The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week...

... is Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Officer T.R. Dyke, who has just enough of a clue to not falsely arrest 19-year-old photographer Jerome Vorus for taking some pictures of buses from a public sidewalk, but who still impotently attempts to intimidate Vorus into not exercising a myriad of rights, all to no avail:



This would actually be quite humorous if it weren't such an infuriating example of official bullying.

Vorus is very mature for his age and handled the interaction incredibly well.  This should serve as a guide for how to handle such situations.

(h/t to Carlos Miller, who is the go-to source for such stories.)

Driving Big Brother

Dear Leader's Department of Transportation is apparently hell-bent on requiring every car in America to install technology that would disable cell phones while the car is moving.  Every cell phone, including ones with hands-free devices and even those of non-driving passengers.

Secretary Ray LaHood is pushing this proposal very hard despite the fact that such cell-jamming is currently illegal under Federal law (even by the government), traffic deaths are at a 60-year low, cell phones have been helpfully used by motorists to call in accidents, report drunk drivers and suspected criminals (Amber Alert, anyone?) and otherwise assist law enforcement, there are already laws in place to punish neglectful drivers who cause accidents and, most importantly, trying to get drivers to quit their accustomed habit of gabbing while driving will be a task comparable to counting how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.  That particular genie's never going back in the bottle.

What are they going to call this proposed campaign - The War on Distracted Driving?  Will there be a Driving Safety Czar?  Will there be government roadblocks where one's car will be gone over to make sure the software is in place?  The possibilities boggle the mind.

Coming next from these clowns - bans on drinking beverages, switching radio stations or even talking with one's passengers while driving, since these supposedly innocuous activities carry much the same risk.

Spare us this further imposition of the all-confining Nanny State, please.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Andrew Traver:  Is Obama's choice for ATF chief an 'antigun zealot'?"

Based on the above article from the Christian Science Monitor, the answer would have to be an emphatic yes.

"But the idea of an ATF director who hails from Chicago, a city without gun shops, and who has conflated black market automatic weapons with legal semi-automatic "assault-style" rifles is causing Second Amendment defenders to worry that President Obama intends to blast away at gun rights by force of bureaucracy, if not law."

Who wouldn't think that Dear Leader would naturally pick a Chicago insider with an apparent hatred for the very items he's supposed to be overseeing the regulation of?

The current buzz is that Obama is going to make Mr. Traver a recess appointment, once again bypassing the Congressional oversight and approval process without even giving the legislative branch a chance to schedule a hearing on the fitness of Traver for the job. 

Just more of that "Stroke of the pen.  Law of the land.  Kinda cool" mentality that we've come to expect from such socialist-leaning liberals. 

We'll keep a watch on this story, and let everyone know if and when another end-run around the Constitution is attempted.

Straight from the horse's behind mouth

"Storemski sounded a similar note, saying that all the cameras are in public spaces where people should be aware that their actions are not private.

'We live in an age right now where there's really no expectation that there would be no video in a public space," he said. 'Everybody that has a cell phone has a video camera. This happens all the time. We're just doing it for public safety purposes.'"

- Houston, Texas Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security Director Dennis Storemski, discussing the legal implications of the city's ongoing installation of up to 300 cameras (paid for in part by DHS funding)  at downtown intersections to record the comings and goings of the peasantry.

Well, the same non-expectation of privacy naturally applies to those very public safety workers, of course.  We trust we're not going to hear about Houston residents being rousted for filming local law enforcement officers going about their official duties from a respectful and non-interfering distance.

We'll see how long that particular fantasy of ours holds up.

The same tired old English story

Another charming tale out of the failed Nanny-state that is Great Britain, where entitlement after government entitlement has created a population over there who have their hands permanently out for things such as housing, food and medical benefits, without bothering to lift a finger to earn anything for themselves:

A pregnant, jobless 28-year-old Birmingham, England ex-con with five other children by three men (all of whom have been removed from her custody due to neglect) and who lives with an unemployed illegal immigrant from Jamaica is vowing to keep on cranking out the tykes until the local government caves in and gives her a free house. 

"The pair currently live in a local authority flat in Newton, Birmingham, and [Lavine Samma] said: 'I have been told the only way I can get a house is by having children to care for.'

'If they keep taking them from me I will just keep having them - again and again.'"

If ever there was an argument to be made for forced sterilization Ms. Samma would undoubtedly be the poster child. 

"Jobless Damien [Sewell], the father of three of her children, moaned: 'The courts and council are against us. We are being discriminated against.'" 

Oh please, sir.  You're embarrassing yourself further, if that's even possible. 

"He came to the UK from his native Jamaica on a short-term holiday visa in 2002.

He failed to return and is now claiming asylum.

Damien explained: 'Life is much better here.'" 

Sounds like it.  Keep on siring kids and get all the necessities of life handed to you, compliments of the few subjects left who bother to go to work each day.  Yes, we imagine that sort of slothful lifestyle would be looked at askance in a Third World country where survival is by no means guaranteed.

We remind everyone that this is the very system to which Dear Leader regularly refers while touting his desire to "transform" America into a clone of Western European Socialism Lite. Thankfully, the next Congress seems unlikely to advance the "dreams" of himself and his deceased absentee father any further down this dead-end road.

By the way, there have been a few apologists for the current state of affairs in Britain who castigate us for regularly spotlighting these sorts of stories, claiming they are the exception.  We beg to disagree, and both our personal observations as well as the sheer number of articles detailing this kind of rampant welfare abuse firmly supports our position.

Bread and Circuses

Hope those cheap DVD players and other discounted crap items were worth risking your lives, people.

"It's over, it's done
The end is begun
If you listen to fools,
The mob rules"

- Black Sabbath, The Mob Rules

The latest shaky house of cards

NPR (?) does its job for once, helpfully pointing out that another one of the Federal government's Ponzi schemes, this time Social Security, is essentially insolvent because Congress has been raiding the surplus for decades to the tune of 2.5 trillion dollars or so. 

What happens when the full brunt of Baby Boomer retirees hits the system is anyone's guess, but most of those guesses aren't predicting good outcomes:

"The federal government owes $2.5 trillion to the Social Security trust funds. And if the government doesn't pay that money, it will default on its debt — something the U.S. has never done in its history."

Since our government is already about $13 trillion in the hole, the odds of actually being able to pay that money back is somewhere between none and zilch. 

If you are, oh, under 40 or so, you'd best not count on Social Security to be there once you hit retirement age.  Plan accordingly.

The Jack-Booted Thug of the Week...

... is the plainclothes Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officer who refused to identify himself upon a lawful request by a local resident to do so.The citizen, who possesses a permit to carry a pistol, wanted the information to file a complaint because the bully cop was incorrectly rousting him for openly carrying a holstered pistol during a recent rally in that city:
 The vaguely Nazi-ish red armband is a very apropos sartorial choice, by the way.
 Special mention has to go to the mysterious thug's boss, Lt. Conzick (sp), who indeed is completely in the wrong about the law in Philly.  We're sure he doesn't care, though, because that's how those types usually roll.
 
(A grateful h/t to David Codrea, who as usual is all over these types of incidents.  You really are missing out if you aren't catching every single one of Dave's articles for the Examiner.)

Take your pill and get back in line, troublemaker

Do you often question authority and happen to like thinking for yourself?  Then you just may be mentally ill, according to the latest addition to the DSM-IV, which catalogs such disorders:

"The manual identifies a new mental illness called “oppositional defiant disorder” or ODD.  Defined as an “ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile and defiant behavior,” symptoms include questioning authority, negativity, defiance, argumentativeness, and being easily annoyed."

On a positive note, being so diagnosed would seemingly entitle one to all of the myriad protections afforded under the Americans with Disabilities Act, so any such labeled curmudgeons at least have that going for them.

(Thanks to Jenn Chou for the tip)

Blatant advocacy of treason

"Stroke of the pen.  Law of the land.  Kinda cool." rears its ugly head once more, as Johnathon Seidl of The Blaze informs us that liberal weenie and head of the Center for American Progress John Podesta is on record as believing his hero Dear Leader should ignore the recent election results and just go ahead and use everything at his disposal, including the military, to force the country to "transform" into something more to the socialists' liking: 

“'I think most of the conversation since the election has been about how President Obama adjusts to the new situation on Capitol Hill,' Center for American Progress head and former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta told the Daily Caller. 'While that’s an important conversation, it simply ignores the president’s ability to use all levels of his power and authority to move the country forward.'

How does one 'move the country forward'? In the center’s report, Podesta explains that Obama can use executive orders, rulemaking, and even the armed forces 'to accomplish important change' and that such means “should not be underestimated.”

What exactly does Podesta think the president should use such powers to 'accomplish'? Among others, the report suggests 'job creation,' 'quality affordable health care,' 'sustainable security,' and 'a clean energy future.'"

Completely ignoring the inconvenient existence of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Constitution along the way, of course.

Had a conservative think tank come out with a similarly treasonous proposal after the Democratic takeover in 2006, the major media would rightly be screaming bloody murder.  Why aren't they eviscerating Podesta?  Oh, that's right, over 80% of mainstream news reporters consistently self-identify as Democrats.  They would presumably be right on board with the implementation of such a dictatorial agenda.

Bring it on, John.  We'd welcome that sort of foolish Mussolini-like overreach by the current administration, as it would pretty much seal their, as well as your ideology's, doom for good.

Topsy-turvy

Two stories side-by-side in today's Arizona Republic:

1.  Three current Phoenix police officers as well as a former member of the department have been indicted (and a fifth would have been, had he not been found shot dead by his patrol car last month under mysterious circumstances.  Was he silenced by his "brother officers"?) on felony charges related to their allegedly ripping off low-income housing developments and other businesses by not showing up for lucrative ($40/hr) off-duty security work assignments yet still submitting time sheets and being paid as if they had been present at the sites for the entire agreed-upon shift.  An additional 25 officers are still under investigation for the same offense.

2.  A Phoenix resident named Dave Tally, who happens to be broke and currently residing in a homeless shelter (a population usually regarded by many as being unworthy of respect or dignity), is being honored by many people after he turned in to shelter operators a backpack without ID which contained $3,300 in cash.  The property has since been returned to its rightful owner, an ASU student who received the money in a car insurance settlement.  Tally is being richly and deservedly rewarded with cash donations, job offers and a free dentist visit.

Just because someone wears a police uniform doesn't mean that he or she is necessarily an honorable or trustworthy person, and just because someone lives in a homeless shelter doesn't necessarily mean he or she is not.

Make everyone earn your trust and respect, and never let them demand it just because of their station in life or what they happen to do for a living.

Special outcomes for special people

Montgomery County, Maryland Police Officer Jason Cokinos, traveling 26 mph over the residential speed limit, mows down a 14-year-old boy crossing the street in front of his house, leaving the kid a brain-damaged quadriplegic.  The sum total of consequences for the cop?  A $185 speeding ticket.

Yep, that's it, despite a police investigation that showed "that the boy would not have been hit had Cokinos been traveling at the speed limit".

Then the charges at least should include felony criminal negligence.  Unless you wear a badge for a living, apparently.

We wonder what that very same department would see fit to charge a mere peasant had that commoner committed a similar negligent act which ruined a young boy's life, not to mention the lives of his family.  We highly doubt the agency would be so lenient.

It's important to note that "Officer" Cokinos was off duty and not responding to an emergency call at the time, although he was in uniform and in his marked cruiser while on his way to an off-duty job.  It must have been one heck of an exciting opportunity. 

"State officials won't say whether Officer Jason Cokinos was disciplined following the April 2008 incident in Clarksburg."

Well, he still has a job, so we'll go out on a limb and speculate that whatever sanction he did receive wasn't nearly proportional enough to his crime to count as punishment.

The news gets even worse for the family of the child:

"The county will pay the Jovel family $400,000 in damages. The amount of damages the family could request was limited to $200,00 per case by a state law that restricts the legal liability of local governments."

That will maybe pay for one year of care for someone who will need round-the-clock assistance for the rest of  his life, which due to his young age may be 60 or more years.

"[Cokinos] is now canvassing neighborhoods that show spikes in crime."

At least the brass isn't hypocritical enough to stick him on speed-enforcement duty.

The apparent moral of the story - It's good to be a "special person".

The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

... are the NYPD cops who rousted seven men who were peacefully playing chess on tables in a Manhattan park designed specifically for that purpose.

There were admittedly signs stating that the part of the park they were in was off-limits to adults who were not accompanying children under 12, however no children were present in the park at the time of the raid.

The men had apparently previously queried the local park supervisor as to whether it was OK for them to play on those tables,

"Yacahuda "Y.A." Harrison, 49, one of those chess aficionados, said he saw those signs months ago and 'asked the [Parks] ranger if we had permission to be there'.

'The ranger said, 'Oh no, that's fine, that's only written for pedophiles.'"

and they claim to have been accepted and even appreciated by the local parents:

"Since then, [Harrison] said, parents have welcomed him and the other players -- and even had their kids take chess lessons from them." 

The players, despite not being a nuisance or otherwise breaking any laws, were given criminal summonses for "failure to comply with signs" (none of that ever goes on in the Big Apple), and now must appear in court.

We understand the need for the neighborhood's precious little snowflakes to have a safe place to play as well as having the park rules enforced, but we doubt those tables were being used for any other purpose, especially during the day when most kids are in school.

Besides, wouldn't a friendly warning by the local beat officer have been enough to begin to resolve the situation?

Off topic but interesting, at least to me

While dining on sushi after cycle class this evening, we struck up a conversation with a very intelligent (and attractive) woman who was also dining alone.  We brought up the existence of this blog with our usual bit of hesitation, as the subjects discussed here aren't everyone's cup of tea.  To our pleasant surprise the lady expressed firm support for the Second Amendment as well as her belief in every individual's inalienable right to self-defense.  We then invited her to participate here and contribute a new voice to the discussion.

It is truly stunning and heartwarming to note the overwhelming positive change in favor of all individual rights among the general public these days.  They just might be waking up.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day

We have to give credit where it's due and congratulate usually-loony left Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco for vetoing the stupid ban on Happy Meal toys recently passed by that town's Board of Supervisors:

"'There are times when a city can go too far. There's a time when we even cross the line,' Newsom said.

'Doing these types of toy bans is inappropriate, I don't think particularly effective, and I just think goes way too far in inserting government to try to be the decision-maker in someone's life as opposed to parents,' the mayor said."

Newsom's veto may still be overridden, but at least we now know there's a limit to the nonsense he's willing to publicly support.  We had our doubts for awhile there.

Happy Holidays from the Empire State

The New York State Police, apparently having no serious crime to battle, is once again gearing up this Thanksgiving holiday to raise the state some revenue "ensure motorist safety" by setting up dozens of Fourth Amendment-violating roadblocks all over the state to make sure the hapless proles are all wearing their seatbelts:

"State Police say Troopers issued nearly 19,000 seat belt tickets during the campaign last year."

Mass civil disobedience generally indicates that a given law is utterly useless, a la the former national 55 mph speed limit or Prohibition.  The masters never learn, however, so the intrusions on personal freedoms continue apace.

The PR push for DREAM continues

The Arizona Republic continues the current full-court press for passing the unfair and ill-gotten-reward-producing DREAM Act by running a piece which profiles several young people (who proudly give their full names as well as the colleges they attend) who wish to take advantage of the proposed legislation's line-jumping privileges and become legal residents ahead of thousands of people in other countries who are waiting to come here in a proper and lawful fashion.

We admit to having a modicum of sympathy for the person who was brought here by his illegal immigrant parents when he was 2.  Two other people in the story, however, apparently crossed the border at ages 12 and 15, respectively, yet these supposedly super-smart "straight A" students claim to have had absolutely no idea that they were here illegally until quite recently.  Sorry, but we don't buy that excuse.  We can remember being that age; even then we were fully aware of our citizenship status and definitely would have noticed whether or not that status had been legally changed or not during a life-altering move to another country.  These definitely appear to be prime cases of "Be quiet, kids, and we'll work on fixing the issue at a later time once we're in America".

Yes, some of these illegal immigrants make for compelling stories, and it is true that it isn't always their fault that they are here in the first place.  The responsibility for their predicament, however, as we've stated on several occasions, lies solely with the parents, and as such no one in the families should be able to benefit from their unlawful actions.  The DREAM Act should be vigorously opposed for that reason.

You don't say?

"Congressman Charles Rangel, whose ethics trial starts tomorrow, appears to have improperly used political-action committee money to pay for his defense."

A thoroughly corrupt public "servant", about to go on trial for his alleged unethical behavior, does even more unethical things in a desperate attempt to wiggle out of his jam? 

This isn't news by any means but merely a textbook reminder of how these cretinous thieves operate, from supposed national "leaders" such as Rangel all the way down to the junior varsity such as the current County Executive of our old stomping grounds of Prince George's County, Maryland who was arrested for corruption the other day along with his wife, who was nabbed with $79,000 of what appears to be bribe money stuffed in her bra. 

It was probably all just a big misunderstanding.  All women use their lingerie as a convenient location for a little odd pin money, right?.

Nice to know that not much has changed in the D.C. area with respect to these types of political scandals.  It keeps us from making the dumb decision to move back there.

"But some animals are more equal than others"

Never has George Orwell's famous quote from Animal Farm been more appropriate than when discussing Dear Leader's utter disaster of a socialized medicine plan.

You see, this supposed legislative jewel (which is turning out to be more of a lead fishing weight) in his narcissistic crown was supposedly going to force all businesses to participate in this massive Ponzi scheme in order to "ensure coverage for everyone as well as facilitate cost savings" (two things that cannot possibly coexist).  Unless, of course, the firms in question happen to be one of the 111 companies or unions (surprise, surprise) that have received an indulgence a waiver from our benevolent wannabe monarch.

This interesting and highly infuriating news, of course, is about as hidden as such information can get:



So much for all of that promised "transparency".

Repeal it now, liberal Democrats, or suffer even more losses in 2012.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Reid's priority is amnesty, not jobs"

It's gratifying to see that the newspaper of record in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home state of Nevada agrees with our position on the urgent need to kill the execrable DREAM act.

As we've previously noted, this shameless politician is going to attempt to jam the legislation (which is opposed by the vast majority of Americans) through the upcoming lame-duck session of Congress, in a cynical effort to appease the unions and liberal activists who helped Reid squeak into one more term:

"In fact, the bill lets anyone younger than 36 seek amnesty by taking a few credit hours or joining the Army. No doubt, many of the illegal immigrants who'll benefit from the Dream Act already have anchor babies of their own. The Dream Act is for grown-ups, not kids.

It won't be tough for illegals who don't qualify to claim they do. They'll find a way to create documents that falsify their age and the number of years they've been here. And once they get their amnesty, they'll use "family" preferences in existing immigration law to bring over the rest of their kin.

The Dream Act is presumably Sen. Reid's way of rewarding the Hispanic voters he courted so heavily this year -- and building a future Democratic voting bloc in the process. It creates another incentive for foreign nationals to drag their children into the United States. One act of amnesty inevitably leads to another, after all."

Yep.  The merry-go-round needs to stop right here and right now.

"The Bill That Wouldn't Die"

The title sounds like a bad '50s horror flick, but in reality it's the DREAM Act surfacing once again like some bloated corpse in a haunted lake.

It's being reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is under enormous pressure from the "Latino community" (it's unclear who actually makes up this group besides union leaders and liberal activists) to try and ram the Dream Act through the lame-duck Congressional session.  This would have the effect of allowing illegal alien "students" (precious little snowflakes up to age 35 who could be enrolled anywhere from Harvard to the local barber academy) to obtain green cards and remain in the country indefinitely.

Besides allowing untold thousands of people to immediately jump the line ahead of many others all around the world who are waiting their turn to legally immigrate, this odious bill would obviously constitute a backdoor amnesty because these newly-minted legal residents could then immediately petition the government (just like all current green card holders) to allow their relatives who are already here illegally to stay.

This proposal also apparently would not be a one-time offer, which would have the instant effect of vastly increasing the incentive for illegal aliens to somehow get across the border before having an "anchor baby" who they could then enroll in college or sign up for the military once the child is old enough, ensuring that the entire family could then stay in America forever.

Sound far fetched?  Not really.  Liberal activists seem to be willing to resort to anything, even such sneaky tactics as this, in order to allow millions of people who have openly thumbed their noses at our laws to stay here.

We have already had several amnesties, the last in 1986 under Ronald Reagan, and at that time Americans were promised that it would be the very last one and the border would then be strengthened and sealed, which never happened.

No more breaks for these lawbreakers.  The parents of these admittedly unfortunate children were fully aware of the consequences their offspring would face as a result of their illegal actions.  They are the ones responsible for the situation, not the U.S. government or its citizens.

Seeing is believing

Joel Rosenberg has posted the raw video from his (interesting, to say the least, although we can think of more appropriate but vulgar descriptions) encounter with the Minneapolis PD's Sergeant William Palmer the other day.  Only the first 2:30 or so is relevant here:



We're by no means law-enforcement professionals or masters of disarming tactics, but Palmer's incredibly dangerous grab of Joel's legally-carried firearm looks to be about as dumb as one can get in such matters.

Joel also informs us that the MPD is now going to investigate itself in this matter.  Nope, no conflict of interest there.  In other news, a truck carrying a full load of whitewash was just seen pulling up to police headquarters.

(Full disclosure:  We are friends and frequent collaborators with Joel on various projects and causes.)

The British babies threw a tantrum

As many as 50,000 British university students rioted in London yesterday because that utterly bankrupt Nanny state has had the temerity to ask them to pay a higher portion of their college tuition instead of completely mooching off the taxpaying subjects.

Egged on by the usual suspects of anarchy-promoting leftist organizations (isn't it odd how conservative groups never advocate random violence and the destruction of private property?  Maybe because those people actually own something instead of living a pointless life of sponging off the public teat), the students assaulted the headquarters of the conservative Tory party, causing significant damage to the building and several injuries to the riot cops who were attempting to control the mob.

Here's one supposedly educated female Cambridge student's take on the protest:

"The majority is a completely non-violent protest. I’m not really worried about violence against property or objects, smashing buildings is completely fine, it’s a great image of our anger. I’ve got no problem with that at all as long as nobody gets hurt."  (emphasis ours)

Well fine then, ma'am.  But don't complain to the police when someone destroys your house because they are upset with something you've done or said.  After all, it's a "completely fine" message of "anger".

Britain's future.  Aren't they charming?  (AP - from the article)

This is the inevitable result that occurs when people who have been given entitlement upon entitlement for multiple decades get told that the free ride is coming to an end.

Hopefully this episode starkly illustrates to everyone the inevitable result of the road that Dear Leader wishes to take America down, and why we must redouble our efforts to stop our country from one day turning into today's Britain.

More unintended consequences (and expenses) of Obamacare

The food vending industry, to its utter dismay, has just found out that hidden somewhere in the 2000+ pages of Dear Leader's socialized medicine Ponzi scheme was a provision requiring them to post the nutrition content of every item for sale in their machines.  Starting in less than two months.

It doesn't matter that there can be up to 30+ different items in one machine, or that the industry association estimates that it's going to cost a profit-killing 14 million man-hours each year to accomplish this onerous task, or that the very same information is already on each item's wrapper, or simply that people who buy an occasional snack-size bag of Funyuns obviously aren't under the illusion that those tasty treats are somehow as nutritious as an apple; nope, it's the law of the land now so that's the way it's going to be.

What other interesting delights in that incredibly freedom-sapping and economy-stifling law are just sitting there waiting their turn to be brought to light?

The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

... are the members of the Philadelphia Police Department who have been continually harassing 24-year-old licensed security guard and concealed-carry permit holder John Solomon, merely due to his insistence on carrying his holstered firearm while waiting to catch his regular bus, a perfectly legal act in that city.

The Philly cops arrested Solomon two days in a row last week over his refusal to not carry at the bus stop and have once again confiscated his pistol (the one that was just returned to him from another unlawful confiscation last August) and guard license, yet they haven't seen fit to charge him with a crime in any of the incidents (mostly because he isn't committing one, save for possibly carrying while black, something that's still all-too-common in today's America).  Oh, and Solomon claims that during this latest roust the cops erased pictures of other bus-riders he had taken at the time from his cell phone.  Can anyone say "evidence-tampering"?

Special mention has to go to department spokesman Sgt. Ray Evers for his utterly poor attitude when discussing his department's unlawful actions:

"Police think that Solomon was being insolent and used poor judgment, including by showing up armed at the same bus stop at which he was arrested the previous day.

"If he's that defiant, should this guy have a gun?" said Sgt. Ray Evers, a police spokesman."

Gee, Sergeant, we didn't realize "defiance" and "insolence" were against the law, especially when they take the form of refusing to obey an illegal order from a random uniformed goon.  We actually think that's showing some pretty decent judgment on Solomon's part, to be perfectly frank.

If what Solomon's doing is so wrong, by the way, then how about charging him with a crime?

"Evers said that Solomon has been 'evasive and uncooperative' and that police had every right to take his guns and permits.

Solomon has the right to not answer questions from a passing officer, and asserting that right is also not against the law.  Boy, one sure doesn't have a lot of rights in Philadelphia, at least according to their cops.

"'The gun has been taken because when you go through the process of arrest, we have the right to take your gun and secure it and you have to fight to get it back,' he said."

Again, that's perfectly appropriate, assuming the person is subsequently charged with a crime.  Solomon, we remind everyone, has not been given so much as a ticket, despite all of these obviously bogus collars and his many hours of sitting in a holding cell.  

Solomon's attorney must be absolutely licking his or her chops at the size of the large civil-rights claim they are no doubt preparing at this very moment.  Too bad the award will come from the pockets of the city's peasants rather than directly from thugs like Evers.

Not a smart move

Our good friend and frequent collaborator Joel Rosenberg, a prominent Minnesota gun-rights activist and firearms instructor for residents as well as local law enforcement, has filed a criminal complaint with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office against Minneapolis Police spokesman Sergeant William Palmer.

Joel alleges that Palmer assaulted him in the waiting room of Police Chief Tim Dolan's office yesterday after noticing that he was carrying a holstered handgun in the City Hall building, an act that is perfectly legal for carry permit holders in Minnesota.  To make matters worse, Joel claims that Palmer "swept" him with the loaded handgun's muzzle while attempting to unload it, a cardinal sin of gun safety.  Palmer then apparently went on to threaten Joel with the cancellation of his carry permit, an step that neither he nor his boss Chief Dolan is legally authorized to take.

Hennepin County Sheriff's Detective Bill Gottwaldt has assured Joel that a "fair and impartial" investigation will be conducted.  Seeing as how two witnesses as well as a video camera were present, it shouldn't take long for Gottwaldt to uncover the facts of the case.

This should be quite interesting to see play out.  Joel, while generally a gregarious, friendly and loyal person, is not a person to be trifled with, especially when one attempts to suppress either his lawful activities or his personal freedoms.

Equitable distribution of income isn't enough for some liberals; they want to spread around other things as well

Arizona Republic editorial writer Kathleen Ingley presumes to tell people that they and their loved ones should have to specifically tell organ harvesters to shove off before and/or after they pass away, otherwise their bodies would be fair game for picking over:

"Former talk-show host Bob Mohan has joined the 109,000 desperately ill Americans waiting for an organ transplant.  A kidney, which he needs, can come from a living donor.  But the source of most organs is from people who have died.  We can save a lot of lives by assuming that people agree to organ donation when they die, unless they specifically opt out."

Hey Ms. Ingley, we can save even more lives by forcing the peasants to submit for match testing and then dispatching roving vans to snatch their "spare" kidneys whenever they are required.  Would that be as acceptable to you?  After all, that process would ensure the maximum distribution of kidneys with the best odds for successful transplantation.

Organ donation is a wonderful and charitable gift, but it is just that - a gift.    Government has absolutely no business dictating what happens to peoples' remains, as their bodies are property that belongs to themselves and/or their families by default, unless and until a donation decision is made.

It's apparently not enough to be subject to taxation while alive.  Now liberals want people to be forced to pay a body part fee when departing this plane unless the proper paperwork is filled out beforehand.

By the way, Ms. Ingley, are you an organ donor?   We've seen all too often that people of your political bent are eager to impose onerous conditions on others that they themselves wish to be exempted from.

More proof that Obama most likely will never get it

"After suffering a “shellacking” in the midterm elections, President Obama acknowledges what many have seen as his chief weakness – failing to sell the importance of several legislative milestones to the American people."

"Many", in this case, presumably being Dear Emperor's eager reality-hiding aides as well as his enablers in the dinosaur major media (such as the above bit from CBS touting this upcoming Sunday's "60 minutes"), as neither group seems willing to alert His Cluelessness to the obvious fact that he's strolling around quite naked.

It's not the sizzle, sir.  America simply doesn't want the rotten, smelly steak you're peddling.

UPDATE:  Tam weighs in with a similar sentiment:

"It takes a special kind of hubris to wake up one morning and decide that what this world is lacking is your visionary leadership, and an even more perfectly-distilled narcissism to think that if millions of people don't like you, the problem is with all of them." 

Man, she's good.

Outrageous behavior, even for Vegas

Blogger Doug Ross has the damning emails that definitively prove that there was blatant collusion between Harrah's Casino properties, the local culinary union and the Harry Reid campaign to "get out the vote" for the Democrat, down to a spreadsheet that showed the names of workers at each casino and whether or not they had yet voted:

"'We were asked to talk to people individually to find out why they had not yet voted and to fill in these spreadsheets explaining why,' the employee said. 'I did not feel comfortable doing that.'"

No, we imagine a conscientious person wouldn't feel right about intimidating a hapless maid or blackjack dealer into voting for someone else's preferred candidate.

This sort of disgusting scenario is precisely why the Democrats are pushing so hard to pass their pet "card-check" bill, which would ban secret ballots in union organizing elections. 

If anyone has disposable income and is headed to Sin City to place a few wagers, here's a list of Harrah's locations that you might want to avoid patronizing in order to punish them for their nauseating actions:

Caesars
Ballys
Paris
Flamingo
Harrah's
Planet Hollywood
Rio

Better yet, stop in on the way to another establishment and let them know exactly why these thugs won't be getting so much as a dime of your entertainment dollar.

Us?  We're thinking Mandalay Bay sounds like a real good time this Thanksgiving.

(Via Ace)

Surreal

30% of the people who voted in South Carolina on Tuesday wanted this man to be their Senator:




Mr. Greene is thankfully now free to focus his efforts on fighting his recent indictment on felony obscenity charges.

The country sure seems to have dodged a bullet in this race, although we're beginning to think this person (who sadly has obvious mental health issues) couldn't possibly do any worse than some of the people already entrenched in Washington.

How could we have forgotten?

We've been reminded by multiple readers that in the hurly-burly of the last 24 hours we completely neglected to mention the outstanding news that Matt Bostrom has won his bid to replace the (in our opinion as well as that of many others) thoroughly corrupt and incompetent Bob Fletcher as Sheriff of Ramsey County, Minnesota.

Bostrom has pledged to completely reform that office, including discontinuing Fletcher's long-standing office-abusing practice of unlawfully (and unfairly) denying qualified law-abiding residents their permit to carry firearms.

(By the way, Bostrom is a Democrat, as is Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, another right-thinking individual who fairly interprets and enforces the law.  No one can accuse us here at the Muckraker of being monolithic and blind Republicans.)

Congratulations, Sheriff Bostrom.  We look forward to hearing great things about you and your administration in the near future.

Hubris

Dear Leader, during his crow-eating press conference this morning, demonstrates that he hasn't learned a single thing from yesterday's almost-complete immolation of his party, pretty much totally at his hands:

"Though his policies were used against Democrats in races across the country, Obama described his decisions to date as 'tough' but 'right.'"

You keep right on believing that, sir, because as everyone can plainly see it's working out so well for you and your sycophants.

From the Department of Glaringly Obvious Headlines

"Boehner vows to repeal Obama healthcare reforms"

Absolutely.  This has to be the very first order of business before the disastrous financial consequences of this terrible legislation wreck the fragile economic recovery.

Well done, Mr. Speaker.

A well-deserved whipping

A few random ruminations on tonight's results:

1.  Boy, that electoral map of the U.S. is getting awfully red, not that Dear Leader will notice or care.  Charles Krauthammer most likely called it right on Fox News just now when he predicted that President Obama will pull back on the legislative initiatives for the next two years, preferring the lower-key tactic of "ruling" by executive order and large numbers of new Federal agency rules.  After all, it was fellow liberal Democrat Paul Begala who is on record as bragging about "Stroke of the pen.  Law of the land.  Kinda cool."  And we all know Dear Leader is totally about "cool".

2.  It appears as though our own Democratic Congressman Harry Mitchell has been sent to retirement.  Mitchell seems like a nice enough fellow, and he actually on many occasions was on the same side as us on important issues.  Just like we repeatedly told his office during the debate over Obamacare, though, his eventual support of that odious legislation meant that we and many others would seek his ouster at the next possible opportunity, and that has come to pass.

3.  We simply can't believe that the people of California have returned to the governor's office the same tired old liberal career politician who is responsible for so many of their current crises.  We no longer have any sympathy for that whack-job state; they're completely on their own as far as we're concerned.

4.  It seems that the execrable Congressional barnacle that is Barney Frank has managed to win yet another term in office despite he and other Democrats being directly responsible for  the banking and mortgage meltdown by forcing banks to give mortgages to low-income people who had no business taking out such loans and resisting efforts by the Bush White House to reform the system, even going so far as to boldly declare in 2004 that "These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of  financial crisis".  Thanks, Massachusetts!

5.   The Democrats couldn't even hang on to the Illinois Senate seat that President Obama's neophyte bottom barely warmed before he declared for the Presidency.  There's some serious repudiation of Dear Leader right there.

6.  With Republican Scott Walker projected to win in the race for Wisconsin governor, it appears as though that state will finally get the "shall issue" firearms carry permit bill that has passed the Legislature multiple times only to be vetoed by outgoing Governor Jim Doyle.  This will leave Illinois as the lone state without at least some provision for lawful carry by law-abiding citizens.  What a change for the better for Second Amendment rights from even just a few years ago.

Maybe some more on this tomorrow.

These people unfortunately vote

A piece of video taken at Jon Stewart's Comedy Central rally last Saturday:



The moronic woman in the red jacket is especially annoying.

This reminds us of a stunt the guys at The Man Show played a few years ago that also vividly demonstrated how uneducated some of these festival-goers can be (embed is wonky; click on the link to see):

End Women's Suffrage

We've got spirit, yes we do, but bring a horse, you land in deep poo

Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School in Massachusetts has suspended for two days a student dressed as a mascot who rode a horse that was being led at a slow walk around the school's parking lot a couple of times as part of Spirit Week:  

"The father tells FOX25 the school compared the stunt to bringing a 'loaded firearm' to school" 

We can totally see the comparison. 

The kid's parents, who had safely and responsibly trailered the horse to the school and seemed to have been present the entire time, have decided to appeal the punishment on the grounds that the administration is being much too heavy-handed. 

Gee, you think? 

It's a wonder students today even bother to try to come up with fun ways to stimulate school pride when anything and everything is considered a "dangerous weapon".  Are crepe paper and masking tape next to be outlawed?  Don't want to have an epidemic of paper cuts or adhesive rash, you know.  

When we were freshmen in high school, our class decorated an antique fire pumper truck for our Homecoming float.  One of our football players, whose fireman father had secured the loan of the engine, made sure to fill the truck with water before the half-time parade.  Yep, the opposing crowd was duly given a bit of a spritz as the engine passed by.  We suppose if that happened today the junior terrorists would be jailed for wielding a weapon of mass moisturization.

A concrete example of just why everyone needs to vote out Obama's enablers in Congress tomorrow

Kelly Marshall is a 32-year-old parasite woman who lives in Great Britain.  She has 5 children by 4 different fathers and has never worked a day in her life, yet she favors Armani outfits and her spacious four-bedroom home contains multiple flat-screen televisions, three laptops, an Xbox, a Wii and a Playstation 3.

Marshall has also taken her brood on two international vacations to exotic destinations this year alone, and has now come under withering fire since it's been reported that she recently (and apparently quite legally) diverted $7200 of her welfare checks to pay for a boob job, all because she "deserve[s] it because [she is] a good mum".

Well, that argument's certainly debatable.

Oh, and Marshall also has upcoming plans to get liposuction, Botox and a tummy tuck, now that the birth of her fifth child has increased her welfare check enough for her to afford the procedures.

Angry yet?  Think about the British taxpayers, most of whom don't make as much in salary as this brood mare does in welfare, who have to subsidize all of this nonsense.

By the way, does anyone think Marshall has an ounce of shame over her story being made public?  Actually, it's the exact opposite - she's proud of her status as a poster child for officially-sanctioned thievery:

"'I don't care that it is at the taxpayers' cost,' she told Closer magazine. 'I am just proud of my looks and family - and it's my decision what the money is spent on.'"

This drain on society has been able to "accomplish" all of this in her young existence because the Nanny-state that Britain has sadly turned into decided awhile ago that housing, food, medical and child-care expenses are all "rights" that a person is fully entitled to receive merely because they happen to be breathing.

This infuriating scenario, of course, is a stark illustration of the natural endpoint of the kinds of programs that our own Dear Leader, President Obama, wishes to foist upon the law-abiding and taxpaying citizens of America as part of his "transformation" of our society from one of capitalism and self-reliance into one of big government and dependence on the Great Father in Washington for one's daily existence.

Please go to the polls tomorrow to begin the process of reversing the damage he and the liberals in Congress have already done to this country.  It's not too late to halt his attempt to remake the United States into the kind of socialist-lite Nanny-state that enables vampires like Marshall to continue to enjoy an unearned comfortable existence at the expense of her neighbors, all without a trace of shame or embarrassment.