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View From the Beach
Flotsam and Jetsam – Speaker Race, With Three Out, Nine to Go
The Victory Girls sees Speaker Chaos: Who Is Still In The Race?. Well, from the Center Square, Republicans announce nine new speaker candidates “The list, which Stefanik posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, is as follows: Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Penn. Rep. Gary, Palmer, R-Ala., Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas.” Sundance at CTH, The Slate Set – 9 Republicans Meet Deadline to Register for House Speaker Role. I have no strong feelings on the matter, but the candidate must be willing to work with both sides of the MAGA divide. However, I kind of like the idea of forcing Democrats to vote against a Black man (Donalds). ‘Becca Downs at TownHall wonders Will This Trick Help House Republicans Finally Pick a Speaker? “As POLITICO’s Olivia Beavers has been covering, several candidates who have already declared their candidacy have agreed to sign a pledge indicaitng (sic) they’ll back whomever the conference decides to nominate.” ‘Duke’ at RedState thinks AOC Sharing Her Thoughts on Byron Donalds Running for Speaker Shows She Might Be Crushing. Former bartender thinks he might not have enough experience. From Am Think, Patricia McCarthy thinks After the Jim Jordan fiasco in Congress, the GOP’s traitors out themselves and Bill Hansmann points out Republican Disarray on the House Speakership Nothing New.
From Fox, DeSantis says he would cancel student visas, deport foreign nationals celebrating Hamas if elected president. “DeSantis said he will cancel the student visas of foreign nationals expressing support for Hamas’ attack on Israel.” Probably not legal, but it should be. Politico whines He Was Once a Favorite of the Right. Now, Mike Pence Can’t Get a Crowd of 15 to a Pizza Ranch. Jeff Crouere at TownHall worries The GOP Is at War With Its Base. Sundance is pleased that a Harvard Harris Poll Shows RFK Jr. Independent Run Hurting Biden More than Trump. Different polls go different ways on this issue, and it’s safe to say we’re really not sure.
J J Sefton
The Morning Report — 10/24/23
Good morning, kids. It’s looking like the section entitled “ISRAEL AT WAR” is proving to be a misnomer. Despite artillery and aerial bombardment that has reportedly taken out senior commanders and some numbers of the terrorists, Israel is not at war. Israel right now is merely playing at war. They have wasted precious time, is frittering away the energy, readiness and righteous rage of its frontline troops as well as its citizenry, and squandered the very limited window of opportunity afforded them by the rare generally worldwide outrage at the worst atrocity on the Jewish people since the Second World War, and worst of all are perhaps not only on the verge of losing the initiative but being transmogrified by its enemies into the actual aggressor.
If this sounds all too familiar, that’s because it is. Every time Israel has had to deal with military incursions and operations to punish/neutralize the disease carrying cockroaches, (Islam being the disease and “Palestinians” the carriers) they wind up leaving them to fester just out of reach. While much of that is the fault of insane “international pressure,” i.e. Jew-hatred, some of it for sure is their own fault, for whatever internal political dynamics there are in Israel.
But this time, “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” is an understatement to say the least (unintentional Yogi-ism). Global as well as internal Israeli dynamics are such that letting Hamas, the “Palestinians” and Islam itself escape unscathed after what happened just over two weeks ago could quite possibly prove to be a death blow to Israel. And I do not think it’s a stretch to conclude that if Israel goes, much of the free world (for your definition of the word “free”) and whatever is left of what we hold dear is going to go soon afterwards.
The question of course is “Why?”
American Greatness
Gag Order Against Trump Is the Real Threat to Democracy
Deep State is attacking our right to elect the President of our choosing
The reason you have not heard of a gag order on par with the one imposed on former President Trump is that it is highly unusual. Normally, in a criminal proceeding, there are no gag orders. To the extent they exist, they typically only bind the lawyers, who are admonished to adhere to the rules of professional conduct. Rarely—as in almost never—are criminal defendants forced into a gag order on such spurious grounds as they might “vilify and implicitly encourage violence against public servants who are simply doing their jobs.”
In fact, precedent almost uniformly emphasizes familiar First Amendment principles, which limit the court’s authority, including disfavor towards “prior restraints” and “content-based restrictions” on speech.
In a case involving the prosecution of a congressman, the Sixth Circuit federal court of appeals noted that “such broadly based restrictions on speech in connection with litigation are seldom, if ever, justified. Trial judges, the government, the lawyers and the public must tolerate robust and at times acrimonious or even silly public debate about litigation.”
American Thinker
In the Mouth of Marxist Madness
At the beginning of October, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán denounced the European Union’s 1984-inspired manipulation of language: “Brussels is creating an Orwellian world in front of our eyes. They buy and supply weapons through the European Peace Facility. They want to control the media through the Media Freedom Act. We didn’t fight the communists to end up in 1984!” The “Peace Facility” is responsible for transferring billions of dollars worth of artillery and ammunition to Ukraine. The “Media Freedom Act” gives European bureaucrats extraordinary powers to censor any speech or ideas they dislike.
Although Orbán is absolutely correct in his assessment of European madness, there is no sign that his warning will have any corrective effect. The Eurocrats are so steeped in self-deluding propaganda that it would be not at all surprising to see them pull another page straight out of 1984 by carving on one of their marble government buildings the same three slogans that adorned Orwell’s “Ministry of Truth”: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” Such is the depth of the rabbit hole into which the European hive mind has descended that too many ordinary citizens would miss the depressing irony.
As if recognizing that Europe’s embrace of censorship, surveillance, and social control inconveniently mirrors Orwell’s condemnation of Big Brother and Big Government to perfection, the British “ruling class” attempted this month to “cancel” Orwell by using an article in The Telegraph to accuse the prophetic genius of being “sadistic, misogynistic, homophobic, and sometimes violent” — in other words, someone who should not be “tolerated” and no longer “deserves” to be read. If “cancelling” the author who warned the world about such forms of slithery government tyranny is not “peak Orwell,” then the crazy train still barreling down the tracks promises to be a doozy.
Bearing Arms
NY Gov. Hypocrite Hochul Spotted in Israel Wearing Body Armor She Banned for New Yorkers
The post-Bruen tantrums in the legal landscape have been nothing short of a nightmare for New Yorkers. After New York’s corrupt, discretionary permitting scheme was struck down, the Empire State struck back, passing a lot of laws that made life objectively worse for gun owners in New York. It’s fair to say that New York gun owners are in far worse shape today than they were before the landmark Bruen decision.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who previously had an “A” rating from the NRA, has bragged about the new infringements at press conferences. Among the new infringements passed by the state include:
- A licensing infringement for the purchase of any semi-auto
- Infringements on the rights of 18-21 year old adults to purchase a semi-auto
- (After the spectacular failure of the red flag law with the Buffalo shooter) Enabling further red flag confiscations to harass ordinary people
- Setting the ground for junk science-based microstamping to ban guns in the future
- Ban on pistol braces
- Eliminating the grandfathering of “large capacity” magazines previously allowed as a “compromise”
- Training burdens and fees to get a carry permit
- Creating a patchwork of government-approved Mass Shooting Zones (“sensitive places”) to entrap and imprison ordinary gun owners
- Banning concealed carry on private property by default
- Creating a minefield of misdemeanors that can result in the revocation of a carry permit
- Ammo background check
- Creating a surveillance state with a license and ammunition sales database
- Creating a surveillance state with social media snitching
- Banning body armor for most people, and requiring body armor sales to be completed in person
