You know it takes either some sort of audacity or ignorance to tell an African-American man that his t-shirt’s message is racist especially when it is a t-shirt similar to the one below.
However, that is exactly what happened Sunday evening in Colorado at a Bernie Sanders speech.
“He had a problem with the shirt I was wearing,” this man said. “I was recording the event, he walks up and calls me a racist. But I thought, ‘What’s he know about black lives, about discrimination, or, for that matter, the representation of the shirt.’”
Throughout American history, the man continued, “Black people and their ability to own firearms has historically been very restricted. The shirt I got from a conceal-carry class.”
He said he agrees with Sanders on a number of policies but definitely not on gun ownership.
“I think it’s really a sad thing at a Bernie rally, when someone has a difference of opinion, that someone would be treated like that. I thought it really would be a lot more inclusive than that. It’s not a safe place to express differences. I would expect that sort of thing at a Trump rally.”
The Bernie bro named Tyler and the unnamed black man ended up in a scuffle. Tyler says he wasn’t the aggressor but that is not what the video from CBS 4 Denver shows. Tyler claims that T-shirt wearer was booing Bernie Sanders and knocked his cell phone out of his hand.
Regardless of just whom is the aggressor in this scuffle, Bernie bro Tyler shows an incredible ignorance of the historical roots of gun control.
I might suggest he read Prof. Nicholas Johnson’s Negroes and the Gun. At the very least, Tyler should read Dave Kopel’s article entitled “The Racist Roots of Gun Control.” He could also read the recently published Wilmington’s Lie which details the rise of white supremacy in North Carolina and the intertwining of it with keeping black Freedmen disarmed. Though on second thought, Tyler might object to that last book as the oppressors in question were Democrats.
Now that the Virginia House has approved HB 961, it goes to the Senate for hearings. This bill would ban “assault weapons” (sic), standard capacity magazines, suppressors, and bump stocks.
The hearings on the bill start today.
From VCDL:
Turnout needed! Monday, February 17, at 8 am, the Senate Judiciary committee is going to hear HB 961, Delegate Mark Levine’s “assault weapon”/higher-capacity magazine/suppressor/ bump stock ban!
This is a key opportunity to defeat HB 961 and there is a good chance we can do so!
BREAKING: VCDL has heard there will be an attempt to modify HB 961 to help save it from being defeated. HB 961 is a disaster and cannot be fixed. It must be killed in its entirety!
I suggest getting there early, as we will hopefully flood the room and beyond.
After going through the metal detectors, continue straight ahead and go through the glass doors. Make an immediate right, walk down the hall, and make another immediate right to get to Senate Committee Room A.
Here’s what the current version of HB 961 does:
Makes possession of a large number of semi-automatic guns, classified as an “assault weapon” by this bill, a felony. This includes many popular rifles, handguns, and shotguns! You can keep any “assault weapons” you currently have, but you can’t buy any more. The wording is so poor that you probably won’t be able to even fix a broken “assault weapon,” as each part is classified as an “assault weapon”! Gun dealers in Virginia won’t be able to sell an “assault weapon” or any parts for one to anybody, include to gun owners in other states. This will do severe financial harm to Virginia gun dealers.
Bans magazines that hold more than 12 rounds of ammunition. There is NO grandfathering! Possession of such a magazine (keeping it at home only) after January 1, 2021 will be a Class 1 misdemeanor. However, transporting such a magazine is a felony!
Bans suppressors, making possession of one a felony. You can keep any suppressors you currently have, but you cannot purchase any more and you won’t be able to fix them if they break.
Bans bump stocks. Any that you have must be destroyed by January 1, 2021. Possession of one after that date is a felony.
I received in the mail this week two products on which I’ll be doing reviews in the future.
The first is called the EndoSnake. It is a lighted, fiber optic borescope device that allows you to examine the condition of your barrel. What makes this one interesting is that it is small enough to fit down the barrel of an AR-15 or similar rimfire firearm.
It runs off of a PC as well as your Android/IOS devices. In a quick test using my PC, I had no problem threading it down the barrel of a .22 LR rifle.
The other product I received is a speed loader for Glock 9mm/.40 S&W magazines. It is from a Michigan company called American Speedloaders. I ran into the people running the company at the Pop-Up Expo at SHOT. I had a long conversation about the product with Sam Palmeter who founded the company this week.
It reverses the way most speed loaders work. Instead pressing down on the spring from the top and then putting in the cartridge, here you insert the cartridge in the loader and then push the magazine into the loader.
While this speed loader is designed specifically for the Glock, I intend to try it with other double stack magazines as well as extended magazines like those for the Glock 18.
I will make short videos using these products to go along with the review.
Soon enough, Mr. Bloomberg ramped up his spending on politics beyond New York. Frustrated at the flow of firearms from Virginia, a state with lax gun laws, Mr. Bloomberg tried to buoy candidates in the state’s 2011 elections who shared his views.
Then, in 2013, he received a visitor in New York: Mr. McAuliffe, by then a candidate for governor of Virginia. He proposed to Mr. Bloomberg that he make the state a decade-long priority, with an eye toward empowering Democratic supporters of gun regulation.
“I walked out with a multimillion-dollar commitment that day,” Mr. McAuliffe recalled.
Mr. Bloomberg spent more than $3 million in Virginia that year through his super PAC, helping propel Mr. McAuliffe to the governorship and electing a Democratic attorney general supportive of gun control, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. He has plowed millions more into the state since then, culminating last fall with a takeover of the state legislature by Democrats who are now seeking to pass a series of tougher gun laws.
I address this to all the women (and men) who wear their red Moms Demand Action t-shirts. I realize that you think, though misguidedly, that you are doing something to promote gun control so as to stop the criminal misuse of firearms.
How does it feel to learn that you are nothing but a useful pawn in Mike Bloomberg’s quest for more and more political power?
Everytown is managed directly by one of Mr. Bloomberg’s close lieutenants, John Feinblatt, a former New York deputy mayor whose wedding Mr. Bloomberg officiated in 2011. Numerous people connected to the group said it channeled Mr. Bloomberg’s priorities, including his strong preference for working with both parties.
The organization came into existence through an almost corporate-style merger: Mr. Bloomberg already had a gun control group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, but he needed a grass-roots army to compete with the National Rifle Association. So it joined forces with an existing activist group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, to form Everytown.
People involved in the group described being forced to communicate exclusively in canned talking points. Kate Ranta, shot twice by her ex-husband in front of her young son, was a member of Everytown’s network of survivors. She was asked to address a rally on the steps of the Capitol, along with her son. Standing beside Nancy Pelosi, then the House minority leader, and Representative John Lewis, she found herself stumbling over the text she had been given.
“Someone from Everytown wrote my speech. It was pushing their legislative agenda versus my authentic voice,” Ms. Ranta said. “I couldn’t say ‘gun control.’ It was moderate messaging — ‘gun safety’ and ‘gun violence prevention.’”
Other members greatly appreciated the new direction from Everytown. “A structure began to be put into place, and we could avail ourselves of the data that was offered so we could speak more intelligently,” said June Rubin, a Moms Demand Action volunteer in New York. “So we’re focused and single-issue and highly recognizable and speaking with one voice, and it’s powerful.”
The policy agenda was to be focused on tightening background checks; more radical ideas like banning assault weapons were off the table. “There were people who were very, very troubled by that,” Ms. Rubin said. “I became very pragmatic.”
More confrontational tactics were also rejected. After the mass shooting last year at a Walmart in El Paso, Tex., other groups organized protests to pressure the retailer to change its policies. But Moms members were discouraged from attending and told not to show any affiliation if they did. One Moms official told volunteers in a closed Facebook group that doing otherwise could “undercut our relations with responsible gun owners whose support we need.”
“Our goal is always to get results, and sometimes that means playing the outside game and sometimes it requires playing the inside game and working with partners who have shown themselves to be amenable to change,” said Maxwell Young, chief of public affairs for Everytown. “We’ve found Walmart to be an ally on gun safety and an example of a leader always willing to engage in productive conversations.”
You thought you could leave. You thought you could go your own way. You thought you and Everytown/Moms Demand were done with one another.
Not so fast.
Former members of Moms Demand Action, who had been cut off from private Facebook groups and blocked by leadership on Twitter, were surprised when they received emails from Mike Bloomberg 2020. Then they learned his campaign had rented the group’s email list, for $3.2 million, two days before he announced his candidacy in November.
It is like one of those messianic-led, off in the ozone cults. You try to leave but they will always come looking for you…because no one is allowed to leave.
But don’t feel too bad as you debate should you burn that red Moms Demand t-shirt. You aren’t alone. There aren’t many progressive or liberal constituencies that Mike Bloomberg hasn’t tried to buy on his way to grab for political power.
Climate change activists? Ask the Sierra Club.
Women’s rights? Ask Emily’s List.
Education policy? Ask NC’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson.
Abortion? Ask Planned Parenthood.
And the list goes on. Mike Bloomberg may engage in sexist and racist behavior and fly in a fleet of private jets but his money buys willful ignorance and useful pawns.
It is a Friday night and the time to be serious has ended. I stumbled across this bit of weird history thanks to the sub-Reddit “boozetube”.
Tonight’s cocktail, by the way, is the Godfather. The recipe is 2 oz. of bourbon (or blended scotch) and 1/4 to 1/2 oz. of Amaretto. Stir and then serve on the rocks.
The headline quote came from a Bloomberg staffer to Grass Roots North Carolina volunteers who were protesting Michael Bloomberg’s appearance in Greensboro yesterday. The staffer went on to claim that they were trespassing (!) on a public sidewalk.
Courtesy of Chris Oates
If you work for an egomaniacal billionaire running for President, of course you think all his money makes you entitled to whatever you want.
Courtesy of Andy Stevens
With regard to his appearance in Greensboro, Bloomberg mentioned he had opened a number of offices in North Carolina including one there.
Early in his speech, Bloomberg got the city’s name wrong: “We have eight offices, including one here in Gainsboro,” he said, prompting a murmur among the crowd correcting his gaffe. He later correctly used Greensboro when referring to the city.
That was something worthy of a Joe Biden.
He also stated, “I know how to deal with New York bullies.” He was referring to President Trump but when you consider his actions and those of his staff you would think he was talking about himself.
The Greensboro News Record did make note of the Grass Roots North Carolina volunteers protesting Bloomberg’s appearance. The story also included a short video comment from Andy Stevens.
Andrew J. Stevens, director of legislative affairs for Grass Roots North Carolina and the protesters’ spokesman, said Bloomberg is trying to buy his way into the Democratic presidential primary. Grass Roots North Carolina is a nonprofit that primarily focuses on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
“He’s trying to spend $60 million of his money to turn state legislatures blue like he turned the state of Virginia blue, taking gun rights and turning them into gun crimes,” said Stevens, who lives in King in Stokes County. “North Carolina will not be allowed to be bought by Michael Bloomberg’s money.”
Courtesy of Andy Stevens
Andy Stevens reports that the Greensboro Police Department was very accommodating to GRNC and the police commended GRNC for their behavior. When asked about why no one just walked around the Bloomberg staffer, he said the picture itself was worth it.
I think most people want recognition and respect. Even the protesters, I always walk up to the protesters. Excuse me. I heard you. I’m Mike Bloomberg, we don’t necessarily have to agree with each other but I respect you and I respect your right to express yourself.
Umm, really.
From the pictures I saw he avoided all the volunteers from GRNC and slipped in the side door.
A recent poll by High Point University puts Bloomberg in 3rd place in North Carolina. Given he has spent $300 million so far on his campaign and his TV ads are incessant, you’d think he’d be further ahead. It is also reported that Bloomberg is hiring so many staffers and political consultants that state and local candidates nationwide are having a hard time hiring qualified staff.
I think even North Carolina Democrats are smart enough to know that Bloomberg is trying to buy their votes and they, for the most part, aren’t buying it. selling them.
I first learned about the Raufuss Mk 211 .50 BMG cartridge in Stephen Hunter’s Night of Thunder. The book starts out with Bob Lee Swagger’s daughter Nikki pondering the meaning of a scrap of paper with the markings “k 2:11”. She is 24 and a new crime reporter for the Bristol TN/VA Courier-Herald. She had stumbled across it while on a story about meth. Unfortunately, it marked her as an assassin’s target as she was thought to know too much.
I know the Cadillac Service Garage is a wedding and event venue. However, for the 9th richest person in America to hold a campaign event at something that has “Cadillac” in its name, shows a degree of tone deafness that is hard to comprehend. I know Cadillac has lost a bit of its allure but it is still fairly synonymous with wealthy.
As to why the venue keeps changing, perhaps they have become aware that a warm North Carolina welcome is planned for Mini Mike by Grass Roots North Carolina and they are trying to confuse those planning to attend the protest.
As if!
So if you plan to “welcome” Mini Mike to the Gate City, remember it is at 304 East Market Street.
Also, his 7:30am Winston-Salem location has been changed from Campus Gas to Footnote Coffee & Cocktails at 634 W. 4th St, Ste 120 for those who can’t make the Greensboro “welcome”.
If you said anyone other than Mike Bloomberg you would be wrong.
Bloomberg is planning campaign stops in Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Raleigh in conjunction with the start of early voting in the North Carolina primary.
In Winston-Salem, he will be at Campus Gas, 1231 Polo Rd from 7:00am–8:30am. He continues on to his campaign HQ at 300 S. Elm Street in Greensboro and will be there at 9:30am. Doors open to the public at 9am. Finally, he will be in Raleigh at Union Station ( 510 W Martin St) from 11:45am until 1:15pm.
Volunteers from Grass Roots North Carolina plan to give him a warm North Carolina welcome when he arrives at his Greensboro downtown HQ. This is the main event! Try to be there by 9am.
If you can’t be in Greensboro or you need to get to work earlier, a few people plan to welcome his arrival in Winston-Salem at 7am. I’d suggest being there around 6:30am at Campus Gas.
Bloomberg’s money has bought him a lot of things. It bought him many houses, a well-armed security team, and most recently a compliant legislature in Virginia. It has also bought him silence when it comes to comments he made in a 2015 appearance at the Aspen Institute. He requested video not be made available and the Aspen Institute complied.
However, things have a way of leaking out.
Audio of @MikeBloomberg’s 2015 @AspenInstitute speech where he explains that “you can just Xerox (copy)” the description of male, minorities 16-25 and hand to cops.
“Ninety-five percent of your murders, murderers and murder victims, fit one M.O. You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all the cops,” Bloomberg said. “They are male, minorities, 16 to 25. That’s true in New York, that’s true in virtually every city. And that’s where the real crime is. You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of people that are getting killed.”
“So one of the unintended consequences is people say, ‘Oh my God, you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in minority neighborhoods. Yes, that’s true. Why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is,” he continued.
This was a continuation of comments he made in defense of “stop and frisk” back in 2013. You can hear part of his comments to WOR-NY below where he says too many whites are being stopped and not enough minorities.
Mike Bloomberg defending Stop-and-Frisk in 2013: “I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.” pic.twitter.com/KpdKgUALsL
I am reading an excellent book right now on the rise of white supremacy in North Carolina in the post-Civil War days. The book, Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy, details how disarmament of blacks was one goal of the white supremacists. It started with the Black Codes, began again after Reconstruction ended, and continued on into the 20th Century. Armed freedmen and black Union veterans stood up to the Klan which allowed blacks to vote up through the end of the century. It made Wilmington a successful mixed-race community with many black office holders up until the coup of 1898.
Bloomberg’s comments would have found hearty agreement from former Confederate Colonel Roger Moore who headed the KKK in Wilmington and later from the Democrat architect of white supremacy Sen. Furnifold Simmons. The state’s pistol purchase permit is a remnant of laws put in place by the white supremacists. That we still have it is due in part to ad campaigns funded by Bloomberg and his Everytown organization against discarding the system.
So when Mike comes to town, let’s give him the warm North Carolina welcome he so richly deserves.
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