2019 – Page 3 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Dems are Too Elite! So Bring Me Their King!

I agree with Cam Edwards: bringing forward Mike Bloomberg as the cure for the elitism of the Democratic Party is like dropping someone off in the desert to cure heat stroke.

I think the Dem elites are scared to death of Liz Warren, the left-populist candidate. I don’t think they mind rhetoric, as long as at the end of the day, the tech elites are permitted to do what they want. Their real fear is to have someone in the White House who won’t play ball.

The thing with having a monopoly or oligopoly is: people have to be convinced you’re making their lives better. Zuck particularly has a real problem there. Amazon and Wal-Mart have changed shopping, and I want to love Amazon, but go take a look at any small town main street. I think people are starting to ask real questions about whether we’re really better off for all this change. Even I am, and I’m a lot more change tolerant than average.

No Path for Bloomberg

Cam is right here. The Dem elites are getting the vapors that their preferred candidate is melting down, and they might be dealing with a left-populist candidate who’s not sympathetic to their bullshit. This will be a key thing to look for:

If Elizabeth Warren becomes the Democratsâ€™ chosen candidate in 2020, donâ€™t be surprised if Bloomberg and his gun control groups donâ€™t spend a lot of money supporting her. Instead, I would expect tens of millions of dollars to flood into states around the country in a bid to reshape state legislatures along with the U.S. Senate and Congress.

Grassroots gun control supports shouldn’t have any issue with Liz Warren. If there isn’t much money for her from gun control supporters, it’s a strong indication of who is really calling the shots in the movement.

Highly Recommend Dred Scott History

I noticed Dave Hardy won an award from the African-American Genealogical Society for his work on the Dred Scott case. So I picked up a copy from Amazon. It’s not long. I got through it in an evening.

Imagine a reality in which people can own other people (buying them with or without a warranty), or a person can buy himself, and become free. A reality in which slaves can sue their masters, and have a jury decide whether they are really free. Into this not-alternate reality came a remarkable cast of Americans: Dred and Harriet Scott – the slaves whose suit for freedom sparked a battle in the Supreme Court and in the White House. John F. A. Sanford – the mountain man turned New York millionaire, who agreed to pose as the Scott’s owner so the suit could be filed. Rep. Calvin Chaffee – the prominent Massachusetts abolitionist, who was shocked to discover that he and his wife owned slaves, indeed the most famous slaves in the United States. Roger Taney – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who tried to preserve the Union by protecting slavery, and instead brought on the Civil War and slavery’s abolition. James Buchanan – the President-elect who secretly connived with the Court’s pro-slavery Justices, seeking a ruling that would let slavery spread throughout the territories. Abraham Lincoln – the failed frontier politician who awoke one morning to realize that Taney and Buchanan had given him the roadmap to the White House.

I highly recommend it. This is not the story of the Dred Scott case you learned about in high school.

Headline of the Week

ANTI-GUN SENTIMENT SHRINKS DICKâ€™S. In reference to this article. I’m actually really hoping Dick’s gets out of the gun business entirely, if only so I don’t have to listen to the fuddie duddies talk about getting this or that at Dick’s. Not everyone gets the message. They’ve been a problem for years. None of this shit is new. It’s just that the mask is off now.

Ed Stack on CBS Sunday Morning

Be sure to watch Ed Stack’s, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, appearance on CBS Sunday Morning.

I love that he goes to the: “But if we do these things and it saves one life, don’t you think it’s worth it?” That’s such a vacuous argument, and after all these years I’m sick of hearing it. It’s a refuge of people who don’t really have an argument and instead want to resort to emotional blackmail.

John Richardson notes that CBS at least used the correct language.

Mootness to be Considered at Oral Arguments

The NSRPA v. New York case isn’t being dismissed for mootness. It’s moving forward to oral arguments, but both sides have been informed to be prepared to argue the point. Dave Hardy notes that they’ve held a number of cases over until the next term. We very much need a significant victory at the Supreme Court.

Some Field & Stream Stores No Longer Dicks?

Dick’s Sporting Goods is selling 8 of its Field and Stream stores to Sportsman’s Warehouse. I’m going to assume those stores will be rebranded, since Dick’s isn’t selling all its stores to the company. There’s speculation that Dick’s will exit the hunting and gun market entirely. I hope that’s the case, because they don’t deserve our money.

Rally in DC

It looks like some folks associated with Save the Second are planning a rally in DC on Saturday November 2.

I always hate writing articles like this, because I don’t like pooh poohing other people’s work. Any effort for the cause is appreciated, and I’ve learned over the years not to look a gift horse in the mouth by critiquing volunteer efforts.

But my skepticism of rallying as a tactic is still alive and well. It’s not that it doesn’t work, but in order for it to work you have to turn out numbers that make politicians stand up and pay attention. For DC, that’s a huge number that have to turn out, and it’s harder to generate numbers in DC than it is in other places. Making a DC rally a success takes a lot of organization and money. If you’re depending on people to get there on their own, you’re probably not going to turn out the numbers needed to really put the scare on lawmakers. Making a rally or march on DC work is a gargantuan effort, and it takes a combination of top down and bottom up organizing if it’s to truly be a success. You can joke all you want about Bloomberg buying a bus and boxed lunches, but that’s how it’s done. The reason Bloomberg’s outfits struggle with rallying is they lack the bottom up component that is necessary for making it successful. Our error has traditionally been assuming that bottom up is all you need. It’s not. It’s a lot of work from the other end too.

So if you’re not about putting out that effort in both directions, the rally is an exercise in growing your list. That could be important, especially in the battles ahead both internal and external. But even if list growth is the goal, is a DC rally really the thing to accomplish that? That’s the big daddy. You need a lot of organization and money, and November 2 is awful close.

San Francisco Backs Down

This isn’t the huge victory NRA is making it out to be. Precedent is well-established, and San Francisco City Council has already achieved their primary objective:

Win a Second Amendment case, or the case against Cuomo, and make him pay personally, I’ll be a lot more impressed. Speaking of the Supreme Court, it was always my impression that the person who had the relationship with Paul Clement was Chris. Are we going to use Clement in any upcoming case? I hope NRA still has access to him. But in this day of Bill Brewer being NRA’s everything attorney, I won’t be surprised if it’s not Clement up there arguing for us.

Preoccupied

So the Supreme Court is meeting today to decide the fate of NYRPA v. New York. I believe we won’t know the result until the 7th. Tough wait, to be sure. All sides have a lot riding on this.

I am not able to focus on blogging as much. My employer kind of suddenly but not unexpectedly went through a serious crisis that is going to result in eventual wind down. Most of the employees are gone. But we both agreed not to leave my client high and dry, so I’m going to continue with my engagement while there’s work under a different but far riskier (for me) pay model. The good news is I will make some damned good money in October. The bad news is I don’t know if I will have a job after that. While all this is going on, I’m just not as focused on gun politics or blogging. And I’m not sure if I find another job I’ll really want to continue doing this. We shall see once all this is done playing out.