and allegedly brainwashed. Prison term commuted by Jimmy Carter and was released from prison in 1979. She was fully pardoned by Clinton in 2001. Rick Hendrick – NASCAR team owner & champion; convicted of mail fraud in 1997; pardoned. Susan McDougal – business partner with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the failed Whitewater land deal. Guilty of contempt of court, she served her entire sentence starting in 1998 and was then pardoned. Samuel Loring Morison – former Naval intelligence officer, convicted of espionage and theft of government property in 1985; pardoned; Mel Reynolds – Former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. Convicted of bank fraud and obstruction of justice in 1997; sentence was commuted. Marc Rich, Pincus Green – business partners; indicted by U.S. Attorney on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran in 1983 and fled the country that year. Pardoned in 2001 after Rich’s ex-wife, Denise Eisenberg Rich, made large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Foundation. Dan Rostenkowski – Former Democratic member of the US House of Representatives from Illinois, indicted for his role in the Congressional Post Office scandal and pleaded guilty to mail fraud in 1996. Served his entire 17-month sentence, then pardoned in December 2000. Fife Symington III – Governor of Arizona convicted of bank fraud in 1997, the conviction was overturned in 1999; subsequently pardoned. Susan Rosenberg – a former radical activist and domestic terrorist of the early 1970s, was convicted of illegal explosives possession in 1984, commuted on January 20, 2001.
– Republican president George W. Bush pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 200 people. Among them were: José Compeán and Ignacio Ramos – Two US Border Patrol agents who wounded drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Dávila on February 17, 2005, and tried to cover up the incident received commutation in 2009. John Forté – Hip-hop singer and songwriter sentenced for smuggling cocaine in 2000 was commuted.
Lewis “Scooter” Libby – Assistant to President George W. Bush and Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney was convicted of perjury in connection with the CIA leak scandal involving members of State Department who ‘outed’ CIA officer Valerie Plame. Was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined him $250,000 on June 5, 2007. Libby received commutation of his prison sentence, not a full pardon, on July 2, 2007. Libby later received a full pardon from President Donald Trump in 2018. Issac Robert Toussie – Brooklyn real estate developer, convicted of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2001; pardoned in 2008 and the pardon revoked one day later. Charles Winters – Posthumous pardon for smuggling three B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers to Israel in the late 1940s; served 18 months in prison; died in 1984.
– Democratic president Barack Obama pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the conviction of 1,927 people. Among them were: James Cartwright, retired US Marine Corps four-star general, he pleaded guilty to giving false statements to federal investigators in 2016 and was awaiting sentencing. Pardoned on January 17, 2017.
Dwight J. Loving, U.S. Army private sentenced to death in Texas for murdering two taxi drivers in 1988. Commuted to life without parole on January 17, 2017. Chelsea Manning, U.S. Army whistleblower convicted by court-martial in July 2013, sentenced to 35 years in prison for providing classified documents to WikiLeaks. Commuted on January 17, 2017. Willie McCovey, professional baseball player, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1995 and received two years probation and a $5,000 fine. Pardoned on January 17, 2017. Ian Schrager, former co-owner of the famed dance club Studio 54, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1979 and received three and a half years in prison and a $20,000 fine. Pardoned on January 17, 2017. Oscar López Rivera, FALN member sentenced in 1981 to 55 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms, and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy government property, and subsequently to an additional 15 years for attempted escape in 1988. Commuted on January 17, 2017
– Republican president Donald Trump pardoned, commuted, or rescinded the convictions of 237 people. Among them were: Joe Arpaio, former Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to end the practice of “immigrant round ups,” and was awaiting sentencing. Pardoned on August 25, 2017. Sholom Rubashkin, an Iowa meatpacking magnate sentenced to 27 years in prison for bank fraud in 2010. Commuted on December 20, 2017. Kristian Saucier, a former U.S. Navy sailor pleaded guilty to unauthorized possession and retention of national defense information in 2016, released the following year. Pardoned on March 9, 2018. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff to the vice president of the United States, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the CIA leak scandal. The sentence was already commuted to time served by President George W. Bush in July 2007, shortly after Libby’s conviction. Pardoned on April 13, 2018. Jack Johnson, a champion boxer who was convicted in 1913 while traveling with his white girlfriend for violating the Mann Act, which made it illegal to transport women across state lines for “immoral” purposes, released after one year. Posthumously pardoned on May 24, 2018. Dinesh D’Souza, author and documentary filmmaker, convicted of campaign finance violations in 2014. Pardoned on May 31, 2018. Alice Johnson, an unemployed parcel delivery worker and first-time drug offender sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for conspiracy to possess cocaine, attempted possession of cocaine, and money laundering. Commuted on June 6, 2018. Dwight Hammond and Steven Hammond, father and son Oregon ranchers convicted in 2012 of two counts of arson on federal land. Commuted and pardoned on July 10, 2018.
DCSCA (c2679f) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:28 pmMichael Behenna, former United States Army First Lieutenant who was convicted in 2009 of murdering an unarmed prisoner during the Iraq War. Sentenced to 25 years in military prison, paroled in 2014. Pardoned on May 7, 2019. Conrad Black, a British newspaper publisher convicted in 2007 of fraud and obstruction of justice for scheming to siphon off millions of dollars from the sale of newspapers, spent 3+1⁄2 years in prison and was deported. Pardoned on May 15, 2019. Pat Nolan, former California state legislator who pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1994, served 2 years and 2 months in prison. Pardoned on May 16, 2019.
Zay Jeffries, a mining engineer and former vice president of General Electric. He was convicted in 1948 of violating of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and fined; died in 1965. Posthumously pardoned by Trump on October 10, 2019. Mathew L. Golsteyn, a US Army officer who served in the War in Afghanistan. He was accused of murder after the 2010 killing of an unarmed Afghan bomb maker who was a prisoner of war, and the U.S. Army had opened an investigation of him in 2016. Pardoned on November 15, 2019.[70]
Clint Lorance, a former first lieutenant with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in the U.S. Army and veteran of the War in Afghanistan. He was convicted on two counts of second-degree murder for ordering soldiers in his platoon to open fire at three men sitting on a motorcycle in southern Afghanistan in July 2012 while his platoon was on combat patrol. During the trial all platoon members testified that the men were sitting, unmoving on a motorcycle while the defendant claimed the motorcycle was approaching at a high speed. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison in August 2013, and sent to Fort Leavenworth. Pardoned on November 15, 2019.] Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois, was charged with attempting to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate to succeed President-elect Barack Obama. Was convicted of soliciting bribes, extortion, and wire fraud on June 27, 2011, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Was commuted to time served on February 18, 2020 Bernard Kerik, former New York City Police Commissioner, pleaded guilty to tax fraud and perjury in 2010 for concealing apartment renovations paid for by a contractor that the city had blacklisted because of suspected ties to organized crime. Was sentenced to four years in prison in 2010; was released in May 2013. Pardoned on February 18, 2020. Roger Stone, a longtime political operative and friend of Donald Trump, was convicted in November 2019 on charges of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements in the course of inhibiting the investigation of the Trump campaign by Robert Mueller. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison, but on July 10, 2020, President Trump commuted the sentence before Stone reported to prison. Trump pardoned Stone on December 23, 2020. Susan B. Anthony, suffragist and long-time proponent and organizer for women’s suffrage in the United States who was convicted of voting in the 1872 election. Posthumously pardoned on August 18, 2020, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which gave American women the right to vote. The president of the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House wrote, without legal authority, to “decline” the offer of a pardon on the principle that, to accept a pardon would wrongly “validate” the trial proceedings in the same manner that paying the $100 fine would have. Michael Flynn, retired United States Army lieutenant general and the 25th National Security Advisor. Flynn withdrew his original guilty plea for making false statements to the FBI, and federal district judge Emmet G. Sullivan had ruled the matter to be placed on hold. Flynn was pardoned on November 25, 2020. Alex van der Zwaan, a New York–based Dutch lawyer who was convicted on a guilty plea in Feb. 2018 of making false statements to law enforcement officers in the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. van der Zwaan served his 30-day jail sentence, paid a $20,000 fine, and was deported after his release from .Trump pardoned him on December 23, 2020. Kodak Black, an American rapper who confessed to lying on background checks associated with purchasing firearms during two separate instances in 2019.Commuted on January 20, 2021, after already having served “nearly half” of his 46-month sentence. – source, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_granted_clemency_by_the_president_of_the_United_States
He didn’t limit his statement to only those who non-violent offenses either.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 5:22 pm
he didn’t limit it to only those from Earth either
so he meant space aliens, Rip
JF (396642) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:28 pmUnlike in LA Story, there isn’t a shooting season, it just happens every single week, the latest being a Dallas suburb. My guess is that it’s another mental case who legally obtained his firearm, and nothing will happen to stop mental cases from getting firearms.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:43 pmthirty years ago, shootings didn’t happen every week
our culture has normalized it
but, we’re not supposed to talk about that, only guns
our slop culture is owned by the left, and therefore it’s untouchable
JF (7cc437) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:06 pmAnybody can get a gun in Texas. Last week, it was a four-times deported illegal alien who felt secure enough in his “constitutional carry” to practice shooting it in his backyard.
nk (3da6af) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:08 pmnk (3da6af) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:08 pm
Anybody can get a gun in Chicago too, and Chicago has a murder rate three times higher than Texas.
JF (7cc437) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:13 pmTwo of the nine victims taken to the hospital after the mall shooting in Allen, Texas, were pronounced dead on arrival, a law enforcement source told CNN.
@118. ‘nothing will happen to stop mental cases from hijacking airplanes.’
FIFY.
DCSCA (c2679f) — 5/6/2023 @ 7:17 pmDCSCA (c2679f) — 5/6/2023 @ 6:28 pm
And how many of those Presidents who issued pardons were coup planners? Just one, and his last name rhymes with rump.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 9:38 pmAnd how many of those Presidents who issued pardons were coup planners? Just one, and his last name rhymes with rump.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 9:38 pm
Name one coup planner Trump pardoned. Should be easy.
JF (7cc437) — 5/6/2023 @ 9:53 pmTry reading it again, JF.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:14 pmMy suspicion is that a high per capita gun ownership rate in combination with people living close together is probably part of the problem. Add to that a lot of people who work long hours, don’t get enough sleep, are on edge about economics and a culture that thinks it’s OK to respond to insults with violence and you get a lot of people in close proximity to other people, who are likely to have the ability to shoot another person, a mindset that it’s OK as long as they can “justify it”, and who are very easy to tip over the edge, so you get shootings.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:25 pm@125 ah yes, reading it again I see you’re claim is no more aligned with the truth than when I read it wrong
but, that conviction is just around the corner for sure
JF (7cc437) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:35 pm
JF (7cc437) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:36 pmyou’reyour>@123. And how many of those Presidents who issued pardons were coup planners?
Coup planners? Depends on which side of the pond you were on. Rebellious, treasonous types like Jefferson and Adams certainly were ‘coup planners’… and succeeded… in the eyes of the Crown.
…and George III frowned.
DCSCA (be4f8d) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:46 pm@116: No one will read that.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:53 pmHaley and Scott will never take Trump on
They only have a chance if they do. Back in 2015 the other GOP candidates planned to outlast Trump, then pick up his voters. I see no sign it will work this time either.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:57 pmNo. They always just not vote at all. Remember, they still believe 2020 was stolen.
Then they deserve Biden and they will hang separately.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:57 pmThe freefall of DeSantis started when Bragg indicted Trump
And after that, DeSantis kissed the ring and made many of his backers say “Why bother?”
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:59 pmTrump hugged and praised the nutter convicted for her J6 crimes so, to me, he sent a clear message about pardons and apologies.
She was convicted of “defying police orders”
Half of Portland did that. People need to stop Trumping up misdemeanors into the Crime of the Century. It debases the charges against the violent trhugs and tried to kill police (who Trump seems to like, too).
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:03 pmnothing will happen to stop mental cases from getting firearms.
Maybe “boiling in oil on national TV”? OK, cable PPV.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:04 pmPhiladelphia, September 15, 1787:
Madison’s Notes.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:11 pmDCSCA (be4f8d) — 5/6/2023 @ 10:46 pm
I’d say there’s a difference between a coup to overthrow a monarchy, and one to overthrow a democracy.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:17 pmThe President may himself be guilty. The traitors may be his own instruments.
Madison’s Notes.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:11 pm
And that’s analogous to the prospect we face: Trump the coup planner pardoning the instruments of his attempted coup.
Trump would pardon them all, because there’s no re-election to consider.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:24 pmMy suspicion is that a high per capita gun ownership rate in combination with people living close together is probably part of the problem.
There were more gun owning households in 1980 (45% nationally) than in 2015 (32%).
It varies greatly per state, but Texas is only slightly above average (37%). It was 58% in 1980.
California has gone from 40% to 16%. Almost no state has increased household ownership in the last 40 years.
The point here is that the increase in gun violence is not a function of gun availability. It must be some other factor. Multiculturalism and Us vs Them, extremely violent entertainment, drugs, the end of state institutions for the dangerously insane, a general lack of community involvement (except to complain).
We have a culture that is pretty sick, and we are focusing on a symptom and not the problem.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:33 pmGuns are not easier to get hold of today. Oswald bought his rifle mail order. There were almost no rules 50 years ago. Now there are a lot of rules and gun violence is way up. I invite anyone to explain how more rules will help.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:35 pmAt least we agree on that. Also, the minor Republican candidates are clearly auditioning to be Trump’s VP (Darling Nikki, see here) or in his cabinet (Vivek and Scott).
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:37 pmThe eventually decided not to limit the President’s power, suggesting that a traitorous President could be impeached, then tried. And, in fact, it was that prospect that stopped Trump from issuing a blanket pardon after J6. It would have changed votes, and he was probably told that, too.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:38 pmKevin M (f94f4f) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:33 pm
I blame social media and bad parenting more than anything else.
In the before times, crazies tended to get checked by all the people around them. Neighbors, family, friends.
Now, the demented can connect with the smattering of nutcases scattered around the world.
And too many children have parents who confuse wants with needs, and thus both parents work full-time jobs, leaving their children to the mercies of social media.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:40 pm@Kevin@139 We do have more and more people living in cities and cramped suburbs though. I wouldn’t disagree that there are also issues of mental health concerns and drugs. I don’t know that multiculturalism is the major issue. I would say that on the whole there’s more violence between people in the same culture (intra-family violence, gang violence, violence in a person’s own neighborhood), rather than between cultures, though we hear more about between cultures violence.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/6/2023 @ 11:50 pm@130. The one who it was meant for did.
________
@137. I’d say there’s a difference between a coup to overthrow a monarchy, and one to overthrow a democracy.
History says different: a coup is a coup– and you might want to pitch your POV to dead Dwight Eisenhower, who backed a coup to overthrow a democratically elected government in Iran and install a monarchy:
Eisenhower approves coup in Iran, Aug. 19, 1953
The 1953 Iranian coup d’état, known in Iran as the 28 Mordad coup d’état (Persian: کودتای ۲۸ مرداد), was the U.S.- and UK-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of the shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on 19 August 1953.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat#Aftermath
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/19/eisenhower-green-lights-coup-in-iran-aug-19-1953-788012
DCSCA (b5dd82) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:40 am@97 You are wrong I couldn’t wait to get vaccinated. I don’t take my marching orders from DNC talking points. I vote green party for president in 2020 as I had to write them in and this is why trump lost. I preferred trump winning to biden so AOC would become president in 2024. Now she has to wait till 2028/2032. Abortion trumps trannies. Like me the 80% of voters who don’t want abortion banned and have reservations about the drag queen stuff will go into the voting booth and vote out every anti-abortion republican on the ballot as they did in 2022. If NY had not run corrupt corporate democrats they would have held the house. Yelling trannys! as they do on talk radio because they don’t dare talk about abortion is not working.
asset (f7677e) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:55 amKevin,
you forgot the obvious. We are a less Christian society and secular hedonism is the religion of the day.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/7/2023 @ 4:21 amGuns are not easier to get hold of today. Oswald bought his rifle mail order. There were almost no rules 50 years ago.
Oswald had a five- shot bolt action.
There were almost no high-capacity fast-firing firearms available to civilians 50 years ago, and the “almost no” is a literal fact.
There were a handful of five-shot, internal magazine, automatic rifles in deer-legal caliber and a like handful in .22 plinkers.
You’d need a stunt double with a lifetime’s training to pump out bullets from a Winchester 92 like The Rifleman on TV and then you’d need to reload the tubular magazine one round at a time.
There was only one pistol, in any caliber, the Browning Hi-Power, with a magazine capacity of more than 10 rounds.
nk (bb1548) — 5/7/2023 @ 4:40 amhttps://jonathanturley.org/2023/05/04/shes-a-professor-albany-professor-arrested-after-obstructing-pro-life-display-and-resisting-arrest/
Fascist, leftist professor attacks pro-life display. Shocked when she’s arrested.
NJRob (8718f8) — 5/7/2023 @ 6:35 amThe fact is that AR-15s comprised only 1.2% of total firearms production in 1990 and today it’s 23.4%, and a disturbing number of mass shootings involve AR-15s.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:37 amI’m not saying ban them, but I’m in favor of testing prospective buyers, that they’re mentally or psychologically proficient to possess them.
Something that absolutely would not past constitutional muster.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:00 ama day later, and can’t find the name of the shooter in the news
must be hard to figure out who was wearing the tactical gear
could be anyone I guess
JF (4f7385) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:03 amWhy didn’t Clinton’s assault weapons ban get thrown out by the courts?
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:09 amTwo things we don’t know right now that we should: (1) the Nashville shooter’s manifesto, (2) anything about the Allen, TX shooter.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:12 amI did find this:
The agents have been inside talking to his family. They have also asked for a translator.
FBI agents showed up Saturday evening, neighbors said, and have been there ever since. They say the suspected shooter is in his 30s and has lived here for as long as anyone can recall.
They say he drives a gray Charger that was always parked in front of the home — except in the last few weeks, when they noticed he had not been around.
Neighbors say they don’t recall any police activity or problems at the residence.
They even know his pronouns. But, they can’t figure out who he is. And we’re supposed to believe that.
At this time, the suspect’s name is not being released because his identity and connection to the shooting in Allen has not yet been officially confirmed.
yeah umm BS
JF (4f7385) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:17 amTrump Enabler Horrified:
TrumpWorld disagrees:
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:41 amI think that was the point. The Democrats want to run against Trump, so they are doing everything they can to make him more popular with his base.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:46 amThe Democrats want to run against Trump, so they are doing everything they can to make him more popular with his base.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:46 am
yeah, I said NeverTrump
you say Democrats to acknowledge there’s no difference
JF (4f7385) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:51 am@148, nk, I’m sure gun enthusiasts will point out that Bereta and Colt options of semiautomatic rifles and pistols were available earlier. But maybe your broader point is proliferation and what gun owners mostly had in the ’60’s. A revolver, a bolt-action rifle, and/or a shotgun were adequate and typical for home or self defense and hunting.
Would it be today? For 99% of cases probably. Are they as accurate and easy to use as modern semi-automatic options? Probably not. Are they as fun to shoot? Well fun is relative but consensus would be “no”. I think many people will always imagine themselves in a gun battle and feel limited by the chamber capacity of a revolver. Those same people would concede that with enough practice, someone can become proficient enough for self defense with a revolver or shotgun.
I think we’ve grossly over-romanticized the gun and that cultural predilection gives us more senseless shootings. The NRA has gone from a hunting organization to a gun advocacy organization, promoting the need for self defense. There’s big money involved and there’s a lot of identity involved too. There’s no easy way to back out of this situation but let’s be honest…it hasn’t always been like this.
My starting point would be (1) licensing, (2) red flag laws with due process, (3) background checks for private sales, (4) exploring biometric-enabled guns especially to cut down on accidental shootings and suicides, and (5) banning large-capacity magazines. Personally I would favor registration too, just like with cars, limiting mass purchases of guns/ammo, and setting age limits on buying a gun. Yes the last one will push the bounds on the 2A but more lives will be saved than lost. The 2A never imagined the collective action problem we now have.
AJ_Liberty (f31db3) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:00 amI don’t know that multiculturalism is the major issue.
Well, it has fractured the idea of a common culture, which you might call “Americanism”, and left us disconnected from each other, fighting for whatever spoils “our” faction can wrest from the others.
Now what meant to be “American” in 1920 and in 1980 were different things, but there was a cohesion of communities still in 1980. The splintering of Americans into racial, ethnic, sexual and economic groups has not been a good thing. In the end it has led to those groups in power ignoring the needs of the groups out of power, and in self-serving brought us to the day when electing Trump seemed like a good idea.
As so disaffected people go to the mall where all those “others” shop and shoot up the place, acting out their rage.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:10 amRIP Vida Blue (73):
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:22 amOTOH, Nic, this from John Brunner’s 1968 Hugo-winning novel “Stand on Zanzibar“, a prescient look forward to 2010.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:23 amyeah, I said NeverTrump
So, we are either for Trump or against America? Why is Trump your God?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:26 amyou forgot the obvious. We are a less Christian society
We never really were one, in practice. Even 100 years ago, religion was an act of conformity, not one of belief.
and secular hedonism is the religion of the day.
Well, I’d call it Secular Humanism, but yes. And it has been Established as such by the government.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:29 amSo, we are either for Trump or against America? Why is Trump your God?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:26 am
LOL ask someone who backs Trump in the primary
JF (4f7385) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:31 amTrump could move back to New Jersey, I’m not sure which one is worse.
Also, it’s a common misconception that the Constitution requires presidential and vice presidential candidates be from different states.
So an elector from Florida could cast his vote for Trump but not a VP candidate also from Florida.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:32 am@148:
nk, perhaps, but NONE of that was due to regulation. Only automatic weapons were banned. Creating a semi-auto version of the AK-47 would have been technically possible since the 1950s. It just wasn’t done due more to lack of demand than anything. Double-stacking was an innovation that came later, but you could do plenty of damage with a 1911 and a sack of clips anytime in the last 100 years.
Pretty sure that anyone with the money could have bought his choice of semiautos and reloads in Dallas in 1960, subject only to the judgement of the gun store owner.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:44 amTo summarize JF:
Democrats want Trump.
Nevertrump wants Trump
So who doesn’t want Trump? Besides himself?
Appalled (d1fce3) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:47 amI’m in favor of testing prospective buyers (of AR-15s), that they’re mentally or psychologically proficient to possess them.
I’ve said that a national gun license, based on a thorough background check that included interviews, might be the solution. If done evenhandedly (and this means it has to be national), it need only be done once, perhaps with periodic callbacks.
The current system, where a “background check” is done every time one buys a gun, is inherently cursory and probably electronic. It has proven to be inadequate, but a more involved one cannot be done frequently without being costly and so time-consuming that it would impose a unconstitutional burden.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:51 amSo who doesn’t want Trump? Besides himself?
Melania?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:52 amLOL ask someone who backs Trump in the primary
And you criticize #NeverTrump?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:52 amMy starting point would be (1) licensing, (2) red flag laws with due process, (3) background checks for private sales, (4) exploring biometric-enabled guns especially to cut down on accidental shootings and suicides, and (5) banning large-capacity magazines. Personally I would favor registration too, just like with cars, limiting mass purchases of guns/ammo, and setting age limits on buying a gun. Yes the last one will push the bounds on the 2A but more lives will be saved than lost. The 2A never imagined the collective action problem we now have.
I would oppose most of this. A solid background check (something like getting a SECRET clearance*) for a license, coupled with red-flag license revocation, should be sufficient.
I really object to blocking suicide — suicide is a basic human right, if not the most basic one.
Banning large magazines is a feel-good thing that does little. Every mass shooter takes a bunch of reloads anyway. If you restrict them, lessening the ability for self-defense, why not restrict them for cops? I’ll bet they dislike losing their double-stacked Glocks.
There should be no rules on ammo. Target shooters need a lot of ammo. “One size fits all” is usually a lie.
———–
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:59 am* or at least how it’s supposed to be
And you criticize #NeverTrump?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:52 am
you mean the #NeverTrump who opposes Trump’s main primary opponent?
JF (4f7385) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:01 am“Sixty-seven years ago, when the National Rifle Association held its first tournament, sportsmen ran the show,” TIME reported in 1940, by which point there were more civilian rifle clubs in the U.S. than there were golf clubs. “But in 1903, when Congress recognized the N. R. A. and appropriated funds to help stage a bigger, broader tournament, the national rifle and pistol matches became the War Department’s baby.
felipe (34a009) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:18 amBah! I messed up the quoting format. A pox on this site’s lack of preview! I’ll be going back to my dotage, now…
felipe (34a009) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:19 amI’m in favor of testing prospective buyers (of AR-15s), that they’re mentally or psychologically proficient to possess them.
The AR-15/M-16 was designed for feebs. (Well, officially, for Air Force base personnel but that’s not important.)
It has no recoil to speak of, and any 90-lb. myasthenic can hold it by the pistol grip and forearm and empty a 30-round magazine as fast as he can bend his butt-scratching finger, spraying a whole room like it was a play-pool water blaster. Very little practice needed, the most at changing magazines. The noise is the hardest part.
nk (bb1548) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:43 amA license shouldn’t be required for a constitutional right. Also such things as background checks, limitations on the quantity of gun/ammo purchases, mental exams, etc. will not pass Bruen’s reliance on how firearms were regulated throughout American history.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:43 amSource
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:52 amI think Desantis is winning. We’re early on here. All the die-hard politicos are opposed to Desantis, much as they were Cruz in 2016. Desantis is a lot better than Cruz, and the things people complain about are his biggest assets. He’s not a polished guy, he’s not lively on TV, he’s boring. He won a swing state twice, the second time with the same people hoping to make him lose that want him to lose the primary. He’s taken in Disney, which is clever – some will say it was stupid because they only believe in the status quo, but the status quo in our country is decline and ugly shock politics.
Polls right now aren’t a measurement, they are a manipulation. Trump will get lots and lots of free media to help him overcome, and it’s a fight against the people who want to change us back to normal, vs the ones who live on the internet debating politics.
Biden or Trump criticism is kinda like the folks complaining about global warming. If you mean it, you don’t hop in a private jet every couple weeks. I want to get back to the time when Bush was called Hitler and a chimpanzee, but we all knew he was a moderate guy playing the hands he’s dealt as best as he could for the USA, not really for partisan politics too much. I want to get back to laughing when President Desantis is labeled the existential threat to all that is good, but this time, we all realize it’s plausible.
As for Trump vs Biden again, I sincerely doubt Biden’s really running.
If it’s Harris, M. Obama vs Desantis, Abbott, that’s a true question about the direction of the country, rather than a contest over who we are most scared of (though the click-bait bloggers and such only really know the chords to one song).
Dustin (ca9131) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:52 amI don’t want Trump to be the Republican nominee for the obvious reasons, but I also don’t want a President DeSantis (with a compliant Republican majority in Congress) punishing corporations for taking positions or enacting policies that he disagrees with.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:21 amSome people are having trouble adjusting to work life after Covid. That may be especially true for Texas Hispanics that don’t speak English. There used to be jobs for them but there aren’t as many now.
DRJ (fda1b5) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:35 am@148. Yep.
@152. The ‘starting point’ – in so far as the U.S. is concerned- is the source from the first failed 18th century try; the Articles of Confederation; the then immediate reference to those times for the after thoughts quilled in the BoR, post ratifying the second 18th century try- the ancient Constitution for thirteen young, vulnerable, loosely bound-states-rights-clutching fledgling former colonies when militias were a necessity and single shot Brown Bessers were essentially the only firearm of choice available to arm a mustered militia– and bag squirrels and deer for dinner. No grocery stores of 7-11s then.
It’s pretty straight forward. The fatal Heller error be damned; wrongly quilled by berobed, politicized and increasingly discredited bureaucrats– protected themselves by government security elements. The Founding Fathers quilled it: own arms; serve in a well-regulated militia.
To obtain arms today- in the 21st century- as the first licensing step: you must serve in some capacity for a given period of time in a ‘well regulated militia.’ That alone would weed out plenty of lard-assed 21st century toy soldiers who wanna play army and power hungry nut bags and kerk-offs who stroke their rifles with penis envy. A well-regulated militia– that was the intent of the Founders in the 18th century trying to hold together 13 new independent states. Not the national carnage that has made the United States the laughing stock of the 21st century world and clearly NOT projecting a governmental model for emerging nations now reassessing and realigning in a New World Order. The FFs would be horrified witnessing the breadth and scope of self-inflicted citizen slaughter they’d unintentionally unleashed.
As a problem emerged when freedom of travel was abused by a few; inhibited by a rise in aircraft hijackings– the 99.99999% of people who’d never even dream nor try to hijack a plane were FORCED to endure layer upon layer of restrictions and security checks to simply fly from one place to another turning travel from a pleasure to a nightmare by the powers that be– for their own safety. In my own lifetime a passenger could actually buy a plane ticket, obtain only a boarding pass, walk through passport control, board, uninhibited, a 707 and fly safely from NY to London. It was that easy. Unimaginable today. The many good were forced to change by a bad few. So it must be with gunownership in America and the original intent of the 2nd Amendment quilled in that centuries ago for a time long past.
Then we can get around to dumping the 3rd Amendment, wholly irrelevant in the 21st century: ‘The Third Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the quartering of soldiers in homes. While the relevance of the third amendment in modern times is limited, at the time the Constitution was ratified, quartering of soldiers was a major issue.’
DCSCA (3be5f3) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:36 amSo an elector from Florida could cast his vote for Trump but not a VP candidate also from Florida.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:32 am
Thank you Captain Obvious. More of your “Smartest Person in the Room” syndrome.
Florida has 29 electoral votes, and is a must-win state for the GOP. No campaign is going to kiss those 29 votes off at either end of the ticket.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:38 amTrump’s full court press:
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:43 am181, in addition to post COVID, there is more direct competition for fewer jobs -probably more native born teenagers moving in with their families and less wanderlust to see other places amongst young adult lifetime Texans (TX always had a disproportionate presence within the Navy, for example).
urbanleftbehind (3057a8) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:50 amYour comment saying
implied that Trump would need to move back to NY if DeSantis ran as his VP. I don’t know what other interpretation there could be.
As far the “smartest man in the room” goes, that is obviously Sammy. 😉
Rip Murdock (b7d6fc) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:50 amI think we’ve grossly over-romanticized the gun and that cultural predilection gives us more senseless shootings. The NRA has gone from a hunting organization to a gun advocacy organization, promoting the need for self defense. There’s big money involved and there’s a lot of identity involved too. There’s no easy way to back out of this situation but let’s be honest…it hasn’t always been like this.
This is flatly untrue. The NRA initially opposed the National Firearms Act of 1934, which originally attempted to put revolvers and other pistols on the same restricted list as Tommy guns, sawed off shotguns and heavier weapons. In a deal to get the NRA’s acquiescence, legislators removed the restriction on pistols and would not attempt to add that later. But they did try again a few years later, something the NRA has never forgotten.
An organization that adamantly protects the rights to keep and bear handguns is not “just a hunting group” but firmly in the self-defense civil-rights arena. As far back as 1934.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:52 amI don’t know what other interpretation there could be.
If you assume it was a legal, and not a political observation, you’d be correct. But that’s your assumption, not what I said.
And you give Sammy a run for his money, but I accept the point. Unlike Sammy you never tell us what someone was “really thinking.”
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:55 amIt’s been a bloody weekend in TX.
Good grief.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/7/2023 @ 11:57 amDesantis is a lot better than Cruz, and the things people complain about are his biggest assets
DeSantis is not as good as the 2016 model of Cruz. Things have changed, though.
I don’t see Abbot adding anything to a DeSantis ticket (unless he wants to point at someone meaner). It would be good if he could pick someone from the Northeast, Midwest or Northwest to balance the ticket. As much as I’d like Nikki or Tim there, and all-south ticket is unbalanced. Charlie Baker, Phil Scott or Larry Hogan. Maybe Chris Sununu.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:05 pm?
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:09 pmhttps://nypost.com/2023/05/06/texas-mall-shooter-caught-on-dash-cam-opening-fire-on-shoppers/
Allen, TX., dashcam slaughter. Horrid.
There’s no excuse for local authorities failing to inform the public and hold pressers. It has the stink of Uvalde. Texas is one fvcked up state.
DCSCA (056bda) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:17 pmThe Iowa chicks and Noem make RDS look short, ugly, and possibly a child with his mom.
I’m trying to think who from the NW, but WA, OR doesn’t have a bench yet. Perhaps the ID gov or Zinke? Gianforte might bring out the Sopranos theme music.
I would say Sununu, that’s as far you get out of Trump without being never Trump
urbanleftbehind (002e5b) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:19 pmA license shouldn’t be required for a constitutional right. Also such things as background checks, limitations on the quantity of gun/ammo purchases, mental exams, etc. will not pass Bruen’s reliance on how firearms were regulated throughout American history.
They are all part of regulating a militia. The ban of felons (and the insane and drug addicts) is less than 100 years old and yet Heller and Bruen found it passable. A full background check to determine if an applicant falls into a prohibited class (particularly the “insane” group) is not unreasonable.
I very much doubt that laws along those same lines, or to use modern enforcement methods, will be a problem for the Court.
Licensing is a form of regulation of who may be part of the greater militia, especially if the reasons for exclusion pass other constitutional tests, and — in keeping with the 1st part of the 14th Amendment — is nationally uniform.
I agree about local laws about limits on ammo, numbers of weapons or common magazine capacities, or arbitrary, capricious and harassing limits on what weapons are available. These can all be handled with federal preemption, if necessary.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:19 pmNoem, Little and Reynolds trail their state’s generic R+ ranking by double digits, meaning that sizable numbers of GOP voters in those red states don’t like them. Gianforte is barely above par. The ones I mentioned are well-liked in Democrat states.
DeWine is possible.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:28 pmAllen, TX., dashcam slaughter. Horrid.
And, in a crowded TX mall, no one was packing except the shooter and a cop who just happened to be there. Nowhere does the MSM disclose why this is, but it’s pretty obvious. Leaving that fact out is part of the MSM lie.
The only “fact” leaking out is that maybe he was a white supremacist. When that doesn’t play out, it’s the last thing we will hear. The narrative must be protected.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:32 pmRuby’s Diner, continued.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:32 pm“I would oppose most of this.”
Background checks for private sales has 70% approval. On what basis would you be against it?
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:34 pmIt’s a little early to think of a DeSantis VP-right now he’s a huge underdog for the nomination.
Charlie Baker or Larry Hogan probably don’t support DeSantis’s culture war crusade (I haven’t heard any statements from them); Sununu definitely doesn’t; and TrumpWorld wouldn’t support a ticket with Darling Nikki (except with Trump).
Phil Scott is too far left for the national Republican Party:
He also supported Trump’s impeachment and said he voted for Biden.
Maybe Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:35 pm@NJRob@147 “secular hedonism” I don’t think people are shooting each other because they are getting off too much.
@Kevin@160 I don’t think we ever had a more united idea of Americanism, I think that’s a myth we tell ourselves. Some of the fractures used to look different: urban vs rural, industrial vs agricultural, slaveholders vs abolitionists, nativists vs Irish, Polish, Italian, Chinese; but they were still there. Frex, in the 1920s the KKK burned a cross in front of my gr gr aunt’s one room (live in) school house for daring to be a CATHOLIC school teacher.
Nic (896fdf) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:38 pmHe also supported Trump’s impeachment and said he voted for Biden.
Maybe Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
That’s the basic problem with Republicans who can get votes from Democrats (or even the center). They are not alt-Right zealots. Another Southerner will reinforce the argument (one Biden will surely make) that the GOP is a regional party (with pictures of Klan rallies).
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:44 pmBans on felons possessing firearms weren’t directly addressed in either case as you know, it was dicta as examples of being possibly constitutional under the new standards.
I think that a felon that committed financial fraud poses a much lower threat to society than one who committed a violent crime. I expect in the future there will be challenges to the blanket prohibition on felony possession based that distinction.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:46 pmI disagree with this. Desantis is a successful veteran, and a re-elected governor of a swing state with good economic progress. Cruz is, at the end of the day, a very smart appellate attorney. In 2016, he had yet to really show his character. Desantis has shown us his character for the most part. He’s got a similar populist MO, which I recognize is unpopular with Trump’s critics, but it’s not just words for a re-elected governor.
Also, Desantis is handling Trump more maturely, learning from Biden’s dominant performance vs. Trump, and obviously improving it. You don’t beat Trump by treating him like a normal person and addressing his arguments. You beat Trump by treating him like a senile moviestar who brags about groping young, intimidated women.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:54 pmTX mass shooter
identified as 33-year-old Mauricio Garciais a gun, and Republicans who let people have guns.Brownsville driver mass murderer
JF (8c6454) — 5/7/2023 @ 12:55 pmyet to be identified, though there’s a picture of him and his car and they have his license plate. Could be you, could be me, anybody, just can’t figure out who it isis a vehicle.Update on Dallas shooting:
Some interesting details in there, for certain.
JVW (850d21) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:00 pmSouth Dakota’s party registration is the polar opposite of California’s:
49% Republican
25% Democratic
24% Non-partisan
She won her last election with 61% of the vote, so a lot of non-Republicans voted for her. The problem is that she would be perceived as the next Sarah Palin: woman, relatively unknown, small state governor.
But her advantages are that her political views already support either Trump or DeSantis and she is relatively young (51).
In the end people vote for the head of ticket, not the VP.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:07 pmLooks like I have a comment in moderation…not sure why….though the word gun was in there
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:07 pm“I really object to blocking suicide — suicide is a basic human right, if not the most basic one.”
Around 20,000 people die by gun suicide. Mostly because it’s so easy. What do you think those red flag laws you say you support in part protect against? A lot of suicide ideation is untreated depression. Maybe therapy and some time away from lethal weapons are better options.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:11 pmI released it, AJ.
Dana (560c99) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:15 pmThe “DeSantis is a veteran” argument is pretty weak. He was JAG officer (aka lawyer) deployed to Gitmo and Iraq. Not exactly at the point of the spear.
Rip Murdock (b7d6fc) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:16 pmA license shouldn’t be required for a constitutional right.
OFGS: you must register – aka- be ‘licensed’ to exercise your right to vote.
DCSCA (000d33) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:23 pmTexas shooter lived with his mother — and was ‘right-wing death squad’ member interested in neo-Nazis: police
Fox News is reporting more information about the man who opened fire at the mall in Allen, Texas on Saturday. According to the report, the police were searching the home of the shooter, which he shared with his two parents. The 33-year-old Mauricio Martinez Garcia lived in Dallas.
“Neighbors said Garcia had lived in the home with his parents for years,” said Fox, “and they had never seen him in possession of a weapon. They told WFAA that he could often be seen going to and from the house in an outfit that suggested he worked in a security role. Despite the regular sightings, neighbors added that both the man and his gray Dodge Charger had frequently been missing in recent weeks.”
Eight people were killed and seven injured. After the gunman was shot by a responding officer, a photo showed the man with an AR-15 and many rounds of ammunition strapped to him, CNN reported Sunday.
“We are horrified by today’s senseless tragedy and outraged by the violence that continues to plague our country. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and others affected by this heinous act. We are thankful for the police officer’s heroic actions and for the support of all the first responders,” the mall said in a statement about the ordeal.
The motivation for the attack was right-wing extremism, CNN said, citing a local law enforcement official. He had RW-DS on his clothing, which police claim means “right-wing death squad.” NBC News explained in greater detail, “suspected Allen, Texas mall shooter Mauricio Garcia interacted with neo-Nazi and white supremacist content online, according to two senior law enforcement officials. – https://www.rawstory.com/allen-texas-shooter-right-wing-squad/
Memo to Texas authorities; Nature abhors a vacuum; failure to hold pressers and only allow speculation to fill the void. Silence is your enemy.
DCSCA (000d33) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:31 pmVoting is a privilege, not a right, which is why states can bar felons from voting:
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:34 pm211. The rumor that gets passed around is that he was a gatherer of urine samples.
urbanleftbehind (002e5b) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:35 pmA$$hole of the Month: Keith Self [R], an American politician and former county judge who is the United States representative for Texas’s 3rd congressional district.
Self, a lifetime member of the NRA, stated following the mass shooting in his district at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6th, 2023, that killed 9, including a 5yr old child, and injured 7 others, that the reason [thoughts and] prayers are not working as a solution to gun violence is because “Well, those are people that don’t believe in an almighty god who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives.”
God helps those who help themselves. IDIOT.
DCSCA (000d33) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:36 pmThat’s profoundly disrespectful to the vast majority of the military.
As you said, he was deployed more than once, and he served honorably, and surely understands the military on a level Biden, Trump, Cruz, Harris, Obama, Romney, etc do not.
I didn’t say DeSantis was in Delta Force. I said he was a vet. My argument isn’t weak, it’s actually just plain 100% true. I’m sorry if the military service of so many others did not live up to your high standards.
What was your MOS, might I ask?
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:40 pm@213. 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
DCSCA (000d33) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:40 pmSee also Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24 (1974), in which the Court held, 6–3, that convicted felons could be barred from voting without violating the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:48 pmI served in the Office of Naval Intelligence for most of my 20. That’s all I will say.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:52 pm@218. Which doesn’t refute the point that to ‘register’ is aka being licensed to vote.
DCSCA (000d33) — 5/7/2023 @ 1:56 pmWith the 59% voter turnout, she could have won 61% of the vote with zero help from non-Republicans.
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:07 pmWere you enlisted or an officer in the US Military? Seems like you’re being evasive about it, but you judged someone’s military service as, I quote you, “pretty weak.”
What was your MOS?
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:16 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKFyk0NAdWE&t=10s&ab_channel=WBKids
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:17 pmany 90-lb. myasthenic can hold it by the pistol grip and forearm and empty a 30-round magazine as fast as he can bend his butt-scratching finger, spraying a whole room like it was a play-pool water blaster
nk (bb1548) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:43 am
Good stuff, nk!
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:17 pmHow many presidential candidates are plausible for Rip to support who have war-veteran military service that Rip Murdock isn’t going to insult as too weak?
Is this a Tulsi Gabbard thing? Or is it that DeSantis is the one guy that we’re supposed to bash irrationally, to the point of crapping on the military service of millions of people, like Rip Murdock did?
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:22 pmDustin,
Rip doesn’t want DeSantis to gain traction so he will say whatever is necessary to justify his position. It’s partisanship.
I admit to being a partisan, but I can see the big picture. If people cannot admit that DeSantis has been a successful governor and good for the state (he beat Gillium and Christ) well I don’t know what to say.
NJRob (f6a0a8) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:28 pmCrist*
NJRob (f6a0a8) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:28 pmDustin (ca9131) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:52 am
Great comment, Dustin. I believe DeSantis is a significant improvement from Trump, and will pivot to the center (and away from the more concerning things he has said and done) if he captures the nomination. That’s just how the dance works.
It’s not a matter of who the most “pure” candidate is, as certain commenters here seem focused on. No, no, no. It’s where the people are. Sure, leaders are supposed to persuade, but even persuasion has an Overton window. The further away you get from the voters’ climate of opinion, the less chance you have.
DeSantis (whom some refer to as Trump lite) may be the limit as to what the voters will accept when it comes to deviating from MAGA orthodoxy.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:28 pmYikes! One more time.
Dustin (ca9131) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:52 am
Great comment, Dustin. I believe DeSantis is a significant improvement from Trump, and will pivot to the center (and away from the more concerning things he has said and done) if he captures the nomination. That’s just how the dance works.
It’s not a matter of who the most “pure” candidate is, as certain commenters here seem focused on. No, no, no. It’s where the people are. Sure, leaders are supposed to persuade, but even persuasion has an Overton window. The further away you get from the voters’ climate of opinion, the less chance you have.
DeSantis (whom some refer to as Trump lite) may be the limit as to what the voters will accept when it comes to deviating from MAGA orthodoxy.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:29 pmThinking Big:
Related:
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:30 pm69. Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/6/2023 @ 12:00 pm
I think it was probably first degree murder (except we don’t have that any more) unless you want to say the Marine was angry and out of control of himself, and maybe you want to give him some credit for acting in the capacity of a “Good Samaritan”
Don’t Marines get survival training? Don’t they get training about drowning? Don’t they know that somebody can’t go for more than 2 or 3 minutes (and that’s a lot) without oxygen? And then he might have crushed his windpipe.
What did he think he was doing? Fulfilling Neely’s stated wish to die?
He killed an obviously brain damaged individual. He didn’t give him an opportunity to surrender.
Yes Jordan Neely was harassing people – a bit, and had been arrested 40 times over the years, sometimes for assault. He should have been ignored, or argued with, or, at worse, punched- because even brain damaged individuals pay attention to physical force
This was worse than Bernard Goetz. Bernard Goetz confronted 4 people who were trying to frighten people into handing them money, Here he was dealing with only one individual.
But the protests are wrong or unbalanced. There’s people who have pushed people onto the tracks.
Sammy Finkelman (5929e2) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:43 pmService in the military is not a requirement for me to support a presidential candidate. The two plausible (but unelectable) candidates I could support (Sununu or Hutchinson) didn’t serve in military. I like them because of their opposition to using government to punish corporations for their political statements or internal policies.
Criticizing one person’s military service isn’t “crapping” on all military vets (as noted above I am one also). It’s just like a military lawyer is not same as someone who served on the ground in combat in Afghanistan or Iraq.
DeSantis’s Iraq service was limited to serving as the legal advisor to the the SEAL Commander of the Special Operations Task Force-West, not in combat. Those are the ones who deserve our thanks.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:47 pmThose are the ones who deserve our thanks.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:47 pm
I have to disagree, Rip. They all deserve our thanks.
Just concede Dustin’s point, and move on. It’s okay to be fallible once in a while.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:53 pmHe’s stuck with the six-week abortion law he signed and Disney’s lawsuit. And discovery should be occurring sometime in 2024.
No getting away from these positions.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:01 pmWeird, you JUST SAID DeSantis’s military service was “pretty weak” as an argument for him, yet the standard you’re expressing for everyone else is “zero.” Seems like DeSantis’s service is not weak by your standard, and drastically surpasses it, as he served honorably in a war and all.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:04 pmThere’s no point to concede. We just have different opinions.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:05 pmRip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:01 pm
Yeah, I don’t like either of those things, but if they help him beat Trump, so be it. A new abortion law could be enacted once people start to squirm under the draconian one, and I suspect the lawsuit could be settled without mortally wounding DeSantis.
Once again, you have no argument from me about who the most “pure” candidate is. The question is what is politically feasible.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:06 pmAs a lawyer.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:06 pmThe agents were reportedly speaking with family inside the home. A translator was reportedly requested by the family.
So, not the white supremacist, as was rumored yesterday. How did they get it so wrong?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:13 pmWill those two issues help him beat Biden (or whoever is the nominee)?
I’m shocked he worked to enact the abortion ban just to win the Republican nomination. And if he bails on the Disney lawsuit during the primaries he will get roasted by Trump and Vivek.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:14 pmDeSantis’s military career is weak compared to anyone who has served in actual combat operations or in a combat unit.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:17 pmThanks for your great comments, as usual.
All the persuasive arguments we’ve heard about Trump’s character, his flip flopping from supporting Pelosi and Schumer and Clinton into being a Republican, his flip flopping on bashing his loyal staff, his getting things handed to him, etc… Desantis isn’t a diet version of that… he simply isn’t like that at all.
I don’t like DeSantis that much. I also don’t dislike him. He’s fine. He’s kinda boring, which I really do love, he served his country, which puts him way ahead of most politicians, he’s a re-elected executive, better yet, in a swing state. So he’s probably going to get his ass kicked, because the closer you get to Mitch Daniels, the less possible it is to survive in American politics. The thing that gets me are the people who act like the guy is terrible. Obviously he is not. I hear he’s horrible at politics… objectively speaking, nope.
Trump got this weirdo advantage in 2016 because Hillary really did want to run against him. It fit her glass ceiling shattering narrative to run against the moviestar womanizer paying off Stormy and all that. It’s different now. Trump is extremely polarizing… far more than 8 years ago, so I think one reason he’s being pushed is simply that people pay attention. They click. They donate (either way). It’s good for CNN, it’s good for Steve Schmidt, it’s good for the corpse of the Breitbart projects. It’s good for America’s adversaries to keep us this polarized.
And DeSantis isn’t really like that. That’s why people act like he’s more like a Bush family guy. He reminds them of a time when things were better, and for some reason they don’t like that, I guess.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:17 pmShe won her last election with 61% of the vote, so a lot of non-Republicans voted for her. The problem is that she would be perceived as the next Sarah Palin: woman, relatively unknown, small state governor.
Her approval/disapproval is +14, in a R+31 state (SD).
Charlie Baker, by contrast, has an approval margin of +53 in an R-33 state (MA)
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-every-senator-and-governor-ranks-according-to-popularity-above-replacement/
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:17 pmBackground checks for private sales has 70% approval. On what basis would you be against it?
Because it would be unnecessary with firearms licenses.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:21 pmit was dicta as examples of being possibly constitutional under the new standards.
Dicta of that sort is pretty indicative of how that court would rule.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:22 pmNo one but you is comparing him to a war hero. The vast majority of deployed soldiers weren’t combat arms. Frankly your argument is dumb. Anyone who served in the sand knows that the risks were there for anybody moving around. Almost half of my battery was killed in friendly fire, almost random, and I definitely don’t appreciate when people pretend there is some level of military service that isn’t good enough for them. The one category of person who will never talk crap like you have today is the war hero. They don’t need to.
You already admitted you don’t even care if your president served at all. So in the context of a presidential candidate, you calling him ‘pretty weak’ was obviously not very honest.
We live in a time of constant war. Obama threw away our Iraq victory. Biden and Trump threw away Afghanistan. Kurds, Ukraine, Taiwan. If it didn’t help their little angle, they can throw it away. I want the people willing to send others on deployments to have been deployed, or at least been willing.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:23 pmThe motivation for the attack was right-wing extremism, CNN said, citing a local law enforcement official. He had RW-DS on his clothing, which police claim means “right-wing death squad.” NBC News explained in greater detail, “suspected Allen, Texas mall shooter Mauricio Garcia interacted with neo-Nazi and white supremacist content online, according to two senior law enforcement officials. – https://www.rawstory.com/allen-texas-shooter-right-wing-squad/
Sure.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:24 pmWill those two issues help him beat Biden (or whoever is the nominee)?
I’m shocked he worked to enact the abortion ban just to win the Republican nomination. And if he bails on the Disney lawsuit during the primaries he will get roasted by Trump and Vivek.
Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:14 pm
Probably not, but he won’t even be able to take on Biden unless he gets the nomination first. All the candidates have to make their best guess as to what stances to make to secure the nomination before pivoting to the center after the primaries.
It’s more art than science, because voters are fickle, and want contradictory things.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:27 pmVoting is a privilege, not a right, which is why states can bar felons from voting:
Voting is subject to the state, which can lose representation in the House if they curtail it significantly. The state is also subject to US law, under the 14th Amendment, about ways they CANNOT deny the ability to vote. There is also a hard age floor and a ban on poll taxes.
It’s closer to a right than a privilege.
Gun possession is a right, but there is a constitutional limitation of regulation. The current argument is what is the scope of that regulation. The current Democrat prescription is to ban some guns and add-ons from all people more than to ban all guns from some people.
The current red-flag regime fails as half the mass shooters should have been red-flagged but weren’t. There is no data on people who were red-flagged out of spite, but the number is not zero. The background check system is rife with mistakes and bad/old data, and the need to give a result quickly and cheaply. It’s also inconvenient.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:34 pmHe’s kinda boring, which I really do love, he served his country, which puts him way ahead of most politicians, he’s a re-elected executive, better yet, in a swing state. So he’s probably going to get his ass kicked, because the closer you get to Mitch Daniels, the less possible it is to survive in American politics.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:17 pm
Spot on.
Mitch Daniels, alas, appears to be outside the Overton window of today’s voters. He’s a pre-Trump Republican, after all. The WORST kind.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:34 pmVoting is subject to the state, which can lose representation in the House if they curtail it significantly.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:34 pm
Are Congressional Districts allocated based on population, or number of eligible voters?
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:37 pmWith driver’s licenses (and yes, driving is not a right), most people get a license on their first application and lose it only (and usually temporarily) for cause. They have to demonstrate a passing acquaintance with the traffic laws, minimal competence driving a car (there is no 16yo who is actually competent), and pass an eye test and not be subject to certain medical conditions.
I see no reason why the same requirement is not placed on gun owners. It’s a reasonable regulation. I am not happy with all the things the do-gooders want to add to that though (bullet taxes, insurance, safe gun registries, storage rules) which are mostly harassment akin to poll taxes and literacy tests.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:40 pmAre Congressional Districts allocated based on population, or number of eligible voters?
Amendment XIV, Section 2:
This was mildly changed by Amendments XIX and XXVI to include women, and those over 18.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:44 pmIt’s honest because that is how I feel about DeSantis personally, not how I judge others. Calling him a veteran is technically true, and to say he is an Iraqi veteran is also true, but it deserves more context. It’s like claiming that Dan Quayle was a veteran. Technically true, but……..
If his campaign starts to emphasize his veteran status, one should remember he fought the war from behind a desk.
Sadly, we cannot add a military service requirement (I would make 5 years) to the qualifications for President without a constitutional amendment.
Thanks for the discussion, Dustin, but I think we have taken it as far as it can go.
Rip Murdock (1370f4) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:51 pmSee also Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 U.S. 24 (1974), in which the Court held, 6–3, that convicted felons could be barred from voting without violating the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Considering that the text in 253 says exactly that (“except for participation in rebellion, or other crime”), it’s hard to see the other side’s argument.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:53 pmKevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:44 pm
I see. Thank you.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:59 pm<blockquote>Rip Murdock (3526bb) — 5/7/2023 @ 2:30 pm
Bipartisan odd couple:
Rip Murdock (94b93e) — 5/7/2023 @ 4:03 pmKevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 3:53 pm
Source
Rip Murdock (94b93e) — 5/7/2023 @ 4:18 pmThese shootings didn’t happen every day 30 years ago because our population has grown by 50% since 1990. When USA hits 1 Billion in population, the 1% of people who are brain damaged and violence prone will reach 10,000,000. It only takes 730 people out of 10,000,000 to create a 2 mass shootings per day average, or 365 very high achieving, hard working, competent at their chosen craft people who think killing others is the best and only appropriate solution for all disagreements.
steveg (5d18df) — 5/7/2023 @ 4:25 pmThe other reason it seems like more is that back in newspaper days, 5 people shot in Chicago got 2 inches of newsprint somewhere in the middle of the national news pages, below the fold of the LA Times. I used to read two newspapers a day. National, Metro/Local and Sports. LA Times and SB New Press. I used to skim over articles in the “people shot in other locales besides home and LA” category, because there was nothing I could do about it. In my local paper, those shooting might not be mentioned at all unless 5 people died and 2 of them were babies. I think back then it also took 5 people, 2 of them babies to make network news. Now we have a front row seat view on a doorbell cam in high def
https://twitter.com/IAPolls2022/status/1655075868866228226
Rip,
you somehow missed this poll.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:11 pmI love it!
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:20 pmI really don’t care about Bide’s performance, I really more interested in the Republican primary race. I don’t think Biden will be the Dem nominee anyway.
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:22 pmI was hoping Biden would have been impeached by now-don’t understand why it’s taking Comer so long to start hearings.
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:25 pmThe 2024 presidential election should be a Republican blowout.
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:29 pmOuch!
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:39 pmThe 2024 presidential election should be a Republican blowout.
Like a Firestone tire on a Ford Explorer?
nk (bb1548) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:42 pmThe 2024 presidential election should be a Republican blowout.
… just like the 2022 ‘Red Wave.’
Oh. Wait.
DCSCA (8c3ab8) — 5/7/2023 @ 6:04 pmABC/WP POLL: 2024 Presidential Election Poll (𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬)
(R) Trump — 49% (+7)
(D) Biden — 42%
(R) DeSantis — 48% (+7)
(D) Biden — 41%
ABC/WP (A) | n=1,006 | 04/28-05/03
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:11 pm
Should polls like this continue, the Dems will find a way to jettison Biden.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 6:30 pmIf his campaign starts to emphasize his veteran status, one should remember he fought the war from behind a desk.
Yeah, I’m sure Democrats used to say that about Dwight Eisenhower too.
I can’t stand my Congressman, Ted Lieu, who I think is a conniving popinjay, a preening demagogue, and an all-around phony. He has an annoying habit of deflecting criticism by citing his service in the Air Force JAG Corps, and saying bullstuff such as “I served my country so that you would have to freedom to say those things.” I know because he pulled that crap on me on Twitter one time. Yet I never had the inclination to denigrate his service just because he didn’t carry a weapon into combat. I guess if he ever pulls that line on me again, I can just reply that Rip Murdock doesn’t think his service amounts to very much. I’ll see how that goes over.
JVW (d1812d) — 5/7/2023 @ 6:46 pmLike a Firestone tire on a Ford Explorer?
nk (bb1548) — 5/7/2023 @ 5:42 pm
Don’t be dissing Fords, Mister nk!
And, by the way, my Mustang has Eagle GT tires, so take that!
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:05 pmmy Congressman, Ted Lieu
JVW (d1812d) — 5/7/2023 @ 6:46 pm
Condolences
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:06 pmmy Congressman, Ted Lieu
JVW (d1812d) — 5/7/2023 @ 6:46 pm
But hey, a nice climate, and excellent Mexican food! 😛
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:09 pmOn Wednesday night in Windham, New Hampshire, Ramaswamy suggested he would name Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Democratic vaccine skeptic challenging President Joe Biden, as his running mate.
Well, that’s different at least. Not sure what demographic he’s aiming at though.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:39 pm“Yeah, I’m sure Democrats used to say that about Dwight Eisenhower too.”
DeSantis is no Dwight Eisenhower.
Davethulhu (fe2f72) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:40 pm@258:
I’m a layman, Rip, so when the Constitution says something in fairly clear English, it surprises me every time some lawyer tries to say it’s unclear and should be reinterpreted his way. Probably why I chose engineering and not law or theology.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:42 pmAre you saying the big picture you see isn’t partisan? Have you ever articulated it here? I haven’t seen it, but I don’t see everything. So in case I missed it, would you consider humoring me and saying it again? I’m genuinely interested. Thanks in advance.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:45 pmBut hey, a nice climate, and excellent Mexican food!
Hey, before that I for one brief moment was represented in Washington by Henry Waxman. I’m coming to believe that perhaps he was better than Taxing Ted of Torrance and Twitter.
JVW (c2a049) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:57 pmShould polls like this continue, the Dems will find a way to jettison Biden.
The odd thing is that they never ask whether people would prefer Harris.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:58 pmDeSantis is no Dwight Eisenhower.
Tell that to those who seem to believe that both of them are just glorified desk jockeys in uniform.
JVW (c2a049) — 5/7/2023 @ 7:58 pmmy Congressman, Ted Lieu
My Representative in L.A. was Maxine Waters. Top that!
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:00 pmTop that!
My last four reps have been Barney Frank, Ron Dellums, Henry Waxman and Ted Lieu.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 5/7/2023 @ 8:53 pmThis is a fun little exercise.
My last four reps have been Tom Lantos, Jackie Speier, Dean Heller, and Mark Amodei.
It appears I’m headed in the right direction, while you ne’er-do-wells (with the exception of Kevin M, because whoever New Mexico has can’t be worse than Maxine) are clearly on a downward slope. 🤣
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:11 pmOops. I forgot Pelosi.
So, Speier, Pelosi, Heller, and Amodei.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:12 pmI would like to say I had a Republican rep who called Trump on his bullschiff, but Wyoming is just too damn cold.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:26 pmWell, you’ve got him there. But be careful with that line of thought.
If you assign any merit to the idea of greater service to your country as a good pre-req for leadership, it’s going to advantage DeSantis against any realistic opponent. We are decades from the time when the man or woman deploying the troops knows what it’s actually like. Respectfully, that’s why some hyperpolitical guys who just want to shrug and pretend service doesn’t matter. It’s transparent. 2022 showed us that the GOP is in deep kimchi, and someone actually turning it around is a bigger deal than, say, the guy y’all were really worried about. As a guy who actually did like conservatism but not Trump due to his character and flailing style, it’s annoying.
Just give the guy his point in this category and move on to the fact he’s Team R and you aren’t on his side. Which is fine… Lord knows Team R hasn’t earned any of our votes, but elections can be about … you know… us the people, instead of them the celebs in the offices.
Where’s Beldar when you need him.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:30 pmDustin, I am with you.
Simon Jester (ca4340) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:46 pmDeSantis is no Dwight Eisenhower. Tell that to those who seem to believe that both of them are just glorified desk jockeys in uniform.
The Disney-warring DeSantis is a bit ink-and-pennish, easily wiped away with a little acetone; wholly cartoonish…. just like the sailor uniformed Donald Duck.
OTOH, the take on Eisenhower by another uniform demigod was a little more scathing:
“I think he’ll make a fine president. He was the best clerk who ever served under me.” – Douglas MacArthur [Gregory Peck] ‘MacArthur’ 1977
DCSCA (4feb30) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:50 pmHere are my congressional representatives since I came of voting age:
Joseph P. Kennedy II
Jane Harman
Steve Kuykendall
Jane Harman
Janice Hahn
Henry Waxman
Ted Lieu
A pretty unpromising mix of hacks and fools, though I did have two nice years with Rep. Kuykendall who was a decent and honorable fellow.
JVW (2dc5c1) — 5/7/2023 @ 9:54 pmAs a guy who actually did like conservatism but not Trump due to his character and flailing style, it’s annoying.
Doesn’t prevent you from coddling your conservatism; just not in a position of power and influence in the Republican Party. They can stay or leave– or start their own party— but not run the GOP anymore. Thankfully, those fleas have been brushed out of the tail which no longer wags the dog. Welcome to 1964, kiddo.
DCSCA (4feb30) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:00 pmLet’s not forget that our Representatives are generally indicative of the mindset of the people in our communities. If they are consistently bad, that says something about the people among whom you’ve chosen to live.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:04 pmNo sarcasm, that’s great.
Dustin (22db23) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:19 pm@147 less christian today because society frowns on the catholic church and boy scouts hiding child molesters and no more lynchings too!
asset (9a1394) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:26 pm@140 ask the people of australia how it helps.
asset (9a1394) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:28 pmlatest washington post/abc poll Trump up 49% to 42% over biden. Seems the biden’s are catching up with the clinton crime family despite media still trying to protect biden “somewhat” and for the time being.
asset (9a1394) — 5/7/2023 @ 10:32 pm“Where’s Beldar when you need him.”
At The Dispatch
AJ_Liberty (3e5304) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:56 amBobby Rush, Luis Gutierrez (660 ft wide connective tissue from Roosevelt Rd to 13th Street), Mark Kirk, Bob Dold, Brad Schneider, Bob Dold, Randy Hultgren, Lauren Underwood, Brad Schneider.
urbanleftbehind (2cc899) — 5/8/2023 @ 6:26 amhttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-reparations-panel-approves-payments-1-2-million-every-black-resident?intcmp=tw_fnc
Congratulations Californians. You now have your baseline. Enjoy the riots and racism from the left when it doesn’t materialize.
NJRob (eb56c3) — 5/8/2023 @ 6:31 amThe debt limits that Congress has imposed over the decades may not just be arbitrary, they may be unconstitutional under Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which states that “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/8/2023 @ 6:56 amTom McClintock for more than decade has been arguing correctly, in my opinion, that the Constitutional obligation is to pay the debt, not to increase the debt.
Introduced 2011: https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/full-faith-and-credit-act-introduced-in-the-house
Introduced 2013: https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/hr-807-full-faith-and-credit-act-approved-by-house
He is again trying to push the sensible and responsible interpretation of debts and debt ceilings:
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 5/8/2023 @ 7:17 am@159
NO. That’s a pathway for gun registry. History is loaded with examples that registry leads to confiscatory policies.
I’m open to this, but I’ve yet seen one that really respects ‘due process’ as it’s a system that can be abused. I’m in a “no” camp, unless I can be convinced that the due process side is robust and obvious abuse is vigorously prosecuted.
The current NICS is not made for the public, as it’s used by FFL dealers.
Besides, there are laws on the books RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT, that would be illegal for the seller to sell to a prohibited possessor. If, the seller is in any doubt, seller can still go to a FFL dealer and have them run the buyer’s background check for nominal fee.
This is the holy grail and still in its infancy. We probably won’t see anything meaningful in our lifetimes.
This is absolutely silly.
whembly (840a86) — 5/8/2023 @ 8:09 am@203
Exactly this.
DeSantis has issues and some fair criticisms. (who doesn’t?)
But, he’s heads and shoulders better than Trump and Biden.
whembly (840a86) — 5/8/2023 @ 8:20 am@210
I despise this.
DeSantis, nor his supporters, are making the case that they’re the “point of the spear”.
There is honor in serving, and it should be celebrated. No matter if you’re a tip of the spear SEAL or an administrative paper pusher.
whembly (21b824) — 5/8/2023 @ 8:24 am@291
You, me, “waving hands”… SAME!
whembly (21b824) — 5/8/2023 @ 8:38 amCharles E. Van Loan Old Man Curry: Race Track Stories
nk (bb1548) — 5/8/2023 @ 8:59 amJust one more:
Charles E. Van Loan, Old Man Curry: Race Track Stories
Blame it on the bossa nova.
nk (bb1548) — 5/8/2023 @ 9:12 amLet’s not forget that our Representatives are generally indicative of the mindset of the people in our communities.
Except they’re not. They’re indicative of the party power brokers who finance their runs for office, which is a very small and elitist group. Example: two of my previous congresscritters- both GOP- were crooks and sent to jail: Duncan Hunter and Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham. Neither representative of the community as a whole, just the culture of congressional corruption. Storm the castle.
DCSCA (d07e06) — 5/8/2023 @ 10:01 amI’m surprised then that no one has successfully challenged this precedent of nearly 50 years.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 10:42 amA pretty unpromising mix of hacks and fools, though I did have two nice years with Rep. Kuykendall who was a decent and honorable fellow.
Before Maxine…
John G Schmitz
Andrew Hinshaw
Robert Badham
Carlos Moorhead
Anthony Beilenson
Julian Dixon
Anna Eschoo
Jane Harman
Steven Kuykendall
Jane Harman
then the gerrymander to give Jan Harman a safe district, and Maxine Waters.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/8/2023 @ 10:45 am“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
There’s the rub.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/8/2023 @ 10:48 am(4) exploring biometric-enabled guns especially to cut down on accidental shootings and suicides, and
This is the holy grail and still in its infancy. We probably won’t see anything meaningful in our lifetimes.
The fingerprint sensor on my phone is really pretty good. Even a sensor that allowed a few false positives would be acceptable, so long as false negatives were rare. The problem with this strategy is that it quickly leads to 1) a mandate and 2) making all existing weapons illegal. The pressure to use that to restrict gun ownership further would be heavy.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/8/2023 @ 10:55 amOuch!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 10:56 amAnti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:00 ambellingcat’s Arik Toler found the Allen TX shooter’s OK.RU social media profile, and the SS and swastika tats are pretty convincing about who this guy was.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:03 am“NO. That’s a pathway for gun registry. History is loaded with examples that registry leads to confiscatory policies.”
Kevin is a gun enthusiast and he’s for licensing. I think your view is the minority. People are growing tired of weekly mass shootings and the only response being “hardened schools”, “more guns”, or something nebulous about mental health.
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:15 am@316
I assure you, when people read the fine print, most won’t want a licensing scheme.
In fact, it’ll be challenged in court.
What part of “shall not be infringe” do people have trouble with?
The government MUST show a compelling reason to restrict a right, not because its “popular”.
Besides, a licensing scheme will do NOTHING for most shooting events.
whembly (7bfbb3) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:25 am@312
They are technological/for-factor issues right now.
Every single biometric equipped firearms I’ve seen/used has been finickly. If the technology cannot be 100% accurate and reliable, there won’t be any interest in it.
Better to secure the firearms in a biometric safe and encourage proper storage.
whembly (7bfbb3) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:27 amThe government MUST show a compelling reason to restrict a right, not because its “popular”.
They already have. Rights are restricted all the time. Unless you’re prone to shouting ‘Fire!’ in theaters and have a F-16 hangered in your backyard.
DCSCA (14d5f7) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:54 amLicense and mandatory service in a militia, as the Founders intended.
DCSCA (14d5f7) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:56 am@320 You ARE the militia DCSA.
whembly (7bfbb3) — 5/8/2023 @ 12:31 pm@321. Never owned any guns and have no plans to… ever.
DCSCA (71a4a2) — 5/8/2023 @ 12:35 pmPeople are growing tired of weekly mass shootings and the only response being “hardened schools”, “more guns”, or something nebulous about mental health.
Only response???? There’s this response- ‘thoughts and prayers’- from the Republican idiot who represents Allen, TX:
Keith Self [R], an American politician and former county judge who is the United States representative for Texas’s 3rd congressional district.
Self, a lifetime member of the NRA, stated following the mass shooting in his district at the Allen Premium Outlets on May 6th, 2023, that killed 9, including a 5yr old child, and injured 7 others, that the reason [thoughts and] prayers are not working as a solution to gun violence is because “Well, those are people that don’t believe in an almighty god who has, who is absolutely in control of our lives.”
DCSCA (71a4a2) — 5/8/2023 @ 12:40 pm@323 People are growing tired of weekly mass shootings and the only response being “hardened schools”, “more guns”, or something nebulous about mental health.
The people ought to support reinstitutionalizing involuntary commitments.
People ought to demand state/federal prosecutors to prioritize illegal gun ownership.
People ought to have an informed debate of what it means by “hardening” schools.
Demanding bans, restrictions, licensures or any of the flavor-of-the-month gun control policies are doing the same things, over and over again.
What’s the definition of insanity again?
whembly (d116f3) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:03 pmInteresting, one of my comments is stuck in limbo…
whembly (d116f3) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:04 pm“What’s the definition of insanity again?”
Thoughts and prayers.
Davethulhu (fe2f72) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:22 pmI just know how to look up things on the Internet before I make a counter-argument.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:28 pmThe Texas outlet mall was a gun-free zone. I wonder if as many would have been killed if customers defended themselves, rather than relying on a police officer who just happened to be nearby.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:30 pmSad!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:42 pm@326
And?
whembly (d116f3) — 5/8/2023 @ 1:49 pm#329 I am not a big fan of the Loser — as some of you may have guessed — but I can’t help wondering whether whoever picked out those photos wasn’t deliberately undermining him.
(On the other hand, the Loser appears to be responsible for music choices like “Fortunate Son” and “YMCA”.)
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/8/2023 @ 2:25 pmOn a far more important matter: Natan Sharansky explains “Why Putin’s repression is worse than what I endured under the Soviets”>
He makes a solid case for that argument, beginning with:
(Links omitted.)
Helsinki_Accords
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/8/2023 @ 2:35 pm@324. “People” ‘ought to be put through’ the PITA, hellish nightmare of tedious security checks to be licensed to own a firearm just as they’ve been forced to endure the sanity-testing nightmare to pass through security at government funded airports and board modern aircraft today– thanks to the abuse of a very, very, very, very small few who’ve hijacked the joy od travel and turned it into a miserable hell for the law-abiding-most.
DCSCA (ca0bc8) — 5/8/2023 @ 2:53 pmNever owned any guns and have no plans to… ever.
DCSCA (71a4a2) — 5/8/2023 @ 12:35 pm
I dare you to put a “Gun-Free House” sign in your yard. You won’t, because that would just encourage criminals. In other words, you’re riding on the coattails of other people in your neighborhood who do own guns, and benefitting from the fact that criminals don’t know who has a firearm.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/8/2023 @ 3:11 pmDeSantis Doubles Down (as does Disney):
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:02 pmMore:
Every DeSantis statement is a confession.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:10 pmTexas Solutions to Mass Shootings:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:19 pm@334. Nonsense. No need. HOA paid security patrolled.
DCSCA (fc0d72) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:20 pmLOL!
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:21 pmTrump New York Trial Watch:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:24 pmMr. DeSantis on the job:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGQ0Ge6kiz8&t=128s
DCSCA (fc0d72) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:26 pm@339. Yeah, we think it’s waste of $ and joke, too. So the cops follow after them.
DCSCA (fc0d72) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:46 pm@334. Only one person definitely known to own guns in the neighborhood, norcal. Illegally— and unregistered. And he keeps them locked up in a safe deposit box.
DCSCA (fc0d72) — 5/8/2023 @ 4:51 pm@334/339 What would you say to a gun nut who moves afrom the East coast to the West coast but leaves cans of explosive black powder, loaded shells and assorted reloading equipment in his parents hot attic w/o telling them, stored up against the fireplace chimney for several years no less, to be discovered later as a move was planned?
A. [ ] irresponsible
B. [ ] a sociopath
C. [ ] a lawyer
D. [ ] all of the above
________
What would you say to gun nut who threatens you w/a visit from the ATF, informing you he’d hidden his Colt revolver in a home for 20 years, never told the owner or current residents it was there [when it actually never was to begin with,] then waits three years after the owner died to make the accusation w/o ever making a move to reclaim the weapon that never was?
A. [ ] irresponsible
B. [ ] a sociopath
C. [ ] a lawyer
D. [ ] all of the above
This is the type of nut bag that needs watching…
DCSCA (fc0d72) — 5/8/2023 @ 5:07 pmSorry for the double post on Andrew Gillum. When I posted the first time it didn’t seem to appear.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/8/2023 @ 5:08 pm“Texas gunman fantasized over race wars…”
At least it wasn’t asset
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/8/2023 @ 6:37 pmTexas mall mass shooter Mauricio Garcia bought AR-15, other weapons legally
This after being booted from the military for “mental health reasons.”
I don’t know if Texas will ever require background checks for private sales, or pass a red-flag law, but anyone who sold this guy guns should have a real bad day. The message ought to be “You want to skip the background check? Fine. But this could come back to you as criminal negligence.”
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/8/2023 @ 7:14 pmare meant to quickly force out recruits who can’t perform military duties as a result of various physical or behavioral conditions. They are not typically punishments and would not show up on background checks. ……..
It’s not just crimes that make one a prohibited person.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/8/2023 @ 7:16 pmhttps://www.sunherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article275197271.html
Davethulhu (fe2f72) — 5/8/2023 @ 7:27 pmI said “Jill, if there’s ever a problem just walk out on the balcony here, walk out, put that double-barrelled shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house.”
nk (bb1548) — 5/8/2023 @ 7:55 pmGreat. It now appears that Bret Baier participated in the crazy cabal at Fox.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fox-news-anchor-bret-baier-s-reputation-takes-hit-after-text-messages-reveal-what-he-said-in-wake-of-2020-election/ar-AA1aVxTu?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=7de8e8a4f2db4ab483437b626a02c89b&ei=7
How about an apology, Bret, and a vow to do better?
I’m waiting, but I’m not holding my breath.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/8/2023 @ 9:46 pmThe Baier story is a nothing-burger. He thought that Fox was calling races too soon on election night. The Arizona call was clearly too soon as the race was really closer than they thought.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:18 pm@349 I don’t want and think we can avoid a race war when AOC becomes president. If biden degenerates further we may get a gavin newsome/AOC unity ticket in 2024 instead of 2028.
asset (c3b423) — 5/8/2023 @ 11:47 pmKevin,
It’s a something-burger.
Baier responded to Tuckyo with, “I have pressed them to slow. And I think they will slow walk Nevada.”
A straight news anchor should not be lobbying the decision desk. He otherwise comes off as a cheerleader.
And, like the Fox statement in defense of the Arizona call said, Fox had a new tool that enabled more accuracy sooner.
I don’t give a f*ck if the Arizona call “hurt” Tucker’s idea of their business model.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:07 amIt’s a something-burger.
Indeed. It’s a blatant violation of journalistic ethics. I was among the camp, described in the article, that believed there are two Fox Newses walled off from one another and effectively independent: the barking outrage mongers and the serious newsers who adhere to a canon of journalistic ethics. Baier was what allowed me to believe in and defend the latter while reviling the former. I feel like a chump. He played me.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:44 am@357/358 the real issue is biden won by over 8 million votes BUT! he won the electoral collage by only 43,000 votes az 10,000 ga 13,000 wi 20,000. What do you think would of happened if the green party was on the ballot instead of being kicked off by democrat party and green party siphoned off enough democrat votes to re-elect trump? I know the democrats were planning a general strike and other less moderate things.
asset (c3b423) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:16 am@350
If true, did the military report his “mental health” reasons to the NICS database?
The background check system is only good if the data feed is accurate.
Furthermore, it’s ALREADY against federal law to privately sell firearms to a prohibited possessor.
whembly (d116f3) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:29 amIt was enough of a “something” that FoxNews sacked Stirewalt for doing his job and correctly calling Arizona. It was an issue because of one guy who couldn’t stop whining about losing.
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:49 amhttps://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/ron-desantis-bets-big-disney-feud-rcna82734
I think this is right.
tl;dr – DeSantis’ critics of his move against Disney are mostly insiders, big-Donors and other high elected GOPers.
DeSantis’ grassroots supporters, pollsters and primary voters are either ambivalent (“it’s a land use issue”) or outright supports FL’s movement because Disney is viewed as a corporate bully.
What remains to be seen, is if independents would flock to DeSantis, and that indeed is a very real danger for DeSantis.
whembly (05eb5c) — 5/9/2023 @ 7:32 amWhy didn’t they use that tool to call a wider margin state, like Florida, in the same record time?
BuDuh (eaef9b) — 5/9/2023 @ 7:44 amI heard something today that made me want to actually look at Paul’s Bellingcat thread on the shooter in Texas. Indeed this was posted on that thread:
I assume the Nazi had no idea that Libs of TikTok is run by an Orthodox Jew.
BuDuh (7ac4f6) — 5/9/2023 @ 8:39 amgavin newsome/AOC unity ticket
Unity with whom? The Bolsheviks are all dead.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 8:58 am“Furthermore, it’s ALREADY against federal law to privately sell firearms to a prohibited possessor.”
As a seller, how would you know? Isn’t it essentially an honor check for the buyer: “no of course I’m not on a prohibited list”. Isn’t that a problem that is easily resolvable by requiring private sales to do an official background check?
AJ_Liberty (5f05c3) — 5/9/2023 @ 8:59 amFor someone to be denied a firearm for mental illness under federal law they need to be involuntarily committed to a mental institution or judged to be “mentally defective.”
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:00 amBaier responded to Tuckyo with, “I have pressed them to slow. And I think they will slow walk Nevada.”
A straight news anchor should not be lobbying the decision desk. He otherwise comes off as a cheerleader.
Or perhaps he comes off as an employee whop cares about the company he works for. Unlike Tucker, his motive wasn’t to question the counting, but to not be the first news outlet to call Biden the winner.
If you want to see actual cheerleading, look at Dan Rather’s reed-grasping in 2004, where another anchor had to drag him off the ledge.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:01 amIndeed. It’s a blatant violation of journalistic ethics
Only honored in the breech.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:02 amFurthermore, it’s ALREADY against federal law to privately sell firearms to a prohibited possessor.
Yes. Where did I say differently? I said “skip the (optional in Texas) background check at your own risk.” Any FFL can do it for you.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:05 amThe military apparently not required to, as his discharge didn’t meet the standards that prevent a mentally ill person from purchasing firearms.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:06 amIsn’t that a problem that is easily resolvable by requiring private sales to do an official background check?
They are allowed to, through an FFL. Not doing so, where legal, should not let the seller off the hook.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:09 amFlashback February 2017:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:13 amThe military apparently not required to, as his discharge didn’t meet the standards that prevent a mentally ill person from purchasing firearms.
They should still be required to report the discharge reasons, for those states with red-flag laws. And, again, we would be better off with licenses, periodically renewed, than haphazard point-of-sale checks.
Would a system that allowed 80% of applicants to be licensed pass 2A muster, as long as equitable considerations were followed? This is a nod to “well-regulated militia” without being discriminatory or overly restrictive.
I think we’d all be better off with an in-depth interview every 10 years, than some cursory list-checking at point-of-sale.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:19 amThe rule, which was finalized in December, added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and people deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs to the national background check database.
Those are two rules, and they are not the same thing at all. The first is a voluntary assessment and would be a good reason to withhold gun access. The second is an involuntary assessment and only partly correlative with gun safety. I can see opposing the package while supporting the first rule.
One-size-fits-all is a bureaucratic convenience, but it does not compare remotely well with individual assessment.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:24 amLicensing would definitely be opposed by the NRA, Gun Owners of America, etc. as the first step toward gun confiscation. Texas also does not have a red flag law, so it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Equating the process to obtain a gun license (or even a permit) with the process to obtain a security clearance is ridiculous. The clearance process takes anywhere from 3-4 months to up to a year. It’s a complete non-starter.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:28 amI would assume that if someone is receiving Social Security because they have a mental illness (or has a conservatorship) then it has already been determined they have a mental illness or unable to handle their own affairs.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:32 amThe clearance process takes anywhere from 3-4 months to up to a year. It’s a complete non-starter.
Top Secret, yes. Secret, no.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:35 amLicensing would definitely be opposed by the NRA, Gun Owners of America, etc. as the first step toward gun confiscation.
Gun registration has been in effect for almost a century in California, and as yet the threatened confiscation has not happened.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 9:37 amSecret clearances take at least a few months. Still not gonna happen.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:20 am@366
No, it’s not an honor check. The seller is still obligated to ensure whomever they’re selling isn’t a prohibited possessor. IF the buyer is a prohibited possessor, the seller is legally liable.
For some reasons, federal prosecutors don’t make these crimes a priority.
Requiring private sales is problematic for host of reasons, but the main reason is that the NICS system isn’t designed for the public.
It’s much easier to ask the seller to go to a FFL dealer to run the background check on their behalf.
whembly (d116f3) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:25 am@371
Then we need to assess whether or not that standard should be updated.
Again, there’s no system or silver bullet here guys. And, when you implement a surveillance system, it’s only going to be as good as the DATA.
whembly (d116f3) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:27 am@373
I remember this… that Obama era rule was dumb as it was way too broad.
You can qualify for SS for mental illness or be deemed unable to handle your financial affairs and STILL be sound of mind to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights.
It was a bureaucratic workaround to hamfastly appease the gun control advocates.
What we need is a robust system whereby someone could go to court and make the case that “a person” is mentally unfit. We don’t have that now, and gun control advocates are latching onto anything they can use to push their agenda.
whembly (d116f3) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:33 am@379
The gun registry in CA (which in reality is mandated by federal laws) are for full automatics and firearm importers (I’m pretty sure concealed carry is required, but not sure).
There’s no house-to-house gun registry in CA, that much I know.
whembly (d116f3) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:39 amIt’s just around the corner…..
As far as I can tell, individual gun owners do not need to have a license to own a gun in California, the California Dept. of Justice keeps records of sales and transfers through gun dealers. You do need a permit to carry a concealed weapon, which are only issued to specified individuals (private investigators, security guards, etc.)
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:43 amRequiring private sales is problematic for host of reasons, but the main reason is that the NICS system isn’t designed for the public.
The potential for abuse is obvious.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:54 amGunownership & ammo sales & purchase: a) licensing, b) registration c) mandatory service in a well regulated militia required. End of story. C outta weed out the lardassed-play-armyman types and the nut bags.
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:59 amEl Al does a very good job of vetting its passengers. Up close and personal. It takes maybe a half hour.
Vetting someone from gun ownership should not take much longer. A background check plus an in-person interview with a qualified examiner would solve a lot of these whackjob problems. The current point-of-sale checks fail repeatedly, or just don’t happen. We need something a lot stronger, but infrequent. That means a license.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 10:59 amStill waiting for the trans shooter’s manifesto.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:00 ammandatory service in a well regulated militia required.
This was the Klan’s method of keeping guns out of the hands of blacks. You have to be in the (whites-only) militia.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:01 am@387
“Well regulated” means “in working order” boyo.
whembly (0a8536) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:05 amActually we have had that in California since 1967. It’s called civil commitment.
Source
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:05 am@291. Who knew the Founding Fathers quilling the Articles of Confederation and the BoR were Klansmen… no labels on the BoR’s well-regulated militia.
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:07 amWho would conduct the interview? The gun dealer? Would there be “qualified examiner” in each gun store? There would be such a huge backlog of legitimate gun purchasers that it would make the DMV look like a smooth operation.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:08 amMany were slave owners.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:09 am@392. Except it doesn’t. Don’t wanna have to play army? Don’t like what the Founders expecgted you to do? What could you possibly be afraid of… soldiers quarter in your living room, too?
‘During the Revolutionary War era, “militia” referred to groups of men who banded together to protect their communities, towns, colonies and eventually states, once the United States declared its independence from Great Britain in 1776.
Many people in America at the time believed governments used soldiers to oppress the people, and thought the federal government should only be allowed to raise armies (with full-time, paid soldiers) when facing foreign adversaries. For all other purposes, they believed, it should turn to part-time militias, or ordinary civilians using their own weapons. Those who argue it is a collective right point to the “well-regulated Militia” clause in the Second Amendment. They argue that the right to bear arms should be given only to organized groups, like the National Guard, a reserve military force that replaced the state militias after the Civil War.
On the other side are those who argue that the Second Amendment gives all citizens, not just militias, the right to own guns in order to protect themselves. The National Rifle Association (NRA), founded in 1871, and its supporters have been the most visible proponents of this argument, and have pursued a vigorous campaign against gun control measures at the local, state and federal levels. Those who support stricter gun control legislation have argued that limits are necessary on gun ownership, including who can own them, where they can be carried and what type of guns should be available for purchase. – https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/2nd-amendment
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:16 amI’m not sure how the registry is “mandated by federal laws” since it effectively bans newer models sold elsewhere in the country, and is currently being challenged in federal court. Two different judges have ruled the State’s Unsafe Handgun Act unconstitutional; no new firearms have been added to the list since 2013 when the microstamping requirement (a non-existent technology) was added.
None of the enjoined provisions are required by federal law.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:25 amThe other side won.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:26 am@396. Such was the character of the times and society they lived in when such thoughts set forth in the AoC C, and afterthougfhts of the BoR were quilled… Many wore wigs, pantaloons, frilly shirts and leg stockings; peed and pooped in holes outside, sniffed & smoked unfiltered, unhealthy tobacco; kept their wives and mistresses from voting, but pursued happiness at the local knocking shops; supped on squirrel stew off highly leaded pewter plates and swilled warm, fermented ale out of leaded tankards, too– used leaches to bleed and feared smallpox more than the Redcoats:
‘In the spring of 1776, [smallpox] wreaked havoc on the American army and killed more soldiers than combat.’ – https://www.amrevmuseum.org/read-the-revolution/revolutionary-medicine
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:28 am@399. All evidence and dead bodies to the contrary. When it touches your family or friends, you’ll learn the hard way. A close friend lost her cousin in the Aurora mass shooting…saw the images of her corpse. A hole the size of your fist blown into her chest. Yeah! That a win!
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:35 amWho would conduct the interview? The gun dealer? Would there be “qualified examiner” in each gun store? There would be such a huge backlog of legitimate gun purchasers that it would make the DMV look like a smooth operation.
GOOD!!!! Tough sh!t.
No different than the hellish nightmares air travellers have been forced to go through because a few nutbags hijacked airplanes forcing unwelcomed change on the many.
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:40 amAll you need to do is convince the SC that Heller et. al. were incorrectly decided or pass a constitutional amendment to overturn them. Good luck.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:51 am@403. It was. As if the politicized, berobed and bumblnig bureaucrats don’t make mistakes, eh. God knows; he called the paper jockey who quilled it home for eternal lecturing.
DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:57 amWho would conduct the interview? The gun dealer? Would there be “qualified examiner” in each gun store? There would be such a huge backlog of legitimate gun purchasers that it would make the DMV look like a smooth operation.
Way to effing ignore my string of comments. I guess I have to spell out the general idea.
The idea is to license. To get a license you go down to the licensing bureau and are interviewed as part of your application. You previously have demonstrated proficiency at an accredited school/range and passed a test of gun law. The only thing that happens at the gun store or private sale is to check that your license is still in force — a simple electronic transaction.
How is this so hard to understand?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:58 amAll you need to do is convince the SC that Heller et. al. were incorrectly decided or pass a constitutional amendment to overturn them. Good luck.
No, all you have to do is not be obstinate about how to reduce both frequent government intrusion WHILE seriously vetting people’s responsibility.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:00 pmDCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:16 am
https://www.history.com/topics/united-states-constitution/2nd-amendment
It didn’t replace the state militias. It is the state militias. It was simply renamed in an effort to confuse people about what the word “militia” meant — and to sell rifles.
It was undertaken by the National Guard Association and in 1903 Congress enacted the unhistorical definitions into law with its nonsense about the “organized” and “unorganized” militias. And some relationship was set up with the national army. The Republican Party was running out of Union veterans as an organizing force..
The renaming ior nick-naming was first done in New York State, and in New York it is still sometimes known as the militia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Guard
Sammy Finkelnan (ef91cc) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:01 pm@291. Who knew the Founding Fathers quilling the Articles of Confederation and the BoR were Klansmen… no labels on the BoR’s well-regulated militia.
There was no noise about regulating who could have guns until the South wanted to get the guns out of Black hands after the Union troops left. Then they invented that stupid argument about how you had to be a militia member.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:01 pmHeller is based on the notion that there exists some kinds of firearms that are “in common use” or some such phrase. That’s how it gets to exclude gadget guns. Congress can outlaw the manufacture and sale of any kind of weapon.
Instead of background checks, try insurance against crime with 10 people being required to put up their own money – either in esrow or a credit line. Red flag laws don’t work.
Sammy Finkelnan (ef91cc) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:05 pmTrump Found Liable in Defamation Trial
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:12 pmA constitutional right shouldn’t require a license, and I doubt such a scheme would pass the Bruen test.
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:15 pm@405. The point is to make the process itself such a miserable hell to go through for the casual nutbag who wants a gun on reflex.
The fact all of us are forced to be subjected to the hellish misery of modern air travel simply because a handful of imbeciles hijacked planes surely infuriates EVERYONE– but we have to tolerate it for safety reasons because a few ruined air travel for the many. Zero reason why those who desperately crave gunownership shouldn’t have to be put though a similar bureaucratic hell; they can blame the small group of crazies who forced it upon them for the safety of the many: the greater good.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:29 pm@410. But not guilty of rape.
Too bad she waited 20 years to make it a political jab. Because Americans do love their bad boys.
Watch his poll numbers spike.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:31 pmA constitutional right shouldn’t require a license…
That would be news to the First Amendment platforms… like NBC, CBS and ABC- all required to obtain licenses to express the constitutional right to ‘freedom of speech’ along w/adhering to standards and practices.
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/obscene-indecent-and-profane-broadcasts
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:37 pmA constitutional right shouldn’t require a license, and I doubt such a scheme would pass the Bruen test.
Voting requires registration. In some places you must present a government ID.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:42 pm@415. That ‘doesn’t register’ w/him. 😉
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:44 pmThere is a constitutional right to travel, but air travel requires ID, vetting against a list, and an intrusive search by federal officials.
You CAN get special IDs (“licenses”) to skip most of the security bother, for a fee, and after a de novo background check and an in-person interview with a federal officer.
This latter process is pretty much what I’m thinking of fore gun buyers, although I’d add competence and understanding of the laws.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:46 pm@397 DCSCA (edf70d) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:16 am
There are contemporaneous meaning that “well regulated” meant “in working order”.
http://constitution.org/1-Constitution/cons/wellregu.htm#:~:text=The%20phrase%20%22well%2Dregulated%22%20was%20in%20common%20use%20long,calibrated%20correctly%2C%20functioning%20as%20expected.
whembly (5c393e) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:48 pmBut not guilty of rape.
I am pretty sure that if you called Trump a “rapist” he wouldn’t be able to sue you for slander. Look for Liz Cheney to bring this up, and perhaps others.
That’s GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY!
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:50 pmIs mowing down innocent civilians with a machine gun “functioning as expected”?
Paul Montagu (8f0dc7) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:51 pmWanna operate a shortwave radio platform? Get a license to exercise your First Amendment ‘constitutional right’…
Any qualified US citizen, company, or group may apply to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for authority to construct and operate a high frequency (HF) (shortwave) international broadcasting station. Licensing of these facilities is prescribed by the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, which sets up certain basic requirements. In general, applicants must satisfy the Commission that they are legally, technically, and financially qualified, to build and operate the proposed HF international broadcasting station.
In the US there are three license classes— Technician, General and Extra. The Technician class license is the entry-level license of choice for most new ham radio operators. To earn the Technician license requires passing one examination totaling 35 questions on radio theory, regulations and operating practices.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:51 pm@398
The gun registry I was referring to are those mandated by:
The Federal Firearms Act of 1938
&
The National Firearm Act of 1984 (which defacto banned automatics).
You can purchase/own an automatic that was made before ’84, but its ridiculously expensive AND you’d have to register it with the ATF. (state/local may have additional requirement, ie letting local sheriff that you have these)
whembly (0a8536) — 5/9/2023 @ 12:53 pm@418. Go to the source point whe it was quilled- the failed first try: the 18th century Articles of Confederation… and the afterthought quilled into the BoR. The context of the times, the then immediate, tenuous concerns over vulnerable, loosely bound, independent states w/o a national military, fearful of other world powers gobbling some or all of them up again- hence their desire to have a ‘well regulated militia’ at the ready. Wanna a gun today? Qualify for a license, have it registered and be at the ready to serve in a ‘well regulated militia.’ What’s to fear, if you really wanna own a firearm. Exercise? That alone should weed out plenty o/t play army types and the dark-minded crazies.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:00 pmTrump was found liable for sexual abuse.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:02 pmWhich banned those weapons nationwide, so it is not particular to California.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:04 pm@417
The problem here, is that none of that is going to stop bad actors from breaking the law.
All of this, is akin to this argument:
Say, in effort to decrease drunk driving a local jurisdiction issues a curfew against driving except for public transport & ride shares starting at 7pm every night.
Drunk driving kills more than these mass shooting events.
Explain to me why someone with no record and who may not even drink need to accept “this effort to reduce drunk driving”?
I’m not saying we should do anything. I’m saying, we should be careful what we ask for and to really, REALLY figure out the root causes. What part of the system, if it exist, failed? Things like that.
whembly (0a8536) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:04 pmRegistering to vote doesn’t require the anal exam you propose for firearm purchases. You need to present government ID to purchase a firearm already.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:05 pm@417. Yeah– and in CA your DL requires that ID stamp to even board a plane – though they bumped the mandatory date back from ’23 to ’25. But still- it’s looming… it costs to get it and you’re required to produce three forms of ID to get it beyond your DL– and they scan it all into the files along w/your thumb print…’ for your own good’ and the safety of the many. And you MUST do it in person at the DMV offices. A real PITA– no reason gun owners should be exempt from having to be subjected to a similar licensing bureaucratic hell ‘for their own good’… and the safety of the many, too.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:08 pmRegistering to vote doesn’t require the anal exam you propose for firearm purchases.
Tough sh!t. Registering to vote can’t kill you at a movie theater.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:10 pmLaw-abiding citizens should be able to purchase a firearm with the same ease that it takes to register to vote.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:11 pmCalifornia’s gun registry prohibits the sale of post 2013 standard semi-automatic handguns. As you noted, fully automatic weapons are currently banned by the federal government.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:24 pm@430. FIFY:
Law-abiding citizens should be able to purchase clothing at an outlet mall, send their kids to school, go food shopping and go to the movies with the same ease that it takes to register to vote without the fear of being slaughtered by a gun nut.
DCSCA (926343) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:26 pm“Something that was well-regulated was calibrated correctly, functioning as expected”
Would you categorize the current militia as calibrated correctly and functioning as expected?
Davethulhu (fe2f72) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:00 pmLaw-abiding citizens should be able to purchase a firearm with the same ease that it takes to register to vote.
Which begs a question.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:08 pmRegistering to vote doesn’t require the anal exam you propose for firearm purchases. You need to present government ID to purchase a firearm already.
Care to take up the air travel analogy?
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:09 pmWhich is?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:10 pmDrunk driving kills more than these mass shooting events.
Hey, I’d ban drunk drivers from possessing alcohol. Card everyone and have a big red MAY NOT PURCHASE ALCOHOL across the driver’s licese of convicted drunk drivers.
I will tell you for a fact that being barred from obtaining alcohol is about 1000 times more of a threat to an alcoholic than any driving restriction.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:12 pmWhich is?
How does one demonstrate that they are a law-abiding citizen? Currently we do this by a negative (and cursory) check that has so many holes in it that it is almost meaningless.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:14 pmRip,
The gun registry is indeed unconstitutional. I also oppose blanket CCW restrictions or other harassment (e.g. gun insurance and bullet taxes). I want a SIMPLE regulatory scheme that does not provide opportunities for petty harassment.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:17 pmDrunk driving kills more than these mass shooting events.
Whataboutism. And the solution is simple; a breathalyzer gadget as part of the ignition system on all new vehicles– but manufacturers won’t install them due to the added costs– and they can be illegally disconnected. Similar resistance to installation of seat belts back in the day.
DCSCA (77e1e7) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:23 pmThe gun registry is indeed unconstitutional.
No it’s not. Gun manufacturers stamp them w/registration numbers as it is which aids both authorities and antique collectors to trace them.
DCSCA (77e1e7) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:27 pmHaving persons undergo an investigation equivalent to receiving a Secret security clearance and/or in-person interview with a “qualified examiner” would not be a “simple regulatory scheme” but would provide myriad opportunities for petty harassment. It is too much power to give someone who could then arbitrarily deny a firearms purchase after an investigation or interview. Better the current neutral NICS records check.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:33 pmCalifornia’s gun registry doesn’t record gun serial numbers to aid authorities, it arbitrarily bans certain handguns because they lack certain physical features, some of which (like micro-stamping) don’t even exist.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/9/2023 @ 2:38 pmProposing new gun laws is akin to calling for “comprehensive immigration reform” legislation.
How about enforcing already-existing laws before suggesting new ones?
norcal (15fce4) — 5/9/2023 @ 3:21 pm@443. That doesn’t mean the guns do not have registration numbers to use. The fact they’re not used as w/a VIN number w/car registrations w/a state is up to the state- but the Feds can surely use them.
DCSCA (77e1e7) — 5/9/2023 @ 4:20 pmI want a SIMPLE regulatory scheme that does not provide opportunities for petty harassment.
Tough; too bad. I’d like to be issued a boarding pass show my ticket, have my passport stamped and board my jet to London in less than 15 minutes; not have to be wanded entering an airport, jhavecameras on me going to the head, or passing through a gate, having my luggage rifled, my carry-ons restricted or my little Swiss Army pen knife on my key ring confiscated… Abusers of gun rights force the necessity of layered restrictions for the good of the many, many, many… due to the irresponsibility of the 99.999999% few.
DCSCA (77e1e7) — 5/9/2023 @ 4:28 pm@365 Unity with in the democratic base establishment and left base.
asset (ee30dd) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:07 pmA democrat who runs on get rid of guns or get rid of those in power who oppose getting rid of guns. Will be coming soon and will win!
asset (ee30dd) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:11 pmA democrat who runs on get rid of guns or get rid of those in power who oppose getting rid of guns. Will be coming soon and will win!
asset (ee30dd) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:11 pm
That wouldn’t even be successful in the Bay Area, unless things have drastically changed. There was a surprising amount of support for gun rights when I lived there.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:21 pmBreaking: Tucker Carlson Has Announced His Next Job
“We’re back,” he announced. Carlson announced he will be bringing his show to Twitter. Carlson said he is very grateful to be on the platform, which is now owned by Elon Musk.
“See you soon,” he said.
DCSCA (1bba31) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:40 pmBreaking: Tucker Carlson Has Announced His Next Job
DCSCA (1bba31) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:40 pm
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
norcal (15fce4) — 5/9/2023 @ 6:49 pm@451. They don’t call it ‘Twitter’ for nothing. 😉
DCSCA (33b1fb) — 5/9/2023 @ 7:30 pm@452 👍
norcal (15fce4) — 5/9/2023 @ 7:32 pmA one on one election is easier to win than depending on the outcome of 435 different elections.
Rip Murdock (479f9d) — 5/9/2023 @ 7:59 pmMore:
Rip Murdock (f90b1e) — 5/9/2023 @ 8:47 pmHe also argued that “the AR-15 alone accounted for 5.5 percent of firearms and 14.4 percent of rifles produced in the United States for the domestic market.”
………..
Rip Murdock (f90b1e) — 5/9/2023 @ 8:47 pm
What about AK-47s? Also, are Uzis and similar guns classified as handguns or rifles?
norcal (15fce4) — 5/9/2023 @ 11:48 pm@454 The democrats will be demanding protect abortion rights and handing out coat hangers. Also republican voters are dying off faster then democrat voters. Non voters closer. 2022 example. Also democrats are younger demographic. Generation Z gave highest percent of vote over millennials and much higher over boomers. Only half of generation Z was 18 in 2022.
asset (ee30dd) — 5/10/2023 @ 12:52 am@norcal, I had an Uzi back when, believe it or not, it was legal to own in California. I don’t know if there are any variants that qualify as rifles, but the one I had, chambered in .45 ACP which I think was the most common configuration, was a pistol.
lurker (cd7cd4) — 5/10/2023 @ 1:21 amA 9mm Uzi in a carbine configuration with a 16-inch barrel and a gizmo that would not allow the gun to fire unless the folding stock was extended was one of the earliest “assault style” rifles imported around 1980. Heckler & Kocha had a similar version of their MP5.
There was also a Finnish Valmet in 7.62×39 which had been made into a semi-auto by the simple expedient of a pin through the receiver which would not allow the selector lever to move into the full-auto position, and some actually got past the ATF for a while.
By the mid-1980s there were any number of semi-auto “machine pistol” configurations in semi-auto, without stocks and handgun-length barrels, mostly in 9mm, for mall ninjas. You can see them in action movies of that era in the hands of Kurt Russell, Lee Marvin, Chuck Norris, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
nk (bb1548) — 5/10/2023 @ 4:47 amHeckler & Koch
nk (bb1548) — 5/10/2023 @ 4:48 amI thought this was an interesting article about guns and psychology https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0373-z
AJ_Liberty (6f3cdc) — 5/10/2023 @ 6:01 amSaying some weapons are unusual is begging the question.
Sammy Finkelnan (ef91cc) — 5/10/2023 @ 8:06 amBusted!
nk (bb1548) — 5/10/2023 @ 8:19 amHaving persons undergo an investigation equivalent to receiving a Secret security clearance and/or in-person interview with a “qualified examiner” would not be a “simple regulatory scheme” but would provide myriad opportunities for petty harassment.
We do this now with TSA PreCheck and Global Entry for air travel. Why? Because it is cheaper and safer than trying to validate every passenger, every time they fly, and a lot easier on the passenger, too.
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/10/2023 @ 8:36 amAlso republican voters are dying off faster then democrat voters
Indoctrination and propaganda works!
Kevin M (f94f4f) — 5/10/2023 @ 8:41 am@464.
… and Hunter smiled.
DCSCA (f71000) — 5/10/2023 @ 8:43 am@Dana or @JVW… new post on lastest Biden news?
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/bidens-used-web-of-shell-companies-to-conceal-foreign-cash-bank-records-obtained-by-house-gop-reveal/
Dunno how you’d read this as anything other than a money laundering scheme from foreign officials to the Biden family.
If even half of this is true, should be the biggest story in the country.
whembly (d116f3) — 5/10/2023 @ 8:52 amInstitutional betrayal; the DOJ: corrupt; the SCOTUS, wholly politicized; the rule of law: dead.
39 years ago, a KGB defector chillingly predicted modern America
https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov/
… and Putin smiled; Xi merely grinned… as their Eurasian Alliance with New World Order marching orders rolls on.
DCSCA (f71000) — 5/10/2023 @ 9:03 amA few people are discussing important issues — and even solutions. I don’t know if the Washington Post is right in this editorial, but I commend their effort:
(Links omitted.)
The Post believes that money should be spent on “high dosage-tutoring”:
I haven’t had time to follow all the links to research in the editorial, but I see nothihng implausible in their argument.
Jim Miller (0e46f9) — 5/10/2023 @ 10:33 amThe covid-19 pandemic brought on a flood of loss — of lives, of jobs and, in a less-discussed tragedy, of learning.
no, the covid-19 pandemic did not cause this
lockdowns caused this
but, as usual, for WaPo and those who advocated for the lockdowns the solution to problems caused by government is more government
JF (35f8ca) — 5/10/2023 @ 11:31 amIf not planned that way from the beginning.
Online learning has been successful if done right, with contact with the family.
https://www.onlineschools.org
https://learn.pearsononlineacademy.com/us
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 5/10/2023 @ 12:52 pmFully automatic AK-47s are illegal, however, semi-auto versions are legal and conversion kits are legal. Uzis made after 1986 are illegal and classified as machine guns.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 5/10/2023 @ 1:09 pmhttps://twitter.com/WWLTV/status/1655987506293161984?
They wanted to murder a white person.
Crickets from our MSM.
NJRob (5e1950) — 5/10/2023 @ 1:37 pmwhembly (0a8536) — 5/9/2023 @ 1:04 pm
You could ask what part of it works.
Deterrence – the near certainty of either being killed, or arrested and jailed for up to 40 years, deters mass shootings. (But it doesn’t work with someone willing to commit suicide.)
Jack Teixeira was probably deterred, maybe also by the idea that if he killed a lot of people he’d be doing what the FBI, or other government agency, wanted.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/06/us/politics/jack-teixeira-leaks-discord-messages.html
At least that’s better than what Alex Jones said about Sandy Hook.
Teixeira also seems t have into Russian propaganda, at least about the United States making biological and chemical weapons in Ukrainian labs, and creating the Islamic State (and not by accident, by killing all of Abu Bakr al Bagdadi’s rivals – maybe using information supplied by Bagdadi himself.
Russian propaganda some years ago had the creation of ISIS as being on purpose.)
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 5/10/2023 @ 2:00 pm