It is difficult to quantify the magnitude of a campaign FOR PRESIDENT – run entirely on the fortunes of Michael Bloomberg and the favors that buys.
Bloomberg’s campaign is like a machine, oozing unlimited manpower and resources to advance everywhere at once, enveloping the entire country with inescapable messaging leaking from every available media like an uncontrolled virus.
True, Trump is also a wealthy man – but with all that wealth, he didn’t do what Bloomberg is doing. Bloomberg is so successful – that he has placed second in the race only days after he entered it, without even entering Iowa or New Hampshire.
The sheer magnitude of his spending is overwhelming anyone else in the race for president.
According to Buzzfeed, Bloomberg is employing more staffers than any other campaign, paying them higher wages, three meals a day and proffering an iPhone 11s. His events are catered, with free teeshirts and theatrical staging. He has the biggest ad campaign in presidential history. He has only been on the campaign trail for days – and has spent over $400 million on advertising.
But the lead up has been in the works for years – Bloomberg has bought his way into every major area of philanthropy, thwarting naysayers with huge contributions.
“Bloombergs charitable donations went to cities whose mayors he then asked for 2020 endorsements,” reads The Washington Examiner.
The New York Times reports that Bloomberg “poured billions of dollars into efforts that advance his philanthropic and political causes,” pointing out that Emily’s List disregarded his comments poo-pooing the #MeToo movement after nearly $6 million in donations and allowed him to address their Sept. 24 luncheon. There, he pledged that he would support more women candidates than ever before, spending more than $100 million to support Democratic candidates.
Money talks, politicians listen.
Is that fair? Is that right? More importantly – is that how we win an election in the United States?
Maybe. He sure seems to be doing a great job of gaining traction.
Bloomberg’s social media campaign ads center on his climate crisis spending, maternal health, reproductive rights, the opioid crisis – anything to stifle criticism and blur the lines of tax-emption for his Bloomberg Philanthropies and his Bloomberg 2020 campaign spending, according to The Chronicle for Philanthropy.
The entire country seems to be rethinking all of his comments on police tactics towards African Americans, on mortgage redlining, on discrimination and sexual assaults on women, and just about anything that could call his behavior into question.
Suddenly, it seems like the whole world is genuflecting to the anti-Christ. Wow.
How much impact can a man’s wealth have on an election? Combined with the tidal wave of hate for Donald Trump that has poured forth since the day he was elected, it is a powerful elixir for Democrats.
With that, how loyal will Progressive Bernie supporters remain? Will they continue to support the man and his socialist agenda after the tide of social welfare support that is Bloomberg?
Bloomberg’s personal wealth could help pay down the national debt, re-home every homeless American, clean up the world’s environmental disasters, raise the global tide for poverty, provide mental health and counseling services to people everywhere, raise everyone out of poverty – but he is using it as leverage to GET ELECTED PRESIDENT of the most powerful country in human history!
I recall Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. Among the rules: “A good tactic is one your people enjoy; the major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition; the price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.”
This year’s
Legislature has produced some unique proposed solutions to deal with our
housing crisis.
Senate Bill
2216, introduced by
Sen. Stanley Chang, chair of the Senate Housing Committee, proposes an “empty
homes tax.“ If you own residential real property in Hawaii and you
can’t swear that you lived in it, then you get charged a tax. The annual amount
of the tax is 5% of the assessed value of the property.
So, for
example, if you owned a vacation home in Honolulu worth $1 million and you
didn’t live in it, your Honolulu real property tax at the Residential A
property classification would be $4,500 per year. The empty homes tax, which
you would pay to the State rather than the City, would be $50,000 per
year.
Even the
Department of Taxation, in its testimony on the bill, had reservations. It pointed out that there were some instances
of a unit being empty that should be considered for exemption, such as where
the unit is being advertised to be rented (or sold), the unit is being
renovated, or the unit can’t be lived in because of damage or other conditions.
Finally, there
was a more fundamental problem: the tax
is triggered by a use of real property (or lack of use), it’s levied against
the real property owner, and is based on the value of the real property
involved. It looks, walks, and quacks
like a real property tax. But under our
state constitution, at least the way it reads now, only the counties have the
authority to impose real property tax. Bzzzt! The State can’t do this. (But note that there are different proposals
in the hopper to change the state constitution, as we wrote about last week.)
This measure
was heard in the Senate Housing Committee (which happens to be chaired by the
bill’s sponsor) and was passed.
Another
innovative approach, which happens to be sponsored by the same Senator, is a
“flipping surcharge” set forth in Senate Bill
2040. This bill imposes a tax of 25% of the net
proceeds from the sale of residential property if (1) the property was sold
within 5 years after it was bought, and (2) the owner isn’t eligible for a
county homeowner’s exemption.
This bill was
heard by the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
During the hearing, senators went through some interesting
examples. If a home was bought for $1
million cash and it sold for $1 million, the tax would be around $250,000 (in
addition to the income tax on capital gains), assuming negligible closing costs. If a home was bought for $1 million with bank
financing and it sold for $1 million, with $800,000 going to the mortgagee, the
tax would be $50,000. If an owner bought
a home for $1 million and spent $500,000 improving it, and it then sold at no
gain for $1.5 million, the tax would be $375,000.
The Hawaii
Association of Realtors also pointed out that the tax would apply if an owner
invested in a dilapidated property, fixed it up so it was habitable again, and
then sold it, even as an affordable unit.
We at the
Foundation pointed out that there would be situations where imposing the tax
might not be appropriate. Suppose a
person is given a long-term job assignment (or military station) here and moves
here with family in tow but does not want to give up primary residency. A few years later, the assignment ends, and
the person is assigned to state B. The house
here is sold to buy one in state B.
Wham! The tax applies.
By the end of
the hearing, some senators had reached the end of their rope. The committee chair decided to hold the bill.
What other
solutions are going to be thrown at us this year? Lots of things can happen before the end of
our legislative session.
There are a plethora of reasons why Michael Bloomberg
shouldn’t be considered for the Democrat nomination to be president, but two
stick out with significance: His wealth and the hint that he would restore the
Clinton influence in American politics.
The comedy show that is the field of candidates for the Democrat
presidential nomination is Emmy worthy. They exist as a mismatch of Marxists
and Trotskyites, oligarchic
millionaires and billionaires, globalists and anarchists on the main stage
talking about how the rest of us should live our lives so as to be benevolent.
They preach about how we must sacrifice for the environment as the fly around
the country in private jets (but for Sanders who only flies first class). And they
thunder on how the Second Amendment is antiquated, even as they pontificate
behind walls of armed bodyguards and spend tens of millions for armed security
for their upcoming convention.
The entirety of the Democrat slate expects the sheep
among their subjects to jettison the things they have come to know (read:
reality) so as to embrace their elitist Nuevo-definitions of words, phrases,
and events, allowing for the cobbling of a narrative that appears to legitimize
their tapestries of bovine feces.
Whether you see their line-up as comedic or macabre, it
is a dangerous line-up. One of them will survive the media labyrinth to exist
one election away from the ability to make their vision for our country a
reality.
Remember, in November of 2008 everyone stood slack-jawed
that a nobody from Chicago exploded into the presidency. The eight years of
Barack Obama’s Progressive and Marxist policies not only damaged the economy
and security of the United States, but it also divided the people in a way not
seen since before the Civil Rights Movement.
Bloomberg, 77, isn’t a nobody. He’s a billionaire fifty-times
over who controls a significant media apparatus to advance his narrative. This
means he can spin fiction that softens, manipulates, and distorts – to his
advantage – his anti-Second Amendment, pro-abortion, open borders, tax-happy
agenda in an effort to dupe the people into abdicating their freedoms; as he
seeks to make the US Constitution irrelevant and the United States a socialist
democracy. This is exactly how he was able to politically reinvent himself so
many times.
A lifelong Democrat before registering as a Republican in
2001 to ingratiate himself to New York City voters on the heels of the wildly
successful tenure of Rudy Giuliani (R), Bloomberg
dropped his Republican designation while in office, registering as an
Independent in 2007, and again executed a metamorphic change in re-registering
as a Democrat in 2018 in preparation for a presidential run. To say that he is
a political opportunist would be a grotesque understatement.
If that isn’t enough to expunge Bloomberg from
consideration for any public office, there is credible buzz that he is
seriously considering allowing the poison of Hillary Clinton’s politics and
influence to resurface on the world stage in a vice-presidential
bid on his ticket (I guess that would put her one suicide away from the presidency).
For the record, Bloomberg’s spokesperson issued a
non-denial denial when asked about a Clinton number-two spot. Non-denial
denials are the things of manipulating despots and tyrants, by the by.
Even Bloomberg’s supporters have to question both his
political metamorphosis and his questionable judgment in contemplating adding such
a divisive in Hillary Clinton to his ticket given her disapproval ratings. His
metamorphosis proves his opportunism and his Clinton inclusion proves his
willingness to associate with the criminal class to pander to a voter
demographic. These are demonstrations of political infidelity and poor
decision-making.
There is an old adage that goes, and I paraphrase: just because you can doesn’t mean you should. We have intellectually lumbered into an era where disingenuous opportunists routinely seek elected office, this happening from local to national. Bloomberg and his ilk are a byproduct of this reality. And because of the short-attention-span narrative-mongers of social media and the soundbite Pharisees of the mainstream media, they are getting elected. Our country and the government our Framers bequeathed to us lays mortally wounded because of it.
And truth be told, we have no one to blame for the demise of our country but ourselves. Opportunists only take advantage of opportunities. We the People are guilty of affording those opportunities.
The first Solar system space selfie was taken by the craft Voyager on Valentine’s day, February 14, 1990. From 3.7 billion miles (6 billion kilometers), Voyager 1 turned its camera back towards Earth and snapped 60 frames. Voila! The first space selfie. Gives new meaning to the phrase,”We are the eyes of the Earth.”
Voyager took a series of pictures of the Solar system and Earth. On this the 30th anniversary of the Pale Blue Dot image, NASA enhanced the Voyager images and released them this week. Check the article below for more links.
It was not the first look back at the Planet Earth from space. The most important discovery humans made going to the Moon, was Earth. You can read about the first image of the Earth from the Moon in another Earth day post.
To read more about the first Solar System Space Selfie, check out this article by Sustainability writer Robert Kinslow
The Hawai’i Innocence Project hosted a revealing debate for the Honolulu Prosecutor’s last month at Orvis Hall, University of Hawai’i, which emphasized the conflict this state has with trust in our elected officials.
Five candidates answered questions on a range of topics from the death penalty to homelessness; but throughout, the underlying theme was about restoring public trust.
That is the most important question: how to restore trust.
The conviction of former deputy prosecutor Katherine Kealoha and her husband, former Police Chief Louis Kealoha on federal conspiracy charges and obstruction charges in June, along with two police officers, is one of the worst public corruption cases in Hawai’i’s history and will cost the state and county millions of taxpayer dollars.
After 16 years in office, Honolulu Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro received a target letter from the Justice Department last April, informing him that he too, is under investigation in the federal corruption probe. He is currently on paid leave.
With top law enforcement under indictment or in jail, that says a lot about Hawaii’s criminal justice system.
The candidates included Megan Kau, a former deputy prosecutor who is a practicing criminal defense attorney; Deputy Public Defender Jacquelyn Esser; former Judge Steve Alm, Prosecutor and United States Attorney; Civil Litigator, former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney RJ Brown; and practicing criminal attorney Tae Kim.
It should be noted that the current Acting Prosecutor, Dwight Nadamoto did not appear at the debate, though he has reportedly filed papers. In the ongoing investigation, he was called before the Grand Jury and was questioned for three hours.
Alm stood out as the most “imbedded” candidate. He is running a campaign that will include his network, he said, “Leading a team of prosecutors to restore the public trust.” He spoke frequently of his experience and leadership, and of how he would handle and train deputy prosecutors. He talked about his connections and those who would join him in office.
For the voter who is looking for a seamless, uninterrupted flow of “business as usual”, this is your candidate. Supporters contributing more than $100 include the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers (SHOPO), a Honolulu police commissioner and Police Chief Darryl Perry of Kauai.
And while Alm is a candidate sure to have name recognition, his fundraising, at about $100,000, has been bested by political newcomer Megan Kau, by about $20,000.
On the other side of the political spectrum was Jacquelyn Esser.
Esser brought a lively crew of supporters wearing her teeshirts, seemingly culled from among the students at the University.
Her opening statement included buzz words like “healing,” and “transition.” She spoke of crime prevention and framed the Prosecutor’s office as a place for prevention and victim’s resources.
However, she expressed a deep reluctance to jail ethnic offenders, which could be hard on the victims.
RJ Brown wants to have monthly community forums to restore trust. He sees the criminal justice system as an opportunity for diversion programs, versus jail terms.
Youthful and energetic, Brown and Esser framed the Prosecutor’s office as a stop on the way to treatment for drug abuse and mental health issues – in a public health system that currently, does not exist.
Fundraising for Esser was reported at $20,000; for Brown at $24,000.
Tae Kim, who has practiced law as a defense attorney in Honolulu for 28 years, is not flashy. He is probably a great guy, but he may not be a political animal. He attended all of Oahu’s 33 neighborhood board meetings, in which the Prosecutor is the only elected official that does not have a presence at those meetings. He says he will have representation, reaching out to the community. His donations have totaled $1,800.
Megan Kau, who runs her own firm and served as a deputy prosecuting attorney under former mayor and prosecutor Peter Carlisle, opened by explaining that she is a survivor. She has overcome domestic violence and homelessness, two afflictions which are not an abstract to her. She has lived them and succeeded to rise above those circumstances to become a successful attorney and a candidate for office.
Kau also has the most contributions, with a total of $123,000. She is impressive. Kau has gone on record to criticize the powerful SHOPO union for their support of Judge Alm, citing SHOPO’s unwavering support for ex-police chief Louis Kealoha, in spite of the weight of the evidence against him, up until the moment he was convicted.
Questions in the debate covered the gamut of social issues, including homelessness, perceived racial bias in the criminal justice system, drug addiction and mental illness, and treatment and diversion programs, victims rights and most of all, integrity.
And while Brown and Esser believe that the criminal justice system should be redirecting to treatment, social services and mental health instead of incarcerating people, especially Native Hawaiians, Kau points out that it is not the prosecutor’s job to legislate; that is the job of legislators. It is the prosecutor’s job to implement the letter of the law.
And what is important here is that a lot of flowery speech doesn’t address changing laws to meet the circumstances of drug addiction and homelessness. Those issues must be addressed by our elected officials. As citizens, it is we who must elect officials who are responsive to their constituents – not their own interests.
What the debate shows is how candidates have lined up and how the public is engaged. What is most interesting is that there is a groundswell for Kau – not Alm. He is not standing at the top of the heap.
Perhaps the scandals of the past year have made an impression on the voters of Hawaii, enough to engage and inspire the electorate to vote out “business as usual.”
Two years ago,
we as voters were inundated with impassioned arguments on both sides of a
proposed constitutional amendment (“ConAm” for short). The amendment would have
given the State the power to impose a surcharge on real property tax,
ostensibly to fund teacher pay raises.
The Hawaii
Supreme Court ultimately voided the ConAm as vague and misleading.
It’s now
another election year, and bills for ConAms are in the legislative hopper to
monkey with the real property tax yet again.
One bill
proposing to do that is HB 2671, which would
give “concurrent authority” to the Board of Education together with the
counties to levy real property taxes. The Board would need to exercise its authority
for the purpose of funding teacher compensation.
What does concurrent
mean in this situation? Assuming that
the bill drafters didn’t intend to require the Board and the Counties to agree
before any tax increases pass, the effect of the amendment would be that either
the Board or the Counties would be able to modify property tax rates whenever
they wanted to.
When the
previous ConAm was being debated, the Counties all brought up that they didn’t
want their primary revenue source to be altered. The Counties all borrowed
money on the bond market, and they said their creditors would be upset if they
lost control over their primary source of repayment. So, they are likely to have conniptions over
this ConAm as well.
If this bill
passes, then, look for the battle lines to be drawn the same as last time.
Another bill to
watch out for this session is SB 2074. This ConAm would authorize the Legislature to
establish “a surcharge on real property taxes for real property located near
rapid transit stations to fund infrastructure improvements in those areas.”
Notice that the
surcharge is on real property taxes “for” real property located near rapid
transit stations, not on real property taxes “on” real property located near
rapid transit stations. The State is
looking to grab some money to put into infrastructure improvements near rapid
transit stations, but it isn’t looking to get it simply from the real property
to be benefited. The surcharge could
apply to all real property anywhere in the State, and there are no limits on
what the surcharge could be or on what kinds of property could be
affected. In that respect, it’s worse
than the 2018 ConAm because any and all real property can be surcharged, not
just “investment real property” that the 2018 ConAm targeted.
On January 28,
the Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on SB 2074. As of press time, its decision on the bill
had not been released. The public
hearing elicited testimony from the State
Office of Planning (supporting the intent of the bill), the Tax Foundation of
Hawaii (with comments), the Building Industry Association (in strong support),
the Hawaii Association of Realtors (in strong opposition), and one
individual. The individual’s testimony
in opposition was short and sweet: “The
State is Getting to [sic] Greedy.”
Will either of
the ConAm bills make it to the 2020 general election ballot? The drama is still unfolding.
I always find it eyebrow-raising (if not comical) how
Progressives arrive late to the party and then try to dictate how the party
should be run. The most recent example of this particular brand of
self-important narcissism comes in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her cuckold,
metrosexual boy-toy, Riley Roberts, attempting to lecture “white people” on
their “racism.”
“…I think a lot of people, they don’t want to be
racist,” Roberts
said, Ocasio-Cortez at his side with her puppeteer’s hand up his backside. “They
don’t think that they’re racist, but they also don’t know some of the things
they believe or say are and can be racist.” Roberts went on to suggest that
people tell “racist white friends” that they were not, in fact, racist, but
merely held “wrong opinions.”
Lost in all of this is the fact that Ocasio-Cortez and
her boyfriend – as well as the rest of her Justice Democrat, hyper-left, social
engineering comrades – have their own definition for racism. As is always the
case with the Progressive Left (and AOC and her ilk are the extreme in this
already extreme group), they provide their own definitions to words; their own
meaning to phrases and events, in an effort to rewrite history and advance
their version of how the world should be.
In Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts’ world, if you are Caucasian
you are born a racist. It’s that simple. You are born with “white privilege”
and our thoroughly racist society always gives you preference in everything.
From the second you take your first breath, if you are Caucasian, you are
required to apologize for existing.
This is their narrative; their definition of racism. They
are judging an entire race by the color of their skin and ignoring the “content of their character.”
Thirty-five years before Ocasio-Cortez
was conceived, the country went through a self-examination in the Civil Rights
Movement. The nation, as a whole and as individuals, spent 14 tumultuous
years scrutinizing racism in our society. During that time, Caucasians, as well
as people of color, literally put their lives on the line to combat the evils
of racism, especially in the Democrat South where the violent and murderous Ku
Klux Klan held great power.
A great many Caucasian activists, who fully understood
the evils of true racism, took action against those who existed as true
racists, i.e. pieces of human excrement who would judge someone by the color of
their skin, discriminate against them to maintain a superiority class system, limit
their abilities to thrive, and many times take their lives because of it. Some Caucasian
activists saw physical harm come to them for their beliefs, and some gave
their lives in pursuit of the expungement of racism from our society.
Growing up in the 1960s I saw the thick of the Civil
Rights Movement. Having attended Catholic school during this time, the
philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not foreign to me; it was taught,
preached, and expected to be part of who we were. My generation embraced the
idea that you do not judge someone by the color of their skin (if you judge
them at all), you judged them based on the content of their character and their
actions. My parents and the community in which I grew up instilled these
principles in my sister and me, as my friends’ parents did to them.
We have been living that philosophy not because some
social engineering ideologue brow-beat the idea into our heads, but because it
is the intelligent and kind thing to do. Being colorblind – and that includes the many colors of the
Caucasian race – is the only intelligent thing to do. Only when one wears the
glasses of colorblindness can someone’s true character be seen.
Ocasio-Cortez and her sycophantic, skinny jeans-wearing boyfriend arrogantly ignore that entire generations fought back the poison of real racism – life-threatening racism – and, in the overwhelming majority, reject racism in their lives. Instead, they are exploiting a very serious issue by equating politically correct, emotionally-charged victimhood “triggers” to racism. It is sickening and we, as a society should not tolerate their opportunistic manipulation.
I see the content of their character, and their character sucks. That’s not racism. That’s reality.
With the exception of a very few, Republicans,
conservatives, and all those on the Right side of the aisle have all but
shunned US Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), for his vote to impeach the President on
the charge of Abuse
of Power. In the politically charged atmosphere of the beltway, Romney was
expected to vote in lock-step with his political party. And while Romney hid
behind the idea that he was voting his conscience so as to avoid the wrath of
his God, the fact of the matter is this. He did not represent his state when he
cast his vote. He represented himself.
The idea that politicians are beholden to their political
parties where voting on legislation is concerned is a truth that George
Washington warned us about in his Farewell Address:
“All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations, and
associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to
direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the
constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of
fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and
extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation
the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the
community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to
make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans
digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.
“However combinations or associations of the above description may now
and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and
things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled
men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for
themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines
which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
Put succinctly, Washington warned us as plainly as he
could that political parties would come to override the will of the people and
become the destruction of the Republic. To declare that his fear has become a
reality is the understatement of the century.
This brings us to the point about Romney’s vote to
convict the President on the charges of Abuse of Power. While Romney certainly
bucked the idea of voting lock-step with a political faction, he voted as he
did in a way that betrayed the charge of his office.
Before the Progressive Movement’s coup against the US
Constitution in affecting the direct election of US Senators, those positions
were filled by appointment of each state’s legislatures. The concept was an
easy one to understand: where the US House of Representatives was meant to
represent the will of the people nationally, the US Senate was the chamber that
was charged with protecting the sovereignty of the states themselves. US
Senators voted in the best interest of their respective states.
The US Senate, as conceived by our Framers, was able to
protect the states from an over-reaching federal government because Senators
(by virtue of their appointments) weren’t affected by national party politics
to the extent members of Congress were. They didn’t need to placate national
political party leadership because they existed above any manipulation the
parties could inflict.
A perfect example of the genius of the Framers comes in
Obamacare.
If the US Senate were still populated by appointees from
the many state legislatures during the debate on Obamacare, there wouldn’t have
been one vote in that chamber for the measure due to the financial strain the
legislation proposed to put on the states’ treasuries. Every Senator would have
seen the program as not in
their state’s best interests and they would have voted down the measure in
unison.
Since the direct election of Senators, however, that body
is subject to the manipulation of political factions; the very same factions of
which President Washington warned. The political party in power applied
pressure to pass the legislation to the detriment of individuals and states
alike and it became law of the land despite protestations by the people and the
sovereign states.
So, the question in Romney’s vote to convict is not
whether he was manipulated by political pressures. He proved that he was not
and even tried to project an “I am independent-minded” narrative. No, where
Romney went off the rails is that he did not faithful represent his state in
his deliberations; the charge of his station.
The people of Utah made it quite clear that they did not
believe the President should have been convicted on the impeachment articles,
going so far as to threaten a recall of Mr. Romney should he demure to the
Democrats. Romney failed to represent the best interests of his state and,
therefore, abused his power as a US Senator from
that state.
If Progressives wouldn’t have bastardized the US Constitution to remove the apparatus meant to protect the sovereignty of the states (the appointment of federal senators) the Utah legislature could simply recall him and be done with it. Now the people of Utah have to jump through legal hoops to make Romney pay for his transgression against them.
Real world Accuracy with 9mm bullets from Hornady and Zero
The 9×19mm Parabellum designed by Georg Luger is by far the most ubiquitous handgun caliber on the planet. Despite its popularity, from what I’ve seen at the range, most people can’t shoot it accurately past 15 yards. That’s unfortunate.
With the right bullet and the right load, the venerable 9 mm
Luger (which was introduced in 1902) is accurate up to 50 yards or more.
Granted, a nine, particularly with a short barrel, is not the easiest gun to shoot at long distances. Most bullseye shooters won’t touch a nine. When I asked Fred Kart, the founder of Kart Precision (the manufacturer of the famed Kart Barrel) if he shot a 1911 chambered in 9mm he practically snickered. “I don’t shoot nines”, he said, and that was that.
Test machine, a Sig 210
I don’t think he was being snooty. In his opinion a 1911
chambered in nine was not something that serious bullseye shooters took
seriously. He simply had better things
to do with his time.
Who can blame Mr. Kart? A nine, even loaded with tame rounds, has more than its share of muzzle flip. They are harder to keep on target than a .22 or even a .45 with a target load.
That said, they are fun and fairly inexpensive to run. As far as shooting them at 25 yards or longer,
who doesn’t like a challenge?
And that is the genesis of this story.
I was curious what kind of accuracy an average shooter could
muster out of with a decent 9mm pistol.
Of course, other than the firearm and the shooter, the other
huge component is the bullet. Not all bullets are made equal.
What I did in this piece was to load two popular brands of 9
mm bullets in 115, 124/125 and 147 gr varieties and see what kind of groups I
could coax out of a couple of accurate 9mm pistols.
My reasoning was, if I could come up with some good groups,
so can you.
The Bullets
The are a plethora of 9mm bullets available for reloaders in
everything from cast lead to copper plated. I decided to stick with the tried
and true jacketed variety which are favored by competitors, law enforcement and
most enthusiasts. (The jacketed variety
is also more accurate at longer distances than plated bullets).
Two manufacturers, whose products I’ve used over the years are from Hornadyand Zero Manufacturing–companies which are synonymous with quality.
Back in 1949, Hornady’s founder, Joyce Hornady described his
products as “Accurate, deadly, dependable”. This catch phrase
defined his products so well that it became the new company’s first advertising
slogan. Since then, the Grand Island, Nebraska based firm has become the
largest independently owned maker of bullets, ammunition, and tools in the
world. Not too shabby for a family owned business in flyover country.
Zero Bullets, based in Cullman, Alabama is also a family affair. Founded in 1965 by Margaret and Joe Stallings, it doesn’t generate the kinds of sales nor offer the sheer number of products compared to Hornady. Think of it as a boutique manufacturer.
It’s a favorite of many reloaders and competitors who speak in glowing terms of quality products and value for dollar. Their brochure states that their credo is “Reliability, accuracy and affordability”. Zero has an unconditional guarantee – if you’re unhappy with anything they’ll replace, reship or refund their products.
I acquired bullets from both these companies based on my experience with their products. Yes, there are other decent bullets out there such as Sierra, Montana Gold, etc but having limited time on my hands, I chose to be pragmatic and test these two.
All of the bullets were loaded with propellants from Western Powders. Western has a wide variety of handgun powders, which is what I use exclusively. In this project we used True Blue and AA#7 and Silhouette.
What to test them with?
Obviously the more accurate the pistol, the better chances for a respectable group. The most accurate nines I have on hand are a Sig 210 (with iron sights), a Dan Wesson Pointman 9 with Kart barrel and a Caspian build (with a Nowlin barrel). Both of the nines had red dot optics but I also tested the DW topped with iron sights.
Twist rate for the Sig and the DW are 1:10 while the Nowlin
had a 1:14 configuration.
‘Real World’ Conditions
True Blue worked very well with 125 gr HP bullets.
I didn’t use a ransom rest for this article. I’m not a testing lab. This isn’t evidence-based science. The idea is to see what a shooter with a reasonable set of chops can do with a good bullet, in a proven load with an accurate pistol off the bench.
Granted, I’m not a robot. My eyesight and trigger finger are
not infallible, but they are consistent enough to offer indications of what you
can expect.
What I tested were 115 gn JHPs, 115 gn FMJs, 125 gn JHPs, 147 gn JHPs and 147 gn FMJs.
To ensure consistency we used Starline brass for all the reloads
This wasn’t meant to be a side by side comparison of brands. These are bullets I had on hand. In some cases there were apple to apple evaluations (ie the Zero and Hornady 115 grain HAPs) and it other instances I just had samples of one caliber bullet on hand (ie Zero 147 grain bullets) and that’s all that I tested.
My skill set is not to be confused with Jerry Miculek’s. That
wouldn’t be fair to the reader. I think I’m close enough to an ‘everyman’ that
these groups can be replicated and improved upon.
So here we go…
Array of 115 left to right: XTP, HAP from Hornady and Zero’s offerings, JHP and FMJ
I started with 115 gr bullets. 115 gr JHPs are very popular with target shooters. They work well in Berettas, 1911s and in the Sig 210. In addition to the JHPs I chose to explore the 115 FMJ, in this case from Zero. My interest was piqued because of a few rounds of Atlanta Arms Elite factory ammo that someone handed to me at the range. It was quite accurate and sported a bullet that looked suspiciously like a Zero FMJ. This factory ammo (says Atlanta Arms) is used by the Army Marksmanship Unit and the MarineService Pistol teams. I don’t know if Atlanta Arms uses Zero bullets in this particular product ammo but since the Cullman, Alabama company sells a lot of OEM bullets I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s part of the equation.
115 gr bullets
In the past I’d never loaded FMJs but since my experience
with Elite ammo was good, I thought in my own humble way I’d try to reverse
engineer a load.
On to the JHPs. Both the HAP from Hornady and the Zero JHP look have almost the same dimensions and not surprisingly shared the same deadly accuracy. Both the 115 HAP and 115 Zero bullets have a sleek and balanced nose that resembles an ICBM. This helps consistency and reliable feeding in semi-autos.
115 grain Hornady HAPs performed remarkably well with AA#7
I also loaded Hornady XTPs, which are used extensively in hunting, self-defense and law enforcement applications. Although they are designed for expansion, they also work quite well as target bullets. Unlike the HAP (and Zero) design the XTPs have serrations that divide it into symmetrical sections. This weakens the jacket and allow for expansion, even at low velocities. Of course, when you’re shooting at paper, this is not a factor.
The 115 Zero JHP was also a winner. I used Silhouette powder from Western Powders.
Most of the 115 bullets I loaded were with Western’s Silhouette Powder, which was formerly Winchester Action Powder (aka WAP). It’s one of these products you don’t hear a lot about anymore but it works great with the Zero and Hornady JHPs. I also used Silhouette with the Zero FMJ and it performed admirably. Finally, I loaded Accurate #7 with the 115 HAP and had an exceptionally tight group. This powder was developed specifically for the 9mm bullets and it’s a perennial favorite.
124 and 125 grain bullets from Zero (at left) and Hornady
124/5 grain bullets
124 and 125 grain bullets also have widespread use with reloaders. They are also incredibly accurate.
No complaints about Zero’s 125 grain JHP using True Blue.
Hornady’s HAP 125 gr bullet has exactly the same design as their 115 gr product. It’s simply a larger version. Same went for Zero’s 125 gr JHP which share’s a similar design with the XTP in that it has serrations which enable expansion.
125 grain Hornady HAPs were excellent with True Blue as well
I found that both bullets were quite accurate when loaded with True Blue.
147 grain bullets from Zero
147 grain bullets
These are the items I have the least experience with. I tested both Zero’s JHP and FMJ bullets both with the Sig 210 and the 1911. They grouped well with the JHPs but I wasn’t able to figure out a good load for the FMJs.
147 grain JHP from Zero with 6.6 of AA#7 did very well.
Conclusion…well you can see from the above that 115s and 125 JHP’s are the ones I had the best consistent luck with. Despite the great target I had with the 147 JHP from Zero, I couldn’t get consistency. Again, this is not science but I think I’ve done justice to these products in real world conditions.
The author is not responsible for mishaps of any kind, which might occur from the use of this data in developing your handloads. It is the user’s responsibility to follow safe handloading guidelines to develop safe ammunition. You use this data at your own risk. No responsibility for the use or safety in use of this data is assumed or implied.
Lowa is one of those companies that you don’t hear too much about. They don’t toot their horn like some of the bigger name brands. The venerable (100 year old) company founded in Jetzendorf, a small town in Bavaria, has plenty to be proud of. Belying the firm’s modest beginnings as a family business, the company sells over 2 million pairs of boots and shoes a year in over 40 countries.
I first became aware of Lowa through the SHOT show several years ago and perhaps because I carry a German Reisepass (along with my US passport) I couldn’t help but be intrigued by this company.
As readers of this column know, I’m a big fan of on “crossover” wear, clothing or shoes that can be worn in the wilderness, at home, at work and on social occasions. Crossover wear is generally more durable, more expensive but longer lasting than conventional products. Of course the advantage is that you can use them anywhere.
Although technically a “speed hiking sole” the Walker GTX has aggressive enough tread to make it a good candidate for hiking just about anywhere.
Old fashioned leather combined with high tech
The manufacturer describes the Walker GTX as a lightweight, ‘sneaker-inspired walking shoe’ but I would say it’s a lot more robust than your everyday ‘sneaker’.
The sole provides ample traction so that you can go from sidewalk to trail without breaking stride. At under 2 lbs it’s both light and very comfortable but until you break it in, you’ll feel the sole has more of a stiff, almost boot-like quality.
I also like an old fashioned touch which you won’t find on a less expensive shoe. Lowa’s Walker GTX (like many of their shoes) uses nubuck leather. Nubuck is top-grain, extremely durable, cattle leather that’s been sanded or buffed on the grain side, or outside, to give a slight nap of short protein fibers. The result is a near velvet-like surface that is quite comfortable to wear.
At this point, without getting too wonky, it’s helpful to look at the technology this shoe utilizes. For cushioning material, LOWA employs LOWA DuraPU, a patented material that increases the shoe’s performance. In effect it adds a spring to your step. You can feel it when you leap from one boulder to another.
Combined with Gore-Tex, which has both water resistant and breathable qualities, this shoe is both comfy and practical.
They are also attractive in a no-nonsense sort of way. Mine were in Expresso, a brown, neutral color, that would work with just about any attire. You can also get them in black.
A rainbow, a German Shepard and Lowa on a Hawaii trail.
Performance Counts
I took the shoes along with a big black German Shepard on a serious trek up the mountain into the Kooalau Range where we encountered sharp volcanic rock, smooth boulders and partly congealed mud. It was an environment more suited to a boot but the aggressive tread on the Walker GTX handled it admirably.
The next outing was to the range, where the sturdy sole was a stabilizing asset. When you’re shooting, above all you need a solid platform and the Walker GTX helped me feel totally grounded.
It’s crossover potential also makes it a great candidate for travel. No reason to pack two or three pair of shoes if you’ve got footwear that can pretty much handle any terrain. These shoes will definitely accompany me on my next trip to the South Pacific, to update my Fiji website.
If you want something for just about any scenario that’s going to last, look good and keep you steady, look no further than the Walker GTX.
Keep in mind, because it is a leather shoe, you’ll need to maintain it. That means brushing it (if it’s dirty) followed by warm soap and water and an occasional water repellent treatment.
It’s priced at $220 but as they say, you get what you pay for.
Specifications:
Material: Nubuck Leather
Lacing Hardware: Eyelets
Lining: GORE-TEX
Insole: ATC Climate Control
Footbed Midsole: Double Injection DuraPU™ with DynaPU® shock absorbing zones
