Politics – Page 34 – MILESFORTIS

Louisiana Legislature Votes Overwhelmingly for Constitutional Carry in 2021

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- HB 596 was passed on 5 May 2021. It is a fairly good Constitutional Carry bill with a 21-year-old age limit and a requirement to reveal to peace officers your condition of being armed.

Voting was 73 to 26 for final passage. From the advocate.com:

A bill that would allow citizens 21 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit breezed through the Louisiana House on Wednesday.

The measure, House Bill 596, won approval 72-28 after a short but spirited debate.

It next faces action in the state Senate, which approved a similar bill last week by an equally lopsided margin.

Eight Democrats voted for the bill, with 64 Republicans. 70 votes are needed to override a veto……..

Shortly after the vote on Constitutional Carry, the House voted unanimously for HB 124. HB 124 removed the ban on carrying knives from people who have a concealed carry permit. It passed 94 – 0. It did not make sense for people to have the right to carry pistols, but not knives.

Constitutional Carry is a reasonable approximation of the state of law when the Second Amendment was ratified, in 1791. At that time, no permit was required to carry weapons, openly or concealed.

Governor John Bel Edwards has promised he would veto a Constitutional Carry bill. Then the Senate passed SB118, which is similar to HB596. It passed with a strong majority, 27 for and 11 against.

Both House and Senate votes are enough to override a governor’s veto. An override would require a 2/3 majority, 70 votes in the House, and 26in the Senate.

For a number of reasons, veto overrides are often more difficult to obtain than the original votes suggest. Legislators may wish to go on record as voting for something, knowing the governor will veto it. Then they vote to uphold the veto. There is also party loyalty involved. Many are unwilling to override a veto of a governor of their party.

It is still a good strategy to attempt a veto override of a governor of the opposite party. It shows the base you are serious; it shows principle on the part of the legislators.

For Democrats, it might show a willingness to go against the party, when their voters are more conservative. While an override may be a long shot, it may be work in this case.

Texas is a strong contender to pass Constitutional Carry in 2021.

Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, and Wyoming have all restored Constitutional carry this year. There are now 20 states with Constitutional Carry.

People in red states want to send a message to President Biden: Do not mess with the Bill of Rights! They also want to be ready for societal unrest. Gun sales continue to break records. Ammunition is difficult to find, even though it is being produced as fast as possible

Just because politicians have an “R” after their name doesn’t mean they’re automatically less tyrant minded than their demoncrap counterparts.

Senator Marco Rubio admits he’s a Second Amendment ‘butter’
The senior Senator from Florida tells a reader he supports the Second Amendment, but

At 5-feet 10-inches, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is the same height as Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), but that’s not all the two have in common.

Neither Rubio nor Feinstein support the Second Amendment.

While Feinstein is open an upfront about her anti-rights passion, Rubio is riding the fence. Several bills he’s introduced clearly infringe upon the Second Amendment, but he still tries to hide his anti-rights zealotry in communications with constituents.

A reader recently reached out to Rubio after reading this story: Sen. Rubio’s red-flag bill would allow ‘temporary’ firearm confiscation and delay due process.

“I emailed him a while ago about his Red-flag bill he sponsored after you taught me about it and telling him it violated several amendments and to my dismay this was the response I received,” she said in an email. I am not publishing her name.

She noted that Rubio’s reply was “vague” and that he was “not specifically addressing the issues about his bill’s violation of due process and our other amendments as opposed to him saying that our communities lack the law enforcement resources.”

Politicians have form letters for irate constituents. I have no doubt our reader received one of Rubio’s letters designed to appease an angry Second Amendment supporter. I’m guessing his staff sends out a lot of them, especially since he introduced the federal red-flag bill.

“I hold the fundamental belief that the Second Amendment should not be altered,” Rubio’s email states. “While I have always supported the right of law-abiding Americans to bear arms to protect themselves and their families, I am committed to working with my colleagues in the Senate to create a more effective system to prevent senseless gun violence, without unnecessarily infringing on the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”

Two things leap out of that statement. First, “senseless gun violence” is a Bloomberg talking point, which is used by Demanding Moms, Everytown and the Trace.

Second, Rubio hopes to create a more effective system “without unnecessarily infringing on the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”

I guess that means the Senator is willing to infringe upon our Second Amendment rights, but only when he believes it’s necessary.

Bunkum, that is.

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Now is the Time to Make the Case: Remove SBRs from the NFA

As the Biden administration gears up to pass fresh guidance on pistol stabilizing braces, I humbly suggest that this is precisely the time to get working on legislation to remove SBRs — short barreled rifles — from the purview of the 1934 National Firearms Act.

Arguments and assertions from the DOJ / ATF / Biden administration related to pistol braces only strengthen the case that SBRs shouldn’t be subject to special scrutiny as compared to rifles with 16-inch or longer barrels.

In my comprehensive “How Does ATF’s Vague Pistol Brace Guidance Contradict Itself?” article, I went section-by-section through the draft guidance document (which, to be sure, is going to be the model for whatever comes out of the Biden White House if it isn’t simply used verbatim) and played angel’s advocate, arguing why each and every section was and is wrong, vague, inconsistent, misleading, anti-factual, self-contradictory, and/or just plain dishonest.

The Biden administration is in the final stages of drafting a regulation on firearm accessories that can be used to make pistols more like rifles . . .

. . . The firearm accessory can make pistols more accurate and deadlier. It effectively transforms a pistol into a short-barreled rifle . . .

Does your head also spin when you see the exact same people who have always banned or attempted to ban “assault weapon” features on the basis that they allow for “spraying fire” and “firing from the hip,” and have banned “Saturday Night Specials” in part due to their inherent inaccuracy now railing against pistol stabilizing braces for having exactly the opposite effect?

I’m sorry, but can y’all please decide if accuracy is a good thing or a bad thing? I’ll give you a hint: it’s good.

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Just me, but a lot of what I see in politics is making people believe you’re doing something, when you really aren’t, because you actually don’t like the proposed legislation.

Texas Constitutional Carry to go to Conference Committee, Future in Doubt

On Wednesday, 12 May 2021, HB1927 came back from the Texas Senate to the House. The House had passed the bill with a good margin. Governor Abbot said he would sign the bill. The Senate just barely passed the bill, but included eight amendments.

The question was: Would the House accept the amendments, and send the bill to the Governor’s desk for signature, or would the House send the bill to a conference committee. The conference committee could work out a compromise with the House. If they did, then the bill would have to go back to the Senate and the House for approval.

The Democrats in the House raised a point of order, claiming the amendment to HB 1927, which requires the state to create an online training course about gun carry and the law, fell outside the single issue rule and was therefore illegal.

Legislation in Texas is supposed to address a single issue only. What is a single issue, is subject to interpretation. Several of the other seven amendments added in the Senate could as easily fail under the single issue rule.

This correspondent is not in the Texas legislature. Representative Schaffer is. He is the House sponsor of the bill. Representative Schaffer came to the podium, asked the House to reject the Senate amendments and send the HB 1927 to a conference committee.

It had been worked out behind the scenes. The House asked for a conference committee.

To this correspondent, it appeared the House was betting 90% of Constitutional Carry against a chance of gaining a few more percent toward a 100% bill.

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Quote O’ The Day:
It’s a very simple thing that people seem to go to Washington to forget:
If you’re going to take a party leadership position, then the party comes before your personal ambitions.

Why Liz Cheney Had to Go.

“It Is Clear That Cheney Cares More About Earning Praise From Nancy Pelosi And The Corporate Press More Than She Cares About Fighting To Save Our Country From The Democrat’s Socialist Agenda.”

FINAL DAY Missouri SAPA Passed Senate, Back to House

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo–With less than 24 hours left in the Missouri legislative session, Senate lawmakers gave final passage to a controversial bill that would nullify federal gun laws in the state.

House Bill 85, known as the Second Amendment Preservation Act, would protect Missourians from federal gun laws and would hold police departments liable for up to $50,000 if an officer violates a person’s Second Amendment Rights.

A change by the Senate mandates the House vote to re-approve it.
The best I can tell, this is it:

Section B. Because immediate action is necessary to ensure the limitation of the federal government’s power and to protect the citizens’ right to bear arms, section A of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace, and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and section A of this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.

Some state lawmakers want a say in U.S. Constitution
The ‘convention of states’ bill backed by the GOP aims to give states the power to propose constitutional amendments.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — At the State House, Republican lawmakers are hoping South Carolina will join the list of states signing up to be part of the convention of states.

The U.S. Constitution allows constitutional amendments to be proposed by Congress, which is what typically happens, or by a convention of states. For the convention of states to propose changes to the Constitution, 34 states must pass a law saying they will be part of the group.

A bill to join the convention has just passed in the South Carolina House.

GUN HISTORIAN ASHLEY HLEBINSKY DROPS TRUTH BOMBS IN ‘GHOST GUN’ HEARING

Senate Sub Committee Hearing video on C-SPAN

If U.S. senators were hoping to give a lift to the Department of Justice’s proposed rule to redefine a firearm, they underestimated Ashley Hlebinsky.

She’s a historical powerhouse when it comes to guns. Hlebinsky testified before the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on The Constitution, in a hearing titled: Stop Gun Violence: Ghost Guns. Hlebinsky started by shredding any pretenses of false authority by those using loaded terms and ended her opening statement reminding senators whom they represent.

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Missouri Bill to Take on Federal Gun Control: Past, Present and Future Clears Senate Committee Hurdle

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (May 6, 2021) – After appearing to be stalled, a Missouri bill that would take on federal gun control; past, present and future quickly passed out of a second Senate committee today and can now move to the Senate floor. Passage into law would represent a major step toward ending federal acts that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms within the state.

Rep. Jered Taylor filed House Bill 85 (HB85) on Dec 1. Titled the “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” the legislation would ban any entity or person, including any public officer or employee of the state and its political subdivisions, from enforcing any past, present or future federal “acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, statutes, or ordinances” that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.

HB85 passed the House in February by a 103-43 vote. On the Senate side, it passed the General Laws Committee on April 26 and was then referred to the governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. Sen. Lincoln Hough chairs that committee, and he was reportedly the senator most responsible for stalling SAPA in 2020. There was concern that he would roadblock the bill with time running out in the session. But with a strong response to action alerts by Missouri First and the TAC, HB85 was brought before the committee and passed on Thursday.

The full Senate held a hearing on a Senate companion bill (SB39) last week. But with less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the best chance to get SAPA to the governor is for the Senate to pass the House version.

DETAILS OF THE LEGISLATION

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The Bleak Biden Way.

What is the Biden way? To surveille, monitor, root out, raid, jail, confine, and smear all impediments to fundamental transformation.

After a hundred days of President Biden, I think most Americans are now on to what will follow in the next few years.

Joyless Joe

Biden frowns. He grimaces. He occasionally barks and yells as he delivers a gloomy view of America and its people, past and present.

Admit it: We are all racists, then and now, captives of Jim Crow still. Biden needs as many fabricated enemies as he can find; otherwise, his speeches, his demeanor, his agenda are little more than absurdities. They cannot stand or fall on their own merits because they have none. So grumpy Biden, in his latest and final incarnation, is always anti-something, usually anti-Trump, anti-racism, and anti-everything traditional America is for.

Lots of bad white people still need to be rooted out—outside of the beltway. These are the ones never woken by Wall Street, Silicon Valley, the media, academia, the corporate boardroom, professional sports, and the foundations. These retrograde deplorables apparently won’t give up their “privilege” without a fight.

Bidenism demands these environmental desecrators must stop boiling the planet. We are a xenophobic nation that won’t let pioneering migrants enter the United States. We are a Neanderthal America full of people who won’t wear their masks when vaccinated and outdoors. We are a battered America still reeling from the Trump disasters on the border, the Trump failed coup on January 6, the Trump racism that led to peaceful equity marches all last summer.

So America needs a booster shot, a new way of electing presidents, a rebooted Supreme Court, new Senate rules, more states, and so much more—with so little time. The downer message makes Jimmy’s Carter’s old cardigan sweater sermons look inspiring, as the grey and sullen Joe himself makes Carter in retrospect seem sunny.

The emerging Bidenism is what some of us warned we’d see last summer when the deceptive Left and naïve NeverTrump mantra preened that old Joe from Scranton would usher in post-Trump “healing.” His therapeutic candidacy was promised to be a “return to normalcy,” as he was a “moderate” eager to “unify” us.

This illusory reboot from Trump absolutism was to be sort of reminiscent of George H.W. Bush’s “thousand points of light” and “kinder and gentler nation” promises, as the implied corrective to purported heartless eight years of Reaganism.

Yet all this mush ignores Biden’s innate mean-spiritedness that we’ve witnessed for 50 years dating back to his Robert Bork/Clarence Thomas hearing days, his handsy indifference to the private space of dozens of women, and his more recent “lying dog-faced pony soldier,” “fat” and “you ain’t black” incoherent venom.

Instead, from time to time, Joe Biden will be wheeled out to give a teleprompted address or a rare scripted press conference. The media will gush: if he loses his way, he is “conflicted” by the sheer weight of the office. If his voice lowers in elderly fashion, he has “mastered” the technique of quiet voice emphases. If he raises it, and almost shouts, Biden is lauded as “animated,” “fired-up,” and “robust.” If his characteristic slurring of words, chopped-up syntax, and repetitions lose the audience, it is only because our modern Longinus is a master of every sort of sublime rhetorical trope.

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Gov. Greg Abbott Confident Legislature Will Pass Constitutional Carry Bill: ‘I Think It Can Get Across The Finish Line’

RISCO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – Governor Greg Abbott expressed confidence Tuesday, May 4 that the Texas legislature will pass a permit-less or constitutional-carry bill this session. “I think it can get across the finish line.”

He said last week he would sign the legislation if it arrives at his desk.

The full Texas Senate could consider House Bill 1927 as early as Wednesday, May 5 after it was approved by a newly formed, special committee on Constitutional Issues.

The legislation already passed in the Texas House.

Governor Abbott made his comments in Frisco after taking part in a ground-breaking ceremony at the Omni PGA Frisco resort.

If approved, the legislation would allow Texans to carry a handgun in public without obtaining a permit or license, receiving training, and passing a test as required now.

The Governor told reporters that 20 other states already have constitutional-carry, and that it’s already allowed in Texas for long guns.

He said he heard concerns about similar legislation years ago, before state lawmakers eased restrictions. “Remember when we passed open carry and campus-carry, people said it was going to be the ‘ok, corral.’ None of that happened. I don’t think there’s going to be any bad side effect to it, and I feel pretty good about it passing.”

Campus-carry allowed people to carry a concealed firearm on public universities and colleges as long as they were licensed.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, told radio talk show host and former NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch last week that he was still a few votes shy of the number he needed to pass the bill, 18, but that he was continuing to work to build support for the legislation.

Many police chiefs, including Eddie Garcia of Dallas, previously held a news conference to oppose constitutional-carry for handguns saying training people how to use firearms should still be required.

Late last week, police chiefs held another news conference at the Texas Capitol to voice their concerns about these House and Senate bills.

Jimmy Perdue, Chief of the North Richland Hills Police Department and First Vice President of the Texas Police Chiefs Association said, “Both of these bills in their current form would eliminate the current reasonable license to carry permitting process in favor of an unreasonable and unsafe permit-less carry authority. Texas has a long history of a very successful license to carry process.”

Democrats, including Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa have also rejected the legislation. “It’s a really improper use of our legislative process to appease the far-right wing of their party and the National Rifle Association.”

2nd Amendment Preservation Act Hits Roadblock in Senate

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (May 4, 2021) – A Missouri bill that would take on federal gun control; past, present and future is being held up by a Senate committee chairman.

Rep. Jered Taylor filed House Bill 85 (HB85) on Dec 1. Titled the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” (SAPA), the legislation would ban any entity or person, including any public officer or employee of the state and its political subdivisions, from enforcing any past, present or future federal “acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, regulations, statutes, or ordinances” that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms. The bill includes a detailed definition of actions that qualify as “infringement.” You can read more details about the legislation HERE.

HB85 passed the House in February by a 103-43 vote. It now sits in the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee where it still needs a public hearing and a vote before moving to the full Senate.

According to Ron Calzone at Missouri First, it appears that’s what Senate leadership intends to do, but they cannot move the bill forward until it clears the committee. That’s where we have a big problem. Sen. Lincoln Hough chairs the Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee, and he was reportedly the senator most responsible for stalling SAPA in 2020.

HB 85 was assigned to his committee a week ago, but as of Tuesday morning (May 4) he still hadn’t scheduled it for the hearing he plans to hold Wednesday, May 5. (You can check the latest hearing schedule HERE.)

Calzone said he is convinced that Senate pro tem Dave Schatz wants to take up and pass HB 85 out of the Senate, but he can’t take action until Sen. Lincoln Hough lets the bill go through his committee.

There is no part of climate that is not cynical and/or dishonest. https://t.co/xkMvrXx5Fe

— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) May 4, 2021

Second Amendment sanctuary bill passes Tennessee House, heads to Lee

(The Center Square) – The Tennessee House voted Monday evening to make the state a Second Amendment sanctuary.

The House adopted Senate Bill 1335, which passed last week in the Senate. It “affirms that any law, treaty, executive order, rule, or regulation of the United States government” that violates the Second Amendment is unenforceable.

That violation would have to be determined by either the Tennessee or U.S. Supreme Court. Any official that would then attempt to enforce the unconstitutional law would then be subject to ouster.

The bill now will head to Gov. Bill Lee’s desk.

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Kansas House votes to override veto of bill allowing 18-year-olds to conceal carry, now heads to Senate

TOPEKA (KSNT) – The Kansas House voted to override Governor Laura Kelly’s veto of a gun bill, HB 2058 Monday morning. The proposal would allow 18 to 20-year-olds to conceal carry, which isn’t currently allowed.

The bill now heads to the Senate. It previously passed there 30 to 8, and is expected to have enough votes to pass.

The bill needs two thirds vote of each chamber to override a governor’s veto. It passed with the bare minimum in the House 84 to 39.

The bill started off with allowing conceal carry reciprocity with other states, meaning that residents from other states can conceal carry in Kansas if they have a license.

Where much of the controversy lies is allowing 18 to 20-year-olds to get a license in order to conceal carry. Currently anyone 21 years and older can conceal carry, and they don’t need a license.

Supporters of the bill question why the governor struck it down.

“In her message indicated that she has always supported the second amendment, well, I find that hard to believe sometimes,” said Abilene Representative John Barker, who carried the bill on the floor.

Opponents argue that lowering the age to conceal carry is dangerous.

“It’s not a bad bill. There’s some good parts to the bill, the part that we had problems with on our side was the 20, 19, and 18-year-olds carrying firearms,. Even though they’re trained, the maturity level of the brain lacks,” said Kansas City Representative Louis Ruiz.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it needs at least 27 votes for the legislature to override it.

BLUF:
Biden’s TV ratings are low. And it’s just the way his handlers want it. He and his vice president rarely talk to reporters, rarely hold press conferences, rarely tweet anything controversial. From a visibility perspective, it is the polar opposite of the bombastic, unfiltered Trump years.

While words matter, deeds matter much, much more. And if this stealth presidency gets its way, Biden will do more to transform this country into a far-left utopia than any other Democratic president in history.

Biden’s poor TV ratings against Trump is exactly what this administration wants

The 45th president was fairly obsessed with ratings. Given Donald Trump’s experience as a TV reality-show star, that is not terribly surprising.

Between Feb. 20, 2020, and Dec. 6, 2020, Trump tweeted 44 times about TV ratings, according to Fast Company, or four times more often than about wearing a mask during that same span.

Trump also quote-tweeted this from The New York Times on Mar. 29, 2020, a time when the country was shut down and when confusion and fear about the novel coronavirus dominated the minds of many Americans: “President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news … .”

Understandably, this created tremendous and deserved backlash against the president at the time, as COVID-19 cases and deaths soared. But this was simply Trump’s reflexive DNA dating back to before he was president, which carried over to after he started calling the White House home, literally on Day 1. “It was the most-watched inauguration in history, period!!” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters the day after Inauguration Day on Jan. 22, 2017, in a statement from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room.

In April 2019, Trump focused on ratings again to attack MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, declaring: “Morning Psycho (Joe), who helped get me elected in 2016 by having me on (free) all the time, has nosedived, too Angry Dumb and Sick. A really bad show with low ratings – and will only get worse.”

You get the point. Trump saw big ratings as a sign of big love.

Truth was (and still is) that the former “Apprentice” star and real estate mogul was a modern version of the late Howard Cosell, who in a 1970s TV Guide poll was voted as simultaneously the most liked and disliked man in America. That sums up the ratings explosion during the Trump presidency, in which a rising tide (OK, a tsunami) lifted all media boats in terms of ratings and clicks, to heights we may never see again.

So, it was no surprise to see President Biden‘s ratings fall far short of Trump’s in the viewership department after he finally gave an address to a joint session of Congress. The differential was staggering: For Trump’s 2017 address to a Joint session, 48 million people tuned in. For Biden’s address, just 27 million tuned in.

For a guy who received more votes than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history, it would seem on the surface that this would be seen internally as bad news for Team Biden.

But this seems to be exactly what they want: a stealth presidency.

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DeSantis Gets Bill To Strengthen Florida Preemption Law

The state of Florida has been previously referred to as the “Gunshine State.” Despite a flurry of bad laws in the wake of Parkland, they tend to be pretty pro-gun. It doesn’t make the post-Parkland idiocy any better, mind you, but it does look like just a blip on the radar.

One of the many good laws regarding firearms on the books up that way is their preemption law.

Now, it looks like lawmakers want to make that law even better.

The Legislature has passed a bill further restricting local governments’ ability to pass gun control measures.

The bill (SB 1884) clarifies that existing preemptions on local firearm and ammunition laws also apply to unwritten rules and policies. The legislation would also make clear local governments can’t bypass court cases simply by scrapping gun laws.

Rep. Cord Byrd, a Neptune Beach Republican who has carried the issue in the House, said the Legislature needs to shore up the law because of defiant local officials. He cited multiple examples just this year of local governments passing ordinances despite preemption laws in place since 1987. It’s the same reason in 2011 that the Legislature put in penalties for local officials who vote for local ordinances regardless of state law.

“Local governments thumbed their nose at this body, thumbed their nose at this Legislature, and said we do not care,” Byrd said.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, criticized Byrd directly on the bill, saying since Byrd represents gun owners who have sued local governments over such regulations, he stands to profit from this legislation.

Byrd pushed back on that, saying he wants to send a message so strong, governments stop wasting taxpayer money passing laws they have no right to consider.

“I hope I never take another preemption case again,” he said.

The bill passed the House, 78-39, which isn’t really a surprise.

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If Biden is a centrist, why do leftists love him now?

BLUF:
Look for Biden to keep citing “crises.” He has already gotten Congress to pass $1.9 trillion in what was called “COVID relief” but what was in addition a massive social welfare program. He is now pushing another $4 trillion in spending — the numbers Biden proposes are truly astronomical and unprecedented. Why would Americans support such wild moves? Because there’s a crisis! That’s what Biden hopes he can convince the public to believe.

Joe Biden, Crisis Monger.

JOE BIDEN, CRISIS MONGER. Just last week, this newsletter noted that the Biden White House has a tendency to over-use the word “crisis.” Senior staff routinely portray President Joe Biden as facing one crisis after another. Indeed, the administration came into office declaring that the nation faced four simultaneous crises — the COVID pandemic crisis, the related economic crisis, the climate crisis, and the racial equity crisis. Declaring so many crises allowed the White House to portray Biden as a president heroically battling enormous odds, even as it tended to exaggerate the problems facing the United States.

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Liz Peek: Joe Biden, after 100 days, finally talks truth — cutting US carbon emissions won’t matter

President Joe Biden, contrary to expectations, said something consequential in his first address to members of Congress…by mistake.

It was a whopper that went unnoticed on Wednesday night; with just a few ill-chosen words Biden utterly toppled any justification for the Green New Deal, which plays a central role in his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and which, without a doubt, puts our economy at risk.

This is what he said, according to a New York Times transcript of the president’s remarks: “The United States accounts, as all of you know, for less than 15 percent of carbon emissions. The rest of the world accounts for 85 percent. That’s why I kept my commitment to rejoin the Paris Accord, because if we do everything perfectly, it’s not going to matter.”

That was not in the version of the speech the White House handed out ahead of time.

No wonder House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris looked visibly anxious throughout the president’s remarks: they were petrified he could make just exactly this kind of goof.

This is not a “gotcha moment”, where a politician is caught embellishing his life story or fabricating excuses for some misdeed. On the contrary, Joe Biden was being honest.

And, for once in his life, Joe Biden was completely correct. Even if the Biden White House clobbers our economy, puts every last coal miner and oil driller out of work and drives down U.S. fossil fuel production and consumption, it will barely bend the curve on rising global emissions.

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Bill allowing permitless carrying of handguns advances to Texas Senate floor, where its fate remains uncertain

A Texas bill that would allow people to carry handguns without a permit quickly sailed Thursday out of a state Senate committee recently created to specifically tackle the legislation.

The move marks a significant step for the controversial proposal that for years struggled to gain momentum in either chamber of the Texas Legislature. But it remains to be seen whether the measure — already passed by the Texas House — has enough support to make it out of the Senate and to the desk of Gov. Greg Abbott.

The proposal would nix the requirement for Texas residents to obtain a license to carry handguns if they’re not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun. Texans would also no longer be required to receive training before carrying a handgun in public.

Texans under current state law must generally be licensed to carry handguns, either openly or concealed. Some law enforcement officers, concealed carry license instructors and Democrats have voiced opposition to the legislation, citing safety concerns.

The Senate Special Committee on Constitutional Issues voted 5-2 along party lines to advance the measure to the Senate floor Thursday. The Texas House gave its approval to House Bill 1927 earlier this month, marking a win for gun rights activists who have for years pushed the measure at the Legislature. But the lower chamber’s approval was also a blow to some Democrats who have been fighting for gun safety measures since the 2019 massacre in El Paso.

“We cannot allow another session to come and go where we pay lip service to the Second Amendment, while failing to fully restore and protect the God given rights to our citizens,” said state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate, created the special committee last week and stacked it with supporters of the permitless carry proposal. Schwertner, a strong proponent of gun rights, was tapped to chair the committee. Patrick said Thursday he is “optimistic” about the legislation’s chances of passing even though he is still rounding up the necessary votes.

“We’re gonna come out with a strong bill, and I’ll believe we’ll pass it because we brought people together,” Patrick told conservative radio host Dana Loesch on Thursday afternoon. “And hopefully it’ll be on the governor’s desk soon, and we’ll get it signed.”

Before even taking up the bill or hearing from the more than 170 people who signed up to testify, Schwertner opened the hearing by declaring his intent to advance the measure out of committee on Thursday and to the Senate floor next week.

“We’re moving with all deliberate speed on this bill now because now more than ever Texans want to make sure that their Second Amendment rights are not only protected, but restored,” Schwertner said………………..