Free Republic

An enterprising attorney could also make the case this is nothing more than a Bill of Attainder. Legislatively, one is found "guilty" and their rights taken from them without due process.

NY SAFE is a target-rich environment.

What you propose, is a not a good idea.

Why not? I'm curious as to how using peoples' own rhetoric in reverse is not a good idea.

There are no words; that will ever convince mass serial killers of babies, to change their nature. None.

You don't need to get them to change their nature. Leave that for the preachers. Your goal is different and requires a different action plan.

I think we can afford to give one inch on abortion and amnesty.

You don't have to, but you do have to wordsmith the message properly.

For example, the mantra for years has been that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. We can talk about the "rare" part without getting into trouble if prefaced with the notion that it should be "safe, legal, and rare". Its the opposition's phrase. They can be held to it.

Everything else can be handled in a similar manner. It took a ratchet effect of slow, small, and steady changes to get us to where we are now.

It will take a ratchet effect of slow, small, and steady changes to get us to where we want to be.

One of the major problems WE have is that we want it all, right now, immediately, on the table, and ready to eat.

That isn't reality. It took a long time to get here and it will take a long time to dig ourselves out.

How we do that, however, is up in the air.

Sorry Rand, but if some terrorist (American citizen or not) is heading to a city or major sports arena, etc. to set off a nuke and we can take him out with a drone I say go for it.

According to Rand, it is just fine to take out the person in your example with a drone or anything else. That person is an imminent threat and can therefore be dispatched.

Rand's major issue is the targeting of people who are NOT a threat. His example is someone sitting in a cafe' drinking a cup of coffee or eating breakfast. That person is NOT engaged in hostilities, is NOT a threat, and should NOT be targeted for killing.

Methinks you misunderstand the problem. Obama reserved the right to kill anyone anytime for any reason. This means you, Bitter Clinger.

When did the 9th District Court start caring about the constituion?

That is a very good question and unfortunately I don't have a good answer to it!

How does the 9th District court have juridiction over internationl waters?

US Constitution, Article I, Section 8:
"To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;"

Congress defined "piracy" and the Courts are simply upholding this Constitutional law and power.

Why do you think you have been stopped this many times and where do you live?

This was some years ago but it is no joke. One day, trying to take my boss out to lunch, I was stopped twice on the same street - not more than 100 yards apart. No ticket, no warning, just license and registration and thank you very much.

It was the car pure and simple. For some reason the local city cops thought a 1960s Cadillac was a Mafia Staff Car or something. When the engine died and I got a small Japanese hatchback, no more stops.

For some reason, the local city police had something against the car which was a family legacy complete with US Naval Academy sticker. You can guess where I got it from based on that. Maybe they had something against big cars with fins in the 90s. It was a bit unusual after all. County cops used to stop by the house when I was washing it and we'd talk shop about it -- but still, no reason to stop the car.

Fortunately, I always keep a notepad in the car with me. Any time I am stopped, I take the officer's name, date, and time and write it down. They also have to log the stops.

The whole thing ended when I scheduled a meeting with the mayor's office and gave them a copy of my notes. I figured it was worth $1m per stop but I gave up the lawsuit in exchange for an apology and a promise that they'd knock it off.

They held up their end of the bargain, I held up mine. Not bad for a 20 year old as I was at the time.

This probably started when I was 17 or so because I looked like I was 14. First stop on the highway, the cop handed me a "no license" ticket and didn't bother to ask. When I gave him my license, he was not happy.

After that, I was stopped daily.

You decide what happened. All I can say is that it did and an end was put to it that didn't involve courtrooms or lawyers.

Now, if you want to ask me about the cop who wanted to cite me for being in the wrong part of town after being hit by a drunk driver who blew a stop sign for the accident ... that was resolved as well.

I have no issues with police when they do their jobs. I have serious issues with them when they pull stuff like trying to confiscate a guitar I had in the back seat because I could not immediately produce a sales slip for it or being popped daily for a few months.

It is those cases where they deserve to be taken to task and rightfully so.

When I see a post like this I hope FR 2nd amendment supporters use their printer and print up a batch and spread them around their favorite watering hole or coffee shop.

I'm planning a rather rude video for YouTube I hope will go viral. Trying to get a couple of actors lined up and I'll need to borrow some riot gear for it.

I still stand by my position that the majority of police officers are good people, and if the cops are after you, you probably did something wrong.

Then I will re-iterate my question to you.

If your assertion is, "You had to have done something wrong" then explain to me how I could have been pulled over, NOT TICKETED, and released more than 100 times in 90 days? The trips were simply to and from home, work, and school.

I await your response.

Must have been bitchin’ ride, what was it?

1962 Cadillac.

Never a ticket issued. Not once. Great car - loved it, but wow, got a ton of attention.

I had a '57 Chevy, 283 cu in, with domed heads, power pack and AFB High Performance carburetor. I was only stopped once.

Mine got a little more attention, methinks.

If the cops are out to get you, you probably did something wrong.

Oh really? Obviously, some people don't get out much, if at all.

When I was younger, I was a perpetual target for harassment by the police simply because of the car a drove. A classic, but 20 years older than I was.

Explain to me how someone can get pulled over three times a day for three months -- and never get a ticket. No criminal record, never arrested.

Explain how trying to get to work and to school and to home is "doing something wrong".

If there is no simple explanation for that, then maybe there IS something wrong with the Police. Actually, given the apology I got from them after offering to take them to court over this -- yes, there is something wrong with the Police.

There is also something wrong with people who blindly trust authority figures and that is even more disturbing than people with badges hassling people for no reason at all.

The attitude that "they can do no wrong" enables and encourages bad behavior. It facilitates authority figures doing things that are illegal and immoral.

Please, do us all a favor. Understand that people are only human before giving them a pass simply because they have a badge.

The way they talk about non-Catholics and even about each other pretty much makes me apathetic to any of their troubles.

When I was much younger, we had to have patrols in the Parish parking lot during Mass because some people were out there slashing tires and vandalizing cars. Those people thought performing these acts were a way to get people out of the Church ... and into theirs.

You're welcome to be apathetic about such things if that is your desire. You are also welcome to turn a blind eye to such things.

But today, let us Catholics to peace, please.

The Northeast, the Great Lakes states, the west coast, the middle-Atlantic region — all of these are either slipping from the Pubbies’ grasp, or already gone for good.

You mean all the places in the country that are losing population, representation in the House of Representatives, and in the Electoral College?

Then by all means, lock the GOP out of those areas for the next couple of decades.

Stagnation itself will have the remaining people there looking for an alternative. The only thing that alternative has to do is ask the question, "Are you better off today than you were when the Democrats took over here?"

What the hell is it with the Navy pukes??

Uncalled for. Absolutely uncalled for.

Having family who were Naval Officers during WWII ... two of whom were SUNK by U-Boats supporting the Invasion of Italy ... you are the lowest of the low for the insinuation.

There are twits in every branch ... call the individuals out, not the service itself.

AR-15 owners need to feminize their AR-15s by painting it hot pink

The Left want to play hardball, let's play.

Then start filing Federal Civil Rights lawsuits. The Supreme Court opened that door wide.

What or where is the line in the sand?

Heller and McDonald.

This is no longer a 2A issue. It is now a Civil Rights issue and NY is now in violation of Federal Civil Rights Protection acts.

A smart attorney could file an injunction and demand that the Courts and the Federal Government intervene and place NY under interdict where they can't do anything with regard to 2A issues without first clearing it with DOJ.

Wouldn't that be a hoot? Getting jackboots onto the necks of the jackboots.

o I wonder what a Bushmaster AR-15 new in box goes for these days.

I went to a show today and saw a Bushmaster that didn't look new, M4 style, for $3000. There was a guy walking around with a Stag Arms M4gery with an $1800 price tag on it.

I passed on those.

A Romanian AK model SAR-2 had a $1200 price tag on it.

Magazines are starting to come down in price as is ammo, fortunately. 9mm, 223, and 22LR are still sold out in bulk quantities, however. It was available single-box here and there at not too outrageous prices. $13.50 for 20 rounds of 223 and $15 for 50 rounds of 9mm were the best prices for name-brand (Remington) that I could track down.

Give it a few months. Prices will come back to something resembling reality then.

From the article:

CAP’s proposals — which include requiring universal background checks, banning military-grade assault weapons

The group also suggests requiring firearms dealers to report to the federal government individuals who purchase multiple semiautomatic assault rifles within a five-day period.

Am I missing something here? They want to ban an item then require reporting on purchases of that same item?

Yeah that'll work really well. Does this guy own stock in Hornaday or RCBS?

According to my know-it-all liberal sister-in-law, Canadian gun bans have been wildly successful.

If you want to have some fun, you can register an AR-15 with the Canadians and take it across the border.

Takes about nine months to get all the paperwork done, but it is entirely possible to do.

Forging a decent barrel would be the hard part.

Fortunately, that piece is not controlled and requires no checks to purchase. With a blank of the proper size and a metal lathe, you can turn whatever you need.

Technology is indeed now at the point where you can make just about anything without requiring a large machine shop.

I would never advocate doing anything illegal, of course. Just affirming that home manufacture of darned near anything these days is indeed possible to do.

They are late to the party.

I guarantee that 20 million people will take up a new hobby: garage machinist.

Already the case in California where they have "build parties". Apparently, in the Gun Control Capital of the USA -- if you build it at home, you aren't required to register it.

Since California passed its Assault Weapons Ban in 1989, the residents have constructed millions of AR and AK type rifles.

All of those are off the books. All of them are quite legal.

Now, expand that to all 50 States. Not going to go too well for the Gun Grabbers, is it?

There are definitely questions that need to be answered but when you bring in conspiracy theory to 9/11 you've lost me.

9/11 was a conspiracy. A small group of Islamic Radicals conspired to pull it off.

That's my usual response to "There was a Conspiracy!" with regards to 9/11. Most definitely there was one, and they managed to pull it off.

This is good news if you're twisted like I am.

It means someone told Feinswine she can't do a confiscation.

Now, the Obamacare decision (!) ruled that the Feds cannot compel someone to engage in commerce which should also cover a "mandatory buy-back" scheme.

Once the Solicitor General tells her that, I want video of her head exploding.

It doesn't matter what Sen. Hutchison has to say. The Supreme Court has been rather clear on this issue.

Heller stated that once the American people have chosen a particular type of firearm the Government can no longer ban it.

McDonald re-iterated that and incorporated the Second Amendment onto the States.

The Seventh Circuit just ruled that Illinois' ban on concealed carry is unconstitutional because the Second Amendment has been declared by the Supreme Court to be a fundamental right guaranteed by the US Constitution and is applying First Amendment principles to their decision. First Amendment principles are basically this: They can regulate time, place, and manner but they must allow.

Simply put, the Supreme Court has spoken and the legislators can do whatever they want, but the courts will overturn it. This whole "debate" is an exercise in nothing.

The conversation this weekend has already switched to mental health.

This blog posting has gone viral and provided much needed data.

The politicians are already behind the times.

Well maybe some original thinking like mental health reforms would be in order.

That would be more than acceptable.

Realistically, we need to bring back the asylums we have been closing for years with the liberal shrinks telling us that the mentally ill that are running around the streets wouldn't harm a fly.

That's why the last several mass shootings have all been done by mentally ill people. Because the experts are correct in saying they wouldn't harm a fly. They just massacre humans.

She is only going to embarrass herself.

Particularly because no amount of Federal Gun Control Legislation can get in the way of someone stealing a gun and using it ... which is what happened in CT today with the kid grabbing mom's gun and then driving her car off to the school to shoot her.

The common theme with all these shootings is that it is a mentally ill person performing the actions. Deal with mental illnesses properly and you don't have the symptoms of untreated mental illness on the street.

Just like a quack doctor who treats the symptoms and not the disease and creates a public health hazard as a result, so too will these Dumbocrat legislators who think the mentally ill don't actually need treatment.

We used to have mental hospitals. Where are they now?

You too? Gosh, I thought I was the only one that happened to!

Seems to be an epidemic!

You can bet they're taking names of every prepper post out there/in here in cyber space so they'll know who's door to knock down to spread the wealth.

In a freak accident, my entire earthquake and disaster survival kit was burned to a crisp when my lawnmower exploded in the garden shed.

Then, two weeks later, amazingly, as I was duck hunting, my entire cache of guns and ammunition went down in a freak accident when my boat hit a snag and capsized.

Honest.

There will be another such set of freak accidents next week if anyone wants to join.

That’s close to how it is in Switzerland. The main difference is that not only is every man required to have a rifle, but younger guys are provided with an automatic, not semiautomatic, military rifle. That country has a very low homicide rate and has not been invaded in many centuries.

We used to be like that here in the US, except with a higher homicide rate.

The point being, the definition of a Militia is that it is the whole of the people. That's why I can't understand why anyone would take that route for 2A issues.

It doesn't make any sense unless they just want to lose. There are lots of early American militia acts where every able-bodied male is required to keep on-hand a rifle and a number of cartridges for Militia duty.

Since that was the intent of the Amendment, it seems to me that a good lawyer could argue that successfully and eliminate that as an argument permanently and enshrine a second Right Of The People with regard to 2A.

I get into this with liberals all the time and point out to them the Militia statutes of their own States. Each State has Militia laws on the books. Some for an infantry militia - some also include a naval militia. But each and every US State has those laws on the books, even Hawaii, California, New York, and MA.

It causes them to twist into knots when you say, "See! See! Your Governor can call you up and demand you furnish your own gun. You DO have a suitable Militia weapon, right?"

Forget negotiating. Call their bluff.

All revenue bills must originate in the House, correct?

It would be a shame if Air Force One didn't get a fuel budget for the year and the President was forced to fly commercial.

It would be an equal shame if the President's paycheck were cut in half.

It would be real crying shame if the President's vacation budget were zeroed and the White House Entertainment Budget were zeroed as well.

It would be even more of a shame if all the czars were to see their salaries go to zero.

I agree. Forget negotiating. Zero the Zero's budgets.

Wouldn't a nice antidote to the "Militia" argument simply be to say that anyone can be called up at any time for Militia duty and because it is a Militia -- they are REQUIRED to provide their OWN FIREARM to serve?

I'd love to see a Judge nod in the affirmative on that one. It would kill that argument permanently and strengthen 2A beyond the ability to chip away at it.

People are still defending Aikin after the moron lost the election specifically cause of his idiotic comment?

Not only that but they are running around accusing anyone who didn't take his idiotic comment "as was intended" a lying idiot.

I'm afraid that level of stupid cannot be corrected.

Anyone that pretends that they didn’t understand exactly what he ment by that is a lying jerk.

So .. most of the women who were offended, probably about a quarter of the US population are just lying jerks.

Way to win an election. Get your electorate steamed at you.

Look, buddy, talking up rape in technical terms that most people can't comprehend is a sure-fire LOSING tactic. Akin should have known that most people haven't read the dozens of technical PhD-level papers that deal with minute levels of this or that hormone that you have.

Running on that platform will lose every time because the Average Person looks at "rape" and says, "That is a horrible thing and must be punished" and that is the top number one visceral reaction to it.

ANYONE who tries to put a "legitimate" spin on RAPE deserves to be slaughtered by the electorate.

Anyone who tries to defend people who talk about "legitimate rape" deserves to be fried as well.

it's not going to happen because the populace is scared of their own government

No, its because of the Emergency WWII Measure called "Withholding" that was made permanent.

You can't stop "withholding" which provides DC with a constant stream of fresh revenue.

Even if millions of people were to suddenly refile their W4 forms and claim 100 dependents each, it wouldn't stop the flow of payroll taxes.

DC has managed to tap into everything. Its over, folks, you can't starve the beast that way. The only way for it to happen is for millions of small businesses to suddenly shut down all at the same time and discharge tens of millions of people all at the same time.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

Limitation probably easily overcome by adding metal into the printing process at various stages.

You can't. That's not how these printers work.

The way they work is to take plastic filament, melt it slightly, then extrude it out a hot tip and build up an object one very small layer at a time. Most of them extrude at 0.15mm out the hot tip. Takes forever to print anything. A whistle takes about 20-30 minutes.

Since the plastic isn't completely melted, it sort of just sticks to the layer underneath it and blends in a partially melted state.

This isn't injection molding. Its like taking a two-mile long strand of angel hair pasta and layering it on top of itself to produce the object.

Works great for rapid prototyping. The object has cohesion and does hold together. Just don't subject it to really serious load.

The bill should also make all the rest of the Bush tax cuts permanent.

...as well as setting the S Corps free with a nice low, say - 15% tax rate.

Do something to get Republicans out of the line of fire.

BOEHNER: Last year, the President offered spending cuts in exchange for revenue. We in the House agreed. This year, I don't know who I am negotiating with. This isn't President Obama. President Obama wants a long-term solution to our fiscal crisis and campaigned on reducing the deficit. The man I have been negotiating with wants spending increases and to double the deficit....

...take Obama's stump speech after he blew the first debate, do a little word substitution and throw it back out.

Start with entertainers, first.

This is precisely why the GOP should cave on the tax rate increases.

As part of the bill, you set the S Corps and family farms free of peoples' personal tax forms and give them a flat tax rate of 15% on net profits.

Small business and family farms would then be completely unaffected. The fact they are tied to personal income tax rates presently is WHY the GOP is standing tall in this saddle. A crafty entrepreneur is still going to plow money back into the business and can easily duck any tax increase.

Actors and Entertainers, on the other hand ... get fully soaked.

Where is the loss here to anyone once you set the small businesses free? Its not like middle class Republicans give a crap about people making $40M per movie. Tax the crap out of them. Make them put their money where their mouths are.

Show me where this loses or is a bad idea, people.

The Free Shyt party hands out freebies, trinkets, and entitlements right out in the open and without fear of remonstration. And all they ask is a little piece of your soul. After all, most Amerikans don’t even believe they have one anymore. I ask you - who can compete with that?!

Ronald Reagan created a stereotype of the "welfare queen".

In this age of mass media and digital manipulation, is it so difficult to do this once again?

Bush I put Willie Horton out there. Is it so difficult to do this once again?

The Free Shyt Party can be demonized and beclowned. What is so wrong with a website that says, "Get your free stuff here! Tell us, what do you want us to take from your neighbors and give to you? Its Santa Claus Season!" Use images of kindly men in black suits with Ray-Bans holding clipboards and carrying guns. Get a couple of people supplicating themselves in front of the suited men.

Do a video of some nice middle-class Asian guy going off to his engineering job and being mugged by the "Free Shyt Party" and carjacked. Yes, its an extreme image, but imagine the impact of having folks in vests with "IRS" on it in big yellow letters would have. Then have the "IRS" people giving this guy's stuff to someone else and telling him to get his arse back to work so they can take more stuff away from him.

Get that meme out there and hammer it daily and watch what happens.

It is indeed the Supreme's duty and responsibility to save us from unconstitutional laws written and passed by the legislature

The Supremes can only act in the following cases and ways:

1) When a case is brought before them
2) When a case is ARGUED PROPERLY before them
3) When the case brought before them and argued properly clearly spells out that the law is Unconstitutional

The problem with the first case brought before the Supremes is that it was not argued properly. The Government countered that the individual mandate was a tax, which the law states it is. The Constitution allows the Congress to levy and collect taxes. The Constitution does not put a whole lot of restriction on what they can tax.

Think about it this way; before the 16th Amendment, the Congress was levying an Income Tax as an excise on incomes.

Roberts unfortunately ruled properly. The problem is not with the ruling, it is a defect of the Constitution which does not properly limit what Congress can place a tax on. The problem is also with the electorate who voted in a Congress who understands they can tax darned near anything they so desire.

But ... nobody took the First Amendment angle to the Court which is why this issue is now back there.

Likewise, the Commerce Clause is defective in that there are no limits on what parts of "commerce" can be regulated. If the Founding Fathers had put in there a little snippet that said, "limited to regulating the actual movement and provision of goods and services across State borders" ... think about that. How much of what the Feds do today would have never happened if that small little phrase had been attached to the Commerce Clause?

Our problem is we have an 18th Century Constitution put up against 21st Century Lawyers. In the 18th Century, many things were "known" or "given". In the 21st Century, it all depends on what you can strangle out of it.

In short, people vote their own self-interests. Nothing new here.

The enduring mystery to me is why the American public puts up with this crap and continues to use airplanes for their travel.

Because we have a bunch of dolts out in the citizenry who are still screaming "Anything for Security!"

I know a few of them. Oddly enough they tend to also vote Democrat. That should help it make more sense.

Quoting my WWII Grandfather to them about "freedom" and "liberty" and how he did not go to war "so we could all be slaves" is met with, "But it will happen again!"

There is no cure for these people.

Thus I’ve no hesitation to tell any preacher, priest, Democrat, Republican or anyone who is not more heavily armed than I to “F-off” if I don’t happen to agree with them :-).

Exactly!

It’s silly, but just another way the conservative movement shoots itself in the foot in a quest for ‘purity’.

No kidding.

I get it both ways. First as an ex-Catholic because, after all, as a kid I was completely empowered to choose the Church my parents took me to and secondly as an ex-Catholic because I don't share the same beliefs as others.

Leads to some entertaining conversations and rocking the "purists" back on their heels.