Opening Thoughts

Merry Christmas, everybody! Welcome to your Christmas Eve RedState Watercooler–this is my first real stab at anything actually “reputable” for the site, so I hope I live *up* to everybody’s expectations rather than *down* to them with today’s assortment of random-shots commentary. I’d like to extend a special tip of the hat to TNgal for trading schedules this week in light of some complications I had come up. 🙂

Gun Rights: Rogue VA AG Picks Fight With CCW – How to Give it To Him?

As many of us, some much more prominent here than myself, have already put on the Front Page, a couple days ago Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring declared war on law-abiding licensed concealed-weapons carriers, unilaterally pulling the plug on over 75% of their Reciprocity agreements. (For those not in the loop, Reciprocity is an interstate agreement where two states agree to honor one another’s carry permits.) I don’t have new “news” to contribute here beyond one little thing, but after New Year’s I’m going to reach out to former Packing.org boardmate Phil Van Cleave at Virginia Citizens Defense League to find out what there plans are. Red Herring used the red herring of claiming that VA residents ineligible for VA CCW’s were going go out-of-state and carrying on “non-resident permits”, but there was a simpler fix available, simply not honoring non-resident permits–a policy long in place in Florida, which while I’m against on Equal Protection grounds its not even being considered here tells us something about this gun-grabbing pinko butt-nugget’s real intentions. In the meantime, I’ve thought on a few options to as a German friend said, “pickle Herring and serve him on a plate of Rollmops”:

• Recall: Does VA have a Right of Recall? If so, just starting the process might send this Minion of McAwful a message.
• “Universal Recognition” Language: The Legislature could enact what’s called Universal Recognition. In a nutshell, UR basically means a state honors any permit from anywhere as if it were their own, so long as the licensee abides by local laws.
• “Automatic Reciprocity”: Another legislative “Reach Out and Smack Down” option, states with this language compel their AG’s to enter Reciprocity agreements with any state that is willing to accept their permits.
• Initiative: I don’t know if Virginia has an Initiative process or what limits there may be on it if so, but either of the above could conceivably be done by initiative.
• Lawfare: Those of us in states with abrogated agreements should start encouraging our Attorneys General to not cooperate with requests originating from Mark Herring’s office–as one person here suggested, it might mean interesting things if he suddenly found Texas no longer receptive to extraditions…

Hillary Clinton’s Math Epic FAIL

This is just so stupid I facepalmed, h/t to Streiff’s diary. By definition, half of any population will be Below Average, and… well, let’s go straight to Hitlery Rotten Clintoon’s own words:

“Now, I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better than average job.”

This is, as our somewhat crusty Source Mod sometimes likes to say, “BS On Stilts.” I’m not sure which would be more stupid, her honestly believing that or her expecting us to swallow that one… because as you move the bar ever higher, you have ever less eligible to qualify. Just like “Tax The Rich” in that way, really… which says that at least the Leftofascist goosesteppers (yes, I said it, Godwintards!) are somewhat consistent about their basic mathematical inability even down to the “2+2=4” level.

The Finer Things

AM/PM Peppermint Mocha. Y’all are gonna laugh at the seeming madness of it, a caffeine addict hating coffee, but… when you’re a pedestrian whose commutes involve drafty, underheated buses and miles of walking out in the elements, heat becomes almost as important as caffeine this time of year, and the right amount of this stuff added makes even gas-station coffee tolerable. (“Kapow! Strength,” for the record.) Bonus for not having the in-your-face activism of Starbucks.

Quote of the Day

“Convince your enemy that he will gain very little by attacking you; this will diminish his enthusiasm.”–Sun Tzu (hat tip to AOPA ePilot Newsletter)

Open Thread

As always, the Watercooler is an Open Thread. Got something on your mind nobody’s talking about? Sound Off here–then Step Away From the Keyboard and go enjoy the holiday with your loved ones. 🙂