Even if you choose not to exercise it

Dianne Feinstein this morning on Meet The Press made a call for no longer having "the rights of the few outweigh the safety of the many" Mrs. Feinstein, I'm pretty sure the rights you hold in contempt belong to all of us.

Glock Glock Bo Bock…

Yep, as predicted I couldn’t stay away and pulled the trigger (so to speak) and purchased my first pistol.

I took son #2 down to the range to try it out and teach him to handle it. He did quite well but still prefers something a bit more long range. He did appreciate the ZMax Zombie rounds though.

Notice how everyone always says “first pistol” Its just sort of assumed that, long term, this is going to be a more expensive investment. Its kind of like tattoos. I don’t know anyone with just 2 tattoos. They either have 1 because they did it on a dare in college or they have a bunch.

btw – you want to get a wide variety of extreme responses from people? Tell them you just bought a gun.

DNC ignores its own

Twitter is lit up discussing the gaffe the DNC made where they dropped certain things from their platform and had to, under pressure, put them back. That’s not the real story as I see it.

Here’s what just happened at the DNC. The chair gets up and puts the platform changes on the screen. He asks for a voice vote… “Yes!!!”…. ‘No!!!!” and then he does a double take as he realizes he didn’t get the required 2/3 majority from the crowd. He actually started to say that it passed with the required 2/3 majority but stops. So he says he’ll do it again. “Yes!!!”…. ‘No!!!!”   This time the “no”s are even louder. He now looks totally flummoxed and then leans over to talk to some who says

You gotta let them do what they’re gonna do

He then immediately interprets this as “Let the animals roar. You cant control it” because he proceeds to ask for a 3rd vote and when the result is the same he ignores it and claims there was a 2/3 majority vote.

This is absolutely INSANE. He just took a public vote and when the party members didn’t just fall in line he got flummoxed. But then when he regained his composer his decision, as the chair, was to absolutely ignore the voting happening right in front of him on national television.

The irony of moving to ignore the rules in order to have a special vote and then ignoring the results of the vote is unbelievable.

If the DNC leadership decides to let this change stand they will have demonstrably proved that they do not care about anything except getting their way, even when their own constituents visibly claim opposing views. This is not the party of inclusion. They even ignore their own rules and members. This is the party of My Way or the Highway.

 

also, is this open proof that the DNC (at least the half that voted no) is actually actively anti-Israel and anti-God? How does that sit with the rest of the constituency around the nation?

End Medicare As We Know It?

Hopefully. Medicare “As We Know It” is doomed.The alternative to ending Medicare “As We Know It” is to leave it “As We Know It.” And we all “Know” that Medicare “As We Know It” is unsustainable and will end itself soon enough.

Another new hobby?

Went to the local shooting range with the missus to try out something new. I’ve had a little experience with rifles and shotguns before but none with pistols. While I can’t say I can justify the $3000 price tag right now, I did quite enjoy the Nighthawk Custom 1911.

Arguing the wrong point

Over at Borepatch yesterday there was a post about Democrats being creepy because they build an app that uses public data to show where registered Democrats live. I left a comment which was misunderstood so I’ll expound here instead of putting a long comment there. Mr. Borepatch’s comment notwithstanding

This simply makes my skin crawl.  We know that there are people who are willing to target their political opponents.

This is not a problem with the Democratic party using publicly available data. Do not blame them for using the tools available to them. If you think your party affiliation should be kept private – DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO COLLECT IT. Go get them to change the rules.

I looked at two different voter registration forms today California and Texas (that should provide a good spread, right?) California has a box marked “Choice of Party.” Texas does not. If the government is requiring the collection of information then it is going to be public information more often than not. And that’s a good thing. And if I can’t fill it out, you can’t build an app that shows the data. I’m not a “registered anything” because there isn’t even a place for me to declare it. (Although if I go vote in a primary for a party they take note of that)

FWIW, I built a similar app as a proof of concept 4 years ago when I discovered the political donation info was readily available. Want to get creepy? Map out everyone on both sides who donated with big $$$ based on how much they contributed.

The real issue here is that the state’s directly support the two party system by actually managing the process for them and registering you with them. There is absolutely no reason for the state to provide ballots or procedure or anything to the private organizations known as political parties. The state recognizes the 2 parties officially and keeps the current system in place which is good for the incumbents. (Now when it comes to what the party does with its own data – same story; its on you to know that they are going to use the info to their advantage unless specified otherwise)

You want transparency in government? Then live with that transparency.

p.s. Borepatch, surely in your field you can’t have been surprised by the availability and use of data like this.

Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t totally suck!

When explaining why he is not jumping on the “Mayors that want to ban chick-fil-a” bandwagon, New York Mayor Bloomberg gets it exactly right

You can’t have a test for what the owners’ personal views are before you decide to give a permit to do something in the city. You really don’t want to ask political beliefs or religious beliefs before you issue a permit. That’s just not government’s job.

I’ve been completely stunned that a number of large metropolitan mayors and councilman have gone on record that they are actively trying to prevent a restaurant from opening in their jurisdiction without any evidence (or even claims) of discrimination happening in their businesses.

Given his history, I was even more stunned that Bloomberg not only wasn’t right there with them, but he actively spoke out against it.

Way to go Mikey! (on this one at least) Now can I have a large soda with that?