News of the Week for Jan. 13th, 2013
- Gun Rights
- Hide the Decline
- Obamacare
- War & Terror
- National News
- Economy & Taxes
- International News
- Opinion
Gun Rights
Guns for Me but Not for Thee
The Journal News hires armed guards after backlash from its infamous “gun map.”
Crony capitalism: Obama going for gun control with tactic used to pass Obamacare
President Obama plans to ally himself with big business once again by using crony capitalist tactics to pass gun control just as he used them to pass Obamacare. In this case, Obama reportedly plans to make sure that the new gun control law benefits big businesses that sell weapons.
Delhi Gang-Rape: Indian Women Stocking Up On Guns For Protection
In response to the highly publicized gang-rape (and subsequent death) of a young Indian woman on a private bus, hundreds of women in Delhi have applied for gun permits for self-defense and protection from predatory men.
Obama’s secret plan to reclassify your guns
President may ban certain firearms with 1 simple move
President Obama, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans plan to push new gun-control legislation in the 113th Congress, but defenders of the Second Amendment fear Obama is poised to enact the restrictions through the Executive Branch if Congress is not cooperative.
Guns don’t kill people — our sons do
After Newtown, Conn., parents cried out, “What’s making our children kill?” But it is not our children who are killing. It is our sons. All but one of the 62 mass killings in the past 30 years was committed by boys or men.
Gun Ownership – It’s The Law in Kennesaw, Georgia
Several Kennesaw officials attribute a drop in crime in the city over the past two decades to a law that requires residents to have a gun in the house.
Cuomo Close To Announcing Sweeping New Gun Control Laws
Governor Working On Deal That Would Go After Assault Weapons, Magazines
A deal to give New York one of the toughest gun control laws in the nation is being negotiated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who, sources said Tuesday, is hoping to announce the plan Wednesday during his State of the State speech in Albany.
Gun Appreciation Day: January 19, 2013
Political Media’s Larry Ward has launched a website and a movement titled “Gun Appreciation Day” in the wake of the rabid push for gun control by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Joe Manchin (D-WV) .
Shootings Prompt New Gun Bill
A new bill would restrict ammunition sales in California
Back in the USSR
You know you’ve entered a Strange New World when Pravda makes more sense than the American MSM regarding gun “control:”
New Jersey Introduces 18 Gun Control Bills
For those of you who live in New Jersey, heads up. Some of these bills are truly unbelievable, and if they pass, you can pretty much forget about owning a gun.
David Gregory’s Law
The David Gregory investigation has been completed by police, and has been handed over to prosecutors
Man Uses Gun to Protect Two-Month Old Son from Armed Robber
A man used his gun to protect himself and his two-month old son from a robber in Columbus, Ohio.
Iowa lawmaker calls for retroactive gun ban, confiscation of semi-automatic weapons
In an interview with the Daily Times Herald in Caroll, Iowa, state Rep. Dan Muhlbauer said governments should start confiscating semi-automatic rifles and other firearms.
Obama Considering ‘Executive Order’ to Deal With Guns
Gunman killed at Sullivan Central
On Monday morning, Thomas Richard Cowan loaded 13 bullets into two handguns, left his German shepherd chained to the fence and drove eight miles from his home in Kingsport to Sullivan Central High School. Whatever his mission, it was the 62-year-old Vietnam veteran’s final drive.
NRA: 100,000 new members after Sandy Hook shooting
The National Rifle Association has gained more than 100,000 new members in the past 18 days, the organization told POLITICO’s Playbook on Thursday.
Wyoming Lawmakers Propose ‘Gun Protection’ Legislation
Several Wyoming lawmakers are proposing legislation designed to protect gun-owners from any potential federal firearm ban. The “Firearms Protection Act” bill, introduced this week, would make any federal law banning semi-automatic firearms or limiting the size of gun magazines unenforceable within the state’s boundaries.
12-Year-Old Girl Home Alone Uses Family Gun to Shoot Intruder
Police in Oklahoma say a 12-year-old Oklahoma girl used the family gun to shoot an intruder during a burglary.
Three held in Palmview home invasion
Three men are being held for a Palmview home invasion where an 11-year-old boy was shot defending his mother.
David Gregory and wife knew D.C. Attorney General
District of Columbia Attorney General Irvin Nathan issued a lengthy letter today explaining the decision not to prosecute David Gregory despite “despite the clarity of the violation of this important law,” despite rejecting NBC’s claims of a subjective misunderstanding of the law, and despite vowing vigorous enforcement of gun laws.
Gun parts store registers SenatorFeinstein.com, uses it to promote gun rights
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein — a staunch supporter of gun control — may soon regret not registering her own domain name, since senatorfeinstein.com will now be run by a firearm parts and accessories store that will use the site to promote gun rights.
David Gregory will not be prosecuted
Gregory goes free “despite the clarity of the violation of this important law”
Innocents Betrayed ~ The History of Gun Control
Grandma With Gun Halts Store Robbery
A gun-carrying grandmother in Milwaukee foiled an attempted robbery when she pulled a firearm on the suspect as he grabbed for her grocery store cash register.
What about Gun Violence in Brazil?
America has 18 times more guns than Brazil, yet proportionally, Brazil has 6 times more deaths by guns than America.
Shawnee Woman Thwarts Home Invasion
Armed with a gun and ready to shoot, a Shawnee woman defended her home as man broke down her door. It happened in broad daylight and she didn’t back down.
WalMart is going to stop ammo sales
How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby
In gun lore it’s known as the Revolt at Cincinnati. On May 21, 1977, and into the morning of May 22, a rump caucus of gun rights radicals took over the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association.
Soros: 13 New Gun Laws Needed Now
George Soros’ Center for American Progress (CAP) has published a list of 13 new pieces of legislation they claim we need right now, in the wake of the crime at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Hide the Decline
Environment &
“Green Energy”
BBC forced to admit global warming ‘static’
The UK Met Office has revised one of its forecasts for how much the world may warm in the next few years.
Polar Bears Booming?
According to a dynamic summary report on the home page of theIUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group website called State of the Polar Bear, there are now 22,600-32,000 polar bears worldwide, when tallied by nation.
No More Small Water Bottles
If you’re a regular buyer of small water bottles, Concord, Mass., isn’t the place for you. At least not since Jan. 1, when the town officially banned sales of water bottles a liter or less in size, the Huffington Post reports. Breaking the law results first in a warning, then in a $25 fine, and finally a $50 fine for any future attempts, except in emergencies, the BBC notes.
UK Ecologist: ‘Wind Farms Driving Birds, Bats to Extinction’
This hasn’t been a great month so far for wind turbine fans in the United Kingdom. First, a report released just before New Years found that many wind turbines’ effective lifespans are much shorter than expected. And this week, a respected British ecologist is slamming the wind industry, saying that wind power is “devastating populations of rare birds and bats across the world, driving some to the point of extinction.”
Now even Pravda admits the ‘global warming’ jig is up
Obamacare
Government in Healthcare
Little Canada man videotaped sheriff’s deputies, and got charged for it… under Obamacare!
Andrew Henderson watched as Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies frisked a bloody-faced man outside his Little Canada apartment building. Paramedics then loaded the man, a stranger to Henderson, into an ambulance.
UMC faces millions in uncovered patient costs under federal reform
The Affordable Care Act will cost University Medical Center tens of millions over the next six years, hospital officials warned on Monday.
Obamacare Amendment Forbids Gun and Ammo Registration
Good news — it has become known that hidden deep within the massive 2800-page bill called Obamacare there is a Senate Amendment protecting the right to keep and bear arms.
Braces for the Kids Just Got More Expensive: Obamacare Tax Hike Case Study
In 2013, the tax increases in Obamacare will increasingly conspire against kitchen-table family healthcare decisions.
Bloomberg Slaps Down Criticism of Painkiller Restriction Plan
Yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city officials unveiled a new initiative to limit supplies of prescription painkillers in the city’s emergency rooms as a way to combat what they described as a growing addiction problem in the region.
War & Terror
Iran Now Possesses 8 Chemically Altered Microbial Agents
Iranian scientists, working under orders from the radicals running the Islamic regime, have genetically altered microbial agents in a nightmarish scheme to bring the West to its knees.
National
Elizabeth Warren Now Hiding From the Middle Class
New senator Elizabeth Warren was asked by a Boston reporter the other day, “when you mention ‘middle class,’ what numbers are we talking about, in terms of income level?” The next Senate supposed financial-industry wonk first asserted, “It’s not a numbers issue. I know you’d expect a very wonky answer for me, you know, about the percentiles.” While it’s certainly true that class in America (though much less so than in Europe) manifests itself in ways other than income numbers, actually, yes, defining the middle class is mostly a numbers issue, and probably one that involves percentiles.
Rand Paul’s Son Arrested at NC Airport
The 19-year-old son of Sen. Rand Paul and grandson of former presidential candidate Ron Paul was arrested Saturday morning for allegedly being intoxicated at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.
Nature Reports: Malthusians Wrong Again
By 2050, the global population is predicted to hit 9 billion people, and demand for agricultural crops is expected to double. Could catastrophe be looming as population growth finally outstrips our ability to feed all these new mouths? A study published in Nature last month is adding grist to the alarmist mill
Cory Booker: NJ Sen. Lautenberg Has A “Decision To Make”
How home schooling threatens monopoly educationGlenn Harlan Reynolds
In an era when everything is customizable, why not customize your child’s education?
Federal Reserve, FBI spied on Occupy Wall Street movement, documents show
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond worked with the FBI to closely monitor the protest activities of the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011, according to recently released FBI documents.
Crowd laughs as Chicago Teachers Union president talks about killing the rich
The Chicago Teachers Union is not just about looking out for its members’ interests. The union wants to fundamentally change America, too.
The Role of ‘Educators’
Many years ago, as a young man, I read a very interesting book about the rise of the Communists to power in China. In the last chapter, the author tried to explain why and how this had happened.
College Park couple says front yard vegetable garden is under fire again
Helvenstons launch protest of Orlando’s law after facing fines
Observers see 2016 in Andrew Cuomo speech
New York Gov. and likely 2016 presidential aspirant Andrew Cuomo used his State of the State address Wednesday to call for new gun controls, press Congress for post-Hurricane Sandy aid and propose a historic “women’s equality act” in the Empire State.
Midlands teacher accused of stomping on American flag in class
At least one parent calls the actions of a Chapin High School English teacher disrespectful and unpatriotic.
Labor Secretary Resigns
Labor secretary Hilda Solis is stepping down. The White House confirms the news with this statement by President Barack Obama
L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa SQUIRMS Over Charlie Sheen Encounter
For a guy who earned the nickname Mayor Suave, Antonio Villaraigosa was anything BUT smooth when we asked him about the ongoing Charlie Sheen drama yesterday … in fact, AV’s response is downright laughable.
Planned Parenthood Touts over 333,000 Babies Aborted in 2011
And the American genocide continues, with 333,964 murders in 2011. That’s the figure proudly released by Planned Parenthood Federation of America in their report delineating how many abortions they performed in fiscal 2011. Doing some simple math reveals that the number of abortions performed equates to one abortion every 94 seconds.
39% Say Government Should Do Nothing For Long-Term Unemployed
More Americans than ever (39%) now think that if people can’t find work for an extended period of time, the government should do nothing at all to help them, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Bill Clinton to receive Father of the Year award
Former president Bill Clinton can add Father of the Year to the many awards he’s garnered in his decades of public service.
Tiburcio Vasquez, elementary school name debate in California
Tiburcio Vasquez, a 19th century outlaw, is remembered in historical accounts as a notorious criminal who terrorized southern California.
Booker and N.J. Dems still trying to push Lautenberg out of 2014 race
In other elderly senator news, New Jersey Democrats are rather unceremoniously nudging Sen. Frank Lautenberg out of the 2014 New Jersey Senate race. When Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced in December he would pass on contesting Gov. Chris Christie, he announced he’d run for Senate instead. Lautenberg had not made an announcement that he’d be retiring, but most politicos assumed Booker had at least consulted with the 89-year-old elder statesman. Turns out he hadn’t, and still hasn’t.
A California Drought: Not Enough Children
Declining migration and falling birthrates have led to a drop in the number of children in California just as baby boomers reach retirement, creating an economic and demographic challenge for the nation’s most populous state.
Sen. Rockefeller won’t run in 2014
U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who came to West Virginia as a young man from one of the world’s richest families to work on antipoverty programs and remained in the state to build a political legacy, announced Friday he will not seek a sixth term.
Section 8 Housing voucher distribution canceled after thousands waiting in line get out of control
A chaotic scene erupted at the Taylor Human Services Center when the crowd waiting for a Section 8 Housing voucher distribution got out of control.
Patriotic Group To Build Armed ‘Defensible’ Neighborhood Fortress
A group of like-minded patriots, bound together by pride in American exceptionalism, plan on building an armed community to protect their liberty.
Mentally challenged girl, 15, ‘gang raped under her desk during class as teacher did NOTHING’
A mentally challenged 15-year-old New York girl endured a brutal gang rape as she was trapped beneath her by two boys with her teacher only feet away, alleges a lawsuit filed Friday.
Warning: Liberal bullies ahead
The 2012 elections placed Minnesota in the hands of a Democratic governor in conjunction with a Democratic legislature for the first time in a generation
Economy
& Taxes
California: Living the Turquoise Dream
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about California’s return to fiscal solvency thanks to a round of tax hikes; the ‘one percent’ of Californians are, we have been told, happy to pay their fair share and to participate in the rescue of the Golden State.
GOP may use debt ceiling to force Harry Reid to pass budget
Tuesday marks the 1,350th day since the Senate passed a budget. The law requires Congress to pass a budget every year, on the grounds that Americans deserve to know how the government plans to spend the trillions of taxpayer dollars it collects, along with dollars it borrows at the taxpayers’ expense. But Majority Leader Harry Reid, who last allowed a budget through the Senate in April 2009, has ignored the law since then.
Texas Comptroller reports jump in revenue to $96 billion
The state comptroller estimates that Texas will generate $96.2 billion in general revenue in 2014-2015, a major jump in tax collection from the last two-year budget cycle.
New data show 1 in 4 children on food stamps in FY 2011
One in four children in America participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, in fiscal year 2011, according to data from the United States Department of Agriculture and U.S. Census Bureau.
Employers, educators search for answers to technical jobs issue
The challenge of finding good employees is so long-standing and pervasive that Racine Metal-Fab has revised its hiring approach.
The Republican surpluses
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government posted a $293 billion deficit in the first fiscal quarter of 2013, setting the Obama administration up for a record fifth-year of trillion dollar deficits. But while the fiscal condition of the Democratically controlled federal government is still atrocious, Republican controlled states are now swimming in surpluses.
Morning Bell: 13 Tax Increases in 2013
New Year’s Day was tough for taxpayers. Thirteen tax increases kicked in.
To “The Precious Metal Purchasing Act” From Executive Order 6102 – Santelli’s Take
“Ever heard of SB3341?” is Rick Santelli’s opening salvo in today’s rantless discussion of the concerns he has with Illinois’ ‘Precious Metal Purchasing Act’. While passed in the Illinois Senate last year, and moth-balled in the House since, Rick notes that “the long and short of it is is they want an audit trail to any precious metals, whether you’re talking coins or bullion.”
U.S. states flirt with major tax changes
Hopes for overhauling the federal tax system are fading in Washington, but in some state capitals, tax reform experiments – some far-reaching – are fast taking shape.
Even Goldman Says China Is Cooking The Books
That China openly manipulates its economic data, especially around key political phase shifts, such as one communist regime taking over for another, is no secret
International
Chávez will miss inauguration, say officials
Hugo Chávez will not be attending the inauguration of his third term as Venezuela’s president on Thursday, according to officials, clearing the way for a constitutional showdown with opponents.
China newspaper journalists stage rare strike
Journalists at a major Chinese paper, Southern Weekly, have gone on strike in a rare protest against censorship.
Welcome to the all-new Stalinist block
Footscray’s forbidding apartments are at odds with the community they serve, writes Michael Gurr.
Drama in Venezuela: This “constitutional crisis” is looking pretty serious
It’s official: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will supposedly not be sufficiently recovered from his December cancer surgery to attend his pre-scheduled January 10th presidential inauguration, but completely predictably, the Venezuelan high court has decided that Chavez missing the inauguration is constitutionally hunky-dory, despite the protestations from certain lieutenants and opponents alike.
Obama admin to Britain: We’d really prefer that you not exit the EU
There has been much ado lately about the eventual possibility of the United Kingdom bowing out of the European Union, and last summer, British Prime Minister David Cameron hinted that his government may be considering holding a national referendum on the subject in the not too distant future.
Explosives thrown at Cairo protesters, tents on fire
Unknown attackers threw petrol bombs at tents housing protesters outside the Egyptian presidential palace in Cairo on Saturday, witnesses said.
Armed vigilante groups policing 2 Mexican towns
Several hundred civilians have taken up arms in two towns in a southwestern Mexico state and are arresting people suspected of crimes and imposing a curfew, leading authorities to promise to reinforce security forces in the area.
Australia: State legislation also puts hurt feelings above freedom of speech
MOST of the debate about freedom of speech in Australia has focused on proposed and existing federal legislation, particularly the provision of the Racial Discrimination Act that makes it unlawful to act in a way that is likely to offend, insult or humiliate a person on the basis of their race, colour, or national or ethnic origin.
Prominent Hungarian Wants “Bestial” Gypsies Killed
Yesterday we noted the distressing anti-immigrant policies in Greece that have led to violent treatment of foreigners. We’ve also noted how another stressed EU member – Hungary – has gone even further down the road of xenophobic extremism
Opinion
Culture War On A Shoe String
Yesterday one of Instapundit’s readers sent in a bleg asking how one could fight the culture war if one weren’t capable of buying a tv station or two. Glenn asked for ideas and of course I sent in something, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought there was a need for a whole post on it. Because while buying TV stations might be useful, it is also in a way fighting the last war. Oh, I don’t oppose it. To some extent it is needed. But only to some extent.
Good News: You May Be Spared Execution
Back in those quaint days when KGB-supported communist subversives planning to overthrow a republic had to meet in secret to discuss their operations, William Ayers and his chums reportedly opined that during the post-revolutionary period of normalization, approximately twenty-five million Americans (ten percent) would have to be executed. Today, however, I have good news: that number may now be reassessed at as low as ten million, which, when one factors in the increase in the overall American population since the original estimate was made, suggests as much as a seventy percent savings in the government’s stockpile of ammunition. There’s a spending reduction we can all applaud.
Devastated, and then Motivated, By the Re-Election of Barack Obama
The reelection of Barack Obama rocked me to the core.
Picking fights Republicans can win
Watching the news media this weekend start the process of setting up Republicans for another losing fight has been depressing.
We are raising a generation of deluded narcissists
A new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has accumulated data for the past 47 years from 9 million young adults, reveals that college students are more likely than ever to call themselves gifted and driven to succeed, even though their test scores and time spent studying are decreasing.
Wife and Soldier
The life of Natalia Solzhenitsyn
History suggests that era of entitlements is nearly over
It’s often good fun and sometimes revealing to divide American history into distinct periods of uniform length. In working on my forthcoming book on American migrations, internal and immigrant, it occurred to me that you could do this using the American-sounding interval of 76 years, just a few years more than the biblical lifespan of three score and ten.
The Sad Irony of Affirmative Action
In 2003, the Supreme Court held that the University of Michigan’s law school could substantially relax its admissions standards in order to admit a “critical mass” of African-American and Hispanic students. Many observers interpreted that decision — Grutter v. Bollinger — as an open-ended embrace of affirmative action.
We have met the 1%, and he is us
In explanation of my title, I fear I’ll have to go on a bit of a digression. Let me tell three stories, about people in three different parts of our amazing planet.
