Happy Good Commie Day!

 

New for this year, The Clue Meter brings you Hopalong Ginsbergs Good Commie Day Theme Song!

Read All About It!

 This is all over MeWe and Gab already, but on the of chance you haven't sen it, Time Magazine just published what amounts to a SuperVillain Monologue that details how the presidential election of 2020 was rigged. 

Oh, wait. How the Presidential Election of 2020 was fortified to ensure that Democracy was saved! 

The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election

Interestingly, that's the way the title on the web page reads, but the tab calls it "The Secret Bipartisan Campaign..."

There was a conspiracy unfolding behind the scenes, one that both curtailed the protests and coordinated the resistance from CEOs. Both surprises were the result of an informal alliance between left-wing activists and business titans. The pact was formalized in a terse, little-noticed joint statement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and AFL-CIO published on Election Day. Both sides would come to see it as a sort of implicit bargain–inspired by the summer’s massive, sometimes destructive racial-justice protests–in which the forces of labor came together with the forces of capital to keep the peace and oppose Trump’s assault on democracy.

The handshake between business and labor was just one component of a vast, cross-partisan campaign to protect the election–an extraordinary shadow effort dedicated not to winning the vote but to ensuring it would be free and fair, credible and uncorrupted. For more than a year, a loosely organized coalition of operatives scrambled to shore up America’s institutions as they came under simultaneous attack from a remorseless pandemic and an autocratically inclined President. Though much of this activity took place on the left, it was separate from the Biden campaign and crossed ideological lines, with crucial contributions by nonpartisan and conservative actors. The scenario the shadow campaigners were desperate to stop was not a Trump victory. It was an election so calamitous that no result could be discerned at all, a failure of the central act of democratic self-governance that has been a hallmark of America since its founding.

Their work touched every aspect of the election. They got states to change voting systems and laws and helped secure hundreds of millions in public and private funding. They fended off voter-suppression lawsuits, recruited armies of poll workers and got millions of people to vote by mail for the first time. They successfully pressured social media companies to take a harder line against disinformation and used data-driven strategies to fight viral smears. They executed national public-awareness campaigns that helped Americans understand how the vote count would unfold over days or weeks, preventing Trump’s conspiracy theories and false claims of victory from getting more traction. After Election Day, they monitored every pressure point to ensure that Trump could not overturn the result. “The untold story of the election is the thousands of people of both parties who accomplished the triumph of American democracy at its very foundation,” says Norm Eisen, a prominent lawyer and former Obama Administration official who recruited Republicans and Democrats to the board of the Voter Protection Program.

But's was okay, because Trump did it first by saying mail-in ballots were insecure. 

Admit it: We've all thought about it.

​Popular Mechanics: How to Shoot Down a Drone

Tar, Feathers...

How Government Stifled Reason's Free Speech - Hit & Run : Reason.com

Politicians and minions decorating lampposts...

 I note that the article cites a First Amendment Right to Privacy.

On which note I close with this message for Facebook:

Operation Choke Point; EDITED

EDIT: (Original posted from work, on my phone. Stay tuned for edits after I'm home tonight.  Edited version follows.)
Here's a link to another post, this one on PowerLine Blog, about Operation Choke Point, the Department of Justice effort to squeeze banks to cut off funding/credit to legal businesses that might be politically incorrect:
Choking on the administrative state | Power Line
A couple of quotes:

Glenn Reynolds and Todd Zywicki have written most recently about the Department of Justice’s Operation Choke Point. Operation Choke Point is vaguely described as a Department of Justice initiative to starve disfavored businesses of financial services, but there is no official account of the program; it is shrouded in secrecy, to borrow Professor Zywicki’s description.

and

Professor Zywicki commends Tom Blumer’s helpful summary of what is known to date about the operation. He observes that the list of targeted industries is populated by enterprises that are entirely, or at least generally, legal: ammunition sales, escort services, get-quick-rich schemes, online gambling, “racist materials” and payday loans. “Quite obviously,” Professor Zywicki comments, “some of these things are not like the other; moreover, just because there are some bad apples within a legal industry doesn’t justify effectively destroying a legal industry through secret executive fiat.”

Question: Might this be the source of the current, ongoing, annoying, frustrating ammunition shortage? 

I dunno. I do find reports of agencies of the Executive Branch buying hundreds of thousands of rounds unsatisfying as explanations, though...

I originally described this as a "Joint DoJ/Treasury operations";  not really accurate, here's a couple of paragraphs that explain better:

{Glenn Reynolds} describes Operation Choke Point as a Justice Department program, but I suspect it is derivative of the administrative state in which our financial institutions are enmeshed, now more than ever. American Banking Association President Frank Keating’s Wall Street Journal column on the program (behind the Journal’s annoying subscription paywall) takes us a step further into the government’s maw: “Justice launched the effort in early 2013 as a policy initiative of the president’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which includes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other regulatory agencies.”

Keating doesn’t mention the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, but it is the primary regulator of national banks and is also a member of the task force. The structure of the task force is posted here and a complete list of members is posted here.

Lately I seem to be reading a lot about administrative, bureaucratic, and/or autocratic states, in which there is no accountability, and tyrants petty and otherwise are free to use and abuse their powers in an arbitrary manner to punish their perceived political or social enemies.

I keep looking for evidence that we haven't devolved into such a state, but I'm having to look harder and harder, and evidence is becoming increasingly rare...

Hear him, hear him!

Daddy Bear on the whole FBI/NSA surveillance/wiretapping/email snooping scandal: Betrayal by Those Who Should Know Better | DaddyBear's Den
He says what I wanted to, but couldn't without devolving into incoherent profanity.

To give you an idea of where I am on this, we went to Ace Hardware earlier, and it was all I could do not to go price manila hemp rope.

Also, seen in comments at that post, not sure what to think about this: DHS insider: It’s about to get very ugly

Tweet of the day, + Inbox Clearance

David Burge ‏@iowahawkblog 33m

Has Obama announced quartering of soldiers yet?

I never would have thought that one could pack so much trenchant wit into 140 characters, but Iowahawk consistently delivers...

Y'know, if it was just the one scandal... Just Fast and Furious, just the GM/Chrysler buyouts, just Benghazi, just the utter failue at Hurricane Sandy, just the whole green industry boondoggle, just the AP witch-hunt, just the IRS Tea Party witch hunt...

• The IRS – Law Enforcement Agency of Tyranny |Here’s Where The Obama IRS Scam Dam Starts to Break |  So, it wasn't "just one guy at a desk...?"
• Yes, That Is A Horselaugh You Hear |
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » BRYAN PRESTON: A Few of the Crazy Things the IRS Asked Conservative Groups to Divulge Add Up to a Pattern and Purpose.…
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » LYING TO CONGRESS? Top IRS official didn’t reveal tea party targeting. “Congress was not told tea …
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » USA TODAY: IRS Routinely Approved Liberal Groups While Leaving Tea Party Applicants In Limbo…
• Related: SLATE:  IRS scandal: How lazy reporting made Rand Paul look like a conspiracy theorist.  Slate?  Really?
• Also related: Instapundit » Blog Archive » ABUSE OF POWER: Flashback: President Obama Targeted Gibson Guitars, Boeing on Ideological Grounds….
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » LESLIE EASTMAN: My Tea Party group’s futile attempt to get IRS tax-exempt status.…  I had to work today, was not able to go help demonstrate at the local IRS office.  OTOH, my skies are drone-free.  For now.
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE I.R.S.’S WAR ON WOMEN. “Send us your Facebook pages, your Twitter pages,”…  As Professor Reynolds notes, the Tea Party leadership tends heavily to be female.  And, again, I mention that the first (proto-Tea Party) anti-big-government demonstration was organized in Seattle, by Keli "Liberty Belle" Carender.
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » THE TWO ACTUALLY TEND TO GO TOGETHER: The IRS: Not Just Thuggish, But Also Incompetent.…  I don't think it;'s an IRS thing so much as it is a "big, powerful government regulatory agency" thing.
• Also: Instapundit » Blog Archive » IT’S LIKE THE I.R.S. IS JUST SOME FREE-RANGING POLITICAL-THUG OPERATION OR SOMETHING: Report: IRS denied tax-exempt status to pro-lifers on behalf of Planned Parenthood.
• Instapundit » Blog Archive » QUESTIONS: “Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers.”

I'm trying real hard to make those last two make sense, or at least sound remotely Constitutional, but... I got nuthin'.
Except this:

Protest the IRS!

Email from the Seattle Tea Party Patriots:

Seattle Tea Party Patriots,
ACTION ALERT !! Short notice

Size matters count, so lets make it count!  Spend your lunch time tomorrow saving the country with the rest of the nation. Let's not get personal with Obama on this protest. Please keep the signs focused on the IRS and on the same page as the TPP.

When-Tues, 5/21 NOON, at your local IRS office.
Seattle- 2nd and Jackson.
Tacoma- 1200 Pacific Ave.
Bellevue- 520 112th Ave NE.
Everett- 3020 Rucker Ave.
Kitsap- Silverdale 9657 Levi Rd NW
Bellingham- 114 W. Magnolia St.
Spokane- 920 W. Riverside Ave.

Tea Party Patriots: Rein in the IRS - Tuesday, May 21 @ Noon
Ever since the IRS scandal broke, we have heard numerous stories from around the country about Tea Party, 9/12, Patriot groups, and even individuals who feel they were unfairly targeted by the IRS. This type of abuse cannot be tolerated and so we are calling for nationwide protests tomorrow, May 21, 2013 at 12pm noon at local IRS offices. We'd like to give a hat tip to groups in Cincinnati who began planning the first IRS protest - due to the Cincinnati IRS location being outed as the division that was heading up the discrimination tactics. We are extremely excited that so many around the country are joining in solidarity. Will you stand with us tomorrow? Click to find the location nearest you.

You can access a page with all of the information at the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund website.
You can also download the tool kit here:

1. Talking Points
2. Sample Letter to the Editor
3. Sample Letter to Senator
4. Sample Tweets
5. Infographic Showing the IRS Scandal Timeline
6. A sample Press Release – IRS Abuse of Power
7. Sample Sign Messages for Protest
8. Sample Blog Post
9. Sample Press Release – IRS Protests

Focus on the Reason to Protest Tomorrow
As tomorrow nears, it is important for us to stay focused on the message. With everything that is going on - Benghazi, Amnesty, DOJ/AP scandal, IRS scandal - it is easy to try to point to specifics. What all of this shows us is that BIG GOVERNMENT policies do not work. Dana Loesch wrote an excellent piece on this today at RedState. Click to read the post.

Thanks again for all of your support.
-National Tea Party Patriots Support Team

In Liberty,
Mark Young and Greg Moon
Seattle Tea Party Patriots
Keli Tea Party Patriots

I'll be working, alas, and nowhere near an IRS office, nor able to "get away" at Noon. I hope we can get enough nationwide to make an impression. 

Honestly, this targeting of political opponents by government agencies is egregious enough that OFA, the Purple People Beaters, and #Occupy should be participating, too.

But I bet they don't.

IRS Delenda Est

In addition to the flagrant politicization of the processing of tax exemptions for organizations --"OFA?  Right away!  Tea Party?  Come back in a decade!" -- we now have this:
Disabled Veterans Have Checks Stolen By IRS : Freedom Outpost

All I can say is that it is rapidly coming to this:

Papierren, Bitte

DaddeyBear can translate into Russian.  I'd do Korean, but I haven't installed the Hangul font set on the computer, and don't own a Hangul keyboard.

Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform | Threat Level | Wired.com.

Sheeple bleating "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about!" in 3, 2...

And what was that His Imperial Majesty was saying about people who don't trust the government?

Seen at Instapundit. Who also posted a link to a Twitter post ("tweet" just sounds dumb) by Daniel Drenzer entitled “So, in all, this has been a pretty crappy week for people who dislike conspiracy theories.”

Some more about Boston

From Instapundit:

JOE PAPPALARDO:  3 Places to Know to Understand the Boston Bombing….

The two brothers identified as the Boston marathon bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother Dzhokhar, are ethnic Chechens who probably lived in nearby areas in Central Asia before immigrating legally to the United States. Because the region is known as a breeding ground for radical Islamic terrorists—Chechens have been connected with terrorist attacks in Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa—this connection will be a focal point of the investigation into their motives, if indeed the brothers are confirmed as the Boston bombers...

JAMES TARANTO on Twitter:  “What the hope-they’re-white crowd really wishes for is a reason to treat their “What the hope-they’re-white crowd really wishes for is a reason to treat their domestic political adversaries as enemies of the state.”

Roger L. Simon » Boston: It’s About Islam, David Sirota

The Tsarnaevs are white people in the purest sense. They are Caucasians from the Caucasus, of all things, but they believe in Allah — do or die, apparently.

 The Volokh Conspiracy » The American Athens Becomes a Prison City

Yet such freakouts are nothing compared to what is in store if the the Marathon bombing means that Chechen jihadis has come to U.S. shores. The Chechens mounted one of the most vicious terror campaigns ever against Russia in the 1990s, blowing up apartment buildings, and launching massive attacks on theaters and even schools. They are known as among the most violent and dedicated terrorists in the world. They can be found fighting in Libya, Syria and every other major jihadi campaign. Though usually they have to sneak into the target countries, rather than coming on a visa as the Boston bombers apparently did.)
Russia only succeeded in suprresing {sic} the Chechen Islamists with extremely brutal tactics that would never find support in the U.S – essentially leveling the Chechen capital. Yet dealing with such a threat would also be impossible with a politically correct approach to counter-terror that, for example, turns away from talking frankly about the terrorists profiles and motives.

 From Daily Pundit:
One Muslim Terrorist Named After Great Muslim Conqueror

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Boston Massacre Bombers Muslims – MSM, Salon, Lefty Commentators Hardest Hit 

Making the facts fit the narrative -- by hook or by crook

Seen on the screen crawl of a TV set to CNN today:

SUSPECTS FROM CAUCASUS REGION OF EASTERN EUROPE

Um, no.

Okay, look, yes, Chechnya is on the eastern edge of Europe.  But it is hardly "European."  More to the point, when as a colleague pointed out today as I was shaking my head over this, "Most people haven't a clue where Chechnya is", to which I replied "They don't know where the Caucasus is, either, but saying 'Caucasian Region' makes it sound like the bombers were Westerners, which bolsters the whole 'murderous Tea Partying NRA members' meme they were trying to push."

The point being, Chechnya is a Muslim nation, which is infamous for it's violence; the Russians fought two bitter wars there, and have threatened more.  The domestic scene is hardly tranquil, and the government is regularly accused of oppression and "ethnic cleansing."

Nevertheless, to the average low information (AKA "Obama") voter, Caucasus=Caucasian=Northern European ("White") man.  (Low information voters, by definition, being unaware of and uninterested in the fact that the Chechens make extensive use of female homicide bombers.)

• Manhunt continues for teen bombing suspect; older brother killed - USA Today

• Suspected Boston bombers were refugees from brutal conflict - The Washington Post

Looks like they brought it with them.

The brothers who are alleged to have planted bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday reached the United States in 2002 after their ethnic Chechen family fled the Caucasus. They had been living in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan and were prevented from resettling in war-racked Chechnya.

In speaking about his boxing career in 2009, Tamerlan said he would not want to represent Russia, a hint that past troubles were not forgotten. In recent months, he appeared increasingly drawn to radical Islam. On a YouTube channel, he shared videos of lectures from a radical Islamic cleric; in one, voices can be heard singing in Arabic as bombs explode.

As I indicated in the footnote to my previous post, the Seattle metropolitan area has a large "Russian" immigrant community; "Russian" is in quotes because, by ethnicity and nation-of-origin, it is "Russian" only because it speaks that language; there are nearly as many Ukranians as actual Russians, for example, and I see many tattoos and bumper stickers, among other signs, indicating a connection to Chechnya.

If the mad "Russian" bombers are exporting their insane savagery to my area, I don't think I'll be going out unarmed if I can avoid it at all...

Anyway. Back to the topic of making the facts fit the narrative, somehow:  CNN Claims Pressure Cooker Bombs Somehow ‘Signature’ of Extreme Right Terrorists | NewsBusters

As Newsbusters points out, the CNN article fails to cite a single case of a "right wing" terrorism using pressure cookers. This pretty much ties in with all the claims by the leftist media, not to mention the hopes and prayers of leftists everywhere, that "Please let it have been a white man!" (IIRC, Salon.com ran an article with that title, almost word-for-word.)

Early in the days of this blog, I caught some flak for suggesting that it is a mistake to "ass-you-me that any act of terrorism must have been committed by a Muslim", or that all Muslims are terrorists. 
 
I still do not believe every Muslim is a terrorist. 

Unfortunately, the Muslim world does not seem very interested in proving otherwise.

S649, "The Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act"

Here is the text to the compromise bill:
Posted: Full Text of 'The Public Safety And Second Amendment Rights Protection Act' | The Weekly Standard

Purpose: To protect Second Amendment rights, ensure that all individuals who should be prohibited from buying a firearm are listed in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and provide a responsible and consistent background check process.

OK...

AMENDMENT INTENDED TO BE PROPOSED BY MR. MANCHIN (for himself, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. KIRK, and Mr. SCHUMER)

Inspires all kinds of confidence...

All kinds of stuff to like in there.  New York and New Jersey won't like the reinforcement of FOPA, including affirmation that staying overnight is legal.

As for "private sales"...

Section 122, FIREARMS TRANSFERS
It affirms your right to "transfer" a gun to a relative (t) (2) (C):

...the transfer is made between spouses, between parents or spouses of parents and their children or spouses of their children, between siblings or spouses of siblings, or between grandparents or spouses of grandparents and their grandchildren or spouses of their grandchildren, or between aunts or uncles or their spouses and their nieces or nephews or their spouses, or between first cousins, if the transferor does not know or have reasonable cause to believe that the transferee is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under Federal, State, or local law

Otherwise, private transfers are legal if

"(B) the transfer is made between an unlicensed transferor and an unlicensed transferee residing in the same State, which takes place in such State, if-
"(i) the Attorney General certifies that State in which the transfer takes place has in effect requirements under law that are generally equivalent to the requirements of this section; and
"(ii) the transfer was conducted in compliance with the laws of the State;

Subparagraph (i) is a killer.

Who does he think he is?

Never mind, I know.

Obama Budget to Cap Retirement Accounts at $3 Million

According to a White House statement, the Obama administration believes the current rules allow some wealthy individuals "to accumulate many millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving."

Okay, so he hasn't forwarded a successful budget yet. Still.

I've seen this movie. I didn't enjoy it.

Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit - The Washington Post

SEE: INSANITY

Oh by the way...

and, also oh by the way

Now, honestly, I think a lot of the "sound and the fury" over genetically modified food is greatly exaggerated.  We've been hybridizing critters and plants to make them easier to raise, tastier, and easier to prepare for millenia.  Which doesn't mean that there might not be safety and health concerns.

And while I am all for free enterprise, the concept really doesn't include preferred treatment of protection.  Which democrats are always railing against, but then practicing when they're in office.

Like I just said on Facebook in this specific context, I place no faith in what politicians say, bit that doesn't mean we shouldn't just accept that they're lying hypocritical dirtbags.

UPDATE:  In case you missed it -- and part of the issue is that it was allegedly snuck into the latest in a series of continuing resolutions without the knowledge of most legiscritters -- here is Snopes' write-up of the so-called Monsanto Protection Act.

Well, isn't this special...

Someone hears that Junior has had his photo taken holding a rifle, and squeals to Big Brother.  Big Brother sends Carney's Point, NJ's Finest Jackbooted Thugs and some Child Protective Services types over to check and "make sure all guns in the house are registered properly."

Delaware Open Carry • I stood my ground.

Good: He had his lawyer on the phone when he got home, and he and his lawyer told the thugs that if they had no warrant to leave.  They left.

Bad: This happened.  His wife let the thugs in the house.

NRA-ILA | Statement from Chris W Cox

NRA-ILA | Statement from Chris W Cox NRA ILA Executive Director regarding inaccurate NBC story alleging that NRA wont oppose background check bill

An article appearing today on NBCNews.com is falsely reporting that NRA will not oppose legislation being negotiated in the U.S. Senate that would mandate background checks for all gun purchasers.

The story posted on NBCNews.com alleges that NRA will not oppose expanding the background check system to include all private firearm sales, "provided the legislation does not require private gun sellers to maintain records of the checks".  This statement is completely untrue.  The NRA opposes criminalizing private firearms transfers between law-abiding individuals, and therefore opposes an expansion of the background check system. 

The NRA supports meaningful efforts to address the problems of violent crime and mass violence in America, through swift and certain prosecution of violent criminals; securing our schools; and fixing our broken mental health system.

Cowards

Civility! They have it!

Like hell they do.

Upstate Democrat to Gun Supporters: You're All a Bunch of "Gun-Toting Tea Party Psychotards"

And it goes downhill form there.

Seen at Pistolforums.com.