Friday, May 5, 2017

We’ll Drink to That: Bloomberg Spends (and Loses) Big in the Land of Enchantment



We’ll Drink to That: Bloomberg Spends (and Loses) Big in the Land of Enchantment
Friday, May 5, 2017
Hobbies are usually a good thing.

One notable exception, however, is when your hobby is spending huge sums of cash in places you have no connection to in order to force the local residents to conform to your worldview. 

This is not a common hobby and is confined to a few megalomaniacal billionaires who – rather than spend their money to enjoy life – spend it to make others’ lives less enjoyable. 

Case in point: Michael Bloomberg. We all know the former New York City mayor wants to bring New York City style gun control to America at large (think gun bans, discretionary licensing, prohibitively expensive fees, cronyism, and public corruption). But he doesn’t stop at that.

Another Bloomberg obsession is soda. Not drinking it, mind you, but controlling access others have to it.

As mayor, Bloomberg infamously tried to ban large sodas throughout the Big Apple by executive action. And not just sodas, but any “sugary beverage” in a cup larger than 16 ounces. The ban was to be enforced by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), with violators subject to fines and possible adverse health grades. The groups that challenged the rule in court pointed out that it came directly from the mayor’s office and not from the supposed subject matter experts on the DHMH’s board. Bloomberg’s justification for this bizarre intrusion into lawful commerce and personal choice was that some people are overweight, a circumstance he described as a “public health” crisis. The city also cited “studies” it claimed showed that sugary drinks are associated with weight gain. (Both tactics should sound familiar to gun owners.)

Yet that was all too much even for New York’s judiciary, which rejected Bloomberg’s contention that the DHMH has inherent legislative authority and that the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches did not apply to its actions.  The decision by the state’s intermediate appellate court noted, “To accept the [city’s] interpretation of the authority granted to the Board by the New York City Charter would leave its authority to define, create, mandate and enforce limited only by its own imagination.” This was an outcome the court found “more troubling than sugar sweetened beverages.” Two years later, New York’s highest court affirmed that decision, holding that the DHMH “exceeded the scope of its regulatory authority” and upholding the permanent injunction against the ban’s enforcement.

Unfortunately, Bloomberg continues to have an unusually active imagination when it comes to infringing upon the rights and choices of other people in far-flung places.

Bloomberg trained his sights all the way out to New Mexico this year, financing a full-on effort to pass “universal” background check legislation for firearm transfers. That effort failed on the strength of opposition led by the NRA. Other opponents of the bill included the New Mexico Sheriff’s Association, which issued a statement emphasizing the proposal would “make it harder for law-abiding New Mexicans to exercise their Second Amendment rights” and “do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”  

But Bloomberg wasn’t finished with the Land of Enchantment and poured additional cash into another pet project, an initiative campaign to impose a “sin tax” on sugary beverages sold in Santa Fe. By late April, according to a local media report, the New York billionaire had dumped $1.13 million into the effort.

On Tuesday, however, Santa Fe voters rejected the measure by a 16-point margin. Underscoring the elitist nature of the campaign, the Albuquerque Journal reported, “Voters in the city’s middle- and lower-income neighborhoods went against the tax in huge numbers, while the vote in Santa Fe’s affluent north and east sides split almost precisely 50-50.” 

While Bloomberg’s New Mexico efforts may have failed, don’t expect him to cut his losses and run. 

Inflamed by the failure of his New York City beverage scheme, Bloomberg has sought vengeance the only way he knows how: by seeking to spend his opposition into oblivion. His recent expenditures to pass soda taxes in three other cities, according to Fortune, amounted to $20 million. 

While unimaginable sums to most ordinary people, this is all chump change to the New York media mogul. With billions of dollars at his disposal – and more pouring in endlessly from his empire – his ability to stick his nose into other peoples’ freedoms is for all practical purposes unlimited. He is the embodiment of a plutocrat, and his pathological need to control the people he considers his inferiors is completely unmoored by political or geographic boundaries.

And make no mistake: he’s just as focused on coming for your guns as he is on coming for your Dr. Pepper

The good news is that you already have all that is necessary to defeat his schemes: your awareness, your love of liberty, and your vote. This combination worked in New Mexico, and it can work anywhere else where a free people refuse to bow to high-minded elites with an inexhaustible interest in ruling every detail of their lives. 

Rest assured, your NRA looks forward to handing similar defeats to America’s richest nanny. And we’ll happily join the residents of Santa Fe in toasting liberty with the soft drink of their choice, whatever its sugar content might be.

Michael Bloomberg
Michael R. Bloomberg is a co-chair for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the founder of the Independence USA PAC, the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety, was a contributor for the Americans for Responsible Solutions, and a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.

Note: Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Independence USA PAC is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Everytown for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Americans for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, Refugees International, the Human Rights First, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone, William D. Zabel was his divorce lawyer, and is a director emeritus at Refugees International.
Bill Richardson is a director at Refugees International, and was the New Mexico state government governor.
William D. Zabel was a trustee at the Foundation to Promote Open Society, George Soros’s divorce lawyer, and is the chair for the Human Rights First.
Mark A. Angelson was a director at the Human Rights First, and a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.
James D. Zirin was a director at the Human Rights First, and a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.   
Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Sidley Austin LLP is a member of CropLife America.
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. is a member of CropLife America.
Coca-Cola Company is a member of CropLife America.
PepsiCo, Inc. is a member of CropLife America.
Dora Hughes is a senior policy adviser at Sidley Austin LLP, and was Kathleen Sebelius’s counselor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kathleen Sebelius’s counselor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was Dora Hughes, and the secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Margaret A. Hamburg was an assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and a VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)
Warren E. Buffett is an adviser at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, and was a director at the Coca-Cola Company.
Coca-Cola Company is a member of CropLife America.
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. is a member of CropLife America.
Everytown for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Michael R. Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety, a co-chair for the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the founder of the Independence USA PAC, was a contributor for the Americans for Responsible Solutions, and a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Independence USA PAC is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.
Americans for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun Safety, Gun Control” PAC for guns.

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