I keep saying I want to wrap up with this current client, but things keep coming up. So I’ve been in “I think I can wrap this whole thing up in the next few weeks” mode for the past two months. So I dare not say things should be returning to normal in a few weeks, but maybe! At some point, the project will end and I’ll be on to other things. Anyway, here’s some news links. Not too many this time, because to be honest, I haven’t even had time to gather links:
Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.
What’s wrong with Oregon Republicans? Oregon is dominated by the Portland Metro area, so there’s not much hope for the GOP there. The GOP’s weakness in Pennsylvania, however, is almost entirely the fault of the GOP. The party in this state is sclerotic.
Holder: gun control among biggest failures. Happy to disappoint ya there Eric. I would imagine it was a tough thing to weigh his greatest failure.
John Richardson points out some other players in the I-594 initiative in Washington State.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a gun forfeiture case.
Glad to see Clayton Cramer has been doing better, but he’s still having some ups and downs. Hitting the tip jar would probably help. Money may not buy happiness, but the lack of it can certainly bring on a lot of misery.
Just another Everytown grassroots spokesperson who happens to work pretty high up for the Mayor’s office in New York City. It’s astroturf as far as the eye can see!
DC gets smacked down by the judge who ruled their carry ban was unconstitutional, but their new ordinance still has to have a hearing. Let’s hope the judge has read this.
A civil rights victory in Idaho! Ban on carrying guns on Army Corps of Engineers land is struck down. Right now this only affects the District of Idaho.
Mass shooting in Canada. Multiple shooters would seem to suggest terrorism.
re the Oregon GOP thing: OR is absolutely a frontier state with a lot of live-and-let-live attitudes out there. aside from frontier history, the state also has an explicitly racist/intolerant past (lots of KKK and neo-Nazism in the state’s political history, including bleed over into anti-gay and anti-immigrant politics). oddly enough, the semi-libertarian position is one that Ds have been better at holding, even if they tend to be weak leaders. The state GOP’s marginal status is reinforced by wish lists of intrusive social agendas from the paleo-conservative and evangelical wings.
Nothing wrong with paleo-cons. We are some of the few left keeping the GOP honest. BTW, brownie points for you for using the term. Not sure if you are necessarily using it properly, though… ;)
The KKK stuff is part of the Democratic tradition there. The ACLU is still defending a law that was part of the Catholic school ban passed in the early 1920s, because it prohibits public school teachers from wearing religious emblems such as crosses.
Nobody other than Progressives even really seems to try in Oregon.
(On the other hand, apart from Merkley, most of the Democrats aren’t intolerable.
But I refused to vote for the Oregon LP candidates, because the one could only bother to put in “AUDIT THE FED!” as the core of his candidate statement – and the other on my ballot couldn’t even be arsed to put in a statement.
Goddamn amateur hour.
So for the Senate and other serious offices, some Republicans got my vote as at least trying a little, and better than Merkley and his ilk.)
RE: Oregon (and sorry for the long comment):
It’s not so much what’s wrong with Oregon Republicans, as what’s … not un-right … with Oregon Democrats (Not that there isn’t anything wrong with Oregon Republicans…). Jeff Merkley, while he typically votes party-line, doesn’t go out of his way to trash Republicans or expand “Progressive” excesses (a campaign ad opposing him said he’s only authored ONE piece of legislation that got enacted … Oh, darn! Someone who’s NOT pushing for law after law after law!). In my opinion, he’s kind of a do-little. Partisan hack, yes; rabid, mouth-foaming “Progressive”, not so much.
Oregon Republicans, though, do have a nasty habit of supporting the establishment GOP, and not adjusting their platform for Oregon’s unique culture, or adjusting it in such a way as to seem disingenuous. Monica Wehby is by-and-large a single-issue candidate (anti-Affordable-Care-Act)*. The Libertarian alternative is also a single-issue candidate (Audit the Fed). Most Oregon voters, however, are anything but single-issue voters, and even the ones that are, that single issue could be anything (even the gun owners, myself included, don’t limit themselves to single issues). And Sigivald is correct: the Constitutionalist candidate didn’t even submit a statement for the voter information pamphlet, so we know NOTHING about him.
If you’re going to win in Oregon, you need a full-and-complete platform; the undecided voters want to know where you stand on everything. Jeff Merkley’s platform may be covered in crap and sit in the mud, but at least he’s standing on more than a single plank. (I’m still not voting for him, though.)
[* – She actually sides with Democrats on other key issues – she’s pro-same-sex-marriage and pro-choice – and her stance on guns is … ambiguous … but she doesn’t talk about those. At all.]
I actually meant the other LP candidate for the other position on the ballot [which I can’t recall whether it was House or Governor], not the Constitution party guys (who I never vote for, because they all seem to be theocrats).
But the point sure applies to every party; at least try, guys.
WOOOO_HOOO!
Some good news!
http://articles.philly.com/2014-10-21/news/55285005_1_firearms-laws-straw-purchases-lost-and-stolen-firearms
NRA-backed bill clears Pa. legislature; Corbett indicates he’ll sign it.
HARRISBURG – In the final minutes of the legislative session, the House on Monday approved a bill clearing the way for the National Rifle Association and other groups to sue local municipalities, among them Philadelphia, that enact ordinances stricter than state firearms laws.
It may be difficult for most people to weigh Holder’s greatest failure, but it was probably very easy for him. Most of what a rational observer would consider failures would be things that he himself would view as at least qualified successes.
Canada Jihadist used 30-30 Winchester 94 rifle in attack.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/23/rifle_used_in_ottawa_attack_was_a_winchester_3030.html
Holder bemoans failing to establish “Reasonable Gun Safety” legislation. When did he ever address “Gun Safety”? Restriction is not safety. Crocodile tears for Eric.