This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • “Medical” Marijuana Card? “No guns for you!”

    The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again made an . . . interesting ruling.  This time it concerns gun ownership.

    Predictably, the 9th Circuit came down on the side of restricting gun ownership. But this case has a few twists.  And I’ll be damned if I don’t think the 9th Circuit might actually have gotten this one correct, legally speaking.

    Hey – stopped clocks are right twice daily, remember?

    The case in question involves both marijuana and firearms.  Some states issue “medical” marijuana cards to people authorized to purchase the drug for “medicinal” purposes.  Yes, the quotes here are intentional.  Anyone with half a brain knows that a substantial percentage of such applications for the “medical” use of marijuana are bogus.

    However, while marijuana has been “decriminalized” by some states, its use remains unlawful under Federal law. And Federal law currently bans the possession of firearms by those who use illegal drugs.

    Regarding the case in question:  it seems a lady in Nevada having such a “medical” marijuana card applied to purchase a firearm.  The dealer refused to sell her one, citing BATFE guidance that they could assume – based on the her having been issued a “medical” marijuana card – that she was a user of marijuana and thus lawfully could not purchase a firearm.

    The lady took the matter to Federal court.  To her chagrin, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the BATFE’s interpretation of Federal law.  They ruled that she could indeed be presumed to be a user of marijuana, which is still illegal under Federal law – and was therefore not legally entitled to purchase or possess a firearm.

    So:  in 9 western states, having a “medical” marijuana card now also means, “No gun for you!”  Presumably the same is also true for those having prescriptions and other certifications allowing “medical” marijuana use within one of those 9 states.

    I personally love the irony here.  Many if not most favoring wholesale legalization of marijuana are politically leftward-leaning.  Well, in any of the 9 western states 9th Circuit states where “medical” use of marijuana has now been made legal, this ruling appears to say that if someone gets some form of permit allowing “medical” use of marijuana . . . they’ve just effectively declared themselves to be a drug user – and can no longer can legally purchase or possess a firearm.

    Law of unintended consequences?  You betcha.  That law is always in effect.

  • “The exemptions or loopholes are happening in secret, and it appears that they favor Iran.”

    The title above is not a quote from some Trump campaign speech, or from some “Right wing” editorial.  Rather, it comes from David Albright.

    Albright’s president of the Institute for Science and International Security.  He’s a former UN weapons inspector.

    He’s also co-author of a report by his institute concerning the US-Iran nuclear agreement.  That report documents numerous “exemptions” the US and its partners granted to Iran so that Iran would not be in violation of the agreement on 16 January of this year.  That was the date at which the agreement required return of Iranian “assets” to begin.

    Or, in other words:  it had to happen so that we could      fund a $400 million cash blackmail payment for the return of some US citizens held hostage by Iran      begin returning Iranian assets frozen after the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran.  And it was necessary not only for that, but so that afterwards we could       continue to give Iran money in the future they’ll use to fund their nuclear program      continue returning assets to Iran in the future.

    Funny, but I don’t recall hearing that Iran had returned our Embassy – or compensated the US for damages relating to its seizure.  But maybe I missed it.

    Reuters has a good article discussing this idiocy.  Since Reuters articles seem to have short on-line lifetimes, I’m also linking to a Fox News article which provides much the same info.

    Yeah, that Iranian nuclear agreement certainly seems to be a manifestly “good deal” – for Iran.  For the US and the rest of the West . . . not so much.

    Coming from this Administration that’s no surprise, though. Given their track record,       this bunch of clueless naive dolts        the current Administration seems so incompetent that I believe they could eff up a wet dream three times before breakfast.

  • The Clintoon “Private” Email Saga Continues . . . .

    Well, Clintoon’s “private” email is in the news again.

    Yeah, so what else is new?  Hell, I’ve written about it so many times now that a Google search of this site for the terms “Clintoon” and “email” turns up more than two pages of previous stories.

    In any case:  a few days ago I wrote that even more previously unreleased Clintoon email had been recovered recently by the FBI.  “Even more”, as in about 50% of the amount previously turned over by Clintoon’s lawyers.

    Supposedly, only non-work-related email wasn’t returned by Clintoon’s lawyers to the State Department 2 years ago.  You know, stuff about yoga, recipes, vacation plans and the like.  But rather obviously that claim now . . . seems suspect.  Highly suspect.

    Anyone wanna guess what I’m about to tell you today?

    Well, that’s actually a trick question; today you might well be wrong if you guessed.  No, there hasn’t been yet another batch of Clintoon “private” email located or recovered.

    However, it seems that some of the newly-recovered emails appear . . . interesting. Some of these new emails appear to be from mid-September 2012.  And among the new stuff around 30 emails – including some from mid-September 2012 – appear to concern something called “Benghazi”.

    Yeah, that Benghazi.  The same Benghazi where 4 Americans died while the Federal government sat around for hours with its thumb firmly inserted, doing nothing.

    I somehow just don’t think the Clintoons were planning a North African yoga vacation or discussing a local restaurant serving “Benghazi couscous” in those mid-September 2012 emails.  And of course all of those newly recovered emails that weren’t previously turned over were deleted “by accident” – not to cover up anything.

    Oh, and it also appears that Clintoon continued to send and/or receive classified email at that “private” account months after she left the State Department.

    Damn.  You or I would be in jail by now.

     

  • Bye, Corrine. Don’t Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out.

    Remember that       manifestly corrupt drooling idiot       esteemed US Representative from Florida, Rep. Corrine Brown?  You should; Jonn and TSO have written about the individual here multiple times – first here, then here, then here, then here, and finally here.  And I might have missed an article or two.

    In case you’ve forgotten:  she was recently indicted, along with her chief-of-staff, on fraud and other Federal charges – as in more than 20 total counts.  And she also had some, um, interesting things to say about the Orlando Pulse terrorist shooting incident.

    Well, Rep. Brown ran for reelection in yesterday’s Florida primary election.

    She lost.

    Gee.  That’s too bad.

    But at least it doesn’t look like she needs to worry too much about future employment.  I’m guessing that’s pretty well already arranged.

    Wonder how she’ll look in an orange jumpsuit?  (smile)

  • Third Time the Charm for “Young Malachi”? Maybe.

    Third Time the Charm for “Young Malachi”? Maybe.

    Jonn’s written before about Malachi Love-Robinson, the youngster in Palm Beach, FL, who seems to like playing doctor – while committing fraud.  In fact, Jonn’s written about him twice.

    Well, young Malachi is back in the news.  Wanna guess what for?

    Nah, you don’t have to guess.  Same old, same old:  he’s back in jail on charges of writing a worthless check and grand theft.

    Methinks the young man is looking at a long stay behind bars.  At least, that’s what he’ll get if the court that tries him has any common sense whatsoever.

  • Want to See “Single-Payer” Healthcare In Action? Read This.

    Linked story pretty much says it all. You might want to grab a tissue (and a dose of high-blood pressure medicine, if you think you might need it) before reading the link, though.

    ‘This is the saddest photo I have ever taken,’
    woman says of grandparents forced to live apart
     

    A real-world variant of the “golden rule” is operative here: “He who pays the gold makes the rules.” And in Canada, the folks running Canada’s      Socialized      single payer medicine pay the gold – and make these kinds of rules.

    Of course, under US “single payer” medicine it will be an agency of the Federal government effectively making those decisions – just like in Canada. That’s the same folks that have brought us those “wonderful examples of common sense, simplicity, and bureaucratic flexibility” called the IRS, the EPA, the BLM, and HHS.

    But remember: “single payer” will fix American healthcare’s “problems”.

    Just like it has in Canada.

  • Yet Another Update About That “Private” Email . . . .

    Well, this should be no surprise.  Remember the other day that I mentioned the release of 725 pages of email from Clintoon confidante Huma Abedin?

    Well, they were indeed released.  Sorta

    I say “sorta” because it appears that roughly 250 pages “released” – or over 1/3 of the total – were heavily redacted.  Heavily redacted, as in “100%”.

    Why, you ask?  Good question.

    But maybe we can discern a few possibilities by looking at the 7 July exchange between the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Mr. Charles McCollough, IG for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, concerning some of the Clintoon “private email” that the ODNI IG had been asked to review prior to its release to Congress.  Here’s a quote from that exchange, with a bit of emphasis added.

    Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, generated the response by asking McCullough if he could provide the committee, in a secure format, the classified emails transmitted over Clinton’s private email server.

    “I cannot provide a certain segment of them because the agency that owns the information for those emails has limited the distribution on those,” McCullough explained. “They are characterizing them as OrCon, ‘originator control,’ so I can’t give them to even Congress without getting the agency’s permission to provide them.”

    “Which agency?” Chaffetz interjected.

    “I can’t say that in an open hearing sir,” McCullough replied.

    . . . .

    “This is the segment of emails that I had to have people in my office read-in to particular programs to even see these emails,” McCullough responded. “We didn’t posses the required clearances.”

    Hmm.  Remember:  McCullough and his office are the freaking IG for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  Those individuals are routinely cleared for TS-compartmented access.  Yet at first they didn’t have the requisite clearances to view the material.

    Remember, this is material that was formerly stored on Clintoon’s unsecured “private” email server.  That system was NOT authorized to store anything classified – or anything that was even Sensitive But Unclassified.  It wasn’t supposed to be storing official government information at all.  But it was.

    Nevertheless, two days prior to that exchange between McCullough and Chaffetz, FBI Director James Comey publicly declared that charges were “not appropriate”.  And even in light of the above later relevation by the IG for ODNI, the FBI has declined to prosecute anyone for anything related to this matter since that announcement.

    Wonderful.  Just freaking wonderful.

    Sheesh.  IMO this photo sums up the Administration’s (and Clintoon’s)      obviously and transparently absurd “party line”       “official position” concerning this whole convoluted mess perfectly.

     

    But you wanna hear the really sad part? I’m not sure she’s any less intelligent or competent than the current Occupant, 1600 Penn Ave, Wash DC.

    Oh, and in other news:  Clintoon apparently has a new supporter.  The California Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, Will Quigg, has endorsed her.  Further, he’s also publicly announced that Klan members have donated over $20,000 to her campaign this year.

    I’m guessing those donations haven’t been returned, either – and I’m guessing there’s a good chance they won’t be.  After all, money is money.  And the Clintoon Foundation certainly isn’t choosy regarding those from which it accepts cash.

     

     

  • Another from Pearl Is Identified

    DPAA has identified and accounted for the following formerly-missing US military personnel.

    From World War II

    • WT1c Walter Sollie, U.S. Navy, assigned to the crew of the USS Oklahoma, was lost on 7 December 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He was accounted for on 18 August 2016.

    Welcome back, elder brother-in-arms. Our apologies that your return took so long.

    Rest in peace. You’re home now.

    . . .

    Over 73,000 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,600 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia (SEA). Comparison of DNA from recovered remains against DNA from some (but not all) blood relatives can assist in making a positive ID for unidentified remains that have already been recovered, or which may be recovered in the future.

    On their web site’s “Contact Us” page, DPAA now has FAQs. The answer to one of those FAQs describes who can and cannot submit DNA samples useful in identifying recovered remains. The chart giving the answer can be viewed here. The text associated with the chart is short and can be viewed in DPAA’s FAQs.

    If your family lost someone in one of these conflicts and you qualify to submit a DNA sample, please arrange to submit one. By doing that you just might help identify the remains of a US service member who’s been repatriated but not yet been identified – as well as a relative of yours, however distant. Or you may help to identify remains to be recovered in the future.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial. That’s especially true for those who gave their all while serving this nation.