Donald Trump calls Ted Cruz’s remarks about “New York values” disgraceful.  Even Rich Lowry says “It’s hard to exaggerate how good Trump’s New York answer was: No politician in either party could do it better.”

Oh sure it is, and the exaggeration was virtually ubiquitous last night in the media coverage, much of it coming from New York.  As for New York values, I cannot carry a weapon in New York.  In fact, I cannot legally own the magazines I currently do for my guns because of the so-called SAFE act, upheld with rulings from New York judges that utilize tactically ridiculous arguments such as the law making it more difficult to engage in spray-firing from the hip.

As for federal judges in New York, they have upheld New York’s gun laws on numerous occasions, and the people of New York, despite some good folk in the countryside, are beholden to the big city, and continue to vote in totalitarians like Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio and Mario and Andrew Cuomo.

Don’t be deceived.  We know all about how the effete, New York elitists look down their collectivist noses at conservatives.  Andrew Cuomo can even tell conservatives that they have no place in New York and need to leave, and most Manhattanites never skip a beat.  As long as the great, unwashed masses who tote guns, attend church and get their hands dirty on a regular basis stay “out there” somewhere, truck in food and goods, and vote for politicians who will continue to enable the world financiers in New York to play their high stakes gambling games, the world is right.

But it’s not right, not really, and the unwashed masses aren’t as ignorant as you think.  As I’ve said before, I don’t feel one iota of brotherhood with Manhattanites, not in ideology, not in theological views, and only barely in language.

Trump comes from a background of liberalism.  He is only new to gun rights, he has always been and continues to be in favor of a single payer health care system, and continues to believe that TARP and bailout were good ideas.  For the record, I hate New York values.

BoingBoing:

Appears the new open carry laws in Texas, which have expressly allowed guns onto College campuses and into psychiatric hospitals, are back firing against open and concealed carry enthusiasts. Private business and property owners can ban firearms from their property by either posting signs, or verbally informing armed people they are not welcome to carry their weapons. Firearms enthusiasts are finding a lot of new signs around Texas.

Ooo …, “backfiring.”  Sounds serious, yes?  Their source is The Trace.

“Got an email from work telling us that not only are 30.07 signs going up over the weekend on our office building but 30.06 as well. What makes this even more frustrating is I have yet to see a single open carry,” wrote a user with the handle LTUME1978, before predicting in a subsequent comment that, at least in Houston, “Once the signs are up, they are not ever going to come down.”

That original post generated more than 100 replies, and numerous theories. Some Texas CHL users speculated that the increase in notices barring concealed weapons may be due to a revision to the existing 30.06 sign that was ushered in by the new open carry legislation. Older 30.06 signage was rendered obsolete by the change — and signage is something that Texas gun rights advocates actively police.

“Just as easy to have both 30.06 and 30.07 signs made at the same time,” a user named Distinguished Rick replied. “We have lost more than we gained,” he added. “I have had my CHL 20 years this year and I hardly ran into any legal signs back then. This has woken up the anti-crowd in a big way. So now the genie is out of the bottle and I don’t see a way to put it back.”

A user with the handle bmwrdr echoed his concerns: “Before the OC [open carry] movement started everything went smooth, now we see more and more 30.06 signs erected.”

Another user, posting as flowrie, theorized that the backlash generated by the open carry movement, which was itself driven by the gun rights group Open Carry Texas (OCT), was so spectacular that it may as well have been an opposition plot. “OCT has hurt much more than helped. I insist on carrying when taking my young son and wife to the movies, but that is now becoming more difficult. I do not really oppose OC, but the way they went about it was unwise and just down right ignorant. I too wonder if some of them are anti-2A [Second Amendment]. If I were anti-2A, that’s how I would do it.”

“We were free to carry concealed at far more places before than now. You have the exact same ability to be safe carrying concealed as openly. Except that now you can’t do either in many places. So you’re not safer at all. Open carry is not a right. It’s a dress code and comfort issue. You were already freely bearing arms before 1 Jan. You’ve given up safety for comfort and lost and freedom [sic] for all of us.”

“The immature, selfish actions and the loud, belligerent mouths of a few have hurt many,” Oldgringo concluded. “It’s true, all that glitters is not gold.”

What a bunch of whiny little bitches.  If it takes some time to work through the details of this, then so be it.  If you have to continue to work through concealed and open carry rights issues, then so be it.  If you have to petition businesses or otherwise withhold your patronage in order to persuade businesses to honor your rights, then so be it.  A business who indiscriminately posts signs prohibiting both open and concealed carry isn’t worth my patronage anyway.

Shouting down the advocates of open carry is turning your criticism on the wrong people when you’ve got culpable establishments to target.  Open carry advocates didn’t force businesses to put up signs prohibiting concealed carry.  Other states have learned to deal with this, and Texas will too.  Settle down.  Mind your manners, grow up and stop being little girls over this.

Mother Jones:

The cartels’ weapons of choice are high-caliber rifles, including AR-15 and AK-47-type semiautomatic rifles, which can be easily converted into fully automatic machine guns. The cartel’s gunrunners often buy firearms legally in the United States, either at gun shops, gun shows, or in private sales. The firearms are then illegally shipped across the border.

But it gets better.  Commenter Aquarian Dreamer said:

usually ‘High-Caliber’ is used to reference impact power, which until the late 19th usually meant larger ammunition. that changed as aerodynamics became better defined, and rifle power became less about bigger ammo with more gunpowder packed behind.

“Impact Power.”  “Aerodynamics became better defined.”  It’s sort of like that little puppy who is just learning to walk but still bumps into things, vomits and shits on the rug.  Maddening, but in some weird, freakish way, adorable nonetheless.

Prior:

High Magazine Clips And The Shoulder Thing That Goes Up

High Ammo Clips

Automatic Bullets In Rapid-Fire Magazine Clips

Duck Hunting With Bullets

Fully Loaded Ammunition Cartridge

High Magazine Round

First, there is this from David.

Per Mike, the doctors have told him he is not long of this world. As we all know, his financial situation due to years of disability and devotion to the larger issue of self-sacrifice for freedom is terrible.  He is doing what he can to get his affairs in order, but the reality is, his wife will be left in really bad shape.  I would like to help with a funding appeal.

I looked at various “crowdfunding” sites, but there are hoops to jump through and/or  a cut they take. For now at least, in order to get the ball rolling and hopefully growing as it does, I’m asking all of Mike’s friends to spread the word and to send gratitude offerings directly to him:

• Paypal to  georgemason1776@aol.com*
• Check, money order, cash, etc. to Mike Vanderboegh, PO Box 926, Pinson, AL 35126.**

You’ll note I called it a “gratitude offering.” That’s proper, as this is being directed to those of you who have received value from Mike’s work over the years.

Then David updates with this.  Then Mike updates us as follows.

Looks like the first chance for everyone will be the first weekend in February — the 5th, 6th and 7th. There will be some preliminary stuff that has to be done and I’ve got some volunteer offers from local friends and readers to do specific tasks like, dismantling the hulk of the above ground pool and hauling it and other easy to reach trash off to the dump. They will schedule those tasks as they can between now and 5 February. The jungle (and the lower deck) will remain to be removed and there are a small host of specific smaller tasks that will remain to be done (from malfunctioning electrical circuits within the house to tearing out the front shrubbery so that they can no longer be a pathway for heavy rain that periodically soaks the basement to cleaning the front gutters to tearing off the back gutters and preparing the back wall on the second floor where the rotting deck connects, etc., etc. etc.

As I’ve said, I want to meet Mike face to face and shake his hand and hug him.  But I don’t quite know what this post means.  I don’t know whether Mike can sustain visitors over the 5th, 6th and 7th, or if there is some field available for us to ensconce and have Camporee over the night while we work during the three days.  I have a note out to Mike and I will let you know when I get clarification.  I can bring a chain saw, table saw, compound miter saw, tools, a good attitude and my body.

To mention his address again, it is: Mike Vanderboegh, PO Box 926, Pinson, AL 35126.  I intend to donate.

No doubt as you have noted, we have some sailors being held by Iran.  No doubt either, their vessels have been confiscated by Iran and are being reversed engineered now, perhaps with the help of Russian engineers and programmers.

Daniel (my former Marine) and I discussed it.  We both agreed upon the necessary course of action had we been on board those vessels prior to being confiscated by Iran.  Call on a satellite phone with your last known location, deploy life rafts, water, guns, ammunition and food, and then scuttle the vessels.

If they could not do that, they should not be sailors.  I’m sorry if this offends former sailors, but this is what I think. And it’s what Daniel thinks.  Sailors are supposed to be warriors too.  We’ve become soft.

Daily Mail:

Police fear a gang-rape phenomenon known as ‘taharrush gamea’ in the Arab world and seen in attacks on women across German cities at the New Year has now spread to Europe.

The name of the practice translates to ‘collective harassment’ and is carried out by large groups of men who sexually assault lone women, either by groping, or in some instances, raping them. 

The men first surround their victim in circles. Some then sexually assault her, while others not directly involved watch or divert outsiders’ attention to what is occurring.

Two days ago I said this.

The air headed blonde on my local TV channel introduced a video of protest in Germany by saying emphatically, “Germans are furious over the recent sexual assaults.”  Oh, not so much.  I happen to think these are only the preliminaries to the real war.  You can bet that young men are training in the countryside with guns every day, and soon they will be baiting and hunting young Muslim men and killing them.  Muslims won’t be the only ones roaming the streets, and the police will be irrelevant to the coming festivities.  You’ll know there’s fury when the killing starts.  Europeans will win or they will lose, but there will be a war.  You can count on it.

And the very next day, there is this.

The rally came as vigilante mobs have been attacking Pakistani and Syrians in Cologne, leaving at least two in hospital, following calls on social media for ‘revenge’ in the wake of the New Years Eve assaults.

The attacks were carried out by groups of young men, allegedly specifically targeting foreigners, after reports Cologne police are focusing their investigation on asylum seekers and migrants.

I told you so.  Young men.  Baiting Muslims.  Attacks.  War is coming, and what you’re witnessing is just the preliminary stage.

Just in case you needed anything else to convince you that sexual assaults are happening, there are these examples.

The Federalist:

The author, Mollie Hemingway, goes on to explain that this couldn’t possibly mean that Ted Cruz wants Jesus to rise from the grave to endorse him, because Christians believe Jesus is alive.  He is the only risen Lord, King of Kings, Lord of Lords.  Death couldn’t defeat him.  And of course, all of that is true.

But the most ridiculous assertion made by this idiot, Kathleen Parker, is that Ted Cruz wants the body of Christ to endorse him, as in the literal body of Christ!  How such a thing could happen, Kathleen doesn’t say.

Seriously.  This was said on national TV, apparently.  I’m glad that someone watches this shit because I don’t and from time to time we actually need to know how ignorant people are, especially folk inside the beltway.  I do not know who Kathleen Parker is and I don’t read The Washington Post, but it’s a shame that she works in a position of influence.

Of course as most school children know, the “body of Christ” refers to the church.  And Kathleen needs to attend Sunday School a bit to ameliorate her ignorance.

Shooting a gun reaffirmed my belief in gun control:

I’ve never understood guns — why people love them so much, why they think it’s fun to shoot them, why they collect them. I was always simply terrified of guns — which was extra difficult, given that I grew up in the South, nearly surrounded by them. My mother claimed to have one tucked away somewhere in the house when I was growing up, but I never believed her, because I never saw it. My cousins used to shoot BB guns in the backyard on holidays while I would stand on the porch and watch. I went to parties in middle school and high school where we hung out in some basement next to someone’s ridiculous gun collection. As soon as anyone started to get the guns out to show them off, I hightailed it out of there. I hated being in the same room as a gun, and I didn’t want to know or understand how they worked. I didn’t think you needed to know how a gun worked, or what it felt like to use one, in order to know that they were dangerous.

[ … ]

They assured me that everything was safe, we made sure the area was clear, and I shot a gun at a target for the first time in my life. I didn’t feel a rush or a sudden sense of power. I felt nothing. I shot again. Nothing. I shot another gun, and I still felt nothing. There was no thrill here. This is what people were defending? I felt a disconnect. Sure, I’ve wielded weapons before. I taught archery for many years, I’ve chopped wood, and I’ve fenced. My entire family is military. I love so many aspects of Southern culture, and I am proud that our rights to personal property are protected in the United States.

But that moment confirmed that for me, the risks and the repercussions of owning guns greatly outweigh the fun, culture, and tradition associated with them.

Hey.  I see how this works.  If you don’t get orgasmic over guns, I can’t have them either.  Because you’re the ultimate arbiter of right and wrong and good and bad and pleasure and boredom.  Got it.

Jackson Hole News & Guide:

In an effort to bring the town of Jackson in line with Wyoming law, the Town Council is on track to repeal a decades-old ordinance that bans concealed weapons.

The law dates back to the 1970s and outlaws people from having any kind of hidden weapon, including pistols and knives, but also dirks, daggers and “swords-in-canes.”

The potential change is part of an effort by the town to update older parts of the municipal code, but some town officials have paused on the concealed carry ordinance.

Councilor Jim Stanford pointed out that this is a rare instance in which the state has moved to take away local control.

“I disagree vigorously with the Wyoming Legislature usurping local authority to regulate guns within our municipal boundaries,” Stanford said. “And I believe that if this faced a court test it wouldn’t stand up.”

Generally, state statute allows local laws to be more restrictive but not less so than state law. As an example, law enforcement officials said that means that a town can reduce the speed limit on a state road, but can’t raise it.

Stanford said the state’s moves, which are contrary to that concept and came in the form of the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, are attempting to force “extremist ideology” on localities. Through the act, instituted several years ago, the state is essentially taking over regulation of concealed weapons, he said.

Other town officials didn’t totally disagree with his thinking.

“I do find it interesting how we’re for local authority until we’re not,” said Mayor Sara Flitner.

But, practically speaking, she and other town officials said they had to update the municipal code to keep it in line with Wyoming’s laws.

Last winter my wife and I took an extended trip to Jackson, Wyoming, in part to ski, in part to visit the surrounding area.  We visited your wonderful restaurants, from the exquisite cuisine at The Gun Barrel, to Bubba’s Barbecue.  I have eaten barbecue from North Carolina to Texas, and I have said to others that I have never had it so good as Bubba’s in Jackson.  In fact, I have recommended that others go to Jackson Hole as well, the visit being so good and relaxing.  It was indeed a memorable time for us.

But there is a problem.  I noticed bus drivers open carrying, and as an open carrier myself and my home state being a traditional open carry state, I fully support that.  But being new to the area, I didn’t want to do that, and concealed while we were in Jackson.  That’s right.  I am proud to announce that I violated your stupid ordinance.  I didn’t know about it, to be sure.  But violate it I did.  It would have been easy to fix.  I could have just switched to open carry if I had only know.  And therein lies the problem, don’t you think?  The mere act of switching where I was carrying my weapon would have made the difference between being approved and not in Jackson.  But I’m glad I carried concealed if for no other reason than to prove a point, because you are the ones who are in violation of the law.  God’s providence is good and sometimes humorous and amusing, don’t you think?

Your ordinance is underhanded, illegal and immoral all at the same time.  It is underhanded in that unsuspecting, peaceable men like me could get caught up in your idiotic, pompous belligerence towards your own state.  It is immoral in that you could cause peaceable men like me to run afoul of your ordinances.  It is illegal because it violates Wyoming Code 6-8-401(c), which reads “no city, town, county, political subdivision or any other entity shall authorize, regulate or prohibit the sale, transfer, purchase, delivery, taxation, manufacture, ownership, transportation, storage, use, carrying or possession of firearms, weapons, accessories, components or ammunition.”

It’s called state preemption, and you know all about it.  You hate it.  I’ve observed about your kind before that “It’s an odious thing when local yokels (who are usually elected in elections that aren’t well attended and who are usually unknown until they act out their Napoleon fantasies upon others) presume to tell their townships what to do about everything under the sun.  Totalitarianism doesn’t just happen inside the beltway.”

And again, “I am a long standing and diehard advocate of State’s rights, even to the extent that I don’t think the federal court system should be invoked when local gun control is concerned.  All gun politics is local, I have said.  The corollary is that in order to prevent local hicks, ne’er-do-wells and criminals from acting out their Napoleon fantasies upon other men, association with the state means that – assuming robust gun rights laws already exist – local municipalities and townships shouldn’t be able to preempt state laws.  The state is the right size for law-making and control.  Our founding fathers were wise.”

The councilman who said “if this faced a court test it wouldn’t stand up” – Mr. Stanford – is an idiot.  State preemption is tried, tested, proven, and legal.  Towns and cities cannot override state law unless explicitly stated so in state law.

The only “extremist ideology” here is being expressed by Mr. Stanford.  Shame on you, and a thousand times shame on you.  The carry of weapons is a God-given right, and protection of human life is a God-given duty.  As for the city council, you are in violation of state law, placing at risk peaceable men who don’t know about your stupid ordinance, and wasting valuable time and resources sticking your nose up in the air and being offended that you can’t override state law.

The whole episode is unseemly, obscene and [should be] embarrassing to you.  You’re acting out in a tantrum as if you were little children.  This needs to end, and you need to bring Jackson into full compliance with State law in a timely manner.  And then you need to move on about the business of the city without so much smugness, condescension, pomp and arrogance.  You aren’t a board of kings, and you don’t get to fabricate just any law you wish.  If my readers want to send you notes saying the same thing, I’ll list your web site.

They have their own security.

I don’t even know what the 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards are.  I suspect it’s when famous people get together and present each other with some kind of awards.  Seriously.  I’ve never seen it.  But take note.  They’re anti-gun only when it comes to you.