How to lose money in the stock market

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Bill De Blasio is trying to make some political hay out of his efforts at pressuring financial firms to divest their investments in the firearms industry:

“Six months after launching a national divestment campaign against manufacturers of assault weapons and high-capacity ammo clips, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio announced eight hedge funds and money managers have completely divested their gun holdings, valued at $150 million. Fourteen more firms have scaled back their gun investments by 7.4 million shares—27 percent of their holdings …”

While it is unclear whether or not De Blasio’s campaign really influenced any of these firm’s decisions, for the sake of argument let’s give him all the credit.

From an investors perspective, how smart of a move was it to dump these stocks now?

So basically, anyone who followed De Blasio’s advice lost money.

Way to go Bill.

Hoping to make a martyr

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Lots of racists, radical leftists and antigunners are trying to make Trayvon Martin into a martyr either for their cause or simply for personal gain.

Here’s Josh Horowitz summing up the gun controllers lies:

Pete King for President

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Some rumormongering from Newsmax:

“In a recent political development that could only be called surprising, Newsmax has learned that U.S. Rep. Peter King, past chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is being encouraged by friends in and outside the Empire State to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2016 …”

Why?  He’s an old, Northeastern RINO with limited national exposure.

“… “Peter can speak to and assemble the old Ronald Reagan Democrats — and he’s a world-renowned expert on global terrorism and national defense,” former Rep. Vito Fosella, a New York Republican and close friend of King’s, told Newsmax. “He has broad appeal and that’s why he keeps winning in the Northeast when other Republicans come and go.” …”

Yes, he can speak intelligently on terrorism and defense.  As to the later statement, I’m not so sure.  King’s continued re-election has as much to do with the inter- and intra-party cronyism and collusion Republicans and Democrats engage in as it does with any genuine public backing.

Cuomo’s re-election

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Some interesting insights into Gov. Cuomo’s re-election campaign.

First from Fred Dicker:

“… Cuomo’s aides nervously concede that upstate voters are a major problem for the governor, with some predicting Cuomo will lose as many as 50 upstate counties because of an ailing economy, a worsening tax burden, and outrage over the governor’s sweeping anti-gun Safe Act, which passed in January …”

Second from State of Politics:

“The vast majority of contributions to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s campaign come from $10,000 contributions and higher, according to analysis released today by the New York Public Interest Research Group … NYPIRG found that eighty percent of the money raised by Cuomo this cycle has come from donors giving $10,000 or more.  Nearly 44 percent of his contributions this cycle have come from donors giving $40,000 or more, according to numbers wizard Bill Mahoney.  Those giving less than $1,000 account for less than 1 percent of all Cuomo’s campaign donations …”

Taken together is seems to indicate the Governor’s level of public support is a lot less than most in the media are willing to admit.  Sure he’s got a lot of money, but why aren’t average citizens giving to the campaign?  With tens of millions in the bank it is unlikely any challenger could match Cuomo’s money, but perhaps a dark horse candidate like Steve McLaughlin who was willing to put in the effort and go door-to-door might be able to knock him out.

New Yorkers for Gun Safety ad campaign

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I now know how much New Yorkers for Gun Safety spent on their ad campaign back in early May: $400,000.

The PAC is controlled by Cuomo and an examination of their disclosure report shows the bulk of their money came from a handful of wealthy, politically connected Democrat donors in Manhattan.  i.e. They’re just rich astroturf.

Given their ads were a total flop and failed to both move the antigun agenda in Congress and raise Cuomo’s potential presidential profile, I wonder how they will remain in business before NYGS joins the ranks of other failed front groups like Americans for Gun Safety, American Hunters and Shooters, etc.

A national leader on an unpopular issue

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The Governor is unhappy with Congress:

“Disappointed critics blasted bipartisan steps to expand background checks for gun buyers as falling short of the great leap expected in the anguished days after Newtown … “It is unbelievable that this Congress is going to fundementally fail to act on a societal scourge,” Cuomo said during a Wednesday radio appearance.  “This is a Congress that is captive of the extremism and there is no clearer proof of that than this,” Cuomo said. “I think it is a damning commentary on this Congress.” …”

The only thing he is upset about is the colossal miscalculation he made with the SAFE Act.

He wanted New York to be the first state to pass new gun control laws.  He thought he could exploit Newtown for personal political gain and use SAFE as a springboard to launch a ’16 presidential campaign.  What he got instead was a huge drop in popularity, his so-called women’s agenda tanking in the legislature and his name dropping off the radar of top tier potential Democrat candidates.

Cuomo thought that by championing gun control he would be seen as a national leader.  Well, he is.  Cuomo a national leader on an unpopular fringe issue.  That’s instant karma.

Protesting Terry Gibson

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Court finds fees are ok

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The 2nd Circuit has rejected the NYSRPA/SAF lawsuit against the ridiculous fees New York City charges for firearms licenses.

Here is a link to the decision.

Social media tells only half the story

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Huffington Post has an interesting story on their site, “The Real Reason One Side Seems Louder in the Debate About Gun Violence,”

“… The fact that a large number of “grassroots” gun control organizations have suddenly sprung into existence doesn’t necessarily mean that the country is more or less supportive of gun restrictions versus gun rights than it was twenty years ago.  There’s simply no way to compare the noise levels from one communication environment to the other.  What we can compare is the volume of pro-gun versus anti-gun sentiment through an analysis of social media to get some idea of which side might be outshouting the other … The Facebook connections made by gun people are so much higher than the anti-gun Facebook connections that we appear to be playing in different arenas … Guns are a lot more important to people who own them than to people who don’t … An organization called Moms Rising recently brought five groups together on their blog to issue statements about gun violence, including the Children’s Defense Fund … Together the Facebook pages of these five groups total slightly more than 100,000 supporters and this number probably represents numerous duplicates.  The NRA is just shy of 2.5 million.  That’s a joke, and not a funny joke …”

Considering the crap HuffPo is known for publishing this is a halfway decent analysis.  What the author fails to really address is the level of commitment.  It takes no effort to simply like a page or follow a feed.  Our side follows through by acting upon what they read on social media sites, either by contacting their elected officials, writing letters to the editor, making donations or deciding who to vote for.  Antigunners don’t do any of that.  Author Mike Weisser acknowledges that “… in the age of digital communication it doesn’t take much to secure a presence in the public debate …”  This is true.  Weisser now just needs to go the extra step and admit the fraudulent nature of the gun control movement.

What about Cuomo in 2016?

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From Politico, “What if Hillary Clinton passes on 2016?“:

“For Democrats, there is no fallback: It’s Hillary Clinton or probably a long bout of depression ahead of 2016 …”

Really?  But what about Andrew Cuomo?  He supports gun control and women.

“… there is no obvious replacement.  And the party would be looking at a mad scramble to fill the Clinton void … Another senior Democrat agreed, saying, “There’s Hillary, and then there’s, like, Plan K. There is no B or C or G or whatever.”  Such assessments wouldn’t sit well with Democrats who are looking at 2016 as the understudies to Clinton — Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Vice President Joe Biden, to name a few …”

Hahahahaha!  They didn’t even mention him.

Things were looking real good for him this time last year, with poll numbers in the low 70s.  Then he decided to exploit tragedy and push gun control.  The result:  His approval ratings have plunged, his so-called women’s agenda crashed and burned, and now he’s dropped off the list of top tier Democrat presidential contenders for 2016.