Archive for the 'Politics' Category

By now you’ve heard that Judge Barbara Bellis dismissed the case against Remington.  Good.  But she should have done this long ago.  The only people who got rich here were the lawyers.  I have no desire to analyze what she said.  It’s a waste of my time.

Early on she said the law “does not prevent lawyers for the families of Sandy Hook victims from arguing that the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle is a military weapon and should not have been sold to civilians.”  Now she says it does.  Here’s my analysis.  She has her sights set on higher things, and wants eventually to be considered for some higher judicial post.  She can’t make an idiotic ruling that gets reversed by the Supreme Court of Connecticut or the United States and keep that hope alive.  I suspect this was entirely self serving.

Wikileaks:

RE: Thanks

From:elmendorf@teamsubjectmatter.com To: john.podesta@gmail.com Date: 2016-02-09 20:56

Subject: RE: Thanks

I am all in

Sounds like it will be a bad nite , we all need to buckle up and double down

From: John Podesta [mailto:john.podesta@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2016 4:36 PM To: Steve Elmendorf <elmendorf@teamsubjectmatter.com>

Subject: Thanks

Didn’t think wet works meant pool parties at the Vineyard.

So I don’t run in the same circles with spooks, and until tonight I didn’t know what the phrase “wet works” meant.  I do now.  John Podesta needs to explain himself immediately.  The phraseology and the timing look damning.

TCJ wants to know.  What does this mean, John?  Who knew what, when?  Who was involved in what, John?  What did you do?

Fox News:

NEW CASTLE, Ind. –  An Indiana pastor is charged with threatening to shoot neighborhood children to keep them away from his church.

The (Muncie) Star Press reports (http://tspne.ws/2eh5K8T ) that 69-year-old Bobby Slagle of New Castle’s Calvary Baptist Church is charged with felony intimidation and misdemeanor resisting law enforcement

According to a police report, Slagle said he was frustrated about vandalism at his church in New Castle, 50 miles east of Indianapolis.

New Castle police say Slagle “advised the kids that if they did not get off his property he was going to shoot them.” Police say Slagle raised his shirt, showing the children a revolver in his waist band.

The report says Slagle struggled with arresting officers. He waived his right to an initial hearing. A judge entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.

Well, riddle me this, readers.  What’s the difference between ISIS destroying churches throughout Mesopotamia, and gang members destroying them in America?

Right, it looks very bad, and I wouldn’t have done it, and he shouldn’t have either.  It was a dumb move.  He’ll no doubt pay the price for his dumb move.

But listen to me on the implications of this, if you will.  Be prepared for more of this to come.  Muslims will come to be very militant in America, as gang members are now.  Perhaps even more so.

For those of you who are part of congregations who own church buildings, what are you going to do when your property is vandalized every week, or eventually burned down?  Do you put 24-hour security on the physical plant?  Are you going to be part of that security?  If so, what do you do when the property is threatened, and the gang members (I’m sure they weren’t “children”) figure out that comporting with the law you’re unwilling to use lethal means to stop the aggression, and there are too many of them to do anything except call the police and wait the fifteen minutes for them to arrive and find no one?

If this is the way it all works out, you may as well not have security.  Or church property.  Or for those of you who aren’t Christians but who own homes, perhaps your home is the same as that church property.

Such is life when society lurches towards dystopia.

The Washington Times:

In the exchange, Mr. Halpin mocks media mogul Rupert Murdoch for raising his children in the Catholic faith and said the most “powerful elements” in the conservative movement are all Catholic.

“It’s an amazing bastardization of the faith. They must be attracted to the systematic thought and severely backwards gender relations and must be totally unaware of Christian democracy,” Mr. Halpin said.

“I imagine they think it is the most socially acceptable politically conservative religion. Their rich friends wouldn’t understand if they become evangelicals,” Ms. Palmieri responded.

“Excellent point,” Mr. Halpin wrote back. “They can throw around ‘Thomistic’ thought and ‘subsidiarity’ and sound sophisticated because no one knows what the hell they’re talking about.”

[ … ]

In another brief exchange, Mr. Podesta and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden slammed Southerners and the Miss America Pageant.

“Do you think it’s weird that of the 15 finalists in Miss America, 10 came from the 11 states of the CSA?” Mr. Podesta asked, referring to the Confederate States of America.

“Not at all I would imagine the only people who watch it are from the confederacy and by now they know that so they’ve rigged the thing in their honor,” Ms. Tanden responded in a September 2015 message.

In another email, Mr. Podesta asked why CNN’s Mr. Tapper is “such a d—k,” one of a number of examples of Clinton allies verbally assaulting reporters — though other messages show close coordination with influential reporters.

Just for the record, and so my readers know, Thomas Aquinas was the Roman Catholic Church’s answer to Aristotle.  To wit, many of the works of Aristotle has been found around the time of Thomas, and those that were already available found a resurgence in study.  Scholars began to read them again, and the teachings of Aristotle even became popular within the laity.

The RCC needed an answer, or so they thought (I think the Scripture stands on its own as capable of supporting a comprehensive world view without admixture with anything else), so they commissioned Thomas to read and answer the resurgent popularity of Aristotle, synthesizing the Scriptures with Aristotle when he needed to.  The result was what scholars call the “Thomistic Synthesis.”  Ultimately, the result was the Council of Trent, which today forms the doctrinal basis for the RCC.  For the record, I am a Calvinist so I do not follow the traditions of the RCC.

When anyone asks you now, you know the answer.  There is much more, and you can read it for yourself.  Take note of the dripping sarcasm, the hatred, the utter disdain for anyone who isn’t them.  And take note that they consider you – if you are one of my Southern readers – an ignorant redneck.

Never forget that.

From Matt Bracken.

Listen, I think Twitter is worthless.  I actually have an account, but I rarely update it and find no use in it at all.  The only reason it still exists is because I’m too lazy to go close it out.  Perhaps I should.  Professor Glenn Reynolds of The University of Tennessee school of law is fairly active on twitter as best as I can tell, or at least he was up until now.  His account was suspected because of a “controversial” tweet.  Regarding the riots in Charlotte where rioters were stopping vehicles on I-277 and surrounding the vehicles, Glenn tweeted “Run them down.”

For this, Glenn is under investigation by Melanie D. Wilson, University of Tennessee College of Law Dean.

I am aware of the remarks made last night on Twitter by Professor Glenn Reynolds and of the serious and legitimate concerns expressed by members of the UT Law family and the University of Tennessee community, as well as concerned citizens across the country. Professor Reynolds’ comments do not reflect my views and opinions, nor do they reflect the values of the college and university.

University administrators, college faculty, and I are investigating this matter.

The university is committed to academic freedom, freedom of speech, and diverse viewpoints, all of which are important for an institution of higher education and the free exchange of ideas. My colleagues and I in the university’s leadership support peaceful civil disobedience and all forms of free speech, but we do not support violence or language that encourages violence.

Professor Reynolds has built a significant platform to discuss his viewpoints, but his remarks on Twitter are an irresponsible use of his platform.

The College of Law is committed to ensuring our students learn in a welcoming, open, and inclusive community in which they can successfully pursue their law degrees and become not only responsible lawyers, but also responsible global citizens who are able to competently represent people of all backgrounds.

Get thee to thy fainting couch!  “Irresponsible!”  So if we can get over the vapors, let’s unpack this just a bit.  Glenn responded of his tweet, “sorry, blocking the interstate is dangerous, and trapping people in their cars is a threat. Driving on is self-preservation, especially when we’ve had mobs destroying property and injuring and killing people. But if Twitter doesn’t like me, I’m happy to stop providing them with free content.”

If you don’t live in Charlotte, you have no idea what this highway looks like.  I don’t live in Charlotte, but I work there every day.  I-277 is the loop around the inner city.  Much of it is elevated.  It has concrete sides in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions.  It may as well be an aqueduct or weir.  Once on, it’s difficult to get off, and in the event of a wreck or stalled car, traffic comes to a complete halt for quite a long time.  You’re stuck.  There’s nothing you can do about it.  You can’t decide to get off.  That option has been taken away by circumstances.  Many inner cities are like this, but I-277 is a particularly difficult and risky navigation.

Over lunch today I asked my wife, who was headed into South Charlotte for business (bypassing I-277 thankfully), what would happen to her if she were stopped by rioters.  She knows that she cannot leave the confines of her automobile, she may be dragged to a ditch somewhere and beaten to death.  She knows I-277.  She cannot back up and get away.  She cannot swerve to the shoulder of the highway to avoid the rioters because there is no shoulder.  She knows she cannot simply stay in the car since a crowbar or baseball bat will punch through the glass easily and then it’s just like leaving the car and trying to run from the threat.

Her answer?  “I have to run over them.  I’m sorry.  They are a threat to me at that point.”  If you think otherwise, you’re a naïve simpleton.  You’re not going to hug them into submission, you’re not going to talk to them and tell them you love them and agree with them.  You’ll get the hell beaten out of you.  You’re not going to walk away, or at least, you cannot trust that this option is available to you.  Such trust may get you killed.

I carry weapons and so I’m not quite as concerned for me as I am for my wife who thinks God is going to protect her from threats.  But she gets the point here.  God gave her a foot and accelerator pedal.  If you are put into a position where you have to use them to protect your life, the fault is not your own.  This isn’t about coming together, expressing viewpoints, talking to each other or healing the community.

If Melanie Wilson had ever been in such a position she might think twice about being such a hypocrite with her social justice.

Newsmax:

Leading the troop of Republican lawmakers, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is inching towards a September showdown with the White House over transfer of internet control, according to The Hill.

“To stop the giveaway of our Internet freedom, Congress should act by continuing and by strengthening the appropriations rider in the continuing resolution that we will be considering this month,” said Cruz.

Cruz has already initiated a website warning about the dangers of the Obama administration’s strategy, Politico reports.

This fight with the current government could be a repeat of the 2013 Obamacare fight, according to The Hill, which threatened to plunge the federal government into a financial crisis after passage of the resolution.

The Texas lawmaker warned it can be dangerous if the U.S. ignored the internet powers it enjoyed as countries like Russia, China and Iran would take over. GOP lawmakers don’t want the Obama administration to surrender its authority to ICANN, the global nonprofit organization that manages the internet’s domain name system.

According to The Hill, few Republicans, however, prefer to stay away from the showdown. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are not keen on pursuing the fight to retain internet power.

Go get ’em Ted.  And of course Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan aren’t interested in helping.  They are captains of a den of demons.

As far as I’m concerned, Ted should keep charging until the whole gang of the ne’er-do-wells are hung from the nearest lamp post on Pennsylvania Avenue.

This report comes from The Daily Signal.

In early June, after Lichterman fought back and went public with his story—accusing the bank of participating in Operation Choke Point tactics by discriminating against him because he sells guns—HomeTrust Bank reversed its policy and offered Lichterman an account.

But on June 14, two days after an Islamist-inspired terrorist shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 others in an attack at an Orlando nightclub, the bank again reversed its policy and told Lichterman he couldn’t use their services without completing an “addendum” demanding more information about his business.

The Daily Signal sought comment about this request from HomeTrust Bank via phone and email, but it did not respond.

Among other demands, the addendum, which Lichterman provided to The Daily Signal, asks Lichterman to “submit a complete list of all firearms and ammunitions vendors and customers” that he conducts business with. In part, it reads:

After the first/initial submission subsequent lists are to include all relevant parties since the date of last report. Each list is to specify personal and business names and associated FFL [federal firearms license] numbers and should indicate whether the individual/entity is new or repeat. The list must identify all firearms and ammunitions transaction entities regardless of whether HomeTrust Treasury Management ACH [automated clearinghouse] origination services are used for the transaction.

The list is due no later than the fifth day of the first month in each quarter.

This is a blatant attempt to shut him down, if not at the transactional level, at the legal.  This kind of bullying by the federal executive is still commonplace.  Frank Miniter reports the following.

Many executives at gun manufacturers have told me in off-the-record conversations that their longtime banking relationships have been threatened, even terminated, for political reasons. They say the Obama administration’s “Operation Choke Point” was only a government-led example of a trend. Operation Choke Point is an initiative run by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); basically, the federal government, in this case via a list sent out by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), threatens to penalize financial institutions that do business with companies or company types the government says might be violating the law—this list previously included gun manufacturers and stores that sell firearms.

Even though they were targeted by the federal government and treated as if they are selling illegal (not just politically incorrect to some) products, most of these firearms-related companies prefer not to go public with their grievances—perhaps because they don’t want to draw the wrath of the federal bureaucracy, but also because most marketing departments and corporate boards naturally prefer to keep clear of controversy.

No one wants to rock the boat, and so the outrage continues.  Now it has been expanded to knife manufacturers.  Concerning Hogue, we have this report.

We were just informed that Wells Fargo Bank would not do business with us, refusing to provide their services based on the fact that we manufacture “weapons” (aka knives). Incredibly, this refusal came after THEY initially pursued us to gain our business. Once we had decided to go with Wells Fargo, they then pulled the plug saying they could not provide their services since we manufacture weapons…Needless to say, we are shocked and confused – considering their logo is a stagecoach and driver with a shotgun too! We felt we needed to inform the firearm and knife community of this discriminatory stance Wells Fargo has taken.

The lawyers who work for the DoJ are sworn officers of the court, and are supposed to live by a very specific oath.  It wouldn’t be too much to demand that when this is all said and done, they all go public – every one of them, from the chief executive down to the lowest entry level lawyer who participated in this moral abomination – to stand in front of the world at a press conference and say, in unison, “I am a toad.  I care nothing about the law or a righteous moral compass.  I am unworthy to govern you, but I owe you my servitude.  Therefore, I will be finding each and every company and person who was affected by this and working as your slave for a decade.  Need your car washed?  I’ll do it.  Need pet-sitting?  I’m there.  Need legal paperwork done?  Well, I’m probably not really qualified, but if you’ll let me earn your trust back I’ll do my best.  Give me a small room and I’ll work for mere scraps of food.  For a decade.  Because I am a toad.”

Boston Herald:

Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo says he expects the dispute over Attorney General Maura Healey’s crackdown on so-called copycat assault weapons to ultimately be decided in court.

DeLeo on Saturday ruled out any House action on the gun issue as lawmakers held their final formal sessions of the year.

The Democratic speaker also said Rep. John Fernandes, a Milford Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Healey asking her to clarify under what authority she acted when she recently sent an enforcement letter to gun dealers.

Gun rights advocates have challenged Healey’s crackdown. The Democrat says the sale of “copy” or “duplicate” weapons are illegal under the state’s assault weapons ban.

DeLeo says he’s not sure if Healey overstepped her authority and expects the courts to decide.

The House could impeach her, or they could pass a law that fired her, or they could clarify that she cannot implement the law as she plans, or better yet, they could repeal all guns laws and prove themselves on the side of liberty.  They could even pass a resolution demanding that she be tarred and feathered.

But any of these things apparently take too much courage.  John Adams famously observed that the American constitution “was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  You can add to that leading the American system requires at least a modicum of courage.

That the speaker of the house would defer to the courts is disgraceful and cowardly.  It is things like this that will ultimately end the great American experiment.

Via Uncle.