Category: Gummint

Over The Line

Government Thugs, Politics

 I see that Tulsi Gabbard made it over the NO vote of soon-to-be-gone Mitch McConnell and was conformed as Director of National Intelligence (DNI).  Excellent.

Now I’m wondering:  who, exactly, approved the action which placed her on a “security risk” (SSSS*) list last year after she switched parties and became a Trump supporter?

If it was her predecessor, then he’s gone, no big deal.  Then we have to ask:  who  motivated the action, if it wasn’t him?

Either way, I hope that Gabbard goes after the asshole — because if a former member of Congress can get blacklisted that way by the government, who is safe?

(Oh, and one last thought:  I just hope that in her new positions she leaves behind all her earlier anti-2A bullshit.)

*SSSS:  the code letters printed on your boarding pass that cause an “enhanced security check” when you check in.  (FYI:  it once happened to me too, for reasons never specified.)

Single Step

Bureaucracy, Gummint

One might think at first that this was heartening news:

More than 65,000 federal workers have reportedly accepted the Trump administration’s buyout offer.

However:

“If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason),” the memo sent in January to roughly 2 million federal employees reads.

So:  65,000 down, leaving 1,935,000 still to go.  And:

A federal judge is expected to weigh in on the matter Monday.

A federal judge in Massachusetts.  The People’s Soviet of Massachusetts.  Any prizes for guessing how that will turn out?

Gah.  Still, I guess we should take heart in the 65,000 number — it’s better than nothing.

As long as Trump and Musk keep applying the screws…

Re-Directing The Dollars

Foreign Affairs, Gummint

Something struck me when I was reading this fine report about the closure of the dreadful USAID department, and it relates to budget priorities.  Consider this little litany of silliness:

Now just in cash terms, those items alone account for about $7.5million, being sent to furriners.

The question:  Wouldn’t those dollars have been better spent by sending them to those folks in North Carolina blown out of their homes by tropical storm Helene? 

And the corollary question:  Wouldn’t those “hundreds of thousands of meals” been more appreciated by those same North Carolinians, many of whom, months after the storm, are still living in TENTS?

Let’s put all this into concrete terms that people can understand.

The problem with being such a wealthy country is that sometimes we’re blase about sums of money that seem trivial in the grand scheme of things;  $7.5million doesn’t seem like a lot of money compared to other budgetary expenditures, and indeed it isn’t at a macro level.

But let’s convert that “macro” to “micro”.  Giving $75,000 dollars each to a hundred families in desperate need of assistance — American families, let me remind you — has the potential to turn their lives around completely.  And that’s worth a lot more than a ticket to an LGBTOSTFU opera in Colombia.

Stop pissing money away on foreigners and start looking after American taxpayers.

Congress Playing Their Part

Anti-Gun Nannies, Asshole Cops, Government Thugs, The Gun Thing

Hey, how can you argue with proposed legislation to rein in the jack-booted thugs of the ATF — especially when it’s known as the RIFLE Act?

Under the Biden Administration, ATF’s zero tolerance policy forced small and mid-sized gun stores out of business. The agency revoked Federal Firearm Licenses due to minor clerical errors like missing a customer’s middle initial or using a state’s abbreviation rather than the state’s full name. In 2024 alone, ATF saw the highest levels of gun store license revocations in 20 years—the third consecutive year of increased license revocations under President Biden’s leadership. Last week, the Biden Administration claimed it reversed its zero tolerance policy. Upon further review of the updated enforcement guidance, it appears to remain fully in effect.

Rep. Mann (R-KS) told Breitbart News, “President Biden did everything in his power to weaponize the federal government against gun store owners in the Big First District of Kansas and across the country. His zero tolerance policy undermined the Second Amendment and trampled on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Since day one, I have rigorously pushed back against this unconstitutional policy and fought for more oversight to rein in ATF’s abuse.”

He added, “On November 5, 2024, the country made it clear—our constitutional rights are not up for grabs. My bill makes that crystal clear by fortifying the Second Amendment rights of local gun stores and seeking to restore a degree of wholeness to individuals whose livelihoods were destroyed by this federal abuse. I look forward to working with President Trump to further strengthen the protection of the Second Amendment, deliver justice for our FFLs, and get our country back on track.”

Who’s the new head of the ATF, again?  (I know, I know:  a decent head of the ATF would rescind the enforcement instructions off his own bat — I know I would, if my application to head up the ATF had been successful.  But then again, considering that I’d have started shutting down the entire agency from Day 1 of my appointment, the whole issue would have been moot.)

Legal Oddity

Rights, The Gun Thing

When I first started looking to buy  gun, (very) shortly after I arrived here in the md-1980s, I was astounded to learn that while I could buy any long gun from an out-of-state Merchant Of Death, I could not buy a handgun in such fashion.

It made no sense to me back then, and it has never done so since, especially as the stupid NCIS-check thing (which has to be carried out before even buying a gun from an FFL in your home state) seems to make the whole issue a moot point.

Well then, lookee here:

The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) is taking on the federal ban on interstate handgun sales in their latest lawsuit. The filing is titled Elite Precision Customs v. ATF. Industry notables Tim Herron and Freddie Blish are plaintiffs alongside the FPC and Elite Precision, which is an FFL based out of Mansfield, Texas.

The federal ban makes it illegal for Herron or Blish, both of whom travel quite a bit for work, to purchase a handgun directly from Elite Precision Customs when they’re in Texas. Under current law, a handgun has to be shipped to a FFL in the buyer’s home state where the background check will be completed. If the ban can be successfully challenged, it would make it possible for people to purchase handguns directly from brick-and-mortar FFLs while visiting states in which they don’t reside.

Well, I don’t agree with the whole NCIS check thing at all anyway, but I would love to swing by a mom ‘n pop pawn shop or gun store in my travels, and pick up a handgun which caught my fancy.  (I actually stumbled on one such situation somewhere in Arizona, many years ago;  it was a peach of a 3rd Generation Colt Peacemaker, and the price was about three-quarters of what I’d expect to pay in Texas.  But noooo…)

Strikes me that if a federal law states that I need to have my ass checked before buying a gun anywhere, that a handgun should be treated no differently from, say, a shotgun.

But that would mean applying logic to Gummint — and that right there is a non-starter.  Silly me.