Gun Free Zone

Florida voters won’t get to decide this year whether assault weapons should be banned.
A proposed ban didn’t get the 766,200 signatures needed to be placed on the ballot.
Supporters say they are now focusing on getting the question before voters in 2022. The group pushing the petition — Ban Assault Weapons Now — collected 145,000 verified signatures this past year. The deadline to meet the signature requirement for this year’s election was Feb. 1.

Floridians won’t get to vote on an assault weapons ban in 2020

Finally a good piece of news for the year. Of course, we still have all the bills in the Legislature that we need to make sure they don’t even come out of committee .

Do notice the language used by the author as if somehow evil and dark forces sabotaged the signature collection process rather that being simply they did not get enough people to believe in what they were trying to sell.

“Despite the best efforts of the NRA and politicians in Tallahassee to place obstacles in our path, we will continue our fight to save lives by working hard to ensure voters have the final say over their safety in 2022,” Gail Schwartz, Ban Assault Weapons Now’s chairwoman, said in a prepared statement.

There was issues brought forward about the movement, but at the end of the day it was simply one thing: Verified Signatures. They needed 766,200 signatures and only collected 145,000 or 19% of the needed target. I like to look at is as an 80% fail (I like round numbers.)

But disabuse yourself of the notion that they are going to sit down and take it in the chin. They will now switch their energies to the Legislature and push for the ban bill they have running.

I caught this Tweet of Joy Reid’s hyperbolic statements on the effect the Senate’s impeachment decision:

MSNBC’s Nance predicts the 2020 election will be compromised:

"This nation is going to be under attack, cyber-wise, unlike anything we’ve seen before. Not just disinformation … we may finally see people put their hands on the thumbs of the scales of American voting machines" pic.twitter.com/3uN7xmFAmW

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 1, 2020

Did you catch that?

“You’ve got the Saudis, you’ve got Israel, you’ve got Israel, you’ve got all sorts of countries that make have an interest in who becomes the next United States President.”

Israel?

Not China?

China, the country that is attempting world domination?

The one that launched an initiative called the Thousand Talents Program to bribe and coerce people with unique technical knowledge to come to China and bring their proprietary information with them.  It is “economic espionage and theft of intellectual property.”

The Chinese use various forms of leverage and coercion to force American companies to divulge trade secrets, and what they refuse to divulge, the Chinese steal.  Chinese IP theft is vicious and includes military technology.  China’s air force is nothing more than a counterfeit Louis Vuitton purse knockoff of our and the Russian’s best fighter aircraft including the advanced stealth and electro-optical targeting system from the F-35.

And we’re not sure how they got that.

That Trump has taken this threat seriously and stymied the Chinese makes China the most likely candidate to want to influence our elections.  You could put even money on China wanting a Biden or a Clinton to be President.  Someone who for the cost of giving every Presidential family member a $100 million salary on a company board (which would be a drop in the ocean for China) could guarantee them the plans for a US aircraft carrier, hypersonic missile, stealth bomber, and whatever else they want.

But no.  That never crossed Joy’s mind.

But a few million JOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS in one of America’s closes allies, they are going to totally steal America’s democracy and implement totalitarianism.

It’s the little things like this which are the most telling sometimes.

Amazon Prime hit me with a trailer for a miniseries titled The Forgotten Army – Azaadi ke liye.

The series is described this way:

The Forgotten Army’ is the dynamic story of Lt. Sodhi and his daredevil band of men and women who fought a heroic battle for the independence of India as part of the Indian National Army which was forged out of British defeat in Singapore during WWII and led by the charismatic, indomitable Indian leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Hmmmm…

Do they mean the same Subhas Chandra Bose who was a collaborator with Adolf Hitler and Imperial Japan to use Axis powers’ support to fight the British in India and hinder the Allied war effort?  And is this the same Indian National Army that was complicit in Imperial Japanese war crimes against other ethnic groups in South East Asia?

Therein lies the rub.  Even in India, there is controversy because it’s hard to separate Bose’s ethnonationalism from that of Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan.

But clearly they are the unabashed heroes of this series because they are fighting the Imperial British.

It’s doubly ironic that they showcase the Women’s Army of the INA, as though that was some great Progressive leap forward that India had that the West didn’t when it was the British that introduced the very concept of Women’s Rights to India.  Outlawing things like widow burning and honor killings, and imposing Western ideas about punishment for rape.

Coincidentally, the more the British influence trickles out of India, the more things like gang rape on public trains, mass sexual assault, acid attacks, and honor killings take place.

But I digress.

I guess for the fans of anti-colonial Progressive history, this will be a wonderful series.

For the rest of us who know the ugly truth, I’d rather watch Netflix’s Siege of Jadotville, which makes the UN look like the bureaucratic shitty fucking cowards that they are.

This was reported by independent journalist Andy Ngo:

The following message was sent to me from the Twitter account of the Hanging Hills Brewing Company in Connecticut. pic.twitter.com/yEcyPtsuZr

— Andy Ngô ?️‍? (@MrAndyNgo) February 1, 2020

That’s is clearly a threat of violence over a political disagreement.

Following this unprovoked threat to Ngo, the brewery received backlash on Twitter.  The owner responded with this non-apology (unrolled):

Hey, it’s Joe. As a brewery owner, I love what I do. I love the people that come in and the people that support us. I want you and your families to have the best lives possible and I mean that sincerely. We go out of our way to make Hanging Hills a warm and welcoming environment. It is a core belief of mine and I think there are bad actors who go out of their way to undermine the greater good.

Out of frustration with one of these bad actors and his platform, I dmed him a joke pertaining to an incident that happened last year in Portland, a city I lived in and loved and has recently been ravaged by unwarranted violence and extremism. It was a bad idea that has led to some pretty uncomfortable phone calls and social media interactions. I remind my 5 yr old every day to do the right thing every day because I feel that in a moment, when faced with a decision, righteousness is always the correct action. I believe that we are obligated to do the right thing. I personally don’t agree w/what Andy Ngo does. It’s not about political beliefs, it’s about righteousness.

In a flash moment of frustration, I dmed him what I meant to be a joke. Based on the phone calls, emails, social media interactions, texts, etc, it was not taken as a joke by a lot of angry people. To those angry people, I wish you the best life possible. Whatever that life is.

I want you to wake up happy, well fed, loved, with healthcare, with a roof over your head and a well lived life. I don’t limit my love for people to just one political viewpoint. I mean that sincerely. Hanging Hills wasn’t set up that way and I don’t intend for it to change.

Although you’re angry, please don’t take it out on my employees or my colleagues. They’re good people who work hard and have struggles like everyone else. But they’re good people. I will field all communications. I said it so it’s my responsibility. Take care.

See, to Joe here, it was a joke, not a threat.  It’s also not about politics but righteousness.  By that he means that he’s righteous because he’s a hardcore Leftist and anybody who disagrees with him is a bad actor.  That’s why Antifa who caused a guy just taking pictures of them to have head trauma are not the bad actors.

Joe’s brewery is also a warm and welcoming environment, as long as you also agree that Antifa are the good guys and the people to call them out on their violence are the bad actors.

He doesn’t limit his love for people to just one political viewpoint.  He accepts Communists, Socialists, Marxists, Leninists, acolytes of Che, Jacobins, Democratic Socialists, Eco-Socialists, Socialists-Feminists, and just about anybody else that sees anybody to the Right of Elizabeth Warren as a Nazi Fascists.  I’m pretty sure if you tried to order a beer at his brewery while wearing a MAGA hat, your reception would not be warm and welcoming.

The thing is, as Miguel has pointed out, violence on their side is a dimmer and our side is a binary switch.  We have yet to activate, and most of the time law enforcement in these Lefty areas turns a blind eye to them, so they feel they can threaten to hurt people and actually carry out violence with impunity.

I just think it would be a real shame if this brewery caught fire and burned to the ground.  All those cloth sacks of dried grain are really flammable.

But I know that won’t happen on purpose because our switch hasn’t been flipped yet.

Can you feel the outrage? His Democrats are being unfair! How dare they? And they keep minorities out! (Incidentally, they had already quit the race so they had no chance to be in the debate anyway, but don’t let the facts get in the way.)

Now, I looked for Fat Boy’s video where he is equally or even mildly outraged about ho the House Democrats change the rules for the Impeachment investigation of Donald Trump and found bupkis.  Why?

Cry me a river, Michael.

So how do the Danish do actual classic? Damned good too.

Against Miguel’s suggestion, I watched the new Fox show Deputy on Hulu.

What they did at the beginning of one episode was so bad and dangerous I couldn’t let it go.

One young black male deputy is playing basketball with his buddy on a public court when two LAPD officers show up.  The buddy is a suspect in the murder of a drug dealer.

The buddy takes off on foot.  One LAPD officer chases him, the other stays with the deputy.

The deputy says “I’m a sheriff’s deputy, let me show you my badge” and then goes towards his gym bag.  The LAPD officer draws his gun and makes the deputy go down with his hands on his head.

The whole thing is played off as racism and the young black deputy later launches into a speech about standing up to racism and blah, blah, blah.

What utter horseshit.

Let’s take a look at this from the cop’s point of view.

They are there to execute a warrant against a suspected murderer with a record of drug dealing, and the suspect takes off on foot.

The guy he’s playing ball with then wants to go rummaging around in his gym bag.

Sure he says he a sheriff’s deputy, but that might just be a cock and bull story, and the entire time, he’s advancing towards his gym bag.

Making the guy go face down with his hands on his head until the contents of the bag are secured and his identity is verified isn’t just not racist, it’s proper police procedure.

What would have happened if the deputy unzipped his bag and the first thing the cop saw was his gun?

I’m not sure why the deputy didn’t get that.

His response should have been:  “I’m a sheriff’s deputy.  My badge and service weapon are in my gym bag.  You can go in it and see for yourself.”

This is the kind of bullshit that happens when you are desperate to shoehorn “the police are racist” into your story whenever possible.

I’m not a cop, but this is sort of thing that you are forced to think about when you conceal carry.  What do you do if you are forced to interact with police when armed.

The procedure I was taught was to say:

“Officer, I have a concealed carry permit.  My firearm is [location, e.g., on my hip, ankle, in my glove], My ID and permit are [location, e.g., in my wallet in my right hip pocket].  How would you like me to proceed?”

Always start with the announcement of the permit, to let them know you are law-abiding.  Then make it clear they are the ones in charge of the situation.

I actually had a cop who taught one my CCW courses say “police are like wild animals, they will get aggressive if they are startled.”

I’ve only had to do this once.  I was pulled over, it was for expired tags if I remember correctly.  But my gun was IWB strong side and my wallet was in my right hip pocket.

The cop had me get out of the truck with my hands on my head, he took my gun and held onto it while I got out my wallet and showed him my ID and permit.  When it was all over, he handed me back my unloaded gun and it was done.

I didn’t feel like this was an assault on my honor and I lived, which is the important thing.

Rightly or wrongly, a cop will never put your dignity over the chance that he will get shot.

It’s getting ridiculous how these shows are pushing the narrative that any minor affront to the black character’s dignity is far worse than the black character doing something that the cop could interpret as a threat.