In California, carrying concealed weapons is controlled by the local, elected Sheriff. In Tuolumne County, where I live, it’s easy to get a permit. Sheriff Jim Mele is a second amendment man, who has publicly stated he has no interest in enforcing ridiculous federal gun laws. He’s a popular sheriff.
It’s different in San Diego County, which has a gun grabber for a sheriff. It’s virtually impossible for a regular citizen to get a concealed carry permit, so suit was filed to force the sheriff to be more reasonable. The Ninth Circuit ruled for the sheriff (natch), and the plaintiffs appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court. The court decided not to hear the case, prompting an angry and well reasoned dissent from Justice Thomas.
His dissent was joined by only one of his Associate Justices — Neil Gorsuch. The proof is in the pudding, and Gorsuch is the real deal. Scalia was the conservative darling of the Court. But the real, honest to God conservative has always been Clarence Thomas. If you want to read an inspiring story, get a copy of My Grandfather’s Son, by Clarence Thomas. It’s the story of a great American, told in praise of the man who raised him.
Compare Gorsuch (and, hopefully, Trump’s next appointment) to the two women on the court who are the type Hillary Clinton would have appointed, Sotomayor and Ginsburg. A Christian school in Missouri was denied funding for a school playground improvement, on the grounds that it would violate the separation between church and state. The Supreme Court overruled the lower courts, and ordered that this injustice be remedied. The two dissenters, Sotomayor and Ginsberg, would have had a third vote if Clinton had been elected.
Say what you want about Trump, he’s no Hillary Clinton.
Along with James Capretta, Yuval Levin is the health care expert I trust. He says the Senate Obamacare bill is not a repeal and a replacement, as it was advertised. It’s a reform of a very bad piece of legislation. But as Levin explains, that’s all these Republicans in Congress are willing to do. Is a quarter loaf better than none at all?
Capretta, also writing in NRO, says it’s very much needed fundamental reform of Medicaid. If you want to stand on principle, and throw away a chance at real reform because it’s not enough, you don’t belong in politics. You should become a preacher. As the great Senator Ev Dirksen of Illinois used to say, “I’m a man of principle, and one of my principles is flexibility.”
Here’s a little historical nugget I read about today. In 1826 Secretary of State Henry Clay and Senator Edmund Randolph of Virginia hated each other. In Virginia at the time, fighting a duel was considered an honorable thing to do. Not so in the north, where Clay, of Kentucky, hoped to get the votes he needed to eventually become President. So Randolph continually insulted Clay with lies and vitriol, and finally provoked him into a duel. They fired pistols at ten paces, and both of Clay’s shots missed. Randolph was very well aware of the fact that Clay had no idea of how to handle a gun. It’s why he wanted to duel him in the first place. So Randolph took a shot at Clay’s leg, missed, and fired his second shot in the air.
Clay’s reputation suffered from this encounter, just as Randolph knew it would. In politics, sometimes you have to be creative.
reaganproject.com 