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In the world of retail modernization, this story is number one with a bullet. Is there anything more 20th-century American than vending machines? They revolutionized life in the 1900s. By 1890, New York City had placed automated chewing gum dispensers on its railway platforms; soft drinks were delivered by mechanical means in 1937; and back in the social Stone Age, Americans used machines to secure their cigarettes. In the U.S., all the following have been procured courtesy of mechanized merchants:
Person-free peddling appliances have also gotten political. In California, machines have meted out marijuana; in heavily Democratic Connecticut, they've dealt abortion drugs. But red states have their own ways of revolutionizing life for the masses. And in the southeast, the self-service industry has gotten a 2nd-Amendment-themed update. From Al.com Wednesday:
The boxy, high-tech bullet brokers -- constructed by a company called American Rounds -- use facial recognition to confirm each buyer's identification. Once a photo ID is received, a 360-degree scan is performed. Such news calls to a defining difference between regions of the country. For years, Californians have had to undergo background checks to acquire ammo. The political machine there seems stacked against those who relish the right to bear arms. Meanwhile, AL is the opposite of LA. RELATED: Alabama Passes Law Protecting Gun Owners From De Facto Private Sector Firearm Registry And where might firearm owners in the Yellowhammer State acquire their vended cartridges? The grocery store, of course. More from Al.com:
Sometimes you just need some milk, eggs, and 9mm 115-grain jacketed hollow points. In a promotional video, Fresh Value COO Terry Stanley claimed a win with store patrons:
Innovation in the realm of munitions sales makes sense; thanks in part to 2020's riots, the gun market hasn't exactly waned: Trigger Warning: To the Horror of the Mainstream Media, Soaring U.S. Gun Sales Break Another Record Hot as a Six-Shooter: Gun Sales Continue to Soar as Dems Find Their Strange Place in the Chaos American Chaos Triggers Impossible Demand as Smith & Wesson Reloads Number 1 With a Bullet: Americans Keep Their Gun Grab Going, but Some Companies Are Shooting Blanks Another Fiery Year: Survey Reveals More Than 3 Million First-Time Gun Buyers as of Mid-2021 To be clear, Alabama isn't the first state to see a machine that bestows bullets. Eight years ago, Fort Worth's Shoot Smart chain introduced the first such convenience to be offered at a Texas shooting range: But Alabama appears a pioneer in adjoining guns and groceries. Not everyone fancying a Fresh Value favors the high-caliber kiosks. In July 4th on-air coverage by Birmingham's WVTM, one man disapproved:
And stop the presses -- there's been some very recent recoil. On Friday, WVTM competitor ABC 33/40 reported the Tuscaloosa machine is being benched:
Nope.
Per ABC, the manager of a different Fresh Value location claims Tuscaloosa's kiosk has suffered lackluster sales. Regardless, Oklahoma has followed Alabama with American Rounds installments in supermarkets. Is AI-vended ammo the way of the future? In red states, maybe. In woker regions, such installations would see grocery stores requiring trigger warnings. Whatever the fate of robotic bullet sales, surely we can all agree that the future looks stunningly strange. -ALEX |
Conservative Blogger
Saturday, July 6, 2024
Freedom Feels Different in a Red State: Alabama Launches Ammo Vending Machines
Look at the Faces of the ABC News Panel After Biden’s Interview
Sarah covered this trainwreck of an interview earlier tonight. Joe Biden sat down with former Clinton operative George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive ABC News interview that was aimed at quelling the deafening concerns about the president’s mental health. It did no such thing. The faces of the panel that were to weigh in on this interview say it all. ABC News’ Jon Karl rightly noted that Democrats who watched this disaster are even more worried since Joe doesn’t understand that he’s losing the election.
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) July 6, 2024Even ABC Jon Karl: "There is nothing in this interview that is calming nerves of jittery Democrats"
Notes that many Dems are even more worried because he won't even concede he's doing badly
When George cut to the team…their faces. pic.twitter.com/xOB3fUTi3r
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) July 6, 2024
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) July 6, 2024One 👀 House Democrat on President Biden’s interview tonight:
“It made me sad. Completely out of touch with reality and insulated from truth.”
“I’ll be breaking my silence soon.”
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) July 5, 2024This ABC interview was supposed to shut down talk of Biden’s decline
He immediately says he doesn’t remember if he watched the debate
He’s cooked pic.twitter.com/TsELNFUkdP
Length of most sitcoms
— Censorship is for LOSERS (@GoldMeddle1) July 6, 2024
The debate was riddled with poll denialism and outright lies. Stephanopoulos asked about Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) reportedly mustering Democratic Senators to try to push Biden off the ticket. Biden said that Warner was a good man and tried to run for the party’s nomination—that never happened. The former Clinton White House communications director also said he had never seen a president with a 32 percent approval rating get re-elected; Biden said his poll numbers were better.
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 6, 2024
.@GStephanopoulos: "Do you really believe you're not behind right now?" @JoeBiden: "All the pollsters I talk to tell me its a tossup."
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 6, 2024
At this point it's only like their 4th most important problem, but the fact that the White House has drunk the kool-aid on the poll denialism stuff all cylce long isn't helping matters. https://t.co/NDJ4yoskTW
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 6, 2024
Biden smiles when asked about Sen. Warner’s reported efforts to get him to drop out of the race. “Mark is a good man. He also tried to get the nomination, too.” (Warner didn’t run for office.)
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) July 6, 2024
Biden is just making stuff up now. https://t.co/uzM8tGsw8G
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 6, 2024
It was a magical mystery tour, much like the debate, where a mentally strained and degraded president can’t admit he’s losing and thinks this middling, half-coherent interview will silence his critics who are concerned about his broken brain.
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 6, 2024Joe Biden's ABC interview is already going south. In the first minute, he appears visibly short of breath while complaining about exhaustion during the debate.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “Let's start with the debate. You and your team have said you had a bad night, but your friend… pic.twitter.com/GhGPR1KoR7
Another lie Biden peddled pervasively was that he had a cold and a bad night when he debated Trump. We’ve all had colds and seen elderly members of our families go through them; we all know this wasn’t a cold. Second, he claims that exhaustion factored into his bad night. So, what’s this trip to Waffle House after getting boat raced by Trump at 2 am? The early morning pitstop at Waffle House shreds this “I had a bad debate because I was tired and sick” narrative.
The problem for Biden here is that we all know what a really bad cold looks and sounds like, and that’s not what was ailing him. https://t.co/V3p3J4E62v
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) July 5, 2024
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) July 5, 2024LEFT: Biden explains to Stephanopoulos that he was sick the night of the debate, tested for viruses and had a bad cold.
RIGHT: Biden milling around a Waffle House in close quarters with a crowd of people after the debate. pic.twitter.com/Ljb5dRDoRr
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 6, 2024See the problem here?
He says his catastrophic debate was because he was exhausted and had a cold. Then brags that he felt good enough to go spread that cold all over a Waffle House after the debate at 2am https://t.co/tiHrFeAnW0 pic.twitter.com/jFAMvaqnn8
Joe, you’re Drool McCool because you’re old and mentally impaired, and everyone who has handled a family member going through similar matters knows what’s going on—it’s why this concerted effort to not talk about his age won’t work. We all know you’re too old, including members of your own party.
Also, when asked about the likely scenario that Trump beat Biden in 2024, the word on the street is that the president will be okay with the result if he gives it his all. I’m not sure the party will like that sentiment:
— umichvoter 🏳️🌈 (@umichvoter) July 6, 2024
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) July 6, 2024This interview was the worst of all worlds for the Ds.
Biden committed no real flubs. He didn’t do anything to force himself out of the race. But he appears old, weak, tentative and he’s losing to Trump.
So Biden will dig in and stay. The Ds are stuck.
***
Last Note: This is insane, and even Nate Silver added that it was a disqualifying moment. When asked about taking a cognitive test, “If the Lord Almighty said get out of the race, I’d get out of the race. The Lord Almighty’s not coming down,” said Biden.
This is also disqualifying on its own. https://t.co/va9bwZ9pif
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 6, 2024
This is just a bad night? pic.twitter.com/003WktMrxd
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) July 6, 2024
Yikes.
Also, good question:
— Jake Schneider (@jacobkschneider) July 5, 2024Why hasn’t @BidenHQ tweeted out any clips from the first portion of Biden’s big interview where he was supposed to show off his cognitive fitness?
Unless…
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House Republicans say they aren't sweating Kamala as possible Biden replacement
House Republicans are already sharpening their attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris as public discussions swell over whether she will replace President Biden at the top of Democrats' 2024 ticket.
GOP lawmakers — in both safe red seats and swing districts being targeted by the left — dismissed Harris as a political threat to their chances in November, arguing she's still tied to the same progressive Biden policies they believe are unpopular with voters.
Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., who served as longtime chair of the New York Republican Party before coming to Congress, told Fox News Digital, "Kamala Harris is just as responsible for this administration's failures, but she's more incompetent."
"She will make no difference to the outcome. President Trump will be our 47th," he said.
A swing-seat Republican who asked not to be named told Fox News Digital they were skeptical Harris would do better on the debate stage than Biden.
"I would say she's the weakest part of the ticket right now, as bad as Biden is," that GOP lawmaker said.
"Whether it's Joe Biden or [Harris] at the top of the ticket, they'll have to defend their abysmal, tax-and-spend record," said Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla. "We're already seeing significant Republican advantages across the board in swing states, especially increase in support from Hispanic voters."
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., a Trump ally from a deep red district, told Fox News Digital that Biden and Harris "both own the same disastrous policies."
It comes as conversations swirl around Harris as one of the most likely successors to Biden if he chooses to withdraw from the race ahead of his November rematch with former President Trump.
Vice President Harris would stand to inherit the Biden-Harris campaign's massive war chest if President Biden withdraws from the race. (Tierney L. Cross)
Biden and his campaign have insisted he will not bow out of the race, but his weak performance in last month's presidential debate has left many on the left wondering if he's the best positioned candidate to beat Trump. Multiple polls have shown Biden modestly trailing Trump since the debate aired.
Harris has maintained that she is standing by Biden on multiple occasions when asked about the speculation by reporters.
But if she were to take over, Harris would be the only Democratic candidate who could inherit the $240 million Biden-Harris campaign war chest.
The House GOP campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), is also aiming its fire at Harris as well, in a telling sign that it sees her as the next top Democratic target.
A new advertisement released by the NRCC this week cast Harris as Biden's "enabler-in-chief" and hits her for her role as Biden's "border czar."
A spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) told Axios
of the ad, "Republicans are fooling themselves if they think the
American public will blame anyone besides Donald Trump and his feckless
band of Republican extremists and phony moderates who killed a
bipartisan border deal."
Questions about President Biden's viability as a candidate grew after the debate with former President Trump. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A recent CNN/SSRS poll shows Harris performing slightly better than Biden in a matchup against Trump.
But when asked about her impact on the November races, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. — a past NRCC chair — would not speak to the vice president specifically, though he was confident in the GOP's chances to secure the White House.
"It doesn't matter which incompetent failure Democrats have on the ballot in November — voters are ready to abandon the sinking ship that is the Biden-Harris administration," Emmer said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Biden campaign and to Harris' office for comment.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
Biden Declares That He Is The 'First Black Woman To Serve With A Black President' 😆
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| President Joe Biden speaks to supporters during a campaign rally at
Sherman Middle School on July 05, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. In an attempt to reassure voters that he is still qualified for presidential office, President Joe Biden misrepresented himself once more when he publicly claimed to be the “first Black woman to serve with a Black president.” A week after his disastrous debate performance, the 81-year-old president made the embarrassing error while trying to find the appropriate words during an appearance on Philadelphia’s WURD radio station on Thursday as part of an Independence Day media spotlight. As he talked about having been the vice president under former President Barack Obama and then selecting Kamala Harris as his own, Biden seemed to mix up his words again.
Biden had previously boasted in the interview about having chosen Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to be vice president, and he also highlighted choosing Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court. While informing the host that he understood the racial significance of Jackson’s U.S. Supreme Court nomination for “a young girl who is in school and having trouble,” Biden made the comparison. However, the second comment regarding Jackson came off as racist to many social media users who posted about it.
Additionally, the gaffe was just one of many errors and blunders that Biden expressed in the interview, which sought to reassure Americans that his disastrous debate performance was an isolated incident. Biden also made the strange claim that he was the “first president that got elected statewide in the state of Delaware when I was a kid.” At another point, he asserted that he understood the “Black struggle” for representation because, before John F. Kennedy was elected into office more than 60 years ago, he believed that Catholics could not become president.
However, Ammar Moussa, a spokesman for Biden’s reelection campaign, swiftly chastised the media for drawing attention to the president’s latest mistakes.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts |
Sources: Biden Tells Democrat Governors He Will Stop Scheduling Events After 8 P.M. So He Can Sleep More 😴
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| Sleepy Joe 😴 US President Joe Biden disembarks from Air Force One upon arrival at
Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, July 5, 2024,
as he travels to his home in Wilmington, Delaware. During a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, President Joe Biden informed Democrat governors that part of his future plan is to cease arranging events and upcoming engagements after 8 p.m. so that he can get more sleep, according to three separate sources who were briefed on his remarks. 81-year-old Biden made the comments, which were originally reported by the New York Times, while attempting to reassure a group of over 20 state leaders about his chances of beating former GOP President Donald Trump in November, hoping to continue “leading the country for another four years.” Several of the governors in the meeting were irritated by Biden’s remark, sources told reporters, and this is “one of the reasons that some of the participants have been rankled by the statement of loyalty and enthusiasm from them distributed by the Biden campaign on Thursday,” CNN reported. An aide working for Joe Biden’s campaign excused the scowls coming from some governors and reassured the group that in addition to working on debate preparation the week following Biden’s two trips to Europe, the president also put in hours of official work.
At one point, Biden also reportedly joked with the governors, but the “joke” in question did not go as planned.
Nonetheless, Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Kathy Hochul of New York, and Wes Moore of Maryland gave a favorable impression of the meeting at a news conference after it took place on Wednesday, saying that Biden is “all in” and “in it to win it.” While answering a question from a reporter, Walz also noted that Biden is most definitely “fit for office” and disregarded any worries over his age and health. Additionally, California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, who was present at the meeting and is campaigning for Biden in South Haven, Michigan, told CNN that he believes people are overanalyzing Biden’s admission of exhaustion and that it demonstrates his humanity. Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts |
Friday, July 5, 2024
Trump Demands ABC Show 'Real Interview' With Biden
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Former President Donald Trump is calling on ABC News to release a full, "real interview" in its prime-time special Friday with President Joe Biden and demand answers about his use of the "Department of Injustice" to attack him. Trump, in a Truth Social post Thursday deriding ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Biden's interviewer, as "George Slopadopoulos" and "Liddle George," Trump called an interview that was "not a cut up promotion with only his few coherent answers released to the public." "Let the World know why Joe directed and allowed his Department of Injustice and others to illegally attack his Political Opponent, ME," Trump said. "Also ask why he used all Soros Prosecutors and in particular, a loser like Deranged Jack Smith? The proof is irrefutable — Crooked Joe is a "COWARD!!!" The Biden interview was initially to air on Sunday and Monday, with previews Friday and Saturday. However, Thursday, the White House and ABC News announced that the interview instead would be shown as a prime-time special Friday night. A preview of the interview's highlights will air first on ABC News' "World News Tonight With David Muir" at 6:30 p.m. ET. Stephanopoulos, a senior adviser for former President Bill Clinton, hosts "Good Morning America" and "This Week" and joined ABC News in 1997. Trump, in his post, referred to Stephanopoulos as "the meanest and most vicious interviewer out there" and ABC News as "one of the worst and most vile broadcasters in the business." The network was once the home of Brian Ross, "whose reporting on the Russia, Russia hoax was so outlandish" that ABC News "was forced to put him, and their reputation, out to pasture," Trump said. According to The New York Times, ABC News parted ways with Ross, the network's former chief investigative correspondent in 2018 after he botched a report about Trump and the Russia investigation. Trump's message followed a separate post Thursday in which he wished a "Happy Fourth of July to all, including to our highly incapable 'President.'" He said that Biden uses prosecutors to go after his political opponent and "choked like a dog during the Debate but tried to pretend it was 'International Travel' (only 12 days rest!)" before blaming his difficulties on a cold. "Also, respects to our potentially new Democrat Challenger, Laffin' Kamala Harris," said Trump. "She did poorly in the Democrat Nominating process, starting out at Number Two, and ending up defeated and dropping out, even before getting to Iowa, but that doesn't mean she's not a 'highly talented' politician! Just ask her Mentor, the Great Willie Brown of San Francisco." According to a Reuters fact check, Harris and Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco, openly dated in the mid-1990s, ending their relationship in 1995. Trump also said he had to "compliment" special counsel Jack Smith, "who has become a Legend in his own mind for all of those cases he has lost." "The Corrupt Prosecutors are working hard for Crooked Joe, but it will never be enough," he said. "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Sandy Fitzgerald ✉Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. © 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved. |
America needs to ban non-citizen voting and we know how
Only U.S. citizens should vote in American elections — including North Carolina’s state and local elections.
It might sound like common sense, but it seems rather uncommon, given the pushback against a bill that was recently approved by the General Assembly that would amend North Carolina’s constitution to explicitly prohibit non-citizens from voting in state and local elections.
Opponents on the left claim that non-citizen voting is a nonissue. But given the massive influx of illegal immigrants into our country in the last several years, now is absolutely the time to close a loophole that could permit non-citizen voting.
That’s why my colleagues and I introduced HB 1407 to give North Carolinians the opportunity to decide in November whether or not to add this common sense safeguard to our state constitution.
North Carolina is trying prevent non-citizens from voting. FILE: The North Carolina state Capitol is photographed in Raleigh, North Carolina. (LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images)
If approved by the voters, the amendment would implement a simple change to our state constitution. It would state that "only a citizen of the United States" may vote in state and local elections, thereby clearly and explicitly prohibiting non-citizens from ever being able to vote in a state or local election in North Carolina.
It’s a small adjustment with big implications. As more and more states allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, this change would secure the Tarheel State’s elections from outside influence both now and in the future.
The current language in our state constitution does indeed specify that every person born in the United States or naturalized as a citizen can vote, but it doesn’t specify that non-citizens can’t vote — and this is a loophole that is at risk of exploitation. We no longer have the luxury of potentially ambiguous gray areas and unsecured loopholes in our laws, especially when it comes to elections.
It’s a fact that more than 10 million illegal immigrants have entered the United States since President Joe Biden took office. Hundreds of individuals apprehended at the border have been found to be on the terrorist watchlist. Others have been found to have connections to the Chinese Communist Party and violent organized crime rings. It’s not unreasonable to say we don’t want individuals with these connections voting in our elections.
Our bill would ensure these individuals can’t cast a ballot in North Carolina and remove any potential for outside influence in our elections.
What happens if we don’t pass this? A loophole remains in our constitution that could allow non-citizens to vote in our elections. Despite the Left’s claims that this isn’t happening, it indeed is, and non-citizen voting does have the potential to sway elections.
Municipalities in Washington, D.C., California, Maryland, and Vermont all allow non-citizens to vote in local elections. And in New York City, a law would have allowed 800,000 non-citizens to vote for mayor, city council, and local races. This number surpassed the margin of New York City’s 2020 mayoral race — meaning non-citizen voting could have swayed the election had the law not been found unconstitutional.
The risk of outside influence in our elections through non-citizen voting should give anyone pause, regardless of political party.
It’s a small adjustment with big implications. As more and more states allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, this change would secure the Tarheel State’s elections from outside influence both now and in the future.
North Carolina isn’t alone in seeking to close this loophole. By adjusting the language in our state constitution to explicitly ban non-citizen voting, we would join states like Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Ohio, which have similar constitutional language. Other states, like Iowa, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, will also be voting on similar bans this fall.
The threat to our elections is clear. But we can solve this real and pressing problem once and for all with a simple change to the language in our state constitution.
North Carolina elections should only
be decided by legal voters — and that means only U.S. citizens. I am
proud to support this important piece of legislation and confident the
voters of North Carolina will approve this logical step to keep our
elections secure from outside influence.
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