You Can't Silence Us

Safety, My Ass

Florida does not require a concealed weapons permit. They also tell you that, if you comply with a police officer’s demands, you won’t get shot. The traffic stop that involved Jason Arrington proved that to be a lie. I tried to find a copy of the bodycam video that I could embed, but that was a no-go. Here are two links to the video:

When you watch this video, note that the man was completely compliant in every way. He answered every question, and complied with every request and order. He was pulled over in a traffic stop and the cop asked him if he had “anything crazy in the car.”

Mr Arrington replied that he did have a gun on his person. The cop then made some small talk and asked if he had a concealed weapons permit, and the man replied that he did not. (That isn’t required under state law.) The cop then asked Arrington if he was a convicted felon, to which he replied that he was not.

Then the cop said that they would have Arrington step out of the car and would disarm him, for the safety of both Mr Arrington and the police. That turned out to be a lie. The statement from the Sheriff’s office tells the rest of the story:

The firearm was secured in a holster and Officer Cardwell [a female backup deputy] had difficulty removing it. When [she] was finally able to remove the firearm from the holster, she unintentionally placed multiple fingers inside the trigger guard of the firearm, causing the firearm to discharge.

The bullet from this negligent discharge struck Arrington in the leg. I don’t blame the female deputy for this. She was placed into this situation without the proper training, and one would assume that the JSO takes guns from people during traffic stops as a matter of course. This wasn’t her fault. The real fault lies in a department policy of unnecessarily seizing firearms, and in not training deputies in how to safely handle unfamiliar firearms.

Unnecessary gun handling increases the odds of a negligent or accidental discharge from near zero to some other, higher chance. A gun that is in a proper holster has a near zero chance of discharging unexpectedly. Additionally, a person who has been pulled over for a nonviolent, noncriminal traffic violation and is otherwise compliant has a near zero chance of attempting to use that firearm to illegally injure or threaten police officers.

This unintentional discharge was the direct result of:

  • Police who are paranoid in believing that everyone who has a gun is a threat to their safety. They are not.
  • Police attempting to handle firearms with which they are unfamiliar is a hazard to everyone around them. Contrary to popular belief, police training in firearms and firearm safety is poor. If official policy of a department requires cops to disarm people, then the department has a responsibility to train officers to handle firearms in a much safer manner than what was displayed here.

For those reasons, the man is suing the Sheriff’s office. As a result of this incident, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office sent a memo to the entire department, notifying deputies that a person who is in possession of a firearm but not otherwise demonstrating that they are a threat to officers who are present, is not subject to having his firearms seized.

As it should have been all along.

This is also why I don’t inform cops that I am carrying. Florida doesn’t require me to, and I don’t. Asking me “Do you have anything crazy in the car?” isn’t asking me if I am armed, and I will respond in the negative.

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By Divemedic, ago

Cashing In Like a Whore

71 year old Pam Hemphill has been making headlines. She was among the Trump supporters who were convicted for their actions on January 6, 2021 when she entered the Capitol while videotaping.

She pled guilty to one count of demonstrating, picketing or parading in a Capitol building in federal court in 2022 and was sentenced to two months in jail, 3 years of probation, and $500 restitution, serving 60 days in Federal prison in Dublin, California. Her time has been served, and her probation is nearly complete.

Since that time, she has become rich and famous by opposing Trump and supporting the Harris/Walz campaign. Before then, she had gained a bit of fame as a Social Media figure by attending various right wing functions like the Bundy movement. She was somewhat famous in certain circles for being the videographer for various events involving the right.

Now the left has made her even more famous. She is the darling of the left, and there are stories all over the MSM about the former MAGA granny who has seen the light and now hates DJT. Since she announced her change to the other side, she has amassed tens of thousands of dollars in donations. She has been flown all over the nation and received money from a news media eager to portray a MAGA supporter who was there at the J6 event and is willing to say that they were trying to overthrow the government. “Next week CNN is flying me to New York!” she posted on Facebook Aug. 30. She raised so much money that she bought a new Mustang online.

With the issuance of the J6 pardons, her money train is about to be derailed. She is now saying that she will refuse to accept her pardon. Of course she will. The jail sentence and probation have been served, and she is now cashing in on her fame. If she accepts the pardon, that all stops and she will fade back into obscurity, her 15 minutes of fame will be over.

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By Divemedic, ago

I Was Wrong

The Inauguration is over, as are the Inauguration day festivities like the Commander in Chief Ball. I am happy to admit that I was wrong. I didn’t think that the left would allow him to take his office again, and make no mistake, it IS his office. It isn’t like the left didn’t try, because they DID try. They tried with increasing desperation to keep him away from the reins of power: they tried impeaching him, they tried keeping him off the ballot, they even twice tried killing him. Still, he persevered to the point that he seems destined to take his place in history.

Trump didn’t waste any time in issuing executive orders- more than 200 of them, with 78 of those orders undoing things that Biden had done. He signed them before he even went on to the more frivolous celebrations of the new office.

It’s time for him to REALLY get going on his work. I wish him luck.

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By Divemedic, ago

The Florida model

Remember when I explained how Florida got burned once, and changed the way that they handle forestry and wildland fires? California doesn’t do that. The people in forestry are trying to do an experiment to see if it will work, but lefty environmentalists are suing to prevent it.

The forest service plans to use prescribed burns, forest thinning, and herbicides as part of the massive fuel reduction project. It’s designed to protect communities in Plumas and Butte Counties from future wildfires…Josh Hart, a spokesman for Feather River Action explained the group’s concerns. The lawsuit plaintiffs are environmental groups including Feather River Action, Plumas Forest Project John Muir Project. Hart said his group refers to the plan as the forest devastation project. “What the forest service is proposing is only going to make the situation worse,”

They are pretending that fires don’t naturally occur, which of course reduces the availability of fuel that makes wildfires larger. You see, it’s better to have smaller fires every couple of years than it is to suppress that until the fuel is so prevalent that the fire is impossible to put out.

This is the problem with the left- they are morons who deserve to see their homes burn down due to their stupid voting habits.

You get what you vote for.

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By Divemedic, ago

Anchor Babies

Donald Trump is claiming that he will end the practice where a pregnant woman illegally enters the US then presents herself to an Emergency Room while in labor, the hospital delivers the baby as required by EMTALA, and the baby is subsequently declared to be a US citizen. The left then claims that it is unfair to separate a child from the rest of the family, thereby making the child an ‘anchor baby’ shoehorning in half a dozen illegals. This practice is called birthright citizenship.

The left claims that Trump can’t stop this because of the 14th Amendment, which reads (in pertinent part):

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. 

It isn’t quite as easy as the left would have you believe. The Supreme Court decided this in 1873, and I would think that the court in 1873, a mere 5 years after the passage of the 14th Amendment would have a bit of firsthand knowledge of what the Amendment was for. This is what they had to say in the case of Elk v. Wilkins (1873):

This section contemplates two sources of citizenship, and two sources only: birth and naturalization. The persons declared to be citizens are “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The evident meaning of these last words is not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.

Meaning, of course, that it isn’t as simple as “where were you born” but indicating that there are more limits to be explored here. Furthermore, SCOTUS ruled in 1872 that the purpose of the 14th Amendment was:

The first clause of the fourteenth article was primarily intended to confer citizenship on the negro race, and secondly to give definitions of citizenship of the United States and citizenship of the States, and it recognizes the distinction between citizenship of a State and citizenship of the United States by those definitions.

The question isn’t as cut and dried as the left would have us believe. This one is going to SCOTUS, I think. This shows that Trump is not the ignorant buffoon that the left wants us to think that he is.

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By Divemedic, ago

Intermission

A brief slowing of the speed with which we are headed off the cliff as the corrupt Biden regime ends.

Now about the pardons for Fauci, Milley, et al: A pardon isn’t a pass to avoid all consequences for your past actions. There are many, many people who lost loved ones and couldn’t even say goodbye or attend a funeral due to COVID. All you have to do is release all of the evidence that Fauci was complicit. Then release the addresses of his home, work, and other places he is likely to be. Heck, have Elon host a live tracker of his location. That will sort itself out.

Then recall Milley back to active duty. A pardon can only insulate you for prosecution for past crimes, not future ones. If he refuses to return, court martial him for desertion. When he DOES return, send him to the base in Antartica. Or better yet, let it be known that he assisted the Chinese in the COVID pandemic and send him on an accompanied fact finding tour to areas hard hit by the disease.

Still, there has been very little heat, light, or noise from the left. They haven’t given up, so I just wonder what is coming…

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By Divemedic, ago

Executive Orders

Executive orders are orders written by the chief executive, instructing executive branch employees in how they are to carry out their duties. In the case of the Federal government, the chief executive is the President, of course.

I have long been highly critical of how Executive orders have been used. They cannot be used to create laws out of whole cloth, as that is the job of the legislature. What EOs can be used for, however, is to instruct federal employees in how they will carry out the duties that have been assigned to them by law, in my opinion.

So that brings us to our current problem- there are state and local governments that are refusing to abide by or even comply with the enforcement of Federal law. Namely, there are cities who are refusing to comply with ICE in removing illegal immigrants from our country. I would wholeheartedly approve of an EO instructing Federal employees to refuse to issue or approve ANY grants or Federal funding to any local government who declares itself to be a sanctuary city. That would also include providing access to Federal programs like the NCIC or any other crime related database to any police department who refuses to comply with Federal law.

The entire Federal grant system is based upon Presidential Executive Order No. 12372, which was issued by President Reagan in July of 1982. That EO allows states to establish a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) to review proposed federal financial assistance. So Trump could simply modify that EO to make this happen.

The Feds have been tying funding to their edicts for decades. It’s how 21 became the national drinking age nationwide– it’s time that the Trump team begin playing the game.

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By Divemedic, ago