Sunday, January 27, 2013

ABC's Martha Raddatz hosts Sen. Bob Menendez, fails to ask about FBI investigation into his alleged dalliances with underage hookers

Alternate headline: Exhibit 9,036 proving that the media is a fully-owned subsidiary of the federal government

ABC’s This Week invited Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) on the show this weekend to discuss current issues.

On Friday the news broke that the FBI has been investigating top Democratic Senator Bob Menendez for engaging in sex with underage Dominican hookers on junkets with a wealthy Democrat donor.

For some reason the ABC host Martha Raddatz forgot to ask Menendez about the hooker scandal.


That’s outrageous. You could imagine the grilling this man would get if he had an “R” behind his name instead of a “D”. Instead, ABC willfully keeps the public in the dark on this horrific scandal.

The federal government and the media have formally merged into a single, holistic entity bent on destroying the Constitution of the United States.

Which is why I urge all regular Americans to boycott ABC, NBC, CBS and the rest of the alphabet channels. Never watch them. Never link them. Never refer to them.

They deserve nothing but your ridicule.


UNITE OR PERISH: How to be a force-multiplier

An important presentation spotted over at RedState.


Read it, pass it on, and -- most importantly -- take action.


Understanding Obama [Richardson]

By H.L. "Bill" Richardson

To understand what Obama is doing on the gun issue and other programs the administration is advocating, one must understand the Hegelian dialectic, the principle of "advancing to goals through retreat."

It works as follows: Demand everything, push ahead and persist! Then when the opposition becomes formidable, continue to advance until it becomes obvious that the entire goal is in jeopardy, then suddenly back away, giving the appearance of being reasonable and open to "compromise." Then, continue to be tough while "compromising," until you get as much as you can.

Obama's opposition, the moderate Republicans, hate being controversial, and the weakest members of the opposition are the first willing to cave in -- and usually do. Lenin described this technique as driving a nail with a hammer, the backward stroke away from the nail is as important as the downward stroke in achieving the goal.

The second technique is to say anything or use anyone to achieve your goal. Truth to a socialist atheist is say or do whatever's necessary to accomplish their goal. There is no such thing as God, or right or wrong. To an atheist, we're nothing more than graduate animals, mere accidents of nature. Truth is a relative term. "Truth" then, is working for total governmental control, and it's obvious to the Left that the "end justifies the means."

One can climb the highest mountain if you take two steps up and one step back. Look how far the Left has climbed using Marxian techniques.

The way one fights the Obama's in the world is to, politely, stay in their face, not giving an inch while organizing the public into joining the fight. Then we work to inform people of the techniques the Left is using and expose the moral bankruptcy of their beliefs. We're in the fight of our life for the future of America. Remember Winston Churchill's famous comment. Never, never give in!


H.L. "Bill" Richardson founded the Second Amendment defense organization Gun Owners of America in 1975.

Racist Tea Party Extremist and Tiananmen Square Survivor Eviscerates Democrat Gun-Banners Feinstein, Schumer and Obama

Last week, a firsthand survivor of tyranny offered a unique perspective on the Second Amendment. His short, powerful speech should be seen and heard by every regular American (drones and other irregular Americans can skip it, it's over their heads).


"When government has all the guns, it has all the rights... Do not give up the fight, my friends. It maybe a small step to give up your rifles and 30-round magazines, but it will be a giant leap in the destruction of this great Republic."


Hat tip: Vicki.

What can and must be done about the media

An important post at Ace of Spades deserves our focused attention. Its title -- "We Must Do Something About The Media" -- hints at some trademark snark, but its theme is deadly serious.

I've mentioned this before, but I'm truly alarmed about it: What we are witnessing is the full and seamless fusion of media power with government power.

...The media no longer hides it in their actions. They are fully fused with the Obama Administration and DNC. The only way in which they do hide it is by simply lying when confronted about it: They'll issue a snide denial, then go about doing precisely what it is they were accused of doing.

...it is dangerous and ultimately fatal for democracy for media power to fuse with government power, that the adversarial press is vital.


...The media considers its adversarial function to consist of serving as adversaries to critics of Obama and the Democrats; thus Terry Moran shaming himself by rushing out to ask what right a Senator has to question the Secretary of State on matters of foreign policy.

...This is dark, and dangerous, and will lead to horrors. It always has [led] to horrors before.

...Consider: The government locked up a filmmaker because the filmmaker expressed his free speech rights in a way the president found politically problematic. Not only has the press shown no fears about this, they've actively campaigned for the man's jailing.

That's frightening. Even if you come down on the side that the guy did what he's accused of and all that... to have absolutely no trepidation about the government jailing people primarily for their Speech Crimes? That's something.

...I don't think I'm being alarmist. At every point in history when media power has fused with government power -- whether involuntarily or, for one of the first times in history, now voluntarily -- it has resulted in disaster and misery.

So do we just sit there and take it? I'm no genius, but here are a few ideas for actions that each of us can take:

• If you have a subscription to any newspaper that advances the Statist agenda -- The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe foremost among them -- cancel that subscription. Enthusiastically encourage subscribers you know to cancel as well, even if they have no particular ideological bent. Tell them they can save money by reading the news on their iPad.

• For television, ignore all news programs save those on the Fox News Channel. Your cable box is likely sending your viewing information back to corporate headquarters. So don't give any ratings whatsoever to any of the alphabet channels' news program, or their insipid Sunday Talk Shows, or any of their propaganda efforts. Don't watch any of the Statist media's news shows. Ratings matter -- and each one of us can make a difference.

• Subscribe to Investors Business Daily, American Spectator, and other conservative outlets.

• Support new media outlets like PJTV by signing up or offering financial assistance.

• Don't take your favorite blogs and news sites for granted: many sites offer a voluntary "subscription" donation via PayPal. Even very small donations can help (and, no, that's not a personal bleg).

If you agree, tell your family members, friends and like-minded colleagues about the plan. It's time to stick it to the government's media complex. Each of us can make a difference.


Larwyn's Linx: Hands Off My Gun

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Hands Off My Gun: Mamet
Cruz: Conservatism is ‘on the verge of a rebirth’: DC
Most Gun Owners Would Defy Confiscation: MB

Long Lines, Ammunition Shortages at Orange County Gun Show: AmPower
White House/OFA gun-control project off to inauspicious start: Hot Air
Surprise: Obama goes shooting 'all the time', he claims: Breitbart

Economy

Boomtown: DC passes Silicon Valley for highest median income: Breitbart
Obama Violating His Own ‘Stimulus’ Law, Failing to Publish Reports: WS
Rahm Emanuel to Banks: No More Credit for Gun Manufacturers: Tatler

Government Caused Housing Bubble, 2008 Global Crisis: Sentinel
DC Circuit gets it right on NLRB appointments: DC
Gold Imports Strain India's Finances and Social Fabric: Cutting Edge

Ted Cruz's Advice for GOP Lawmakers: Corner
Senators whine "No Budget, No Pay" is unfair to their family budgets: WyBlog
Military brass being destroyed illegally to harm civilian ammo market?: Owens

Scandal Central

Obama to Top Brass: “Will You Fire on American Citizens?”: Loudon
White House dismisses high-stakes legal defeat: DC
Rep.: State Department Officials Responsible for Benghazi Failures on Paid Vacation: Breitbart

Climate & Energy

"Republocrats and Demicans?" Think Again...: BigLizards
Mann overboard! Pot, kettle, conspiracy edition: Watts
Insidious, Fluffy Global Warming Leaves Hundreds Stranded Overnight on M6: BBC

Media

According to ABC News, Most Stolen Guns End Up With Criminals: Tatler
Black Voices on the Gun Issue: Ayoob
Daniel Hannan Is One Of The Reasons We Don’t Lose Hope: RSM

How to Debate Paul Krugman: "Ask Questions Like a Child": Mish
Schools’ ‘Zero Tolerance’ Weapons Policies Used To Bully Innocent Children: ConMom
Another of Ezra Klein’s 12 "Facts" About Guns. Fact? Not so Much.: Bystanders

Mickelson Chokes: Reagan
Gun Stats: Ace
Charles Krauthammer at The NRI Summit: Nice Deb

World

Apes, Pigs, and F-16s: McCarthy
Who's afraid of Michele Bachmann?: Breitbart
Hillary: What difference does it make?: Wisdom

“I’m gonna miss ya, take a memo:”: MOTUS
Khamenei aide: Attack on Syria is an attack on Iran: JPost
Israel vows Syria strike at any sign of chemical arms transfer: Reuters

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Starting Today, It's Illegal to Unlock Your Cellphone: ABC
Hacking is ‘Reddit revenge’: Post
Japan to start 4K TV broadcast in July 2014-report: Reuters

Cornucopia

William Ayers' forgotten communist manifesto: Prairie Fire: Zombie
FBI Director: I Have to Check to See If Obama Has the Right to Kill Americans in America: Fox
War Crimes: How Nazis Escaped Justice in South America: Spiegel

Image: American Power
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Stand and Fight

QOTD: "Writing for the panel, Chief Judge David Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit said the NLRB appointments of Sharon Block, Terence Flynn and Richard Griffin, made without Senate consideration in January 2012, were "invalid from their inception" because the U.S. Senate had not gone into recess. The Senate, at the time, was meeting in "pro forma" sessions every three business days.

The "inescapable conclusion," Sentelle said, was that "the Framers intended something specific by the term 'the Recess,' and that it was something different than a generic break in proceedings."

Sentelle and his colleagues, judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Thomas Griffith, rejected several interpretations of "the recess," including whether the phrase refers to "some substantial passage of time, such as a ten- or twenty-day break." Defining "the recess" as an adjournment of more than three days, the appeals court said, "lacks any constitutional basis."

"We will not do violence to the Constitution by ignoring the Framers’ choice of words," Sentelle wrote." --Blog of Legal Times

Saturday, January 26, 2013

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER SLAPDOWN FOR WHITE HOUSE: EPA slammed for mandating use of nonexistent biofuels

It seems like just yesterday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit blasted President Obama's unprecedented act of claiming the Senate was in recess to place unpopular appointees on the National Labor Relations Board. Oh, that's right. It was just yesterday.

Slamming the administration in a blistering unanimous decision, Chief Judge David Sentelle wrote, "We will not do violence to the Constitution by ignoring the Framers’ choice of words."

Early this morning, The Daily Caller reports, another federal judge slammed the Obama EPA for mandating the use of nonexistent biofuels. Go figure.

A federal court delivered a serious blow to the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel agenda, ruling that the agency exceeded its authority by mandating refiners use cellulosic biofuels, which isn’t commercially available.

The court sided with the country’s chief oil and gas lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, in striking down the 2012 EPA mandate that would have forced refineries to purchase more than $8 million in credits for 8.65 million of gallons of the cellulosic biofuel. However, none of the biofuel is commercially available.

“[W]e agree with API that EPA’s 2012 projection of cellulosic biofuel production was in excess of the agency’s statutory authority,” reads the court decision...

The Obama administration is operating without any concern for the law. I believe that they have failed to consider the full implications of their behavior.

Lawlessness begets lawlessness. Which explains rallies like this one.


And signs like this.


If a president operates with reckless disregard for the law, why would the citizenry behave any differently?


Rahm Emanuel, Noted Gun Violence Expert and Mayor of the Country's Murder Capital, Calls For National Boycott of Chicago

If the Chicago gun crime dashboard at HeyJackass.com is any indication, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is the world's foremost expert on gun violence. His "zero-tolerance" policies (for law-abiding gun owners) have left the city awash in blood.


This may explain why he's lecturing the rest of us on the best way to prevent gun violence -- after all, his plans have worked so well in Chicago -- and lobbying to erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights.

Rahm Emanuel to Banks: No More Credit for Gun Manufacturers


Back in July, Rahm Emanuel attempted to shut Chick-fil-A out of Chicago because the owner didn’t agree with his personal views regarding gay marriage. He had asked city officials to block their ability to build.

Now, the Master of the Chicago Way is at it again, this time attacking legal and law abiding gun makers. He has requested that several large banking institutions no longer offer lines of credit to manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson until they agree to his proposals on gun control.

...If corporations and financial institutions continue to be intimidated by the Chicago style threats and bullying we have come to expect from Emanuel and this administration in general, we are in serious trouble. There is no longer any need for them to legislate anything when they are able to use propaganda and manipulation to shut down anything they do not agree with, legal or not. This is starting to set an incredibly dangerous precedent for the future of this country.

There are, of course, things we can still do.

The way I read this story, Emanuel is calling for a national boycott of Chicago.

Consider: there are only about 80 million gun owners in the United States. By slamming all of those law-abiding gun owners, Emanuel has very effectively called for a nationwide boycott of his own city. And I, for one, am more than happy to oblige.


WHY ARE AMERICANS ARMING UP? A Supreme Court Justice and a Despot Explain

In the last two months, Americans have purchased enough weapons to outfit the entire Chinese and Indian armies combined.

We are in danger of forgetting that the Bill of Rights reflects experience with police excesses. It is not only under Nazi rule that police excesses are inimical to freedom. It is easy to make light of insistence on scrupulous regard for the safeguards of civil liberties when invoked on behalf of the unworthy. It is too easy.

History bears testimony that by such disregard are the rights of liberty extinguished, heedlessly at first, then stealthily, and brazenly in the end.

--Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter

The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing.

--Adolph Hitler


Via: Stephen P. Halbrook (PDF).

THE DIVERSION: What are the Democrats really after with Dianne Feinstein's gun-ban bill?

There's a consensus building, across the political aisle, that Dianne Feinstein's gun-ban bill is DOA, in a manner of speaking.

That said, what are the Statists really after? Bob Owens suspects they seek to negotiate several important restrictions as a solid start down the road to a de facto repeal of the Second Amendment.

...What Feinstein and her fellow bullies want is to browbeat legislators to “compromise.”

... In Democratese, “compromise” is when they demand a dozen liberties be stripped from you, and give the most outlandish rights away and “accept” just one or two of your freedoms being stripped away.

The apparent real targets of the various Democratic bans floating through Washington are:

Bans of standard capacity magazines

A national gun registry

tracking, limiting sales of ammunition, or stopping online sales of ammunition

...Do not allow your congressperson or Senator to compromise away your rights to standard capacity magazines, which are a necessary part of the kit for a “well-regulated militia.”

...Do not allow your congressperson or Senator to create a nation gun registry. Registries exist as a prerequisite for confiscation, which allowed the unopposed democide of 262 million souls in the 20th Century alone.

...Do not allow your congressperson or Senator to pass legislation tracking or limiting the sale of ammunition, and do not let them stop the online sales of ammunition. It serves no purpose in stopping street crime, and only serves to give the government more power over the people.

There must be no compromise with these Statists. None of these laws would have had any bearing on the tragic actions of a suicidal madman in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

But, then again, Democrats aren't interested in what works: Chicago's skyrocketing murder rate is proof of that. They're interested in seizing more of your liberty and consolidating more power in Washington.

Mark Levin suggests that the House of Representatives bring Feinstein's bill up for a vote so that Democrat lawmakers can be put on record once the bill is defeated. This would allow the House to table the Democrats' gun-grabbing nonsense and instead focus on the nation's imminent fiscal collapse.

Levin's is a perfectly sound idea, which is why the RINO establishment is certain to ignore it. Call your Congressman now and demand the Speaker put Feinstein's bill up for a vote. It's time to end this charade and start addressing the nation's real problems.


Larwyn's Linx: Gun control is about control, not guns

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

Gun control is about control, not guns: Lucente
Empty gun stores shelves, empty words and memories of ObamaCare: Wolf
Feinstein Measure Will Permanently Ban Semi-Autos: GunMag

Appeals court unanimously rebukes Obama on recess appointments: Hot Air
Obama’s Union-Controlled NLRB Thumbs Nose At Court Ruling: RS
White House: The DC Circuit Court has made its NLRB decision…: RS

Eva Longoria: Washington Power Player?: RWN
“Rigging” the electoral system only is bad when it hurts Democrats: LI
Schumer Asks Retailers for Moratorium on Gun Sales: RtPlanet

Assault Weapon Pride: Haus of Guns
Gun Owners Refuse to Register Under New York Law: NewAm
Mississippi Bill Seeks ‘Nullification’ of Unconstitutional Federal Laws: Sooper

Economy

Rotten to the Core (Part 2): Readin’, Writin’ and Deconstructionism: Malkin
GEICO Does Its Part in the War on Guns: MB
Yes, Mr. President, We Are a Nation of Takers: WSJ

Heads up: bad news about Scott Walker’s new budget numbers…: Moe Lane
Obama Inc Trying to Use Banks to Destroy Gun Manufacturers: FPM
Top 10 Reasons to Oppose Jack Lew for Treasury Secretary: FW

Only Progressives could believe that robots will destroy the economy: Bookworm
Scam Complete: The US Government Takes A Page From Diocletian’s Book: ZH
Hey smokers, has anyone told you about Obamacare's 50% insurance premium surcharge yet?: WyBlog

Scandal Central

"We know what happened in Benghazi now... but what we don't know is why we were misled.": Althouse
Emails: FBI investigating Sen. Bob Menendez for sleeping with underage Dominican prostitutes: DC
Naturally: Dianne Feinstein’s Gun Control Bill Exempts People Like… Dianne Feinstein: Powers

Climate & Energy

Washington Post and Business Owners Back Keystone XL Pipeline: FreeEnt
The Impact Of Fracking On America’s Economy… From Space: Gas2
Coming soon, the car that runs on air: Peugeot Citroen unveil new 117mpg hybrid: Daily Mail

Media

Are We Going Backwards?: Sarah
Another ‘High-Capacity’ Magazine Ban Would Not Reduce Crime Rates – Get The Facts: AmmoLand
Feinstein’s “Gun Control” Law Goes For Broke, Treats Gun Owners As Criminals: Cove

World

Rand Paul: “Any attack on Israel will be treated as an attack on the United States”: Blogmocracy
Ex-Iranian diplomat warns Israel: If Iran gets the bomb, it will fire on you: Times of Israel
Islam’s Shame – Modern Day Slave Trading: Creeping

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Cisco to sell Linksys to Belkin, will exit home networking market: Ars Technica
Verizon Wireless sells Lower 700MHz spectrum to AT&T for $1.9 billion: ExtremeTech
Researchers create first non-toxic super-gel that could revolutionize medicine: ExtremeTech

Cornucopia

The 2nd Amendment According to Senator Feinstein: Great Satan, Inc.
Driving on empty: How far your car can go with the gas light on: Yahoo! Autos
Matt Damon continues pranking Jimmy Kimmel: Post

Image: "Message to Barry from Tahrir Square"
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Join the NRA Today!

QOTD: "After Democrats in New York rammed a sweeping assault on the right to keep and bear arms through the legislature that failed to exempt police officers from the draconian restrictions, gun owners and even some lawmakers are planning what has been dubbed potentially the largest act of civil disobedience in state history. According to news reports, gun rights activists are urging everyone to defy far-left Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new registration mandate while daring authorities to “come and take it.”...

...Preparations are already being made for mass resistance. “I’ve heard from hundreds of people that they’re prepared to defy the law, and that number will be magnified by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, when the registration deadline comes,’’ said President Brian Olesen with American Shooters Supply, among the biggest gun dealers in the state, in an interview with the New York Post." --Alex Newman

Friday, January 25, 2013

WHY DO THEY DESPISE THE BILL OF RIGHTS? Gun dealers report Intuit has stopped processing credit-card payments

Why does Intuit hate America? And it's not just Intuit: it seems there are several companies whose management teams hate America.

Is that assertion controversial?

I don't think so. These companies benefit from America's free-market system. Its respect for private property and the rule of law.

But they hate America's founding document, the Declaration of Independence. And they despise America's highest law, the Constitution.

How else to explain their animosity for the Bill of Rights and, most of all, the Second Amendment? Are they simply currying favor with the current administration? Are they fans of authoritarianism? Or are they just dimwits?

The usual suspects in this melee are two auto insurers, Geico and Progressive.

You can now add to the list -- at least based upon this news report -- Intuit, makers of Quicken and related offerings.

A Williamson County gun dealer recently learned a credit card processing company no longer wants to do business with him... McMillan is a has a federal firearms license and is heavily regulated by both the state and federal governments.

But McMillan received an email from Intuit Payment solutions informing him the company was no longer interested in processing his credit card sales.

"They either reviewed several accounts, or it was a company wide policy, because I wasn't the only federal firearms license dealer that got pushed out the other day," McMillan said.

In the email the company wrote "Intuit does not support the services you are providing" and then the reason stated was firearms, ammunition, gun parts and accessories sales not sold in a face-to-face environment with the credit card being swiped.

McMillan does not know the exact reason behind the policy change, but speculated the nationwide gun debate may be behind the move.

...NewsChannel 5 tried contacted Intuit to get a comment about the company's email to McMillan. No one from Intuit returned messages.

Of course not. It will take each of us, expressing our disgust with their actions, to reform these kinds of companies.


Hat tip: BB.

HEY, SMOKERS: Did the President forget to tell you about the 50% surcharge on your health insurance?

Why, I'll be damned: Nancy Pelosi was right. We really did have to pass it, like a kidney stone, to find out what was in it.

Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama's health care law, according to experts who are just now teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation.

The Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to its detractors — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1... For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year. A 60-year-old could wind up paying nearly $5,100 on top of premiums.

...the law [also] allows insurers to charge older adults up to three times as much as their youngest customers.

Second, the law allows insurers to levy the full 50 percent penalty on older smokers while charging less to younger ones.

And finally, government tax credits that will be available to help pay premiums cannot be used to offset the cost of penalties for smokers.

But don't worry: this has to be fair. Because all smokers are rich.

And we hate the rich.


HECKUVA JOB, NAPPY: DHS Lets Naturalized Terrorists, Spies and Criminals Keep Their Citizenship

Well, this is a man-caused disaster waiting to happen:

An astonishing number of naturalized U.S. citizens have been convicted of grave national security crimes—including terrorism, espionage and theft of sensitive technology—yet the government allows them to keep their American citizenship.

As unfathomable as this may seem it’s simply business as usual in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the massive agency created after 9/11 to keep the nation safe. The agency rarely strips foreigners of citizenship even when they prove to be national security threats who hustle the system. In fact, DHS has no system in place to examine such cases or weed out future threats.

The alarming details of this inept operation are outlined in a scathing report (“Upholding the Value of Our Citizenship: National Security Threats Should Be Denaturalized”) published this week by an organization that researches legal and illegal immigration into the United States. DHS rarely denaturalizes individuals, even after they have committed serious national security offenses, the probe found.

This can't come as any surprise to those following the career of Janet Napolitano. She has consistently refused to enforce the nation's immigration laws and has illegally concealed documents related to the agency's activities.

Because with this crew, it's all about consolidating power by changing the electorate. It has nothing to do with enforcing America's laws.


NEW YORKERS TO ANDREW CUOMO: Molon Labe

It would appear that many New Yorkers -- including some law enforcement officials -- are prepared to tell Governor Andrew Cuomo and his merry band of Statists to stuff their unconstitutional gun ban.

After Democrats in New York rammed a sweeping assault on the right to keep and bear arms through the legislature that failed to exempt police officers from the draconian restrictions, gun owners and even some lawmakers are planning what has been dubbed potentially the largest act of civil disobedience in state history. According to news reports, gun rights activists are urging everyone to defy far-left Governor Andrew Cuomo’s new registration mandate while daring authorities to “come and take it.”...

...Preparations are already being made for mass resistance. “I’ve heard from hundreds of people that they’re prepared to defy the law, and that number will be magnified by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, when the registration deadline comes,’’ said President Brian Olesen with American Shooters Supply, among the biggest gun dealers in the state, in an interview with the New York Post."

Lawlessness, after all, begets lawlessness.

[The Post] quotes a Cuomo administration official admitting, "Many of these assault-rifle owners aren’t going to register; we realize that." Which means that state officials were merely posturing rather than entirely ignorant of history when they penned the law and jammed it through. As I've written before, gun laws traditionally breed massive levels of non-compliance — even in places where you might think people have no strong history of personal arms, or of resistance to the state, When Germany imposed gun registration in 1972, the country's officials managed to get paperwork on all of 3.2 million firearms out of an estimated 17-20 million guns in civilian hands. Californians may have registered as many as ten percent of the "assault weapons" they owned when that state imposed registration in 1990 (though the New York Times put the figure rather lower, at about 7,000 out of an estimated 300,000 guns covered by the law).

The reason for such reticence isn't hard to fathom. When gun owners charge that politicians can't be trusted to resist using registration lists for future confiscation, they're not being paranoid — New York City and California have both done just that.

Political officials might want to consider those experiences, as well as a recent poll finding two-thirds of Americans willing to defy tighter gun restrictions, before setting themselves up for public demonstrations of their impotence in the face of mass defiance.

The Left's hatred of the Bill of Rights -- represented in this case by Andrew Cuomo -- is one reason why iOwnTheWorld's Molon Labe T-shirts are selling like hotcakes on a cold winter morning. And why AR-15 mags have a year's worth of back-orders.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Larwyn's Linx: Military Leaders Who Will Fire on U.S. Citizens

Send us tips! Bloggers: install a Larwyn's Linx widget. Get real-time news, 24/7, at BadBlue.

Nation

"Military leaders who ‘will fire on U.S. citizens'": Wisdom
If we don't address the debt, there will be totalitarianism: Scoop
Feinstein calls for banning more than 150 types of firearms: DC

Filibuster Deal Hits Rights to Debate Judicial Nominees: Foundry
Reid… does not *cave* on the filibuster. Rather, he *disengages*.: Lane
Watergate-era Judiciary chief of staff: Hillary Clinton fired for lies: CFP

An enormous mistake: women in combat roles: Hawkins
No Shots Fired: Blaze
Manchin backpedals on gun control after constitutents confront him: Hot Air

Economy

Health insurance brokers prepare clients for Obamacare sticker shock: AEI
Gallup: Americans Most Negative On Nation And Economy In 30 Years: Aces
Is it time to start talking about a depression?: BBC

Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Up 257% Under Obama: CNS
The Progressive Vision, Clearly Exposed, Doesn't Work: Elephant
Union Bosses' Bad Week: RS

Scandal Central

Sandy victims still freezing their butts off in Obamaville: WyBlog
Hmmm: John Boehner Knows About the Libyan Gun trafficking But Somehow Hillary Doesn’t?: Nice Deb
Rumor: Obama to Shut Down Southern Air Defense Systems: SHTFplan

Media

We Must Do Something About The Media: Ace
DiFi’s Ban on “Assault Rifles” Not Likely to Pass so What’s the Real Agenda?: Nice Deb
Live Inside Your Head, Rent-Free: RSM

Sneak Preview: "Boomtown: Washington, the Imperial City": Breitbart
CNN's Berman on Benghazi: 'Don't the Facts Always Make a Difference?': NB
While David Gregory Gets Off Scot-Free, DC Man Who Used Gun to Save Kid May Be Charged: NB

World

Hillary Lets the Jihadist Cat Out of the Bag: FPM
UK names Israel a 'country of concern' for 'human rights' violations twice as bad as Iran: Matzav
UN expert investigates US drone attacks, targeted killings involving civilians: Fox

Report: Major explosion hits Iran's underground Fordow nuclear facility after it crosses 'red line': Matzav
Senators, Hillary Miss The Point at Hearing: Morris
Where Are The Witnesses Who Survived Benghazi?: Glob

Sci-Tech (courtesy BadBlue.com/Tech)

Google Wants to Own the Airwaves, Now: AtlWire
Twitter unveils Vine, its six-second Instagram for video: CNet
Create a secure browsing session on any Windows computer: NetSec

Cornucopia

If it weren’t for low integrity...: MOTUS
Hillary's 2016 Campaign Starts Today!: American Digest
Wisconsin Man Wearing "Breathalyzer" T-Shirt Arrested For Sixth Time For Drunk Driving: TSG

Image: Harry Reid
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: PJ TV

QOTD: "When we look at how our government has responded to the night of September 11 in Benghazi, Libya, we see there are truly no standards any more.

If the decision making before, during, and after the Benghazi attack is insufficient to get anyone fired, what decision in government will ever warrant that consequence? If Democrats on Capitol Hill can't take off their partisan blinders for one day to attempt to hold people accountable for decision-making that resulted in American deaths at the hands of extremists, and then lying to the public about it, then when will they ever? If Hillary Clinton can exclaim that it doesn't matter that the administration spent five days talking about a video when the video had nothing to do with it, and everyone on her side applauds, why should she or anyone else ever respond to an accusation with anything but audacious defiance?

This is it, folks. This is the government we have, and the lack of a public outcry about Benghazi ensures this is the government we will have for the foreseeable future." --Jim Geraghty

Bonus QOTD: "The true source of Obama's power is completely overlooked (or willfully ignored) by the GOP, perhaps because it is too terrifying to contemplate, too awesome to engage: that he has completely removed an investigative and anti-authoritarian media (in Mencken's famous adage, one committed in part "to afflicting the comfortable") from the political dynamic. Obama operates with the most massive propaganda arm ever been seen in modern history. He is essentially invulnerable. At no point did Romney/Ryan come close to addressing this sick truth so dangerous to our society and freedoms. Nor do any other Republicans. Breitbart alone found expression for his moral outrage and developed a plan of counter-attack. Since he died, however, the game has gone back to carping and chronicling "media bias." We need a battle plan." --rrpjr

Thursday, January 24, 2013

PLAIN TEXT FORMAT: The Feinstein Gun Ban Bill of 2013

The following is the full overview of Dianne Feinstein's proposed gun ban. There are several key differences between this bill and the original (failed) assault weapons ban of 1994:

• This time around, virtually every sporting rifle imaginable is banned;

• And the sale of all high-cap magazines will be prohibited, period.

Last time around, high-cap magazines manufactured before the ban could still be legally bought and sold, albeit at outrageous prices. Now, if my reading is correct, high-cap mags will only be available to criminals who somehow failed to read the latest Congressional Record.

 Assault Weapons Ban of 2013


The legislation bans the sale, transfer, manufacturing and importation of:


All semiautomatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: pistol grip; forward grip; folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; barrel shroud; or threaded barrel.



All semiautomatic pistols that can accept a detachable magazine and have at least one military feature: threaded barrel; second pistol grip; barrel shroud; capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip; or semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm.



All semiautomatic rifles and handguns that have a fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds.


All semiautomatic shotguns that have a folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; pistol grip; fixed magazine with the capacity to accept more than 5 rounds; ability to accept a detachable magazine; forward grip; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; or shotgun with a revolving cylinder.


All ammunition feeding devices (magazines, strips, and drums) capable of accepting more than 10 rounds.


157 specifically-named firearms (listed at the end of this document).


 


The legislation excludes the following weapons from the bill:


 Any weapon that is lawfully possessed at the date of the bill’s enactment;


 Any firearm manually operated by a bolt, pump, lever or slide action;


 Assault weapons used by military, law enforcement, and retired law enforcement; and


Antique weapons.


 


The legislation protects hunting and sporting firearms:


 The bill excludes 2,258 legitimate hunting and sporting rifles and shotguns by specific make and model.


The legislation strengthens the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban and state bans by:


 Moving from a 2-characteristic test to a 1-characteristic test.


o The bill also makes the ban harder to evade by eliminating the easy-to-remove bayonet mounts and flash suppressors from the characteristics test.


 Banning dangerous aftermarket modifications and workarounds.


o Bump or slide fire stocks, which are modified stocks that enable semi-automatic weapons to fire at rates similar to fully automatic machine guns.


o So-called “bullet buttons” that allow the rapid replacement of ammunition magazines, frequently used as a workaround to prohibitions on detachable magazines.


o Thumbhole stocks, a type of stock that was created as a workaround to avoid prohibitions on pistol grips.


 Adding a ban on the importation of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.


 Eliminating the 10-year sunset that allowed the original federal ban to expire.


 


The legislation addresses the millions of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines currently in existence by:


 Requiring a background check on all sales or transfers of a grandfathered assault weapon.


o This background check can be run through the FBI or, if a state chooses, initiated with a state agency, as with the existing background check system.


 Prohibiting the sale or transfer of large-capacity ammunition feeding devices lawfully possessed on the date of enactment of the bill.


 Allowing states and localities to use federal Byrne JAG grant funds to conduct a voluntary buy-back program for grandfathered assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices.


 Imposing a safe storage requirement for grandfathered firearms, to keep them away from prohibited persons.


 Requiring that assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition feeding devices manufactured after the date of the bill’s enactment be engraved with the serial number and date of manufacture of the weapon


 


List of Firearms Prohibited by Name


Rifles: All AK types, including the following: AK, AK47, AK47S, AK–74, AKM, AKS, ARM, MAK90, MISR, NHM90, NHM91, Rock River Arms LAR–47, SA85, SA93, Vector Arms AK–47, VEPR, WASR–10, and WUM, IZHMASH Saiga AK, MAADI AK47 and ARM, Norinco 56S, 56S2, 84S, and 86S, Poly Technologies AK47 and AKS; All AR types, including the following: AR–10, AR–15, Armalite M15 22LR Carbine, Armalite M15–T, Barrett REC7, Beretta AR–70, Bushmaster ACR, Bushmaster Carbon 15, Bushmaster MOE series, Bushmaster XM15, Colt Match Target Rifles, DoubleStar AR rifles, DPMS Tactical Rifles, Heckler & Koch MR556, Olympic Arms, Remington R–15 rifles, Rock River Arms LAR–15, Sig Sauer SIG516 rifles, Smith & Wesson M&P15 Rifles, Stag Arms AR rifles, Sturm, Ruger & Co. SR556 rifles; Barrett M107A1; Barrett M82A1; Beretta CX4 Storm; Calico Liberty Series; CETME Sporter; Daewoo K–1, K–2, Max 1, Max 2, AR 100, and AR 110C; Fabrique Nationale/FN Herstal FAL, LAR, 22 FNC, 308 Match, L1A1 Sporter, PS90, SCAR, and FS2000; Feather Industries AT–9; Galil Model AR and Model ARM; Hi-Point Carbine; HK–91, HK–93, HK–94, HK–PSG–1 and HK USC; Kel-Tec Sub–2000, SU–16, and RFB; SIG AMT, SIG PE–57, Sig Sauer SG 550, and Sig Sauer SG 551; Springfield Armory SAR–48; Steyr AUG; Sturm, Ruger Mini-14 Tactical Rife M–14/20CF; All Thompson rifles, including the following: Thompson M1SB, Thompson T1100D, Thompson T150D, Thompson T1B, Thompson T1B100D, Thompson T1B50D, Thompson T1BSB, Thompson T1–C, Thompson T1D, Thompson T1SB, Thompson T5, Thompson T5100D, Thompson TM1, Thompson TM1C; UMAREX UZI Rifle; UZI Mini Carbine, UZI Model A Carbine, and UZI Model B Carbine; Valmet M62S, M71S, and M78; Vector Arms UZI Type; Weaver Arms Nighthawk; Wilkinson Arms Linda Carbine.


Pistols: All AK–47 types, including the following: Centurion 39 AK pistol, Draco AK–47 pistol, HCR AK–47 pistol, IO Inc. Hellpup AK–47 pistol, Krinkov pistol, Mini Draco AK–47 pistol, Yugo Krebs Krink pistol; All AR–15 types, including the following: American Spirit AR–15 pistol, Bushmaster Carbon 15 pistol, DoubleStar Corporation AR pistol, DPMS AR–15 pistol, Olympic Arms AR–15 pistol, Rock River Arms LAR 15 pistol; Calico Liberty pistols; DSA SA58 PKP FAL pistol; Encom MP–9 and MP–45; Heckler & Koch model SP-89 pistol; Intratec AB–10, TEC–22 Scorpion, TEC–9, and TEC–DC9; Kel-Tec PLR 16 pistol; The following MAC types: MAC–10, MAC–11; Masterpiece Arms MPA A930 Mini Pistol, MPA460 Pistol, MPA Tactical Pistol, and MPA Mini Tactical Pistol; Military Armament Corp. Ingram M–11, Velocity Arms VMAC; Sig Sauer P556 pistol; Sites Spectre; All Thompson types, including the following: Thompson TA510D, Thompson TA5; All UZI types, including: Micro-UZI.


Shotguns: Franchi LAW–12 and SPAS 12; All IZHMASH Saiga 12 types, including the following: IZHMASH Saiga 12, IZHMASH Saiga 12S, IZHMASH Saiga 12S EXP–01, IZHMASH Saiga 12K, IZHMASH Saiga 12K–030, IZHMASH Saiga 12K–040 Taktika; Streetsweeper; Striker 12.


Belt-fed semiautomatic firearms: All belt-fed semiautomatic firearms including TNW M2HB.


In other words, irrespective of actual utility or functionality, all scary-looking guns are banned.

As for high-cap magazines, a father can't legally give one to his son.

Should this bill pass, the stage is set for gun confiscation. Which is, of course, the Democrats' true goal. If they can obliterate the Second Amendment, disposing of the remaining Bill of Rights is cake.


NOW THEY TELL US: U.S. Faces "a Growing Jihadist Threat"--Hillary

The indefatigable Robert Spencer highlights a key snippet of Hillary Clinton's Benghazi rope-a-dope testimony.

After four years of pretending there is no jihad against the free world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blurted out the truth during her testimony on the Benghazi jihad massacre Wednesday: “We now face a spreading jihadist threat,” she said, adding: “We have to recognize this is a global movement.”

We do? Yet the Obama administration has for years steadfastly and repeatedly denied both that there was a jihadist threat at all and that it was a global movement. So far has the Obama administration been from acknowledging that there was a jihad threat that less than two months into Obama’s first term, on March 16, 2009, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted proudly that in her first testimony to Congress, “I did not use the word ‘terrorism,’ I referred to ‘man-caused’ disasters...

...On May 13, 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the House Judiciary Committee, where he was questioned repeatedly by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) about whether the Fort Hood jihad mass murders, the attempted jihad car bombing in Times Square, and the Christmas underwear jihad bomber over Detroit could be attributed to “radical Islam.” Holder repeatedly refused to agree to this, going only so far as to say: “There are a variety of reasons why people do these things. Some of them are potentially religious.”

...Obama’s nominee for CIA director, John Brennan, who is the current Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, echoed Holder’s reluctance to say that Islam had anything to do with jihad terrorism on May 26, 2010, during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He declared: “Nor do we describe our enemies as jihadists or Islamists because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam meaning to purify oneself or one’s community.”

Now that Hillary has revealed the true threat of Jihadists, I eagerly await the follow-up corrections and apologies from Messrs. Brennan, Obama, and Napolitano. With all due respect.


Hat tip: Winterspirit.

MAP: Birth States of U.S. Presidents

Interesting section of a larger infographic:


Arkansas? Seriously? Arkansas?

With all due respect, of course.


Look, Ma, No Wheels!

Photographer Renaud Marion imagines a world in which cars require no direct contact with the ground.

The shots depict cars throughout many eras of motoring that look normal except for one thing: they have no wheels. The models used include a Jaguar XK120, Cadillac DeVille (shown above), Chevrolet El Camino and Camaro, and Mercedes-Benz SL and 300 roadsters.


Perhaps one day when our future becomes our past, you'll be able to walk the street and see with your own eyes the rust and patina of age on our nation's fleet of floating cars. Until then, Monsieur Marion's photographs will have to do.

Given the rate of technological change -- especially nano-tech and applied quantum physics -- this kind of innovation doesn't seem all that far-fetched, does it?


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.