Shot in the Dark

Category: Liberty

  • The Sick Of It All Manifesto

    I don’t really like politics. “But Mitch – you write a bizarrely-prolific blog about politics!  You host the top-rated radio talk show in the United States [1]Surely you are obsessed with politics!” Nope.  Hate ’em. Can’t stand most politicians, either… …well, no.  That’s not really true.  For all of the joking people make about the…

  • …And Ask Questions Later

    It’s looking more and more like Miriam Carey, the Connecticut mother who was killed last year near the Capitol  was guilty of nothing more than having a panic attack around the wrong cops. The DC Capitol Police first called it a terrorist incident.  Then, they said Carey was on drugs. Now?  Apparently she was just a flustered…

  • Oceania Has Never Bullied Eastasia, Winston

    The bill that the Metrocrats chose to call the “Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act” passed the Senate.  Let’s look at what’s in a name.  Because the name “Safe and Supportive Minnesota Schools Act” is intensely misleading – almost to a geometric fault. There are so many names for this bill that are more appropriate:…

  • No Wonder The Left Hates Him So Much

    Charles Koch, one of the “Koch Brothers”, the left’s current boogeymen du jour and donor of a tiny fraction of the money bequeathed to progressivism by much more “generous” liberal plutocrats, writing in the WSJ, with occasional emphasis added: Unfortunately, the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before the law and personal freedom are under…

  • Kill The Bill

    John Cornyn is right; Chuckles Schumer’s proposed “Media Shield” law creates two medias – a government-sanctioned media (which will, by necessity, have to dever to government to retain its favored status), and the rest of us: “This is a bad idea and one whose time has not come,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the Senate minority…

  • All Those “Jazzy Terms”

    In Minnesota, if you are accused of a drug-related crime but not convicted, you can lose any property that the police and prosecutors say was used for the crime. Seems prone to abuse to you? It does to a lot of people.  There’s a bill to try to fix that in the Legislature – to require convictions before forfeiting property. It’s…

  • Turnabout

    I’ve said it for nigh-on 20 years, now; gun control is the class war the Left’s been barbering about for the past century.  And they are the patricians. And the plebeians are winning.  Glenn Reynolds notes something I’ve been talking about for the past half-decade; the legal, social and moral landscape of the gun question…

  • They Did, Indeed, Show Us

    Missouri nullifies federal gun control, passing a law that bars the state from enforcing all federal gun control statutes, “past, present or future”: The legislation specifically bans all state employees from enforcing or attempting to enforce any acts running counter to the proposed law. Such a tactic is an extremely effective way to stop a…

  • Let’s Be Clear Here

    The Strib’s headline says “Minnesota legislators try to clear confusion over e-cigarettes“. Let’s be clear, here. The only “confusion” about e-cigarettes is in the legislature; “do we tax them, do we ban them,  or both?” And around those questions, it’s the legislature – not the state – milling around like stunned cattle. Glad we could…

  • The New Normal

    I first became a Second Amendment activist in the eighties.  It started out as an intellectual exercise – during my KSTP show from 1986-1987, it was mainly a libertarian though exercise.  It became much more personal in 1988, when I thwarted a break-in in my Saint Paul duplex with a .22 caliber handgun.  At the…

  • Imperial

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: We have a law student intern in my office. She’s taking Constitutional Law – Liberties, taught by a leftist female law professor who expects students to analyze abortion cases by finding the flaw in the conservative reasoning since, obviously, abortion is a constitutionally protected right and any attempt to…

  • Expanding The American Gulag

    Mothers Against Drunk Driving is asking for DUI checkpoints in Minnesota: Mothers Against Drunk Driving gave Minnesota low marks in its new state-by-state evaluation of DWI laws. To be fair and accurate, MADD will dock points from any state that doesn’t allow law enforcement to perform random no-knock breathalyzer and urinalysis raids in the middle…

  • Out Of Both Ends Of Babes

    SCENE:  Mitch Berg is at the pharmacy, refilling a painkiller prescription.    He notices a tap on the shoulder.  It’s Mr. Victor VON SCHLIEFFENBERG-MOLTKE, professional fraternity organizer, and Vice Chair for Education at the 5th CD Libertarian Party. VON SCHLIEFFENBERG-MOLTKE:  Hey, Berg! BERG (holding an acheing jaw in dire need of a root canal):  Hey, V-Molt.…

  • The Cause Is Freedom

    While Michael Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” loses more members to defection (and, occasionally, conviction and incarcertation), Real America continues to rack up the wins. This time?  The US Ninth Circuit struck down a niggling provision in California’s heretofore strict carry permit law: California law has a process for applying for a permit to carry…

  • Signs We’ve Turned The Corner To Madness

    Last years, I noted a number of episodes of police seemingly blazing away without much regard to actual “public safety”; a shooting incident at the Empire State building in New York City where eight of the shooting victims were innocent bystanders shot by cops responding to the shooter (who was killed after being hit several…

  • Perfect Safety

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The federal government has rules on who gets a pilot’s license. Most pilots think the rules set the standards too high, especially for little planes used in recreational flight. Minimum 40 hours behind-the-wheel lessons, a medical exam, written exam, oral exam, and a flying test to demonstrate not just…

  • After We Eliminate The Threat To The Second Amendment…

    …it’s time to do something about defending the Third.

  • All Of Our Problems Are Solved

    Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security; keeping us safe from pro-lifers, Second and Tenth Amendment activists, tax reformers… …and purveyors of counterfeit sports paraphernalia.

  • The Peril Of The Standing Army

    I was going to write about the case of Army Lt. Colonel Robert Bateman, who’s become a bit of a mini-celebrity on the left for coming out espousing a very draconian raft of gun control laws. But Joe Doakes beat me to it, and did it with style. Joe’s piece is below the jump.

  • Since We’re All About Equality, Here…

    So according to a number of lawsuits working their way through the system right now, it’s OK to force bakers, florists, photographers and other such “creative” vendors who happen to be fundamentalist Christians to serve same-sex customers, on pain of being sued back to the stone age. Very well.  By the same token…: A Jewish…

  • Occupy Vatican

    Most observers, Catholic or not, recognized the sea-change brought about by Pope Francis I.  An Argentinian Cardinal, Francis supposed a move left for the Catholic Church from the days of Pope Benedict XVI and John Paul II.  While Francis hasn’t shocked many with his bending on social issues, his most boisterous attacks have been on…

  • “So Mitch…”

    “…why do you care if Minneapolis creates a gun law more restrictive than state gun laws?” Because of episodes like this, in Cleveland, which can write laws more restrictive – and idiotic – than state law.

  • Your Papers, Please

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: The Obama Administration sicced the IRS on TEA Party-related fundraising groups so they couldn’t raise money to get the Conservative message out to voters for the 2012 elections.   It was voter suppression at the front end, by muzzling First Amendment rights.   Wisconsin Democrats are applying the same principle on…

  • Big “L”, Small “L”

    (SCENE:  at a chi-chi coffee shop in South Minneapolis.  Mitch BERG’s eyes go a little wide with sticker shock before he orders a light roast with room for cream and Splenda) (As BERG turns to leave, he notices a table with three diners – Carpal POX, Garth MULLER and Viktor VON SCHLIEFFENBERG-MOLTKE.  He tries to…

  • The Non-Trivial Challenge

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails . President Obama famously promised: “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.” Turns out that was a lie. You can’t keep your policy if you have a “junk policy” that doesn’t cover things which we now pay for. To keep medical costs down, we’re forcing you…