- Unidentified tourists (or non-existent tourists invented by a politician or a reporter) get so upset by a “black guns matter” sign that they cry, “Whaaaaa whaaaa!” and flee the town.
- We the deplorables. (Yeah, not v*ing for Trump, but the identification of who Hillary and nearly every other politician really finds deplorable is spot on.)
- Two via Kit Perez: More evidence that the unaware and innocent are more likely to be harmed by omni-surveillance than smart evil people are; and yep, Commentariat member A.G. said it the other day, “they” can recognize even blurred and pixelated faces. (Frankly, I remain skeptical of that claim, but who knows?)
- Don’t worry your pretty little heads, girls. Just turn off your brain and v*te for Hillary. Sure. And that approach is turning off a lot of sensible women.
- Wendy McElroy on “The Revolution of Rising Expectations”
- Not exactly a surprise that gravity helps cause earthquakes. But gravity as in the tidal pull of the moon? That’s a new one.
- Also no surprise: brutal, corrupt, perverted slimeball cops have no trouble getting new cop jobs.
- And while we’re in the No Surprise department: U.S. intervention took the MidEast from bad to worse.
- Via Desertrat in comments: the demographics of the NRA. Don’t really care much about the NRA, except that I’m guessing these impressively shifting demographics are typically of the entire U.S. gun-owning world. (From earlier this year but good intellectual ammo.)
- While you’re websurfing, you should really check out the Cool Gear department of The Zelman Partisans’ store. In addition to the custom Kershaw spring-assist knives, the amazing little binoculars, and the earplugs in the custom care, you’ll now find classic Zippo lighters and a gen-u-wine Victorinox Swiss Army knife. Oh, and while you’re there, don’t forget to enter the rifle contest, too. NFI on my part.
Deplorables = 1/4 of the voting-age population. Given the highly-probably armaments, not exactly a group to antagonize.
More on rising expectations: US TV. Poor folks in other countries saw what Hollywood provided as movie sets in shows about poor people. Those sets impressed the middle-class, elsewhere, and led the poor to ask, “Hey, what about us?”
The NRA deal is the art of the possible, always eyeballing congressional votes. Their efforts in 1968 deferred the end of all privately owned handguns, e.g. But no pro-gun organization can defend against betrayal, as with Sen. Dole and the 1986 ban on new machine guns. A major problem for us pro-gun types is that we lack a George Soros-sized billfold on our side.
[The NRA deal is the art of the possible, always eyeballing congressional votes.]
Whatever anyone thinks of the NRA’s legislative activities, the real difference they’re making is on the NRA Foundation non-legislative side. All those NRA basic firearm instructors teaching people to shoot. In a lot of states, NRA classes qualify people for carry licenses. The Friends of NRA grants helping 4-H and other such programs teaching people, particularly young people, to shoot.
That’s where the demographic change started to happen, and is continuing.
[A major problem for us pro-gun types is that we lack a George Soros-sized billfold on our side.]
Yeah, but we have an advantage that’s far more powerful.
When the Moms want to recruit you they have to invite you to a gloom-n-doom meeting where they sit around talking about how OMG guns are slaughtering people but they haven’t been able to pass much legislation because “Mean Old NRA.”
Then when you get to the meeting you find yourself in a room with people who are all “the glass is half empty” types, which is depressing.
If I want to recruit you, we go to the range and have fun, and you get to hang with people of the gun.
•Unidentified tourists… get so upset by a “black guns matter” sign that they … flee the town.
I have a feeling this is like the article about Texas campus carry, where those opposed told of a handful of students who had tragically withdrawn applications to the University of Texas because student carry bunched their panties.
The article also casually mentioned that UT had capped the freshman class at eight-thousand-some-odd students, and were having to turn people away.
LarryA everything you have said about the NRA is very true. But here’s my dilemma; I’ve been a big time supporter of the NRA over the years, including NRA-ILA, and FNRA so much so in that I have made it to the Patron level + (a big plus BTW) as a supporter.
They do much good with the instructors, Eddie Eagle, etc. They have been the difference in stopping national legislation and in some states legislatures but also in some states (initiatives) they have not where they could have done a lot more, and their internal politics have much to be desired even on their FNRA side.
When not one board member would come out for the recall of Grover Norquist (a Moslem Brotherhood promoter & inside the beltline player, btw I was one of those who submitted a petition for his recall) it told me something was rotten in Denmark.
It is my opinion that those who run the NRA today are very much like those who run the GOP; they are more interested in their stream of income than they are in standing for principles no matter what, any Pro-Gun organization that would support someone like Harry Reid (who later screwed them) over an opponent who was clearly pro 2nd amendment is more interested in being on the winning side than standing for principles (just like the GOP when they support progressive republicans over liberty minded republicans).
The reason IMHO this republic is lost is that ”we the people” & our leaders have lost our way and are not standing for principles any longer and as long as our current leaders and the leaders of the organizations that possibly could lead us back to a constitutional republic as intended by our founders are led by men (& women) who lead mainly for their own self-interest we will continue to go the way of darkness and not light. If you look at what happened to many of those who signed the Declaration of Independence this surely can not be said.
Nor is it to say I don’t support the NRA but it is to say my support will be in the future a lot more particular with strict limitations, now when it comes to the GOP they have been getting zilch and a big ear full of opinion every time they approach me in this general election (just had a fun conversation this week with a sitting R congressman who wanted my support, he called me but he won’t be calling back any time soon I am sure).