Category Archives: Current News

This is about stuff in the mass media that generally has a short interest life span. Speculation about an election outcome a few days before the election is an example.

Quote of the day—Renn Cannon

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While the FBI supports and safeguards Constitutionally-protected activity and civil rights, there is no permit for assault, arson or property damage and these are not victimless crimes. Among the victims of violent crime are business owners, residents and individuals exercising their First Amendment rights through protests or other legitimate forms of expression.

Renn Cannon
Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon.
August 27, 2020
74 People Facing Federal Charges for Crimes Committed During Portland Demonstrations
[If someone had told me 20 years ago that in 2020 our nation was in a crisis and I would be praising the action of the FBI I would have thought they were nuts. At that time the FBI reputation had been severely tarnished their reputation with their involvement in the incidents at Ruby Ridge and Waco, and it was their job to enforce the 1994 “assault weapon ban”. At that point in time the scenarios in which I envisioned our nation being in crisis involved the Federal government infringing upon the rights of gun owners.

While the FBI further tarnished their reputation with the illegal investigation of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election I must give them appropriate feedback when they have done something right. This is them doing their job under difficult circumstances and I appreciate their hard work.—Joe]

We live in interesting times

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From the Portland Oregon area:

The sheriffs of Clackamas and Washington County say they will not send staff to help with protests in Portland after Oregon Governor Kate Brown unveiled a plan to address the violence at protests.

The plan called on several local law enforcement agencies to help, including the sheriff’s offices of Washington and Clackamas counties.

Clackamas Co. Sheriff Craig Roberts said the governor didn’t approach his office before rolling out the plan, intended to address the violence and arson while also protecting free speech.

“Increasing law enforcement resources in Portland will not solve the nightly violence and now, murder,” the sheriff said. “The only way to make Portland safe again, is to support a policy that holds offenders accountable for their destruction and violence.”

The adults in the house just told the teenagers who deliberately crapped in their own beds, then told their parents to clean up the mess, to clean up it up themselves.

This is will be encouragement to the terrorists and discouragement to the Portland police. By now those polices officers must be ready to call it quits or to call in the M60’s, M240’s, bucket loaders, and the dump trucks.

We live in interesting times.

Award the Medal of Freedom to Kyle Rittenhouse

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Another petition to the White House regarding Kyle Rittenhouse.

That would really pop some heads on the left.

The petition was created by Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger. In addition to posting at The Zelman Partisans he also occasionally comments here.

Quote of the day—Jonathan McPherson

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As the nation’s primary source for fire investigative knowledge, ATF remains committed to investigating those responsible for committing arsons in our communities and holding them responsible for their illegal actions. As a reminder, there is a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for arson. ATF takes these violent actions seriously and will work diligently to bring justice to the victims.

Jonathan McPherson
ATF Special Agent in Charge
August 27, 2020
74 People Facing Federal Charges for Crimes Committed During Portland Demonstrations
[If someone had told me 20 years ago that in 2020 our nation was in a crisis and I would be praising the action of the ATF I would have thought they were nuts. At that time the ATF had reached a new low with the incidents at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Since then they continued their despicable behavior with the “Fast and Furious” scandal and numerous other attacks on gun owners and manufactures. They have done nothing newsworthy of particular note worthy of praise in the intervening years .

At this time I must give them appropriate feedback when they have done something right. This is them doing their job under difficult circumstances and I appreciate it.—Joe]

In defense of looting

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This morning Paul K. sent me an email with this link and the following comment:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_of_deviance

What grabbed me as I read this is the relevance to the culture of violent riots.  Portland in particular is working very hard to serve as a test case for this phenomenon, normalizing political deviance for months on end.

In a follow-up discussion in the thread with others Jacob F. pointed out:

It’s similar to the idea of the Overton Window. Changing the framing of what is acceptable by mainstream culture.

This was incredibly timely because last night I ran across an interview with the author of the book In Defense of Looting. Here are some quotes from that article (emphasis added):

When I use the word looting, I mean the mass expropriation of property, mass shoplifting during a moment of upheaval or riot. That’s the thing I’m defending. I’m not defending any situation in which property is stolen by force. It’s not a home invasion, either. It’s about a certain kind of action that’s taken during protests and riots.

…

It gets people what they need for free immediately, which means that they are capable of living and reproducing their lives without having to rely on jobs or a wage—which, during COVID times, is widely unreliable or, particularly in these communities is often not available, or it comes at great risk. That’s looting’s most basic tactical power as a political mode of action.

It also attacks the very way in which food and things are distributed. It attacks the idea of property, and it attacks the idea that in order for someone to have a roof over their head or have a meal ticket, they have to work for a boss, in order to buy things that people just like them somewhere else in the world had to make under the same conditions. It points to the way in which that’s unjust. And the reason that the world is organized that way, obviously, is for the profit of the people who own the stores and the factories. So you get to the heart of that property relation, and demonstrate that without police and without state oppression, we can have things for free.

…

Looting strikes at the heart of property, of whiteness and of the police. It gets to the very root of the way those three things are interconnected. And also it provides people with an imaginative sense of freedom and pleasure and helps them imagine a world that could be. And I think that’s a part of it that doesn’t really get talked about—that riots and looting are experienced as sort of joyous and liberatory.

…

We have to be willing to do things that scare us and that we wouldn’t do in normal, “peaceful” times, because we need to get free.

“Without police and without state oppression, we can have things for free.” Just as Lyle has frequently said something to the effect of, “They seek the freedom to do wrong.” And Solzhenitsyn had things to say that align closely with this. And even more directly he wrote of how the thieves “were allies in the building of communism”.

Wow! Just wow! How can the agenda of this crowd be made any more clear? How can it be demonstrated to be more evil? Do people need to wait for the Gulags and death camps?

Normalization of deviance is right.

AR on a Sling

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Via Rolf:

Not entirely factually correct but it’s still AWESOME.

Kyle Drill & Kyle Drill Mod 1

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Via daughter Jaime:

It’s a little cheesy and I don’t like the photographer/range-officer being down range. But I do like the concept.

For people that have actually shot in competition seeing what Kyle Rittenhouse accomplished was absolutely incredible. Several moving “targets” closing in from multiple angles, throwing things at you, kicking you in the head, and hitting you in the head with a skateboard is way, way, over the top of any “practical shooting” competition I have ever participated in or heard of.

Kenosha Kid

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Via Matthew Bracken who said:

The Commie scum did not account for the Kenosha Kid.

KenoshaKid

Quote of the day—Greg Hamilton

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I’m not blinded by hate. I hate because I’m not blind

Greg Hamilton
August 28, 2020
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Barack Obama

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To the young people who led us this summer, telling us we need to be better – in so many ways, you are this country’s dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone has equal worth. For you, it’s a given – a conviction. And what I want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of self-government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions.

You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place. You’re the missing ingredient – the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.

Barack Obama
August 20, 2020
Read Obama’s full speech at the Democratic National Convention
[I find it very telling that Obama acknowledges the domestic terrorists has the approval of the Democratic Party and that the terrorists are fulfilling his dreams.

Respond appropriately.—Joe]

Best Kyle Rittenhouse video

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I had seen good still images and a videos of the second and third terrorists Rittenhouse shot and it was clearly self-defense. But the first guy, shot in the head, I have wondered about all day. Was it a justified shooting?

This video (graphic, disturbing content so I’m not embedding it) adds clarity to all the terrorists he shot. [Update: The YouTube account with the video has been terminated. Try this link instead.]

I no longer have any doubts about the justification for first guy downed. Rittenhouse was being chased by multiple people. They guy leading the charge and about to make contact received a grazing shot to the right side of his skull. He, as the narrator points out, was playing a stupid game chasing a guy with a rifle and collected a stupid prize.

This is not to say that Rittenhouse didn’t make an ill advised, perhaps even illegal, contribution to the situation. He deliberate put himself in a position which increased the odds of something like this happening. If he was on his own street instead of 15 miles from home it would look a lot better for him. And what lead up to him being chased by the first set of people? Did he deliberately provoke a confrontation knowing he could come out on top if they “took the bait”? That is still unanswered.

Similar questions could be asked of the dead and wounded terrorists. I know one of them lived a similar distance away. And perhaps all three. They went there, obviously, looking for a fight. They found more fight they they bargained for.

I would like to suggest both dead terrorists be nominated for Darwin Awards.

And here the image that is going to be a classic for years to come. It’s Peaceful Protestor Terrorist number two hitting Rittenhouse in the head with a skateboard a couple seconds before taking a rifle bullet to the midsection and dying:

PeacefulProtestor1

He should get Darwin Award of the year for that maneuverer.

Quote of the day—Christian Johann Heinrich Heine

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Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.

[Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.]

Christian Johann Heinrich Heine
Almansor: A Tragedy (1823)
As translated in True Religion (2003) by Graham Ward, p. 142
[Note that he wrote this nearly 100 years before USSR was created and 110 years before Nazi Germany began burning books and shortly thereafter people.

There is a sound reason why the progression from burning books to burning people occurs. The reason for the book burning is to stop the spread of “dangerous” ideas. When the book burning fail the desired goal then the spread of those ideas “must” be stopped by the “burning” of the people who spread the ideas.

Black Lives Matter and Antifa have taken the first step. Respond appropriately.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo

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To the people who are in disbelief that the woke Seattle City Council would fire a black woman police chief:

It’s never been about diversity; it’s about power.

Race is the means; Marxism is the end.

Christopher F. Rufo @realchrisrufo
Tweeted on August 11, 2020
[This seems to fit all the given data.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias

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Continued odd happenings in the Pacific Northwest where a 70% white city has hounded its Black police chief out of office as an act of racial justice.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias
Tweeted on August 10, 2020
[Yeah, I suppose it’s a bit odd. But if you knew the nature of the politicians in Seattle it would seem far less odd. To the casual observer they are absolutely bonkers. If you think of them as the destroyers of a city with the constraint that they intend to have minimal risk of going to prison then they are doing a great job.

Tomorrow’s QOTD will feature the most accurate hypothesis I have yet seen to explain the given data.

I do have to give Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best credit for standing up for what is right and not participating in the mass-delusion/deliberate-lie that the Seattle PD is the problem.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Alan Dershowitz

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I’ve never heard of a case where an attorney general’s tried to dissolve a first amendment – and in this case First and Second Amendment protected political organization – that is a bridge too far constitutionally.

If she is selectively prosecuting and selectively investigating the NRA because she disagrees with its politics, that’s wrong,

…

I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe in reasonable gun control. But I would defend the NRA’s right advocate its position without being subject to selective investigation and prosecution if it turns out that the attorney general is looking into this organization because she disagrees with its politics.

Alan Dershowitz
August 5, 2020
Alan Dershowitz to Newsmax TV: NRA Move Political Prosecution
[I’ve known about the NRA’s wasteful use of money since 1997 and have put the vast majority of my 2nd Amendment dollars elsewhere. But I’m with Dershowitz. I strongly suspect New York Attorney General Letitia James is attacking the NRA for political reasons.She openly says this:

Strong gun laws in NY haven’t been enough to stop the gun violence that rips communities of color apart every day. Today, I’m announcing my plans as Attorney General to stop gun violence & take on the NRA, gun manufacturers, retailers & banks that fund these weapons of death

I would like to see NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre out but that can be done without destroying the NRA.—Joe]

Beirut explosion

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Via MSN:

A large cache of explosive material seized by the government years ago was stored where the explosions occurred, according to top Lebanese officials — specifically ammonium nitrate…

The cache was estimated to be 2,750 tons. Boomershoot uses about 1 ton each year. Timothy McVeigh used (IIRC) about 2.5 tons in the Oklahoma City bombing.

This is the best video I’ve seen so far:

Incredible tragedy. I’m sure the death toll will rise for many days. And of course the property damage will be horrendous as well.

As Boomershooter Aaron M. said in email:

Check out that white in that explosion. Remind you of something? They are now saying it was something like 2000 tons of ammonium nitrate. It looks correct for that.

I agree. The white “smoke” is probably the water vapor from the ammonium nitrate decomposition.*

* NH4NO3 –> N2 + 2H2O + 1/2 O2

Quote of the day—Sam Jacobs

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Most Americans have never heard of these acts of terrorism from leftist groups that were so numerous throughout the 1970s. But this is a prime example of “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The urban unrest, which has rocked America in the early 2020s, is nothing new. The 1960s saw both race riots and left-wing terrorist groups looking to exploit animosity between racial groups in America.

The question is what are we going to do about it? The answer so far from our elected officials is “not much.” If leftist terrorist cells were willing to go this far when they had active opposition from government and corporate figures alike, what are they going to do when confronted with apathy or encouragement from elected officials and the business sector?

The answer remains to be seen, but will certainly be some variant of “nothing good.”

Sam Jacobs
July 2020
America’s “Days of Rage”: The Extensive Left-Wing Bombings & Domestic Terrorism of the 1970s
[See also:

It’s a great book with surprising parallels to the current leftist violence..—Joe]

Quote of the day—Elyssa Khalifé

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So here is what happened yesterday at the “protest.” We were waiting and watching live from the precinct as the rioters set 5 portable construction offices on fire. They then completely destroyed, looted, and lit the Starbucks on 12 ave and E Cherry St. on fire. As the group was walking they were breaking random car windows, car prowling, and spray painting everything…

They made their way to the East precinct with all of us inside. They spray painted the building, tried to break the fence, they threw a mortar that left an 8 inch hole in the wall… We could see a person pouring gasoline around the building that we were occupying, which is when all of us came out. We commanded people to “move back” as we advanced. People who assaulted us were arrested. We formed a line guarding the block. People threw paint, rocks, metal, frozen water bottles, glass and improvised EXPLOSIVES at us which is when we used our dispersal tools. In the process I was injured along with 20 other officers. Yes, I was injured even though I was wearing shin guards, and other protective gear.

The puzzling part is people were chanting “I don’t see no riot here, take off your riot gear.”

Why didn’t we deploy and stop them when the looting started? Our instructions were not to respond to property damage. The fire department was delayed in response because of the big hostile crowd but they made it and started putting out fires. We only responded when they were about to literally burn down our precinct with everyone in it and the connecting apartment complexes. This is insane. I don’t know what the message here is anymore. These people were 99% white and young. They were saying the most horrible things you can imagine to officers of color. They were also assaulting each other in the crowd. I saw signs and shirts that indicated Anarchy, Anti-Christ, abolishing religion, bringing down the government, defund/abolish SPD, defunding Seattle Parks and Rec (huh?), abolishing America?! I don’t think that the point to those riots is anything but inflicting as much damage and injury as possible.

About my injury: I sustained a torn medial meniscus and I most probably will require surgery to be able to live an active lifestyle again.

Elyssa Khalifé
City of Bothell Police Officer
Posted on Facebook July 26, 2020
[This is about what happened in Seattle.

It’s not so “puzzling” to me. The bigger the lie…

The stories of the “weak government” of pre-Nazi Germany keep coming to mind.

These “people” are closer to feral animals. The officials who give orders for the police to not protect property are showing their true colors. Both groups should be dealt with appropriately. They all should be arrested and prosecuted.—Joe]

Quote of the day—J. KB

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These protesters and activists are the most supremely ignorant people in history.

They literally have the entire wealth of recorded human knowledge at their fingertips. It’s all available online and immediately accessible through the smartphones that they all have.

I can only believe that they have to be willfully ignorant because they should have at least accidentally stumbled onto some bit of knowledge by now.

J. KB
June 27, 2020
Splatter is coming, Part 5
[And/or lying and/or delusional.

In any case J. KB concludes with:

There is no reasoning with them. That is abundantly clear.

As they used to say “civilize ’em with a Krag.” I have a feeling it will come to that.

I don’t think it has to come to that. I think arrests, convictions, and a few years in prison will help them reconnect with reality. Getting them out of their bubble for even a few months will be therapeutic.

H/T to less fat Dave @BigFatDave for the pointer.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Stephen Kruiser

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The nagging feeling that these putrid progressive cities should be left to riot and rot long enough for people to vote with their feet keeps growing on me.

Stephen Kruiser
July 27, 2020
The Morning Briefing: It Might Be Time to Let the Liberal Riot Hellholes Burn — Let Seattle and Portland Riot Themselves Into Oblivion 
[I suppose one could say, “It worked” for Detroit.

I realize it’s not legal or practical but I fantasize about conditioning such abandonment on the building of a wall around the city to keep the vermin from escaping. It could be the inspiration and location of a movie for someone like Kurt Russell, Escape from Seattle.—Joe]