The Latest Larry Correia Rant

 DO I UNFAIRLY PAINT THE LEFT WITH A BROAD BRUSH?

 ...I’m talking about YOU. Regular people. Voters. The guy next door. The masses on the internet. Just average joes. Democrats. Libs. Whatever you call yourself. Anybody who identifies as being on the left.

When your leaders pick a narrative, you drink that Kool-Aid. Even if it’s shit flavored Kool-Aid, most of you smile and tell us it’s the best fucking Kool-Aid you’ve ever tasted. It’s milk from the teat of a magic cherry flavored Unicorn. Nope. It’s shit. You all know it’s shit. But you go along with the narrative anyway.

When the insane progs among you lie their asses off, I’m talking blatant, easily disproven, painfully ham-fisted, fucking LIES… Do you call them out? Do you say, “hang on guys, that’s a little nuts”. Because if you do, the rest of us sure as fuck don’t ever see it. Pick a topic, any topic. It’s always the same.

Read the whole thing. When I got to that part, though, I laughed out loud, woke Mrs. Drang up from her  migraine-induced snooze, and further disturbed her by reading the entire thing out loud. She hasn't objected, so I guess she agrees. Either that. or she has Plans for tonight while I'm sleeping. 

(Actually, i know she agrees because she started talking Seattle politics...)

Crazy Eddie, I tell you!

Los Angeles Will Fine Cargo Ships That Can't Unload

Because it's OBVIOUSLY their fault...

Los Angeles ports will fine cargo ships waiting to unload their goods in an attempt to relieve congestion that is as desperate as it is gobsmackingly stupid.

It’s a fine so pointless and wrong that, of course, Presidentish Joe Biden has chimed in with his support for it.

According to CNBC, the White House is “hopeful” that fines will “ease the intensifying logjam of cargo ships” waiting to unload at Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. Together, the two account for 40% of the country’s seaborne imports.

Carriers will have to pay “$100 per day for each container lingering past a given timeline” starting on the first of the month. Containers moved by truck will have nine days before they’ll start paying, and containers moved by rail will have just three days.

They're All Crazy Eddie

 The worst part is, Crazy Eddie is in charge...

"Renner, I must tell you of a creature of legend." 

"Say on." Renner's image dialed for coffee. Coffee and stories, they went together. 

"We will call him Crazy Eddie, if you like. He is a . . . he is like me, sometimes, and he is a Brown, an idiot savant tinker, sometimes. Always he does the wrong things for excellent reasons. He does the same things over and over, and they always bring disaster, and he never learns." 

There were small sounds of whispering in MacArthur's wardroom. Renner's image said, "For instance?"

Renner's Motie's image paused to think. It said, "When a city has grown so overlarge and crowded that it is in immediate danger of collapse . . . when food and clean water flow into the city at a rate just sufficient to feed every mouth, and every hand must work constantly to keep it that way . . . when all transportation is involved in moving vital supplies, and none is left over to move people out of the city should the need arise . . . then it is that Crazy Eddie leads the movers of garbage out on strike for better working conditions."

Niven, Larry; Jerry Pournelle. The Mote in God's Eye (Mote Series Book 1) (pp. 225-226). Kindle Edition. 

Pass a law requiring Uber and Lyft to deduct taxes as if the drivers were their employees, and in the process destroy owner-operated trucking.

Pass another law essentially banning a semi truck built after 2010. 

Then wonder why you have all those fully loaded container ships anchored offshore...

Not to mention vaccine AND face mask mandates. 

And... well, you know. a lot of the stuff that has stopped me from posting more often the last year and a half. 

"The Wokists"

 Tal Bachman: We Have Met the Enemy

The strange figures known as Wokists currently destroying America aren't just reprises of earlier enemies. They represent something rather new. The political cult of Wokism combines the worst aspects of every political cult in history.

Whether they realize it or not, Wokists themselves combine the lunatic loyalty of the Manson family with the hollow pseudo-joy of Jonestown residents, the racism of National Socialists, the inhumanity of Mao Tse-Tung, the bratty tantrums of Veruca Salt, the nihilism of Bakunin-style anarchists, the totalitarianism of Stalin's Soviet Union, the child torture and sacrifice of the Mayans, the derangement of Heaven's Gate followers, the sadistic violence of the Jacobins, and the ruthless control-freakism of the current Chinese Communist Party.

Now add to that noxious syncretic blend the Wokist use of powerful communication technologies to shape narratives and meta-narratives, destroy opponents, and recruit new converts, and you've got yourself a thing.

"Real Capitalism Has Never Been Tried"

 White House moves to reshape role of US capitalism

The White House is pushing an infrastructure bill that could reshape the discussion around capitalism as it seems to reestablish the federal government as a primary driver of how the economy should grow and function.

In addition to traditional infrastructure projects, Biden’s $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan would make government investments in broadband, electric vehicles, climate change, elderly care, child benefits, housing and developing future technologies. 

It would redefine classic infrastructure projects to include investments in workers and families paid for by tax hikes on corporations.

This would not be "capitalism."

An economic system in which the means of production are privately owned, but actual production is controlled or dictated by the government is called... fascism.   

You commie fucks. 

Read All About It!

 This is all over MeWe and Gab already, but on the of chance you haven't sen it, Time Magazine just published what amounts to a SuperVillain Monologue that details how the presidential election of 2020 was rigged. 

Oh, wait. How the Presidential Election of 2020 was fortified to ensure that Democracy was saved! 

The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election

Interestingly, that's the way the title on the web page reads, but the tab calls it "The Secret Bipartisan Campaign..."

There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs. Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans. The pact was formalized in a terse, little-noticed joint statement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO published on Election Day. Both sides would come to see it as a sort of implicit bargain–inspired by the summer’s massive, sometimes destructive racial-justice protests–in which the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.

The handshake between business and labor was just one component of a vast, cross-partisan campaign to protect the election–an extraordinary shadow effort dedicated not to winning the vote but to ensuring it would be free and fair, credible and uncorrupted. For more than a year, a loosely organized coalition of operatives scrambled to shore up America’s institutions as they came under simultaneous attack from a remorseless pandemic and an autocratically inclined President. Though much of this activity took place on the left, it was separate from the Biden campaign and crossed ideological lines, with crucial contributions by nonpartisan and conservative actors. The scenario the shadow campaigners were desperate to stop was not a Trump victory. It was an election so calamitous that no result could be discerned at all, a failure of the central act of democratic self-governance that has been a hallmark of America since its founding.

Their work touched every aspect of the election. They got states to change voting systems and laws and helped secure hundreds of millions in public and private funding. They fended off voter-suppression lawsuits, recruited armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time. They successfully pressured social media companies to take a harder line against disinformation and used data-driven strategies to fight viral smears. They executed national public-awareness campaigns that helped Americans understand how the vote count would unfold over days or weeks, preventing Trump’s conspiracy theories and false claims of victory from getting more traction. After Election Day, they monitored every pressure point to ensure that Trump could not overturn the result. “The untold story of the election is the thousands of people of both parties who accomplished the triumph of American democracy at its very foundation,” says Norm Eisen, a prominent lawyer and former Obama Administration official who recruited Republicans and Democrats to the board of the Voter Protection Program.

But's was okay, because Trump did it first by saying mail-in ballots were insecure. 

LOL!

 Seen on Gab:

I'm on Gab as @DW_Drang, some imposter 😛 was already using "Drang".

Thought For The Day

“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” 

Frank Herbert, Dune

I have been wondering if the Butlerian Jihad is going to begin earlier, and look different, than Herbert thought... 

Whatever it was...

 ..it wasn't a coup. 

Not even an attempted coup.

Mises Wire: The Capitol Riot Wasn’t a Coup. It Wasn't Even Close.

What Is a Coup?

A gang of disorganized, powerless mechanics, janitors, and insurance agents running through the Capitol isn’t a coup. And if it was a coup attempt, it was so far from anything that might hope to succeed as a coup that it should not be taken seriously as such.

So how do we know a coup when we see one?

In their article “Global Instances of Coups from 1950 to 2010: A New Dataset,” authors Jonathan M. Powell and Clayton L. Thyne provide a definition:

A coup attempt includes illegal and overt attempts by the military or other elites within the state apparatus to unseat the sitting executive.

There are two key components of this definition. The first is that it is illegal. Powell and Thyne note that this “illegal” qualifier is important to include "because it differentiates coups from political pressure, which is common whenever people have freedom to organize."

In other words, protests, or threats of protest don’t count as coups. Neither do legal efforts such as a vote of no confidence or an impeachment. 

But an even more critical aspect of Powell and Thyne’s definition is that it requires the involvement of elites.

A Boot, Stomping On A Human Face..

 So Twitter has initiated a purge against President Trump and anyone that doesn't want to see him die in  fire. 

Many of whom have jumped to the Twitter rival, Parler. 

Which is hosted on Amazon Web Services.

Which is shutting it down until Parler starts censoring speech in accordance with the wishes of the technocratic oligarchs. 

Who constitute a kakocracy.

So, fine, here we go to Gab. Which hosts it's own content. 

Might be worth reminding folks...

 ...if they can do it to Trump, they'll do it to you without even a first thought, let alone a second.

Mozilla, developers of Firefox: 'We need more than deplatforming'

News of the Obscure

 Just deleted my Twitter account.

Stopped using Facebook long ago, and the only reason I don't ditch Blogger is that I'm not quite ready to completely give up the blog, but the alternatives I know of all are all for pay. I see no reason to shell out $$$ for a non-monetized blog as, well, obscure as this one. (Or even ¢¢¢.)

Unfortunately, if you want a smart phone these days, you options are to get involved with one of two evil Commifornia Big Tech outfits. 

Somebody -- Kevin Baker at Gun Blogger Rendezvous, maybe -- had a t-shirt that was lamenting to the effect of having been a science fiction fan all his life, and getting the dark dystopian future of his teen aged years.

Heinlein's Crazy Years aren't even fully launched yet, and I'm already tired of them.

"Hygienic Fascism"

Hygienic fascism: Turning the world into a 'safe space' — but at what cost? | TheHill

Author Aldous Huxley once said, “A thoroughly scientific dictatorship will never be overthrown.”

Even as we try to battle the COVID-19 pestilence, we may be contracting a more dangerous virus — hygienic fascism. This involves a process when our political leaders defer to a handful of “experts,” amid what Dr. Joseph Ladopo, an associate professor at the UCLA School of Medicine, describes as an atmosphere of “COVID-19-induced terror.”

Ideologically, hygienic fascism is neither right nor left, nor is it simply a matter of taking necessary precautions. It is about imposing, over a long period of time, highly draconian regulations based on certain assumptions about public health. In large part, it regards science not so much as a search for knowledge but as revealed “truth” with definitive “answers.” Anyone opposed to the conventional stratagem, including recognized professionals, are largely banished as mindless Trumpistas, ignoramuses, or worse.

I must confess, I was surprised, most of the articles I've seen at The Hill.com tend to be more on the Big Government/Social Justice Snowflakery end of the spectrum than in Rugged Individualism's neighborhood, although it is very true that I don't go there enough to be able to say that my impression of their material is conclusive.

But there they are running this article, too: Facial recognition: The other reason we may need a face mask | TheHill

Don’t get out of the hard-learned habit of covering your face, even if you live in a place that will soon no longer require it. Long after the pandemic recedes, we may still need our N-95 respirators, surgical masks and DIY bandana coverings. Marking the triumph over COVID-19, when it finally happens, should not include a bonfire of masks. This symbol of the coronavirus fight may prove just as crucial against a different foe altogether.

Also spreading fast, but largely outside of global health debates and meaningful scrutiny, is facial recognition. We’ve had Apple’s handy Face ID since 2017, of course, with its 30,000 invisible facial dots that coalesce into a phone-unlocking faceprint, but potentially more perturbing applications are already here or around the corner. Face-Six wants to reduce medical errors and fraud by promising to help hospitals “identify patients whenever necessary, conscious or unconscious.” ISM Connect has scanned crowds at Taylor Swift’s concerts to weed out stalkers and generate tour promotion metrics. Clearview AI has been used by over 600 law enforcement agencies to solve cases from shoplifting to murder. So private it listed a fake Manhattan address as its business location, Clearview AI sold a product that allows users to take a picture of someone they are curious about and obtain links to public photos and sites pertaining to this person.

The power that such apps must bestow is suggested in another purveyor’s name, iOmniscient. Its site boasts of clients in 60 countries and over 30 industries, including retail, where it measures customers’ footpaths, visit frequency and dwell time. iOmniscient “excels in uncontrolled environments with non-cooperative individuals,” which would explain its suspected use during Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests. In response to the potential surveillance, demonstrators toppled smart lampposts believed to house the technology, destroyed CCTV cameras, hid themselves under umbrellas -- and donned face masks.

These pieces are from the Opinion pages of TheHill.com,  not "news", but still, I'm surprised.

Maybe there's hope after all.

This isn't creepy at all

Apple and Google building coronavirus tracking tech for iOS and Android, coming in May - CNET

What could possibly go wrong?

Two of the tech industry's biggest players are working together to fight the coronavirus, announcing a new set of tools that could come to a majority of smartphones around the world.

The new technology, outlined in white papers published by Apple and Google on Friday and further discussed in a call with reporters Monday, relies on Bluetooth wireless radio technology to help phones communicate with one another, ultimately warning users about people they've come in contact with who are infected with the coronavirus.

 It's like Big Brother and Skynet got together, and...

Contact tracing

Apple and Google's technology is meant to support contact tracing, which historically has been a manual process in which health care workers painstakingly comb through a patient's history to figure out who they were near and may have exposed to infection.

Apps could potentially speed up that process. People who're marked as having coronavirus in an app on their phone could then wirelessly transmit alerts to anyone they come in contact with, potentially leading people to take extra precautions or self-quarantine to slow any further spread.

Apple and Google representatives said they chose to create this joint technology in part because they wanted to ensure interoperability between different phones. The companies also chose to build the system into their iOS and Android software in order to reduce the impact this technology could have on battery life.

To ensure as many people have access to the technology as possible, Google will include the tracking data in an update to its "Google Play services" feature for phones powered by its Android software. As a result, more people will have access to the technology even if their phone isn't being actively updated by manufacturers anymore.

What the companies didn't know is how many people need to sign up to make the system work, in part because the crisis itself is unprecedented. But together, the companies' software runs nearly all the billions of smartphones and tablets in use today.

This project brought to you by the Chinese Communist Party's Ministry of State Security...

The good news, FWIW, is that comments are running against the idea, in this article and in others elsewhere. (Even this jackboot licker here: Apple and Google are working together to fight COVID-19 but it's up to us to make it effective | Android Central)

GOAL Post 2019-15

Joe sent out the latest GOAL Post last night, and reported that his ISP is acting up again/still, and since the report is still not on the web site, I'll go ahead and post it here. Usual rules, minor editing for formatting for the blog, not textual changes.

FWIW, here is my thought about a Special Session, mentioned by Joe: The Democrats in Olympia, as in Seattle, are unhappy that the state constitution prohibits an income tax being levied by either the state or a municipality. They are trying their hardest to impose at least a "millionaire tax" or pretending that a capital gains tax would not be a fancy name for a tax on income. 

It should be noted that it has been reported that there's a budget surplus right now, and they have no actual plan to use the money they want to try and wring out of the people of Washington State, but they still think our income is rightfully theirs. 

So if there's a special session, I think that the focus will be trying to get more blood from the turnip.

In other news, I received media credentials for the NRA Annual Meeting, so I guess I'd better practice pretending how to be all journalistic and stuff. Better yet, I'll ask questions and report what I see, instead of staying in the bar and making it up...

***

FROM: GOAL-WA <goalwa@cox.net>

TO: undisclosed recipients

SENT: Fri 4/19/2019 5:35 PM

SUBJECT: GOAL Post 2019-15

Legislative Update from Olympia 19 April 2019

• RALLY FOR YOUR RIGHTS
• BILLS PASS, ONE DIES
• CONCURRENCE VOTES
• ONE MORE WEEK
• SPECIAL SESSION LOOMS
• BUMP STOCK WARNING
• LATE DISSEMINATION
• ON THE ROAD

A pro-gun “Rally for your Rights” will be held on the Capitol Campus on Saturday, 27 March at 12 noon.  A little late in the session, but still an opportunity to show your support. It IS on a Saturday. Try to make it and show them the gun lobby is not a paper tiger...

Several bills passed by the end of the second chamber cut-off on Wednesday evening. 

House Bills 1465 (handgun delivery), 1739 (undetectable/untraceable firearms), 1786 (firearms/protective orders) and 1934 (military online/mail CPL renewal) all passed out of the Senate.  HB 1934 was rushed off to Governor Inslee for his signature.  The remainder await a concurrence vote or conference committee action because they were amended in the second chamber.  It’s not over yet!

Senate Bill 5782 (assisted-opening knives) died on the House floor without a vote.  What a surprise!

The Senate has concurred in House amendments to HBs 5027 (Extreme risk protection orders, under 18), 5181 (firearms/mental health) and 5205 (firearms/incompetence for trial).  All three are on their way to the governor.

There is one week left for the House and Senate to review difference between passed versions of the bills and kick them to the governor – or they die for the session.  That doesn’t mean they won’t be back next year… or in a week or two in a special session.  The regular legislative session ends at midnight on Sunday, 28 April.

It appears the Democrats who control the House and the Democrats who control the Senate can’t agree on how much to raise taxes for the biennium.  This means it is likely we will enter one or more 30-day special sessions until they get it sorted out.  Apparently there is no honor among thieves.  As the saying goes, neither you life nor your wallet are safe as long as the legislature is in session.

An individual with what appears to be a fictitious name, “Yati Arguna,” has sent a Public Records Act request to the State Patrol asking for the names and addresses of everyone who turned in a bump stock for cash compensation.  That’s about 1,000 individuals.  Unless a judge blocks the release (reasonable as a public safety measure), state law requires the names be released.  Who is behind this and where or how the information will be used remains to be seen.  Should one assume that anyone who turned in a bump stock has a Modern Sporting Rifle in their home?

I will likely hold off on posting next week’s GOAL Post until Sunday night (when I’ll be flying back from the NRA annual meeting in Indianapolis) or Monday, when we know for sure what passed and what died.  Recognize that in the event of a special session ALL BILLS from the previous regular session come alive again and may be considered, voted on, and passed. 

The week after I’m off for Europe – allegedly.  I’ll be flying on an airline family pass, so it’s “space available” and any movement will depend on empty seats available AND my (very low) seniority number.  I sent my wife to visit family ten days ago, and now I have to go bring her back.  This living alone (not entirely alone, I have a Lab, but she doesn’t talk) isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when you’ve had a wife to spoil you for 50+ years now!

Should a special session be called, it is my intention to continue GOAL Post… all dependent on information being available to me wherever I am.  Historically they don’t use special sessions to drag back gun bills, so unless there’s a major gun incident, we should be safe.  Operative word “should.”

BILL STATUS/GOAL POSITION:

The problem in a nutshell

“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.” 
Glenn Reynolds

More: Washington: House Committee to Hear Ammunition Ban & Other Anti-Gun Bills

NRA-ILA | Washington: House Committee to Hear Ammunition Ban & Other Anti-Gun Bills

On January 29^th, the Washington state House Committee on Civil Rights & Judiciary will be hearing House Bill 1315 to increase the red tape for law-abiding citizens to apply for a Concealed Pistol License.  On February 1^st, they will be hearing House Bill 1346 to prohibit young adults under the age of 21 from receiving the vast majority of conventional ammunition available and House Bill 1319 to allow localities to infringe upon Second Amendment rights.  Please contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE House Bills 1315, 1319, and 1346.  Click the “Take Action” button below to contact committee members.

House Bill 1346, sponsored by Representative Gerry Pollet (D-46), would make it illegal to sell, transfer, give, or otherwise make available ammunition that is not certified as “nonlead” to anyone under the age of 21, with the exception of ammunition given by a parent or guardian.  This would encompass the vast majority of ammunition available on the market commonly used for target shooting, self-defense, and many types of hunting.  It would essentially limit young adults under the age of 21 to very expensive, specialty ammunition that may not even be manufactured in certain common calibers and may even provide sub-standard performance compared to traditional ammunition.  In addition, businesses selling ammunition would be required to provide a handout to customers on the health effects of lead and they would even be subject to random, unannounced inspections by the Department of Health along with local law-enforcement to ensure compliance.

House Bill 1319, sponsored by Representative Sharon Wylie (D-49), would create an exemption in a decades old statute which would allow local governments to ban the open carrying of firearms at public meetings.

House Bill 1315, sponsored by Representative John Lovick (D-44), would increase the government red tape that law-abiding adults must go through in order to obtain a Concealed Pistol License by requiring a mandatory training course developed by the Washington State Patrol.

Again, please click the “Take Action” button above to contact committee members and urge them to OPPOSE House Bills 1315, 1319, and 1346.  

Again, the "TAKE ACTION" button is at the linked page. At this time, it does not work -- for me. Not sure whether that's because it has not been updated, or something is blocking it, whether on my computer or in between.

To no one's great surprise: "Washington: Anti-Gun Bills Pass Committee..."

NRA-ILA | Washington: Anti-Gun Bills Pass Committee, On to Senate Floor

During the January 24^th executive session, the Washington state Senate Committee on Law & Justice voted to pass all of the gun control bills before them by a vote of 4-3.  They will now go to the Senate floor for further consideration.  Please contact your state Senator and urge them to OPPOSE these anti-gun bills.  Click the “Take Action” button and call 1-800-562-6000 to contact your state Senator. {At link. DWD}

The Proposed Substitute to Senate Bill 5062, sponsored by Senator Patty Kuderer (D-48), was filed at the request of Attorney General Bob Ferguson. It would ban the possession of ammunition magazines with a capacity greater than 10, encompassing most standard capacity magazines commonly used by law-abiding citizens, such as with handguns popular for self-defense. Those who own non-compliant magazines prior to the ban would only be allowed to possess them on their own property and in other limited instances such as at licensed shooting ranges and nationally sanctioned sport shooting events. These magazines would have to be transported unloaded and locked separately from firearms and stored at home locked, making them unavailable for self-defense.

The Proposed Substitute to Senate Bill 5061, sponsored by Senator Manka Dhingra (D-45), was filed at the request of Attorney General Ferguson. It would end the centuries old practice of manufacturing firearms for personal use, among other things.

Senate Bill 5174, sponsored by Senator Guy Palumbo (D-1), would increase the government red tape that law-abiding adults must go through in order to obtain a Concealed Pistol License by requiring a mandatory training course.

Senate Bill 5143, sponsored by Senator Dhingra, would require law-enforcement to seize firearms and ammunition when they are called to the scene of an alleged domestic violence incident and hold them for at least five business days. This would result in property being confiscated without first going through due process and subjecting citizens to bureaucratic red tape to get their property returned.

Senate Bill 5027, sponsored by Senator David Frockt (D-46), would expand Washington’s existing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). It would affirm that the ERPO can be issued against minors while also infringing upon the self-defense rights of law-abiding parents or others in the household without due process.

Again, please click the “Take Action” button above and call 1-800-562-6000 to urge your state Senator to OPPOSE these gun control bills.

 I feel compelled to note that clicking the "Take Action" button at the link resulted in a pop-under,  leading me to think that the button didn't work. 😕 Just mentioning it in case anyone else sees the same thing.

SEE ALSO: GOAL Post 2019-2, Legislative Update from Olympia 18 January 2019 - Gun Owners Action League of Washington

It's frustrating as hell to live in a state which strongly supported firearms rights -- including liberal constituencies -- up until the last few years when the ultra-rich socialist capitalists realized they could buy the law through the initiative process.

Because you knew they would...

Second Amendment Foundation: SAF, NRA FILE FEDERAL LAWSUIT CHALLENGING INITIATIVE 1639

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging gun control Initiative 1639 in Washington State, on several grounds.


The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. In addition to SAF and NRA, plaintiffs include gun dealers and young adults in the affected age group.

The lawsuit challenges the measure on the grounds that it violates the commerce clause by banning sales of rifles to non-residents, and that it unconstitutionally impairs the rights guaranteed by the First, Second and Fourteenth Amendments, and Article I Section 24 of the Washington State constitution by preventing the sale to otherwise qualified adults under age 21 of certain rifles.

“We are also considering additional legal challenges,” SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb confirmed. “We are disappointed that too many Evergreen State voters were fooled into supporting this 30-page gun control scheme, despite overwhelming law enforcement opposition. This initiative is an affront to the constitutional rights enshrined in the Second Amendment and the Washington state constitution, especially for young adults.

“We’re determined to fight this egregious measure because constitutionally-protected rights should never be subject to a popularity vote,” he stated. “The wealthy elitists behind I-1639 want to turn a right into a regulated privilege. This measure was only designed to have a chilling effect on the exercise of a constitutional right by honest citizens while having no impact at all on criminals, and we cannot let it go unchallenged.”

“The NRA is committed to restoring the Second Amendment rights of every law-abiding Washingtonian,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “I-1639 violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens and puts people at risk. This lawsuit is the first step in the fight to ensure that Washingtonians are free to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense.

“The NRA will fight to overturn this unconstitutional initiative. We will not sit idly by while elitist anti-gun activists attempt to deny everyday Americans their fundamental right to self-defense,” concluded Cox.

“While a handful of billionaires spending millions of dollars were able to buy votes, it is our hope they can’t buy the judges,” Gottlieb said.

 

I have a new plan

Whenever someone asks me (which they don't) why my blog is not more popular, I will tell them it's because of shadow-banning!

 Twitter: Setting the record straight on shadow banning

tl;dr version: "Twitter totally doesn't shadow-ban accounts, we just make up reasons why tweets from those accounts don't belong in your timeline. And those reasons totally have nothing to do with politics or ideology, it's all based on relevance. Because we totally know better than you what is relevant to you."

To give the devil xhir's¹ due, by their definition of "shadow banning" it's probably true; if you define shadow-banning as "making so that no one see's an account but the account owner", setting it so that an account never show in a timeline, but is still visible by clicking the account link, is not shadow banning.

But it completely subverts the point of a timeline, and is (I would argue), antithetical to the point of Twitter: A medium designed for short, (hopefully) pithy posts would seem to call for an automatic "loading" of posts, in chronological order. That self-righteous screed I linked above makes the claim that Twitter is interested in "conversation", yet they allow co-adherents of their leftist ideology to spew lies, hate, and calls for violence against their perceived opposition (and members of the oppositions family and social circle), while shutting down the accounts of those that criticize such behavior, and deciding for me what is relevant to my interests.

Which is, of course, par for the course on the left today; criticize, for example, Maxine Waters for calling on the left to attack members of President Trump's administration, down to anyone wearing a "MAGA" cap, and you are guilty of hate speech.

Now, Twitter is a private concern, and they make the rules whatever they want.

But this whole business of micturating on our extremities and alleging that it is precipitation² is bullshit.


1. No, that's not a typo, I'm mocking the modern predilection of the left to make up words to avoid using the common English-language pronouns that identify gender.
2. Stolen, appropriately enough, from a tweet. I forget who's tweet it was, but I think it was Dana Loesch. Or Molly Hemingway. Maybe it was Mary Katherine Ham. Pretty sure...