Author: Derek
Not Your Typical Independence Day Post
This is going to be a bit more of a rant on our current election state. Not the candidates, but how we’re selecting the candidates.
Yesterday, I changed my party affiliation from Libertarian to Republican. No, I haven’t suddenly drank the MAGA Kool-Aid. I’m still the fiercely minarchist person. So, why would I change?
My county commissioners have been acting in a rather craven manner for their backers. They’ve also shut down almost all forms of public redress. And they’re actively going after critics or anyone who dares challenge them. Then they hide behind a smokescreen of culture war issues that have no bearing on, you know, making sure the county runs. That infrastructure is built to handle the massive influx of residents. That our local resources are preserved so that we can continue to draw tourists to our area. Needless to say, I am displeased by the current crop. Maybe one or two exceptions.
Manatee County is bright red. As in Irish Yankee spent too much time on the beach without sunscreen red. My only chance to vote against the incumbents will not be at the general election in November, but the primaries in August. And Florida has a closed primary system. So, I have to forsake my Libertarian affiliation so that I can vote against the bastards damaging my home county.
Herein starts the rant. Primaries should not be to choose the parties’ candidate. Primaries should be to winnow a field of candidates down for the general election. Party affiliation should be considered more as an endorsement, like getting approved by the Chamber of Commerce. I don’t really care how the parties select their candidates (elections, smoke-filled rooms, gladiatorial combat).
I just want to see better candidates.
Special Anime Recommendation
I’ll have the regular anime recommendations out later this month, but I kinda wanted to put this out there. Because fifty years ago, this debuted:
I would come to know it as:
My recommendation is Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (sometimes listed as Starblazers 2199). This is a damn good reimagining of the original series.
And now we’re getting another installment.
Monday Links
This week’s going to be heavy with Volokh Conspiracy / Reason links due to the handing down of some major Supreme Court decisions. I might make a roundup of the court post later this week or next after I’ve had some time to digest as well as to listen to more knowledgeable folks. But, let’s go ahead and get started.
First, more on Rahimi’s impact on Bruen.
An article looking at Florida’s response to citrus canker and the people who suffered.
Baltimore is using a cell phone hacking service again.
From the local news station, but widely carried, many nations’ Olympics teams – including the US – are bringing their own AC’s to Paris. Because the Frenchies decreed AC was bad and against their carbon goals.
WSJ (paywall warning) has a story about how delivery drivers got their wages raised by government fiat, and now they have less orders to deliver.
Sora News is reporting that a reboot of Ranma 1/2 is in the works. I’m kinda curious because this was one of the series that got me into anime as anime – and not a Saturday-morning cartoon.
BFS – Redux 2024
The Wife and I are taking a break from Toastmasters. Issues with day jobs and other happenings at Ward Manor. Essentially life. So, for my last speech for the foreseeable future, I did a redux of my infamous BFS speech.
Monday Links
I’m going to deviate a bit from my normal flow due to the Rahimi ruling.
Here’s the Advisory Opinions podcast.
My two cents? This was the court walking back/modifying Text, History, Tradition because it didn’t like how it was shaking out in the lower courts. This also reinforces my thesis in last week’s post.
Now back to our normal programming, staring with our mix of Reason posts I found interesting.
ATF agents cleared in killing of a director of an executive airport. This one is being followed pretty heavily in the RKBA circles.
The US military was spreading anti-vax propaganda in China.
A man is suing Marion County SO for arresting him because he was filming them.
Florida’s loosened it’s labor laws for teens. It sounds kind of like taking them back to where they were when I was a manager at Mickey D’s.
Now on to other stories.
Another story from The Reload – this time about a Ukranian pushing for a version of the Second Amendment for his country. There’s also a bit in the article about how Miami PD held a gun buyback with the guns being sent to Ukraine. Honestly, if an org I trusted was collecting some guns to send over there, I might shake loose a couple.
From The Hill, comes a perfect example of kabuki theater around a real issue. I think the draft is against the Thirteenth Amendment. If you can’t get people to volunteer, then maybe it isn’t the existential threat you purport.
From TechCrunch, the US bans the sale of Kaspersky antivirus software due to security concerns over Russia.
Local news story about new Florida law prohibiting HOA’s from banning the parking of work trucks. This is a big bone of contention around here. With so many new developments, the HOA’s are still controlled by the builders – who are less than flexible about anything that doesn’t meet their esthetic.
From Ars Technica, a thinkpiece on if the USAF looking for a replacement for the F-16 means the F-35 program is a failure.
Finally, we end on a sad note. Miguel is shuttering GunFreeZone. When Miguel was still in Florida and running the blog, this was a go-to for the best information on Florida gun legislation. I’ll be honest, I stopped reading after Miguel left because JKB just rubbed me the wrong way. While I’m sort of unsurprised that he went too far, I’m sorry to see the blog go away. H/t John Richardson.