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. 

"Vote rigging: How to spot the tell-tale signs" + an Update

From Nitay Arbel at his blog Spin, Strangeness, Charm comes a link to this BBC item from 2016, on vote-rigging election fraud in Africa.

Or Detroit, Philadelphia, Wisconsin, Tucson...

Vote rigging: How to spot the tell-tale signs

(Should open in a new window.)

In his own post, Mr. Arbel offers this summary of the Beeb article:

• Anomalously high voter turnout. Even countries with mandatory voting (like Belgium or Australia, where you can get fined for not voting!) only reach 90-95% turnout.
• Conspicuously high turnouts in specific areas. “Why would one particular area, or one individual polling station, have a 90% turnout, while most other areas register less than 70%?”
• A large percentage of invalid votes/voided ballots. (I’d make an exception for countries with mandatory voting, like Belgium, where a certain percentage of voters would deliberately void their ballots by, e.g., writing helpful anatomical suggestions across it.)
• More votes than ballot papers issued
• Results that don’t match. (Even in Africa, citizen poll observers increasingly use cell phones to document vote counts.)
• Inordinate delay in announcing the result: this can often reflect the need to either manufacture more of the desired votes, or to go back and disqualify more of the undesired votes. 

UPDATE: Mr. Arbel has posted three "Videos Worth Seeing".

To me, the most astonishing thing about the blatant fraud is that it is so blatant. Plus, frankly, Larry Correia is right (as usual):

I am more offended by how ham fisted, clumsy, and audacious the fraud to elect him is than the idea of Joe Biden being president. I think Joe Biden is a corrupt idiot, however, I think America would survive him like we’ve survived previous idiot administrations. However, what is potentially fatal for America is half the populace believing that their elections are hopelessly rigged and they’re eternally fucked. And now, however this shakes out in court, that’s exactly what half the country is going to think.

I am sure you never would have thought anyone would tell you a blog post discussing the process of auditing the books would be interesting, but if you think about it, if anyone could make it so, Larry Correia is The Man, and the application to election fraud is pretty clear.

The Riot Makers

Currently reading The Riot Makers, by Eugene Methvin. 

(At Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yyg7c4kc Good luck!)

(At Archive.org: https://tinyurl.com/y4vnv2yc One hour or 14 day loan, updated/corrected. No print, copy, etc of e-book loaner.)

Published in 1970, and apparently only in one print run, it is an in-depth study of commie methods of inciting riots, based on the "disorder" of the 1960s, primarily in the United States, both on- and off-campus. 

I realize that in some corners the phrase "commie methods of inciting riots" makes the author (and me, I suppose) sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the evidence is pretty compelling.

The book opens with a description of the Newark, NJ, riot of July, 1967. 1967, of course, having been the "Long, Hot Summer".

The author then follows the history of social engineering from Lenin to Mao, with brief looks at the Gracchi brothers and Mark Antony, Sam Adams, the "Babouvists" of the French Revolution, and Karl Marx.

The history of Lenin and social engineering is detailed, as is the description of the social engineering process. 

One constant theme is they manner in which communications technology facilitates the organizing and incitement process; it takes absolutely no imagination at all to add the internet and cellular telephones to radio and television and see how that amplifies the effect. 

You have probably heard the saying that "History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme"; reading this book with an eye towards current events will certainly confirm the notion, if not, as I alluded to above, make you think about triple-layering your tin-foil hat. 

I got this book through an inter-library loan, courtesy the King County Library system. If you can find a copy, I strongly urge you to do so.

EDITED to add: The writing style and attitudes in this book may seem dated. Certainly, some of the psychological and sociological terminology used is out of date and/or obsolete. Also, this book was published back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, when I was growing up, and "Negro" was still the word used in polite company. Some may find that jarring, or even, this being 2020, offensive.

Here's a documentary based on the book:

Elections -- The Good, The Bad...

Today is the Presidential Primary in Washington State

The Good: Washington is 100% Paper Ballot.¹

The Bad: Washington is 100%¹ mail-in ballot, which degrades the integrity and security of paper ballots.

Neutral: In a Presidential Primary only the Democratic and Republican candidates appear.

The Ugly: Washington requires you to declare which party you're voting for²...

The Loathsome: ...on the outside of the mailing envelope. (Check a box and sign it, on the outside for all the world to see.)

1. It is possible to request an account to vote electronically. I have no idea how many have availed themselves of this.
2. We are not registered as members of that party, simply declaring on the primary ballot who we're voting for. 

Now, the Republican Party of Washington is fine with doing away with the declaration, and failing with their attempt to eliminate it, to make it a private thing.

The Democratic Party of Washington refused -- and the Democrats have solid control of Olympia.

The Secretary of State announced she would not be voting "due to privacy concerns."

And, since the ballots are printed with the list of candidates the party designates in early January or February, it may well be inaccurate by March. In the case of the Democratic roster this year, it still included all those candidates no one ever heard of, as well as the three who are still in the race.

Three? Why, yes, Hawaii's Tusli Gabbard has not dropped out yet. (Unless I missed a very recent development.)

And yet, all the DNC Mandarins and the Mainstream Media (but I repeat myself) are wailing because of the sexism which resulted in Elizabeth "Fauxcahontas" Warren, who couldn't even win her own home state, dropping out.

Do they hate Tulsi because she's young? Because she's a veteran? Because she's a Pacific Islander...?

GOAL Post 2020-8 is up

GOAL Post 2020-8, Legislative Update from Olympia 28 February 2020 - Gun Owners Action League of Washington

I haven't been posting these, since they are now regularly posted to that web site, and let's face it, I haven't been posting much at all.

Legislative season is almost over, although with the clown show Olympia has become it is no longer accurate to suggest that our money or freedom are safe if the legislature is not in session. We're talking about a state where the state tried to sue the voters for an initiative we passed, after all.

Berthold Brecht would have been right at home here.

Anyway. It sounds like most of the bills are dead, although, as Joe points out, these clowns are always willing to pull a Miracle Max on bills that should have died...

Plus there's always the possibility that Steyer and Bloomberg will finance another corrupt initiative to back an even worse law.

One good bill remains, that would remove the restriction on spring-assisted knives. I have a lot of respect for the late Glenn Ford, Capt. USNR (RET), but The Blackboard Jungle resulted in silly restrictions on knives you can open with one hand, which sounds like a minor inconvenience until you need both hands to do a job, and a third to access the tool you need to do it. ("No shit, there I was, 30 feet up a ladder...")

The majority of the rest of the remaining gun-related bills should die in a fire.

WA - Repeal I-1639!

A petition is being circulated to put Ballot Initiative 1094 on the next ballot.

Ballot Initiative 1094 ("The People's Defense of the Second Amendment Act of 2020") would have the effect of repealing I-1639, that mish-mash of social justice virtue signalling and feel-good measures that make life ore difficult for the law-abiding, while doing nothing about crime, that was passed despite blatant illegal and unethical behavior.

Just another election in Seattle, in other words.

The text of I-1094 is here. (Opens as a .pdf.)

The website Washington State Gun Control has links to lists of "where to sign", in both map and spreadsheet format.

I walked over to my Friendly Local Gun Store, which is listed, and they said they were waiting on a fresh batch; the owner showed me a stack of completed petitions, and commented that they had been cautioned to only hand them to someone who is known to them as a representative of the organizers, as "the opposition" is known to have sent folks out to pick them up with promises to turn them in, although what they would turn them into, is another question.

Compost, no doubt.

I made the comment that it might be worthwhile to check ID, and preferably voters registration cards, of those signing: Given the shenanigans the backers of I-1639 got up to, it would not surprise me if they were to steal completed petitions, or send people out to deliberately make false entries, hoping to get them tossed out.I had my own voter's registration card out as I walked in, to make sure I put my address on the petition exactly as the state has it, to make sure my signature wouldn't be tossed out.

Recently, we had a rather egregious example of the kind of bull shit the left in this state gets up to: Olympia regularly ignores the wishes of the people, and passes various and sundry rate increases over our vote. It costs an absurd amount to register your vehicle in this state -- two hundred dollars or more to register a fairly new car in King County, most of which goes to the "Regional Transit Authority", to subsidize mass transit.

We keep passing initiatives to limit the cost of car tabs to $30, and they keep imposing these surtaxes.

A new initiative passed.

King County announced it was going to sue to have the initiative tossed out.

Apparently they feel subsidized bus rides are a Constitutional Right.

Shared without comment...

This is what you need to do to move to Canada - Yahoo7 Finance Australia

Odds & Ends

• New rule: No gun stores the weekend before a Presidential Election.
• Addendum to new rule: Especially if a Shooting Legend is going to be there.
• So I guess I'll pass on meeting Jerry Miculek  for this year.
•  WA went to 100% mail-in ballots. King County sets up drop-off boxes around the county; I dropped mine off on the way to not meet Jerry Miculek.
• The only debate, for me, is whether this is more or less subject to fraud than electronic ballots.
• {Rant about voter fraud/posthumous voting/no ID required deleted}
• Among items on the ballot is an initiative for "extreme protective orders" which would lead to anonymous callers having one's guns confiscated "temporarily".
• This thing is written so poorly that the ACLU has taken a stand on a gun control
• Always fun  to see the political parties claimed by th denizens of Seattle.
• The "Revolution and Liberation Party" is a new one on me.
• Sad the see the Karmic Flying party has disappeared.
• Sort of. 
• Started a new position in The Salt Mines this week, my first desk job in ages.
• When they brought me on, passing mention was made to emergency planning, mostly in the context of amateur radio...
• One week in, and yesterday they dropped all emergency planning in the state in my lap.
• I have a week to revise everything.
• I can barely remember how to get to the new office; IT still hasn't granted me access to all the web sites I'm supposed to use.
• Go home, State of Washington, you're drunk:
• DOC: Convicted criminals should no longer be called 'offenders' | KIRO-TV
• Washington state elector says he won't vote for Clinton | KIRO-TV
• Good for him, but he'd better watch his back, lest he commit suicide by shooting himself in the back of the head. Twice. 
• Just sayin'.

Help California Fight Back

 Veto Gunmageddon – Protect your 2nd Amendment rights…

If you're a CA voter, sign the petition.

If you''re not a CA voter, well, every buck helps.

Yet another Internet Gun Control Poll

At PBS, no less, and it seems to be fairly straightforward.

Poll: Would you support more restrictive gun laws in your state?

1. Yes. Increased regulations on firearms are necessary to prevent another tragedy like the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary.  
2. No. Laws like this unnecessarily punish lawful gun owners and will do little to prevent mass shootings. 
3. Unsure. It's important to keep the weapons out of the wrong hands, but this may not be the solution.   

Obviously, vote only once. 'Cuz Ghu knows, the progressive statists will never, ever cheat on any kind of voting...

594 seems to be passing. What now?

So, at the time I type this (0150-ish, the morning of Wednesday 11/05) it would appear that Washington State Ballot Initiative 594 is passing.  There are still ballots to be counted, it's possible that it might be defeated, but it's not looking good.

So, what now?

Well, based on a variety of things, including conversations I had with people prior to election day and observations about How These Things Work, I expect that by the end of the week an injunction will be filed to prevent this pile of excrement to be implemented, pending court hearings.

Suit will be filed to get it tossed out based on, among other things, unconstitutionally vague language, lacking definitions, unfunded mandates, ad regulatory overreach. It's not like no one in this state knows a lawyer or two who have an established track record when it comes to court challenges of gun rights.

Notwithstanding, the 1%'ers behind this piece of crap will move forward with similar schemes in other states.  "I-594, coming soon to a state near you!"

It would not surprise me if the state legislature refuses to implement this; there is precedence for them to ignore the results of initiatives.

The left, led by their 1%'er Sugar Daddies will be crowing about the defeat of the NRA. Never mind that the NRA has elections in 50 states plus territories to deal with, and resources that are far from infinite. Any victory for gun control is a defeat for the NRA.

And, of course, all the whiners will come out of the woodwork blaming the NRA for this. Because the only people who are more certain of the NRA's power to influence the vote than the left-wing lunatic fringe is a bunch of gun nuts who are looking for a scapegoat. I swear sometimes if "Threepers" put half the energy into getting the vote out, or trying to influence their congresscritters that they do into masturbating to their rebellion fantasies while chanting "Shall Not Be Infringed!", we'd be debating whether sales taxes on guns and ammo are unconstitutional.

Yes, I'm disappointed that the NRA was late to the party. I certainly don't believe that NRA's strategies are bound to be 100% effective.  And I haven't heard anything from Gun Owners of America (GOA) on this, or the National Association to Raise Money from Gun Owners for Gun rights, and little from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. (Who, by the way, were pretty much silent when the left attacked NRA Rep Brian Judy for pointing out how Weimar and Nazi gun control facilitated the Holocaust.)

 I also know that Adina Hicks and Keely Hopkins, NRA WA Grassroots coordinators, were working themselves to death travelling and organizing.  Plus, there have been other issues in the past where no one knew the NRA was doing anything until after the dust settled and it became obvious that "strategery" had been in play.

So, yeah, not happy here.  But, being an INTJ, I am fully capable of the apparently contradictory cynical optimism (or optimistic cynicism, if you prefer) that is characteristic of that "type", and fully believe that we will win this.

Eventually. 

But we must stay the course, not get discouraged, and not engage in internal bickering about who did (or didn't) do what.

More I-594 lies

Barron sent me this:

So, the entire "Yes on I-594" crowd's collective pants spontaneously combusted.

Let's take these latest flat-out lies in order, shall we?

1. "No mandatory waiting periods"
WHAT I-594 SAYS:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a licensed dealer may not deliver any firearm to a purchaser or transferee until the earlier of:

(1) The results of all required background checks are known and the purchaser or transferee is not prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm under federal or state law; or

(2) Ten business days have elapsed from the date the licensed dealer requested the background check. However, for sales and transfers of pistols if the purchaser or transferee does not have a valid permanent Washington driver's license or state identification card or has not been a resident of the state for the previous consecutive ninety days, then the time period in this subsection shall be extended from ten business days to sixty days.

Since under current Washington state and  Federal law the sale goes forward after five days, they lie. They will probably deny it, since you can still make the transfer immediately if you have a WA Concealed Pistol License and/or the "instant" check goes through instantaneously, but still, they have moved the end point.

2. "No registry of gun owners"
Not explicitly addressed.
However.
Sales forms are filled out in triplicate, and sent to the local CLEO. ("Chief Law Enforcement Officer.")
Plus...

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. A new section is added to chapter 9.41 RCW to read as follows:

The department of licensing shall have the authority to adopt rules for the implementation of this chapter as amended.

And we don't know what rules the bureaucrats will adopt, do we?

But wait!  While Section 10 of the thing exempts non-dealers from state sales tax, background checks are subject to state use tax! And since they will know who the "transferor" was...

3. "No change to hunting laws or firearms safety training."
We've covered this one over and over again.
If the law says that a background check has to be made every time a firearms changes hands, with narrow exemptions,  then that impacts how forearms safety training can be conducted.

Since Section 3 (f) (ii) says

...if the temporary transfer occurs, and the firearm is kept at all times, at an established shooting range authorized by the governing body of the jurisdiction in which such range is located ...

I suppose that means that my Friendly Local Gun Shop & Range will be able to continue to conduct training, with their guns. But we'll have to cease conducting Home Firearms Safety classes at Gun Shows, I won't be able to conduct a Basic or First Steps Pistol class, since even if this is done at a range, it usually involves handing the student's or instructor's pistol back and forth, demonstrating and adjusting grips, etc.

I'm not sure if this would also impact the Washington State Hunters Safety Field Skills Certification, I haven't taken it (exempt, military) so I don't know if the circumstances fall under this pile of crap law or not.

Speaking of hunting... Section 3 (f) (v) says

...while hunting if the hunting is legal in all places where the person to whom the firearm is transferred possesses the firearm...

which means that I can borrow a rifle but I have to hand it back before I get within (IIRC) 150 feet of a road or creek or "No Hunting" posted fence line...

So, again, Ballot Initiative 594 is a poorly written, ill-defined, vague and contradictory pile of excrement. The more I read this garbage the harder it is to believe that it was so poorly done out of incompetence. Hanlon's razor (Wikipedia link) applies, I suppose, but then again, as constantly bombarded as we are with assaults on our gun rights, it is getting harder and harder not recite  

Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.

GOAL Alert 2-2014

Joe sent this out last night.  Didn't have a chance to get to it until just now.

From: GOAL goalwa@cox.net
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: GOAL Alert 2-2014
Sent: undisclosed-recipients:

Election update 17 October 2014

• IT'S CRUNCH TIME
• BALLOTS WENT IN THE MAIL TODAY
• THE FUTURE OF GUN RIGHTS IN WASHINGTON IS IN YOUR HANDS
• VOTE NO ON 594
• VOTE YES ON 591
• VOTE NOW

While the campaigning will go on for another 18 days, ballots went in the mail today.  You'll receive yours with a day or three.  Washington is one of four 100% vote-by-mail states; no lining up at a polling place to cast your ballot.  The one in your mail box is the only one you'll get.  A disadvantage of vote-by-mail is no ID is required to get the ballot -- whoever has access to your mail box has access to your ballot.  Look for it, open it, fill it out, and get it back in the mail.

GOAL just funded a special mailing of 100,000+ postcards to 11 selected districts we believe are critical to the election.  You may or may not receive one.  The NRA has done the same thing with its nearly 100,000 members in Washington.  GOAL postcards started arriving on Friday, 17 October.
Those of you who read my monthly legislative news column in the Washington Arms Collector's Gun-News have already read most of this.  But for the many GOAL Post subscribers who are not WAC members, here's some background on the endorsement process.

I used two guiding principles in preparing the list, which was provided to the Washington Arms Collectors for their approval, and to the GOAL trustees for the same.  The first was to identify and start the list with those "righteous Democrats" who have been supporting Washington's gun owners for the past decade or more.  (More on those selections later.)  We owe them.

Next up was pro-gun Republicans, followed by "any Republican."  We have endorsed a few Libertarian candidates when Washington's "high two" system left no more suitable candidate.  (For the record, I'm a conservative "small-l Libertarian; but we live in a two party system, and your chances of winning election if you do not have an (R) or a (D) after your name are almost impossible.  I know many libertarian elected officials, but all ran as Republicans.)  Finally, there are several "No recommendation" listings.  In these cases, neither of the candidates would do anything to enhance gun rights in Washington.

Why support Republicans who are weak on the gun issue?  Because it solidifies Republican control of a chamber (House or Senate), if that can be achieved.  And with strong pro-gun leadership in both chambers, we don't have to worry how they might vote because bad bills will never make it to the floor for a vote.

There are a couple (literally, two) of dual endorsements on the list, the "xxx OR yyy" candidates.  I don't like dual endorsements.  It tends to confuse voters.  But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I've received half a dozen calls already today regarding the candidates listed on our postcards, or listed in the WAC Gun-News.  Most disagreement focused on the Democrats we endorsed.  The big questions was "WHY?"  I'll use the following two examples to answer;
The Democrats had solid control of the legislature from 2001 to 2013.  In 2013, two Democrats sided with the (then) 23 Republicans in the state Senate to revolt and seize control, calling themselves the "Majority Coalition Caucus".  So for two years, control of the legislature has been split, but the Democrats retained solid control of the House.
In the past 13 years, more than 50 anti-gun bills have been filed -- "assault weapon" bans, "gun show loophole," universal background checks, expanded public place bans, etc, etc.  You name it, it was filed.  But none passed.  Why?
Because a handful of Democrats in the legislature, House and Senate both, stood WITH their constituents and AGAINST their leadership and their more liberal Democrat colleagues, at great political risk to themselves.  Several were threatened with primary challenges, and in Senator Tim Sheldon's case that's where we are today.  This handful of Democrats, with the Republican minority, were able to block all of the anti-gun legislation proposed.

We owe those Democrats.  Big time.  I/we don't agree with them on every issue, but we all agree on the gun issue.  And that's what this is all about.  Preserving our gun rights.

Specifically regarding Representative Pat Sullivan, Pat is the House Majority leader, the Speaker's principal adviser on which bills to bring to the floor for a vote and which bills to let die.  Pat is the man who convinced House Speaker Frank Chopp to NOT bring House Bill (HB) 1588 up for a vote almost two years ago.  You recall HB 1588 don't you?  It's the universal background check bill they tried to slip through after the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting.  Pat, and six or seven of his fellow Democrats stood up to the Speaker and refused to vote for the bill, thus guaranteeing it's defeat.  Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Speaker Chopp wisely decided to let the bill die.  We owe several Democrat Representatives for their support for gun owners, but Pat Sullivan leads the pack.

Senator Tim Sheldon, the majority Coalition's Senate President Pro Tem, has been standing with gun owners for more than 20 years.  It was his deciding vote in 1994 that killed the amendment that would have required training to obtain a concealed pistol license.  (Don't get me wrong, I've been a certified firearms safety instructor for 40 years.  I firmly believe that anyone who chooses to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights has a moral obligation to do so safely, to the extent they can afford training.  But I don't believe the state has any business interfering in a fundamental Constitutional right.  Just as the Supreme Court ruled poll tests were unconstitutional decades ago, so should state-mandated training.)  Tim flew around the state with us in 1997, opposing I-676, the so-called trigger lock initiative" that was actually a handgun possessor (that's right, possessor, not just an owner) licensing bait-and-switch initiative (much as today's I-594 is a bait-and-switch background check initiative).  Sheldon now faces a liberal Democrat, Irene Bowling.  We need to keep Sheldon in place to keep the Senate in Republican hands AND protect YOUR gun rights.

Those two, and a handful of other brave DEMOCRATS who stand between you and just about every imaginable gun control law.

If you compare the lists, you will see that the NRA and GOAL are in about 99% agreement.  We run our endorsement process somewhat differently, however.   The NRA assigns grades based on known voting records for incumbents.  They then send out questionnaires to new candidates, and based on the response to those questionnaires, assigns grades.  They endorse specific candidates, but give you the grade rating for both candidates in the race.  You choose.  That's probably a more "fair" way to do it.  The problem with questionnaires is, candidates can lie.

GOAL takes a different tack.  GOAL only lists a single candidate for each position, in effect a push-poll to direct you to the candidate we believe best suits the interests of Washington gun owners.  If you want "fair," visit Puyallup in September.  Different approach, hopefully the same result.  I've provided a link to the NRA's list below, as well as the entire GOAL endorsement list.

And we have the two initiatives on the ballot.  I'm not going to go into any real detail on either of them.  I-594, the universal background check initiative is a wolf in sheep's clothing, full of hidden traps and penalties.  That's why they needed 18 pages to accomplish what the legislature tried to do in HB 1588 in two pages.  I-591 simply restates existing law:  no confiscation of firearms without due process of law (as happened in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina) and no background checks beyond those mandated by federal law.  Some of my 10th Amendment friends are unhappy with that.  They feel we shouldn't support federal law, period.  I live in a real world.  And I'm not about to risk five years in Club Fed by violating that law, 10th Amendment or not.  For all practical purposes, the 10th Amendment died about a century ago.

The outcome of the initiative votes will have a major impact on how the gun business is conducted in Washington, and how gun shows are conducted.  If 594 passes and becomes law, expect to pay a $25-50 FFL fee EVERY TIME you "transfer" a firearm -- this includes loans as well as sales.  And when a loan is transferred back.  Plus a use tax nearly equal to the state sales tax.  Yes, I-594 waives sales tax for private transfers, but if you read the fiscal note from the Office of Financial Management, you'll see that when the sales tax is waived on the transfer of property, a "use tax" in imposed.

VOTE NO ON 594.    VOTE YES ON 591.   It's a no-brainer.

It's up to you now.  GOAL's endorsements, and the NRA's, are simply suggestions: our best judgment of who will best represent your gun rights in D.C. and Olympia.  But the choice is yours.  And please, please, mark your ballot and get it back in the mail ASAP.  Don't take a chance on misplacing it, or forgetting to get it in on time.  MAIL IT NOW.

NRA endorsements can be found at https://www.nrapvf.org/grades/washington/

GOAL ENDORSEMENTS:

Voted today...

Voted today.

(I keep telling the state I retired, but they keep sending me Military and Overseas Ballots.)

(For my non-Evergreen state friends, Washington went 100% mail ballot several years ago.)

Saw that Dan "I love Initiative 594" Satterberg is running unopposed for re-election as King County Prosecutor.

I wrote in Alan Gottleib.

At The Fair

Went to the Washington State Fair, FKA The Puyallup, FKA The Western Washington State Fair.
First stop was the Fair Scone stand, I am told the one we went to was The Original.

Stop two, conveniently located across the way:

Later, we ran into Daddy Bear, who had inexplicably neglected to tell us he was in town:

We came back around and Mrs. Drang realized that an old friend was busy in the Fiber Arts Demo Spinning demonstration, where her (and Mrs. Drang's former) spinning guild was participating in the Sheep to Shawl competition.

Saw a lot of stuff. I paid too much for a decent IPA. Looked at a Ford Fiesta, and somehow resisted asking the rep if it came with a zebra head and a certificate for an amphibious landing. (Didn't even slow down walking by the Government Motors display...)

Biggest surprise was when we stopped to ask the folks from whom we bought some really great pots and pans a few years ago a question about care, and he spotted Mrs. Drang's "No on I594" button, turned off his PA/sound system, and started talking guns and politics.

We were both pretty worn  out by 5:30, so decided to pass on the usual Fair Food dinner and just get a pizza.

Traffic on the way home was, if anything, heavier than on the way there.  The monotony was broken up admiring the '69 Shelby Cobra Mustang stuck there with us. No pics, sorry.

GOAL ELECTION ALERT, 21 July 2013

FROM: GOAL [goalwa@cox.net] (by Joe Waldron)
TO: undisclosed-recipients:
SENT: Sun 7/21/2013 8:43 AM
SUBJECT: GOAL ELECTION ALERT, 21 July 2013

THREE STATE SENATE RACES
    ANGEL IN THE 26TH
ONE COUNTY COUNCIL RACE OF NOTE
    DUNN FOR KING COUNTY COUNCIL

 Tuesday, 6 August, is Primary Election Day in Washington.  These off-year elections primarily focus on local elections -- county and city level elections as well as bodies such as water districts and the like.   For that reason there is no statewide ballot and many people will NOT receive any ballot.  GOAL generally does not comment on those elections because state preemption (RCW 9.41.290) limits almost all gun legislation to the state legislature.

This year we have three open Senate seats up for election or confirmation, based on vacancies as a result of the 2012 general election.  Two are in eastern Washington, in generally Republican districts, the 7th and 8th. 

Senator John Smith (R), newly appointed to the 7th Legislative District, has drawn two primary opponents, both Republicans.  Senator Sharon Brown (R) of the 8th District also has drawn two Republican opponents.  In both cases, the top two in each election will advance to the general election in November. 
The gun issue was muted in the Majority Coalition-controlled state senate during the last session.  For that reason GOAL is not making any recommendations in those primaries.

The most critical Senate race is in the 26th Legislative District, covering parts of Kitsap and Pierce counties.  In that race, appointed Senator Nathan Schlicher (D) is being challenged by Representative Jan Angel (R).  Schlicher is a physician with no history on the gun issue.  Jan Angel has a solid history of solid support of gun owners and gun rights.  For that reason GOAL is supporting Jan Angel; for Senate in the 26th District.

All we can say about the King County Executive's race is that incumbent Dow Constantine had a solid ANTI-gun record while he was in the state legislature. 
One exception to preemption is no-shooting zones, created by the County Councils/Commissions.  For the King County Council, Reagan Dunn (R) is running for reelection in the 9th County Council District (east side).  Dunn recently ran for Attorney General and was found best qualified by a number of newspapers and civic leaders.  Unfortunately the statewide electorate picked the other guy.

Dunn's mother, former Congresswomen Jennifer Dunn, was with us on the gun issue and her son Reagan has followed her lead there.  Reagan Dunn is comfortably pro-gun, to the point he commented during his AG race about his AR-15.  Dunn has been with gun owners throughout his time with the County Council.

ELECT JAN ANGEL IN THE 26TH
ELECT REAGAN DUNN IN KING COUNTY

"Remember, remember..."

In my previous post, I linked to Why Was There No October Surprise? Because Every Freakin’ Day for the Last Four Years Has Been an October Surprise. Rarely does a comment on a blog post, even at PJ Media, get an Instalanche, but this one did--with good reason:

10. Winslow

The Sixth of November

Remember, remember, this sixth of November,
The radicals’ treasonous plot.
I know of no reason the radicals’ treason
Should e’er be forgiv’n or forgot.

The Sixties were waning, and Leftists were claiming
That radical changes were due.
Their Marxist solution was armed revolution:
The Weathermen made their debut.

The radicals raged on the national stage, and
Horrific explosions ensued.
Their bombs were dramatic, but also erratic;
They sometimes killed radicals, too.

The Leftists grew older, the underground, colder,
And so they came in from the cold.
“Subvert from within – in the long run, we’ll win,” said
The Leftists, determined and bold.

And thus it began – this nefarious plan – and
The radicals slowly took charge:
Complete infiltration of all education;
The long institutional march.

The journalist schools would produce useful fools, for
The Left would need media shills.
And Hollywood, too, would assist in the coup, with
Its slick propagandizing skills.

“Community action” would build a new faction;
’Twould organize proles on the street.
A smooth politician would front for the mission,
And run for the president’s seat.

The radicals’ goal, which they proudly extol, is
A communist U.S. of A.
Collectivist schemes lead to brutal regimes, and
For this do the radicals pray.

But Jefferson’s aim, with the charters he framed, was
To guard individual rights.
And “redistribution” was not a solution,
But one of the evils to fight.

So let us remember, this sixth of November,
Just what is at stake on this date.
Will Jefferson’s dream, or the radicals’ scheme, now
Determine America’s fate?
November 2, 2012 - 12:16 pm

Turtles Scandals All the way Down

Zombie » Why Was There No October Surprise? Because Every Freakin’ Day for the Last Four Years Has Been an October Surprise The post concludes with a long list of what would have been scandals, if they had occurred during a Republican presidency.

Bill Whittle: Falling On Principle

He Went There!

So, I understand that, in the Presidential Debate last night, His Imperial Majesty Barack Hussein Obama, in a desperate attempt to distract attention from his abysmal record and pander to his base, came out in favor of " seeing if we can get an assault weapons ban reintroduced."  (H/t Tam.)

The web site of the crime fighting Dynamic Duo Hope 'n' Change Man and Tourettes Boy has been updated accordingly:

Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.

Now, if you read my post Compare and Contrast from all of a month ago you know that the Dumbocratic National Committee has always had it in for the most popular sporting rifles in America.


Wonder if anyone at Hope'n'Change central is even remotely aware of the contradictions inherent in combining the sentences and phrases "respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners",  "repeal the Tiahrt Amendment", "keeping guns away from children and from criminals", "(close) the gun show loophole", and "(make) the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent".  "(M)aking guns in this country childproof" is suspect, also.

You'd think they'd at least realize by now that the words "common sense" in this context is a warning sign.

Well.  Nice to know that Biden is not the only drooling idjit on the Jackass ticket...