Not seeing it

On: By: admin

According to Newt Gingrich:

“… “If we carry New York by the margin we should, we will have changed American history,” Gingrich said at a breakfast gathering of the New York Republican delegation in downtown Cleveland …”

I’m not seeing New York turning red.  There are about 5.8 million registered Democrats in the state compared with 2.7 million Republicans, 2.4 million unaffiliated and another half million or so registered in minor parties.

“… “New York is in play,” said Rep. Chris Collins, who has a speaking slot on Tuesday at the convention’s main stage. “New York would be one of the tougher states to win. It comes down to the four boroughs, because he’s going to win Staten Island.” …”

Back that statement up.  I have not seen any evidence of this.  Even with relatively high turnout in the Nassau special election, the Republicans blew it.

The state GOP is in shambles.  Where is their GOTV organization?  Western NY?  The political center of gravity is New York City and the suburbs, not Buffalo.

Opting out of opting out

On: By: admin

Monroe County government in action.

Wrong message

On: By: admin

The New York City Employees Retirement System voted to divest itself of companies which sell firearms.  According to City Comptroller Scott Stringer:

“Today, the trustees of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System came together to divest our holdings of several gun retailers. We have seen too much violence from guns to continue to stand idly by and as fiduciaries we have a responsibility to protect our investments and the people of our City. This vote sends a strong signal across the country that government can take tangible steps to help reduce the number of guns on our streets and make progress toward ending the epidemic of gun violence.”

No, the signal it sends is that the trustees are more concerned with pushing their personal political agendas than in looking out for their pensioners best financial interests by seeking the maximum returns with minimal risks.  With gun sales way up the trustees are shirking their fiduciary responsibilities by selling profitable investments.

 

Antigunners refuse to put signs on their property

On: By: admin

Project Veritas shows the hypocrisy of Congressional staffers.

Bonus: Charlie Rangel makes an appearance at 2:20.

House putting off gun bills

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Gun legislation in the House has been pushed back until after the summer recess at the earliest:

“… “Given the events … we need to take a step back and show some real calmness and some real leadership and reflect on what’s happening in this country, and pursue the gun issue at a further date,” Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Calif.), the freshman class representative to GOP leadership, told The Hill after a meeting in Ryan’s office …”

And hopefully bury the issue.

“… Last week, Ryan faced dozens of GOP defections on a leadership-backed gun control measure … Conservatives argued that terrorist watchlists often wrongly include people and that the law would thus infringe on the Second Amendment. “I think it’s dead,” conservative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told The Hill last week …”

I’m inclined to agree.  The answer to PSH is time.  Plus it puts us closer to the election day dumpster fire which will be front and center in everybody’s mind, not gun control.

The only two Congressional races where challengers have tried to make it an issue are Anna Throne-Holst in CD-1 and Colleen Deacon in CD-24 and it does not appear to be gaining much traction in either district.

Gun bills failing in the House

On: By: admin

Democrats are continuing their efforts to get a gun control bill voted on in the House.  Their proposals appear DOA and in no small part due to the shameless idiocy the antigunners have resorted to.

Example #1: Senator Portrait Project

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence spokeswoman Leah Gunn Barrett poses with objets d’art outside the Congressional offices of Chris Collins, Chris Gibson, Richard Hanna, John Katko, Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin.

Example #2: Gays Against Guns Die-In

Meanwhile, Lee Zeldin’s bill that would require law enforcement to get court orders to stop suspected terrorists from buying guns has also run into problems. Democrats don’t like it as it requires showing probable cause. Republicans who don’t like it feel it does not do enough to protect due process.

If I were Paul Ryan, I would schedule a vote on the reciprocity bill and shove it the antigunners faces.

IDC committee

On: By: admin

The Senate IDC is forming their own campaign committee:

“A group of five breakaway Senate Democrats is creating its own party campaign committee … The Senate Independent Democratic Conference, also known as the IDC, is doing it through an unusual agreement with the minor state Independence Party. Under the deal, the Independence Party will create the Senate Independence Campaign Committee that Sen. Jeffrey Klein will control … Klein, as part of the deal, said he will not have a say on who the Independence Party endorses. But he’ll use the committee to help fund Independence Party-backed Senate candidates that the IDC also supports …”

This stinks.  Would not surprise me if Gov. Cuomo was involved behind the scenes in this as well.  Ditto for John Flanagan.

“… This fall’s elections will determine which party controls the chamber, with the IDC likely providing the swing votes.”

Exactly.

I don’t see the Senate Republicans having an outright majority anymore.  Heck, with The Donald doing so badly in the state the mainline Democrats might even get enough members to give them complete control leaving both Klein and the Republicans out in the cold.

Why the NRA is AWESOME!

On: By: admin

Great video from the MRC.

First NRA ad

On: By: admin

NRA is running this ad in several battleground states (not New York):

If this were done by the RNC it would be a decent ad. For NRA, not so much.

First, it does not touch upon gun rights at all. Second, NRA is already widely seen as being too tight with the Republicans. Bringing up a non-gun issue reinforces that.

The Donald’s support for 2A is questionable at best so it is understandable that NRA can’t highlight that. However, they could at least try to make the argument that he would make better judicial picks or sign the reciprocity bill.