Articles by Herschel Smith

Townhall.

“[The study data] shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery;” National Allergy Institute of Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci revealed at the White House on Wednesday.

Well good.  I’m glad that could work out for Gilead.  It’s an awesome thing to see big Pharma cash in on this.  I’m sure that nothing else works.  That is, I feel certain that Fauci would tell you this is the only therapeutic that is successful at bringing any relief for patients.

Here is the video.  Watch it.  The indignation dripping from the cop’s words is loathsome and detestable.

The cops, other than being bullies, used an old tactic to get her to confess to a crime which isn’t really a crime.  Here is how it all should have gone down.

“Cops: Ma’am, do I need to read …”

Lady, interrupting: “Excuse me, do you have a warrant to be on my property?  Because if you don’t you’re trespassing.  If not, get off of my property.”

Cops: “Ma’am we just need to talk to you about …”

Lady: “Show a warrant or get off of my property.”

Cops: “The record will reflect that you’re being uncooperative.”

Lady: “Speak to my attorney.”

So the things we learn (again) are these.  First, people still aren’t aware that you don’t talk to law enforcement.  Please, please people.  Learn the lessons from others.  Don’t talk to cops.

Second, cops will always obey orders.  That includes confiscations of guns if ordered to, constitution be damned.  These cops even seemed to like their duty to bully the woman.

Third, this woman was turned in by someone.  That means there’s a snitch.  Remember, 50% of America voted for Hillary Clinton.  Fifty percent of Americans believe in complete fealty to the state.  Fifty percent of Americans will turn you in for even a small infraction of some law or regulation they believe exists.

Never forget that.

23ABC.

“We quickly remove flagged content that violate our Community Guidelines, including content that explicitly disputes the efficacy of local healthy authority recommended guidance on social distancing that may lead others to act against that guidance,” said the statement. “However, content that provides sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic (EDSA) context is allowed — for example, news coverage of this interview with additional context. From the very beginning of the pandemic, we’ve had clear policies against COVID-19 misinformation and are committed to continue providing timely and helpful information at this critical time.”

Translation: We won’t allow anything our communists masters disapprove.

How many times in the last three months have I heard various people say, “Does this make any sense?”  If I had a nickel for every time, I’d be a rich man.

And yet … the sheeple go right along to the slaughter, unaware of the danger.

Josh Blackman writing at Reason.

Immediately after the case was decided, the Supreme Court distributed 6 Second Amendment cases for the May 1, 2020 conference (H/T to the Duke Center for Firearms Blog.)

1. Mance v. Barr (5th Circuit)—challenge to federal prohibition on out-of-state handgun purchases
2. Pena v. Horan (9th Circuit)—challenge to California’s prohibition on “unsafe” handguns (including “microstamping” requirement)
3. Gould v. Lipson (1st Circuit)—challenge to Massachusetts’s “may issue” conceal carry licensing regime
4. Rogers v. Grewal (3rd Circuit)—challenge to New Jersey’s “may issue” conceal carry licensing regime
5. Cheeseman v. Polillo (N.J. Supreme Court)— challenge to New Jersey’s “may issue” conceal carry licensing regime
6. Ciolek v. New Jersey (N.J. Supreme Court )—challenge to New Jersey’s “may issue” conceal carry licensing regime

This article was updated.

SCOTUSBlog located four more Second Amendment cases that were distributed for the 5/1/20 conference:

1. Worman v. Healey (1st Circuit)—challenge to Massachusetts ban on “assault weapons” and large-capacity magazines
2. Malpasso v. Pallozzi (4th Circuit)—challenge to Maryland’s “may issue” conceal carry license regime
3. Culp v. Raoul (7th Circuit)—Challenge to Illinois’s ban on allowing non-residents to apply for conceal carry license
4. Wilson v. Cook County (7th Circuit)—Challenge to Cook County’s ban on “assault weapons” and large-capacity magazines

So the game is up after this point and good men everywhere will have to conclude that the Supreme Court cares nothing for their second amendment rights.  That means no more claims that the courts will overturn infringements.  We’re on our own.

Here’s how we will know.  Four Justices clearly stated that the SCOTUS needs to take up a 2A case and stop the hemorrhaging.  Roberts said nothing of the sort.

If the four justices do not grant certiorari, that means they know that Roberts would not have gone along with the four on the given case, and the four will not risk an awful decision from the SCOTUS.  It’s better to leave the issue alone rather than risk diminution of rights.  It could be that Roberts was behind the curtain saying, “But wait, we have the perfect case coming up.  Let’s tackle more issues than the NY case brings up.”  But the throwdown between Alito and Roberts was so bitter it makes one think that this goes deeper than a chess match.

So we’ll all know very soon where ALL of the justices stand on gun rights.  This is a wonderful thing, yes?  Good times.

WSJ.

What an enormous abdication. The Supreme Court ducked its first Second Amendment case in a decade on Monday, and the only plausible explanation is that Chief Justice John Roberts wanted to avoid becoming a target of vengeful Senate Democrats.

In an unsigned per curiam opinion, the Chief joined the four liberals and a (conflicted) Justice Brett Kavanaugh in declaring moot a challenge to New York City’s onerous gun regulation (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York). At issue is a New York City rule that prevents residents with gun licenses from transporting their guns from their city homes to shooting ranges and homes outside the city. Obtaining even a “premises” license requires a $431 fee and police investigation into an applicant’s mental health, criminal history and moral character. It can take six months.

A few points of order.  First, the SCOTUS didn’t have to drop the case.  They can accept anything they want.  Second, New York can go right back to legislating liberty away now, and an aggrieved party must go through the process all over again.  It games the system, and we and they all know it.

Third, the WSJ is assuming that Roberts is a coward.  This may be true, but it also may be true that he fears nothing from Senators and is simply a controller at heart.  Fourth, assuming that he really was afraid of the Senators and is awaiting a less divisive time to rule on the 2A, he’s ignorant.  America is becoming more polarized, not less.

On the mootness point, Justice Alito also pokes his colleagues with this hypothetical: “A State enacts a law providing that any woman wishing to obtain an abortion must submit certification from five doctors that the procedure is medically necessary. After a woman sues, claiming that any requirement of physician certification is unconstitutional, the State replaces its old law with a new one requiring certification by three physicians. Would the court be required to dismiss the woman’s suit?” You know the answer.

Justice Kavanaugh’s role here is curious because, while he joined the majority on mootness, he wrote a concurrence agreeing with the dissent on the Second Amendment merits. This looks to us as if he is trying to protect the Chief Justice from being the fifth vote, and the sole “conservative,” providing a liberal victory while making clear he’s still a solid vote himself for gun rights. The phrase for this is too clever by half.

Justice Kavanaugh may agree with the Chief that the Court needs to avoid political controversies, especially with Democrats threatening to pack the Court if they win the White House and Senate in November. But the Court’s timidity on gun rights amid Senate threats means that liberal and media intimidation will escalate. The Court hasn’t taken a Second Amendment case in a decade, even as cities and states erode its landmark Heller decision bit by bit. The Court is sending a signal that the Second Amendment is the exception in the Bill of Rights, a second-class freedom.

“By incorrectly dismissing this case as moot, the Court permits our docket to be manipulated in a way that should not be countenanced,” Justice Alito warns. He’s right but too polite.

The Chief Justice is carving out a reputation as a highly political Justice whose views on the law can be coerced with threats to the Court’s “independence.” The danger for the Court is that, in bending to these threats, the Chief is compromising the very independence he claims to want to protect.

The time for politeness has ended.  The progs declared war long ago, and what’s left of believers in liberty is drinking tea in the front room playing parlor games and making sure their suits don’t get soiled.

Florida man.

A Florida man allegedly tried to blame a weapons bust on John Wick, the legendary assassin played by Keanu Reeves in the eponymous movie franchise, according to a new report.

Cops confronted Getro Gelin, 27, at his Port St. Lucie home Sunday after a woman told police he shoved her to the ground and threatened her with a firearm, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun.

The woman told authorities Gelin may have stashed the weapon in his Porsche SUV, according to the report. Cops searched the vehicle and found a Glock 21 pistol, a semi-automatic rifle, and a bulletproof vest, according to the report.

When cops asked Gelin to explain, he explained that the SUV wasn’t even his anymore — he’d sold it “to his cousin John Wick,” according to the affidavit.

Hey, I thought Wirecutter had the market cornered on Florida man.  Anyway, given Wick’s job description, it might not have helped all that much if the cops had believed him.

Good suggestions.  Now, to get pistols adaptable to reflex sights, and practice the moves.