Nanny Bloomberg

The Bloomberg Conspiracy

And the Death of the NRA

About a month after the US Senate voted down a series of gun control amendments back in April, an article in the New Republic magazine boldly declared “This is How the NRA Ends: A Bigger, Richer, Meaner Gun Control Movement has Arrived.”  The article was a long diatribe regurgitating much of the stale tripe and distortion we’ve been hearing from the anti-rights movement for decades, and singing the praises of the movement’s new messiah, Mike Bloomberg, the three-term Mayor of New York City.  Alec MacGillis, the author of the article, and a senior editor at the magazine, is, like so many in the media, obviously a true believer in the concept of gun control.  His enthusiastic bias oozes from the page as he laments the shameful act of the Senate in rejecting such an eminently fair, reasonable, and common sense, bi-partisan compromise proposal to make it a federal felony to buy a gun from your neighbor without first submitting to government scrutiny and paying a punitive tax for wishing to exercise your constitutional rights – even if you already own a dozen guns and have a state-issued concealed carry license. 

His portrait of Bloomberg is one of a dynamic crusader motivated by compassion and imbued with the most powerful of superhero super-powers – money!  As one of the wealthiest men in the world, Mike Bloomberg can do just about anything he wants.  Bloomberg’s personal wealth is estimated to be something north of $27 billion and growing.   At the present rates, Bloomberg could give away or squander well over a billion dollars per year and still be rising in the Forbes 100 list of the world’s wealthiest people.  And Bloomberg does indeed give away and squander significant amounts of money each year.  Along with mandating various health rules in his city, such as broad restrictions on smoking, bans on restaurants serving trans-fats, and limits on the size of sweetened drinks restaurants can serve, Bloomberg has donated tens of millions of dollars to tobacco control organizations and programs around the world.  These efforts have earned him the title “Nanny Bloomberg” in some circles.

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New ATF Director

Jones Confirmed as ATF Director

Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, or ATF, Mr. B. Todd Jones, has been confirmed by the US Senate to be the first, full-fledged Director of the agency since the post was realigned to require Senate confirmation in 2006.  Just days after the NRA expressed neutrality in the Jones confirmation process, Jones supporters were able to garner the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster and move on to the confirmation vote when Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) switched her vote.  Murkowski wasn’t the only Republican to cross over on the vote though; AZ Senator John McCain led the Republican delegation which included Lindsay Graham (SC), Kelly Ayotte (NH), Susan Collins (ME), and Mark Kirk (IL).  The rest of the Republicans in the Democrat-controlled Senate voted to maintain the filibuster that was blocking the Jones appointment.  After Murkowski changed her vote, Harry Reid held the voting open for a near-record 5 hours waiting for ND Democrat Heidi Heitkamp to arrive to cast the final vote for closing debate and moving on to the actual confirmation vote.  The final confirmation vote only required a simple majority and was an easy victory for the Democrats.  Echoing John Kerry’s statement that he voted against a measure before voting for it, most of the Republicans who had voted to close debate turned around and voted against final confirmation.

Jones was confirmed in spite of the fact that there are unresolved allegations of mismanagement and retaliation against whistleblowers in his capacity as US Attorney for Minnesota, and in spite of his apparent connections to the inception of Operation Fast and Furious, which put some 2000 AK and AR-style firearms into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.  Jones has been acting head of the agency since August of 2011 when he took over from former Acting Director Kenneth Melson.  Melson was tainted in the Fast and Furious scandal and was given a lateral transfer into a newly-created position where he has been quietly counting down to his full-benefits retirement.

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ATF’s Latest Confiscation Program

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, or ATF, have begun confiscating gun parts known as drop-in auto sears, or DIAS. A DIAS is a simple toggle device which, when installed in an AR-type rifle, along with several other critical fire-control parts, can convert a semi-auto AR into a full-auto assault rifle. The devices were originally unregulated, but in 1981 ATF declared them to be machine guns if possessed in conjunction with the other parts needed to make a conversion, but the agency made their new determination apply only to DIASes manufactured after Nov. 1, 1981. Now ATF is apparently using the records of a man who openly sold the devices for decades to track down purchasers and take their property as contraband – with the real possibility of then prosecuting those people.

One of the reasons gun owners tend to be completely opposed to the passage of any new gun laws – no matter how innocuous or reasonable seeming – is the erratic history of interpretation and enforcement of the current gun laws. This is also why I cringe every time I hear someone who supposedly supports gun rights – from politicians to the head of the NRA – calling for the feds to “enforce the laws already on the books.” The fact is, the gun laws that are already on the books are a labyrinth of confusion and booby-traps full of open-ended mandates, ambiguous definitions and unbridled bureaucratic discretion. Many innocent people have had their lives and livelihoods completely destroyed when federal agencies have decided to “enforce the laws already on the books.”

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George Zimmerman

Stand Your Ground Must Stand

It didn’t take long after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin for the event to be portrayed as the act of a vigilante, or a one-man lynching party.  A mug shot of a surly, mentally detached-looking Zimmerman juxtaposed to a 9th grade yearbook photo of bright-eyed, smiling, young Martin became staples of reports on the story, and, in a way, became the story itself.  The President of the United States weighed in with a comment that if he had a son, he “would look like Trayvon.”  And that was the story that was reported for the next year and a half – and which continues to be reported today, even after Zimmerman’s acquittal.

It is the story of a dissatisfied, Walter Mitty, police wannabe, pudgy, white guy (who parenthetically identifies himself as Hispanic), who saw an opportunity to take out his frustration and racist hatred on a helpless, hapless, young African-American child innocently walking home from the local convenience market one evening.

In this story, Zimmerman – whose mother is inconveniently Peruvian with a black grandmother, and who has a decidedly non-racist history (but luckily enough for the storytellers has a white-sounding name) and a Florida license to carry a concealed handgun (which proves he has self-esteem issues and probably a small penis).  As a self-appointed “neighborhood watch commander,” (never mind that he was elected by his neighbors), he is patrolling the streets in search of a victim when he spots young Trayvon Martin, an African-American youth in a hoodie, walking alone so he draws his gun and confronts the youth…

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Life, Liberty and Happiness

Celebrating Independence

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

John Adams penned those words on July 3, 1776 in a letter to his wife Abigail.  On the previous day, after months of political wrangling, the Continental Congress had passed a resolution officially breaking ties with England and declaring the united colonies of America to be independent states.  On the following day, the Congress finalized the language of a formal letter announcing the decision and the reasons for it.  Adams expected that it would be the adoption of Richard Henry Lee’s resolution that would be remembered and celebrated, not Thomas Jefferson’s declaration.  But, as it was Jefferson’s letter that was used as the official announcement of Congress’ action, and as the letter had the date, July 4, 1776, prominently posted at the top, it was this date that the people connected with the act, and which they have celebrated for 237 years.

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg

The Most Dangerous Man in America

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely – so said Lord Acton.  We’ve also been told that money is power, and that money is the root of all sorts of evil.  When you add all of those bits of wisdom together, it paints a picture of the current Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg.  Bloomberg is one of the wealthiest men in the world.  He has used his billions to buy and hold his office as Mayor of NYC, where he has instituted policies and practices completely beyond the scope of lawful government and in direct opposition to the restrictions of the US Constitution.  Not only has Bloomberg decreed that his subjects may not purchase large soda drinks and that his Pretorian Guard may “stop and frisk” anyone they choose – at any time, for any reason or for no particular reason – he has also used the power of his office and apparently the city’s taxpayers money to advance his own dream of restrictive firearm laws across the nation.

Did wealth and power turn Bloomberg into a megalomaniac?  Or did megalomania drive him to wealth and power.  It’s impossible to say for certain, but either way, there can be no doubt that the wealth and power has fueled the arrogance and self-righteousness to levels rarely seen in American history.  Unfortunately, the man’s immense personal fortune, and willingness to apply it to his own idea of “nation-building” makes his god-complex particularly dangerous.

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Ghosts of Waco

Ghosts of Waco

Could they end the reign of Obama?

Could the tragic events of Waco bring down the President and the Democrat machine after 20 years?  Mike McNulty, producer of the Emmy Award winning, Academy Award nominated documentary Waco: Rules of Engagement, and its follow-up films, Waco, A New Revelation, and The FLIR Project, believes it could.  McNulty says that the close ties between the Waco atrocity and members of the Obama administration – including Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, and powerful congressional Democrats, could unravel the administration and the entire Washington power structure.

McNulty insists that Hillary Clinton in particular was deeply involved in the Waco debacle and in the multiple cover-ups that followed, and that criminal prosecutions could be brought against her and others, “There’s no statute of limitations on murder,” says McNulty.

 That’s a pretty dramatic allegation, but McNulty says that’s where the evidence leads, and no one knows the evidence of the Waco tragedy better than McNulty.  He and his experts were given unprecedented access to the Waco files and evidence locker during the making of the documentaries, and they carefully catalogued what they found – including items that were incorrectly identified in the official records.

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Jihawg Ammo

New Ammo Cancels Free Ticket to Paradise

You’ve probably already heard about the bizarre, Islamist slaughter of an off-duty British soldier in broad daylight on a busy street in London in May.  The two assailants struck the victim with a car then jumped out and began hacking and slashing him with knives and a meat cleaver.  The murderers then strutted around the victim’s body for 15 to 20 minutes until armed police arrived, upon which the self-proclaimed jihadists launched an assault on the police and were shot.

The attack occurred in the middle of the day on a busy city street, and though there were numerous witnesses to the atrocity – including at least one uniformed London police officer – no one made any effort to stop the assault in progress.  Most strange is the way that the attackers waited around after the slaughter, strutting and bragging, but not particularly threatening or attempting to harm any of the onlookers, until armed police units finally arrived, at which point the murderers commenced what could only be characterized as a suicide attack – having brought knives to a gunfight.

Many have asked why the attackers just waited around for the armed police.  Why didn’t they flee or continues attacking others, as one might expect from a couple of crazed murderers?  What were they waiting for?

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Critical Questions for B. Todd Jones

Call members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them you want answers to  these Critical Questions for B. Todd Jones.

What did he know, when did he know it, and what has he done about it?

Was ATF Director Appointee, B. Todd Jones, involved in the inception of the felony stupid program known as Fast and Furious? 

What has he done regarding the scandal in the year and a half that he has been Acting Director?

What specific actions does he intend to take to focus ATF enforcement efforts on violent criminals and reduce the incidence of prosecution of unwitting technical violations by regular gun owners?

The Judiciary Committee of the US Senate is scheduled to begin hearings on the confirmation of B. Todd Jones as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives on June 11.  Jones has served as the Acting Director of the agency since September of 2011 when, then Acting Director, Ken Melson transferred to a new post in the wake of the Fast and Furious scandal.

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Another Death by Cop at Costco

(May30, 2013) For the second time in three years, police have killed a person named Scott at a Costco store.  Loudon County Sheriff’s Deputies shot and killed Mhai Scott, a sub-contractor handing out pizza samples at a Costco store in Sterling, Virginia, on May 29.  In 2010, Las Vegas Metro Police Officers shot and killed Erik Scott as he walked out of a suburban Costco store.  The only thing the two Scotts seem to have in common is their last names and the location and manner of their deaths.  Erik Scott was a West Point graduate with an MBA from Duke University who enjoyed body building and was a pharmaceutical sales rep.  Mhai Scott was a petite, 38-year old, divorced, Pilipina mother of two young children, whose ex-husband was in the US military.

A witness who had contact with Mhai Scott shortly before she was killed said she was very nice and polite, but a store employee called police saying she was acting erratically and threatening fellow employees with a pair of scissors and a knife.  Witnesses described Loudon County Sheriff’s Deputies rushing in toward the employee lounge asking about a woman.  A few moments later, 5 shots rang out and Mhai Scott was dead.

Police say that one officer attempted to subdue the woman with a Taser, but that the Taser “failed.” As is typical when one officer deploys a Taser, the second officer had his sidearm out as backup.  The problem with this tactic is that if the Taser fails to do the job, whether through malfunction, operator error, or obstruction, the backup officer’s pistol becomes the only readily available option.  There isn’t time to re-holster weapons and shift to a different approach.  So when the Taser didn’t work as expected, and the woman “advanced,” the only option available to keep her from harming anyone was to shoot her.  The two officers involved have been put on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, as is standard in police shootings. 

Reaction to the shooting was mixed, with people being generally supportive of the police, but questioning the way events escalated so rapidly to the point of using deadly force, and the need to shoot the woman 5 times.   

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Ammunition for the grassroots gun rights movement