Justice Ginsburg Did Some Pre-Game Drinking for the SOTU

Can you really blame her?

Honestly, if I had to sit through the entire SOTU, I'd want to drink during the speech.

Tomasky Encourages Democrats to Abandon the South

I guess he's a little bitter about the fact that Southern states have rejected the Democratic party so resoundingly in the recent elections, so he's going with the old: You can't fire me; I quit! routine.

And that is what Louisiana, and almost the entire South, has become. The victims of the particular form of euthanasia it enforces with such glee are tolerance, compassion, civic decency, trans-racial community, the crucial secular values on which this country was founded… I could keep this list going. But I think you get the idea. Practically the whole region has rejected nearly everything that’s good about this country and has become just one big nuclear waste site of choleric, and extremely racialized, resentment.

Well that's just genuis, Tomasky. Just take about one-quarter of the entire country and insult it. That's really the best way to win friends and influence people. Remember. liberals love tolerance and diversity, unless your diversity happens to be diversity of thought - they won't tolerate that.

At the congressional level, and from there on down, the Democrats should just forget about the place. They should make no effort, except under extraordinary circumstances, to field competitive candidates. The national committees shouldn’t spend a red cent down there. This means every Senate seat will be Republican, and 80 percent of the House seats will be, too. The Democrats will retain their hold on the majority-black districts, and they’ll occasionally be competitive in a small number of other districts in cities and college towns. But they’re not going win Southern seats (I include here with some sadness my native West Virginia, which was not a Southern state when I was growing up but culturally is one now). And they shouldn’t try.

Oh, we can't fire you because you quit? Well that's really mature of y'all.

Instead of encouraging the Democratic party to look in the mirror and re-evaluate some of its positions, Tomasky has decided that the only lesson to learn from the recent electoral defeat is that us Southerners just aren't worth the time and effort. I guess we're just too darn backwards for the Democrats to spend any more time down here. Talk about sour grapes.

Whatever makes you feel better, I guess.

Keystone XL Dies in the Senate

Mary Landrieu was just cut loose from the herd.

Democratic incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) failed to convince enough members of her party to support the Keystone XL pipeline Tuesday evening, a vote considered a desperate attempt to save her Senate seat.

Legislation that would have expedited the approval of the pipeline failed 41-59, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed for approval. All 45 Republicans voted for the bill.

Not that getting this vote through would have saved her anyway. Oh well, I guess the next question is whether the new Senate will be able to get to 67 votes.

Last Night's Election - The Devil's Own Day

Wave.

Nikki Haley cruised to a fairly easy victory last night, as Republicans swept pretty much every race there was, in both South Carolina and nationwide. Even the state of Maryland elected a Republican Governor. Maryland, y'all.

Anyway, we'll see how things go for the next two years. My only admonition to Republicans in the Senate is this: All glory is fleeting. Remember the hubris of the Democrats, who basically thought the were going to have a permanent majority?

Well guess what, y'all. No majority is ever permanent. Get things done, and you'll be rewarded. Act like knuckle-heads, and you'll be out on your ear next time. Being marginally better than the Democrats isn't something to get all that excited about. There's always another battle to be fought.

I'm reminded of the exchange between Grant and Sherman at Shiloh. After the first day of battle, the Confederates had taken the Federal position and forced a retreat of the Federals under Grant and Sherman. The Federals had been driven from the field and looked like they would be finished off the following morning.

When Sherman arrived at Grant's headquarters later that evening, he found the general–broken sword and all– chewing on a soggy cigar in the rain, which had begun soaking the battlefield.

'Well, Grant' Sherman said to his friend, 'We've had the devil's own day, haven't we?'

'Yes,' replied Grant, 'lick 'em tomorrow, though.'

The GOP could easily be licked next time.

The Northeast US has lost 40% of its members from the US House of Representatives since 1950

In 1950, the Northeast (from Pennsylvania to Maine) had 141 seats in the House of Representatives. Now, the same region of the country only has 85 seats.

That's quite a loss of power. When you think of how politically powerful the Northeast has been over the history of our country, it's quite astounding to see the shift. You can blame tax rates, weather, culture, or other factors, but whatever the reason, it's clear that fewer people than ever before are living in the Northeast, relative to the rest of the country.

As a South Carolinian, I say that's fine with me.

I like to tell people who move to South Carolina from other places: It's ok if you weren't born a Southerner, as long as you got here as fast as you could.

The NFL and the Nature of Large Organizations

By now, everyone has seen the horrible video footage of Ray Rice knocking his then fiancee (now wife) out cold in an elevator during an argument. It's an absolutely horrible thing to watch.

The big story now is not the domestic violence itself, but rather, how the NFL handled the issue. Originally, the NFL suspended Rice for two games. Now, after the release of this video, the Ravens have cut (fired) Rice, and his football career is all but over - permanently.

Of course, there are now all sorts of stories with the point of The NFL Knew About Ray Rice....And Did Nothing!

This morning, I was watching knuckle-head Joe Scarborough and company talk about how large organizations (like the NFL) always cover up bad things, and how horrible that is. You're going to see these stories everywhere. People are going to pile on the NFL and condemn the NFL for essentially sweeping this all under the rug, circling the wagons, and trying to cover up a horrible event. You're going to see stories about how private entities are only self-interested! Eleventy! For the most part, all that's true, but you know what?

The NFL covering up a player beating his fiancee pales in comparison to all of the things that the Obama Administration has done over the past six years and covered up...and no one gives a damn about it. Yeah, this is kind of politicizing sports, but who cares? I'm pointing out all the hypocrisies in our country.

Everyone is upset about Ray Rice. You know what I'm still upset about? Susan Rice going on national television and blaming a terror attack on a YouTube video. Do any of these people shrieking about the NFL give a damn about that? Nope. It's just laughable that so many people get worked up about the NFL, but they can't seem to muster any outrage when a government official comes on television and just lies to us like we're stupid little children. But that's what happens in politics. People just overlook things like that nowadays, because they don't want "their team" to look bad.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not sticking up for the NFL or Ray Rice. They both deserve shame, but you know who else does? Your President who covers up everything. How can you care about one and not the other? It's wildly inconsistent.

The IRS was used to target conservative organizations in an effort to squash one side of a political point of view, and then all the e-mails from everyone are just magically gone? Yeah, nothing to see there folks. Zero outrage. No big deal. People who get subpoenaed in a Congressional investigation just happen to delete all the evidence of their conspiracy and....crickets. The VA puts veterans on secret waiting lists and then covers up their own cheating? Eh, just give them some more money.

Once again, leftists see large private organizations like the NFL as self-interested and willing to cover up problems that should see the light of day. And they're not totally wrong. They're right to be skeptical. However, their distrust of skepticism of people's motives completely disappears when applied to government organizations, because apparently, everyone just magically becomes an angel with completely altruistic motives when they work for the government.

Right.

So before you tell me how large organizations like the NFL circle the wagons to avoid bad publicity, and before you tell me how horrible that is, tell me how upset you are about your own government doing the same damn thing.

Otherwise, you're a hypocrite and hack.

Bernie Sanders: "You know what we need? We need to limit that pesky First Amendment."

Yes, that pesky First Amendment has been driving Democrats bonkers ever since the Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions came down from the Supreme Court, basically holding that people can spend money on political advocacy and and give money to as many candidates as they want to.

So let's just limit the First Amendment.

One day before the U.S. Senate votes on a constitutional amendment to restore limits on big money in politics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the drive to undo Supreme Court decisions that gutted campaign finance laws “the major issue of our time” and said Monday’s showdown vote is “a pivotal moment in American history.”

The Democrats like to poke fun at the GOP controlled House of Representatives taking meaningless and purely symbolic votes to repeal Obamacare. And that's fair. Those votes are fairly meaningless and symbolic because they won't pass the Senate, and they for danged sure aren't going to be signed by the President.

But lemme get this straight: The Democrats think they're going to get a two-thirds majority in the Senate and in the GOP House, and then they're going to get three-fourths of the State Legislatures to ratify an amendment to curtail the First Amendment?

Good luck!

While they're at it they should go ahead and propose an amendment to the Second Amendment, too.

"I think liberals really do not understand emotionally the extent to which the Tea Party was created by the Affordable Care Act and the feeling that its government was simply steamrolling it. "

"From the Tea Party's perspective, you had an unpopular program that should have died in the same way, and for the same reasons, that Social Security privatization did: because sensible politicians saw that, no matter how ardently they and their base might desire it, this was out of step with what the majority of the country wanted."

Some Thoughts on Hobby Lobby and Why Liberals Fail at America

Now that the long holiday weekend is over, it's back to work. That meant I had a full day today, so no time for blogging until now. I haven't blogged much here on the Hobby Lobby case.

If you go over to Brad's post on that case,I probably wrote more over there than I have over here. In any event, I've covered the legal aspects of the case over there, and I don't really care to rehash that aspect. What I've been mulling over the weekend was the absolute freakout that the left had over the decision. Frankly, it doesn't seem that earth-shattering to me. What really puzzled me was all the hair-pulling, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. I saw all that and thought....really? Um, ok.

It puzzled me that people are aghast to discover a law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protects religious freedom. The whole reason you pass a law like this is to protect religious freedom and give them accommodations. That's the whole point. But then, this upcoming point was made on Ace's podcast, and it bears repeating here, on this much less frequented corner of the internet, because it clarifies the issue.

The whole point of RFRA is to make special provisions, and to make accommodations with different beliefs. Because normally, the majority of a group finds it annoying to have to make these accommodations.

Accordingly, we passed a law about it - the RFRA. For instance: If a guy at your job site is a Muslim, then he may have to take a break three times a day to pray to Mecca. Obviously, not everyone gets this break. The rest of you guys have to keep digging the ditch. But to get along with the Muslim guy and be tolerant, we've decided, with RFRA, that we are going to respect that this guy has a belief system that isn't what everyone else's belief system is. Therefore, we're going to cut him some slack from the general rule that you don't get three breaks a day to pray in the direction of Mecca.

And for the most part, liberals are seeming fine with some of these special exceptions. But as soon as you have just one special exception that goes against their belief system, they want to crush people and impose their will on them. And then when you point out that the law also protects this religious group, all the liberals start yelling: "What the hell!, Now we're making laws for EVERY SINGLE RELIGIOUS GROUP?? It's going to be like ANARCHY here!" Well....that's kind of what the law says. What did you think the law said?

And that goes into the main point: One of the things that most people think was a good quality in liberals is that they wanted to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. I did. I kind of thought that it was a good thing that liberals at least thought about that problem a lot. They always seemed worried about a small group getting steamrolled by the conventions of the larger group.

But...it turns out that liberals don't really think about that. They don't really care about small groups having their own little exceptions if it the small group isn't part of their voting coalition. It was never about principle for liberals. For them, it's purely a transactional process for members of their voting coalition. LIberals are not fighting about the principle of the minority, because when it gets extended to a Christian, they're aghast, and they want to overturn the RFRA. They don't believe in the principle of protecting this religious minority. This whole thing has been very revealing for me.

I've seen liberals basically say that they don't support pluralism of viewpoints in general. They support specific exceptions and accommodations for people in their voting coalition - and that's it. It's not that liberals are principled and good people, they've just decided to do favors for people who vote like them.

And I hear these liberals say, If only these trouble-making Hobby Lobby Christians could be could be forced, somehow coerced by the government, to behave properly, then we wouldn't have these problems!

They fail at America.

Trey Gowdy Does His Thing - IRS Scandal Gets Worse

This Trey Gowdy fellow...he's going places. I can tell you that I've seen lots of lawyers do cross-examination, and he's pretty good at it. But this is just devastating for the legitimacy of the IRS.

This entire IRS deal is getting worse and worse. The IRS is pretty much entirely devoted to record keeping. That's what they do. They keep records, and sort through taxpayers records. With this scandal, they've basically admitted that they're negligent record keepers at best, and intentional attack dogs of a political party at worst.

 

And this Koskinen guy is so arrogant. He's not sorry for anything. You know, when the head of a private company comes before Congress in connection with a big screw up, they're pretty contrite. Remember the GM CEO?

This guy is basically saying, Yeah, we don't have the records, or maybe we'll get around to it, but no big deal. We didn't do anything wrong anyway - just take my word for it, ok?

It's clear he doesn't give a damn about "Congressional oversight".

And on the issue of the "our hard drive crashed" excuse - let's just assume (for chuckles) that it's true. Ok, if someone's hard drive crashes, what's the first thing you do? Obviously, you make an attempt to retrieve the "lost" emails from the hard drive using IT expert before you destroy the freaking hard drive.

If no attempts were made to recover the information before the drive was physically destroyed, then intentional, and people like Lying Lois Lerner need to be charged with a crime.

Orange. Freaking. Jumpsuits.

Ramius Killed Political Officer Putin Last Night in VA-7

Over on Facebook where I'm a newbie, Brad referred to Eric Cantor as the one time "zampolit" who kept Boehner in line, and how it was somehow fitting that Cantor would lose to a Tea Party challenger.

When I read the word zampolit, the first thing I thought of was of Political Officer Putin, who was similarly taken by a rouge agent, who then changed the standard orders.

The Tea Party is burning the orders from Moscow.

I think my attempt at humor works quite poetically, as Ramius killed Putin, and then covers it up by claiming he slipped on some....tea.

Watch out for that tea, Eric.

Everything always comes back to The Hunt For Red October.

SC GOP Primary Is Boring AND ERIC CANTOR LOSES??

Eric Cantor, please call your office.

It looks like Lindsey Graham will remain our Senator. There were some good challengers, and there were some not so good challengers. Hopefully, we can send Senator Graham back to Washington with a sense of renewed purpose.

In other news, Eric Cantor (the House Majority Leader) just lost his primary to a Tea Party challenger from his right, over what appears to be the illegal immigration issue.

This is a pretty big deal, y'all. I think this probably means that any big legislation on immigration is dead. I don't see any politicians sticking their head in the noose after they just saw what happened to Cantor tonight.

How does the saying go, some times you have to hang a few generals so that something something?

Arguing Politics In One GIF

This sums up how I feel.

Maybe I'll just stay at the beach forever.

Washington Post Runs Stupid Opinion on Smart Guns

The Washington Post wants you to buy this. Too bad it sucks. But hey, it's got a little American flag on the slide.

The common sense people are obviously not running the show at The Washington Post.

How do I know this? The leftists who run the opinion page decided to run an opinion from the lead designer of the top Smart Gun designer touting how great his product is. It might as well be a commercial.

If you haven't heard about this new smart-gun, it has an internal computer that pairs with a special watch you wear to ensure that the gun will not fire unless in close proximity to the watch. Oh, and you enter a little code on the watch if you actually want to shoot the gun.

What's not to like, unless you're a Luddite, right?

Wrong. Let's look at a few facts that don't appear in the WaPo's column infomercial. 

1. The Armatix is chambered in .22LR. That's it. That's the only option. When I first saw that, I thought it had to be a mistake. No one in their right mind would regularly use a handgun chambered in .22LR for self-defense. It's not a viable self-defense round for about a dozen reasons, chief of which is that rimfire ammo is not as reliable as centerfire ammo. So right there, that's a bad start. You're basically taking the smallest possible caliber out there, and arming yourself with it. If you're ever attacked by an animal smaller than a Pomeranian, you'll be fine.

So why is it only chambered for .22LR? The technology used in the pistol is so fragile that chambering anything more a low-recoiling .22LR would shake the gun’s electronic brains apart in short order.

2. It has a 10% Failure Rate. But hey, let's assume that your rimfire .22 ammo never fails. And let's assume that you're such a great shot you're going to hit the bad guy's heart or brain every time. How about this Aratix wireless pairing thing? How often does that fail? Oh, nothing to be concerned about folks, per Armatix, it only fails about 10% of the time. Doing some quick math, in a 10-round magazine that's....oh yeah, once every magazine! So basically 100% of the time that you go through your magazine, you'll have a pairing failure that results in the gun not firing. Where do I sign up for this wonder weapon?

Still want one? 

3. Price. Well, this is the best part. It's expensive. The gun sells for $1,399.00. Oh, and did you want the gun to actually fire, too? Well, you'll need to by the little watch, as well. Did I mention the watch isn't included in that price and sells for $399? So we're at a grant total of $1,800, which is also the price of three Glocks. Let me repeat that. YOU COULD HAVE THREE GLOCKS AND EXTRA AMMO FOR THIS PRICE. Three Glocks. Plus ammo. Are you kidding me?

Ok, so we can rule out anyone who wants this gun for actual, legitimate self-defense, and anyone who doesn't have money to burn. But to be fair, that's not the only market of gun-buyers out there. What about folks who just like to target shoot, and don't care about self-defense or money? Would this be a good pistol for the responsible, competitive target shooter?

No. Because target shooters buy really expensive target pistols with match-grade barrels, and all other kind of bells and whistles that make the gun extremely accurate - which this little Armatix doesn't have.

So, we'e basically got a gun that has no market. There is literally no one out there in the universe of gun-buyers who would be drawn to this gun. However, we do have a political market for this gun. You know, politics, where the rules of common-sense land don't apply?

If you hear any politician advocating for this gun, ask them what their security detail uses. If it's good enough for their constituents, it should be good enough for them, right?

Hey World! Shape Up! You're Disappointing Obama!

In a recent poll of current US Presidents, the world's approval rating has drastically slipped given recent events. In fact, the poll results revealed that the current President expressed "disappointment" when asked about the rest of the world.

"The profile [of President Obama] that I published in the New Yorker was somebody that eerily, eerily seemed to be claiming himself--it was a sense of not giving up, but of deep frustration--that was the profile that I published in the New Yorker. Somebody frustrated and disappointed," said Remnick, who has proven to be deeply sympathetic to this president.

"And that's what's frustrating to me sometimes about Obama is that the world seems to disappoint him," he continued to laughter from others on the TV set. "Republicans disappoint him, Bashar al-Assad disappoints him, Putin as well. And the fighting spirit sometimes is lacking in the performative aspects of the presidency."

I can't say that I really feel bad for the President. You know, the world disappoints me constantly. The world disappoints everyone constantly. Part of becoming a grownup is realizing that it has always been ever so and then moving on with life anyway.

Huh...seems like he's frustrated with everyone who doesn't do exactly what he wants. What did he expect - that the whole world would just adore him and do whatever he said?

Grow up, Mr. President.

GOP Candidate for Iowa Senate Seat Makes An Interesting Ad

Here's an ad from Joni Ernst, who is one of the GOP candidates for Iowa's Senate Seat. It's kind of in the same vein as all the Sarah Palin-esqe stuff. She cruises in on a motorcycle, and then...well, just watch.

Thoughts? It kind of reminds me of (now Sentator) Joe Manchin's campaign ad where he shot a hole in the Obamacare bill with a rifle.

I guess we'll see how this plays out with Iowa voters. How does it play out with you?

Is There a "Twitter Gap"?

"Democrats are supposed to be the party that all the young, hip people are crazy about. But when it comes to Twitter, Democrats have actually fallen behind Republicans in several important metrics."

Maybe it's because 140 characters limits your ability to BS.

[via Insty]

Guns for Yee, But Not for Thee

If Barry from Championship Vinyl was making a top 5 list of hypocrisy, this story has to rank right up there near the top:

Leland Yee - So anti-gun that he decided to be an international arms trafficker.

Famously anti-gun California State Senator, Lelland Yee (Democrat), was arrested and charged with bribery and corruption.

Oh, wait. There was one more teensy little charge: international arms trafficking.

It really sounds like the plot of some kung-fu action movie, right? Hard-charging gun control advocate is secretly taking bribes from the Triads (California Organized Crime) to facilitate the import machine guns, grenades, and rocket launchers from the Philippines into California. 

Seriously, you guys. There is a 137 page affidavit from the FBI undercover officer about this, but my summary above is basically it.

The affidavit charges that the $2 million worth of weapons to have been secreted into the country from the Philippines included rocket launchers and machine guns, some of which Yee himself had fired while on Mindanao. A portion of the weapons Yee conspired to bring into the U.S. through New Jersey were to have been forwarded on to North Africa via Sicily.

How anti-gun was this guy? Senator Yee is quoted as saying, "It is extremely important that individuals in the state of California do not own assault weapons. I mean that is just so crystal clear, there is no debate, no discussion."

You know, I'm used to politicians being corrupt, but this just boggles my mind.

In other news yesterday, the Democratic Mayor of Charlotte was arrested by federal agents for run of the mill corruption and extortion charges. No international arms trafficking that we know of.

Why I'm Fine to Let Chris Christie Drown

Not literally drown. I mean politically.

Prior to the lane-closings on the GW Bridge turning into an abuse of power scandal for Governor Christie, he was viewed as one of the primary front-runners for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2016. He has been described as a practical governor who was willing to work across party lines to advance his state's interest, and that he was a "moderate".

That is certainly true. However, I would like to recap a little recent history for everyone:

2008: McCain gets the GOP nomination for President because he was a pragmatic moderate who had worked across the aisle to get things done. He lost.

2012: Romney gets the GOP nomination for President because he was a moderate who had worked across the aisle in his home state of Massachusetts to pass a health insurance regulatory scheme that was the forerunner of Obamacare. He lost.

So, does the GOP really want to nominate another moderate republican candidate who has worked across the aisle for the 2016 Presidential race? What's the definition of insanity, again?

There are two basic reasons I don’t want to see Christie be the GOP nominee besides historical precedent. He supports immigration amnesty and he accepted ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion in his state. If he had only done one of these, there would only be a red flag. Both of these are a disqualification to me.

Here's the thing. No matter what anyone says, one of the major points of the 2016 debate will be Obamacare. It will likely be a flaming train-wreck of a program. The GOP cannot have a nominee that is tainted by the program.

Remember back in 1940 when Winston Churchill won the Prime Minister job? He won because he wasn't tainted by the Munich Accord. He was always against appeasement of Hitler, and the men who had either tried to do so or had accepted the trying were not able to convince enough of the electorate that they were the men for the job.

Christie won't be able to convince enough of the electorate that he's the man for the job because he's tainted by his going along with Obamacare's medicaid expansion. It's Romney all over again.

Get someone who isn't tainted. 

George Will on "Fox News Sunday"

Oh, there’s nothing better for American conservatism than periodic examples of untrammeled liberalism. 

Indeed.