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.

Rats Leaving the Burning Ship?

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NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is resigning.

For a more toxic views see:

From the Wall Street Journal article:

LaPierre and the NRA have said the group has embarked on a major “course correction” by terminating certain vendors, promoting a whistleblower to its top financial job and eliminating virtually all related-party transactions with board members. Since the New York investigation began, LaPierre has repaid the NRA nearly $1 million for some of the private-jet flights, gifts and other “excess benefits” he received, legal filings show.

It is probably was far short of the compensation he and many others should have given but it is worth something. Perhaps the organization can rebuild itself with a better focus on the important principles.

Via text from Mike B.:

Rats leaving the burning ship?

Another One Bites The Dust

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Via X:

Mike Beard, a leader and pioneer in gun violence prevention, has passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. In 1978, Mike founded the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, which helped to form [Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions].

His family has my sympathy, but gun owners will express some relief that another enemy has left the scene and will not be returning. Some of his harshest critics, such as Neal Knox, thought well of him as a person. And Beard thought well of Knox too. Give Beard credit for that.

In 1974 he became the founding President of the National Coalition to Ban Handguns and its sister organization Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence. The.National Coalition to Ban Handguns later became the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence when they added “assault weapons” to their list of guns to ban. That is nearly 50 years of advocacy of the elimination of a specific enumerated right. In addition to advocating for the banning private ownership of handguns.they also advocated:

He, as nearly all anti-gun rights activists, regularly used deception and outright lies to further his agenda.

As I suggested a couple years ago, I would have preferred we could have enjoyed his trial. But outliving your enemy and knowing that he knew as he was dying his long held dreams were crumbling into dust does provide a certain amount of satisfaction.

On the Death of Henry Kissinger

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As you probably know, Henry Kissinger died on Wednesday.

I remember when he used to be mentioned, what seemed like, daily in the newspapers.

What I will always remember the most is one of his quips I used as a quote of the day:

The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a bit longer.

At least he was honest about this. Almost all other politicians subscribe to this behavior without admitting it.

Update: Citation for the quote.

The Courts are Busy

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Things are really jumping in the firearms legal world. These are just a few of the things happening in the last few days:

When I think back to when I first got involved in the gun owner rights activism in the mid 1990s… there were seldom more than one or two gun cases per year which made the news. Now it probably averages about one per week.

We live in interesting times.

In related news from yesterday, my company gave all employees some money to donate to charitable causes. I gave all of mine to the FPC. I also donate a lot of money to SAF who also does good work in the courts.

The End of Times

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Quote of the Day

The biggest elephant in the room is the US Fiscal Doom Loop. To refresh: US Government spending is out of control, and there appears to be very little political will to stop it. As the chart below shows, Government spending is up 14% yoy and tax receipts are down 7% yoy.  Fiscal year ended September 2023 is projected to have a deficit of over $2 Billion (or roughly 8% of GDP). In the past, deficits of this magnitude only materialized during significant downturns like the bursting of the Dotcom Bubble, the 2008 GFC and the COVID crisis. It is unprecedented to have deficits of this magnitude with the economy and employment being relatively strong.

Lawrence Lepard
October 2023
This “Unprecedented” Fiscal Doom Loop Is Getting Worse

A volcano in Iceland is expected to erupt in hours or days and destroy a town of 4,000 people, Japan has a new island, a super volcano is flexing, U.S. military bases are being attacked almost daily, and the U.S. debt is over 33 trillion and rapidly increasing.

We live in interesting times. Some might even claim it is the end of times. Prepare appropriately.

I want my underground bunker in Idaho.

Some Lesson Details

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To support my assertion that there was a clear lesson which should have been learned I give you this, also from The Times of Israel on October 9th:

A failed attempt by terrorists on Saturday to enter Nir Am, a kibbutz situated some 500 yards (457 meters) away from the border with Gaza, ended with the death of two perpetrators, a local defender says.

“The terrorists appear to have tried to penetrate a large chicken farm next to Nir Am, possibly mistaking its fence for the kibbutz’s fence,” says Ami Rabin, 70, the previous security coordinator of Nir Am, who is also the uncle of his successor, Amit Rabin.

The kibbutz’s guard detail, whose members took up forward positions upon hearing gunshots, shot two of the terrorists as they entered the factory, Rabin tells The Times of Israel. Blood trails around the scene indicated a third sustained a serious injury, he adds.

And this from October 10th:

One tale of bravery involves a handful of men and women who, with only two rifles and a few handguns, prevented a detachment of heavily armed terrorists from setting foot in their community of Ein Habesor.

None of the defenders died in the 20-minute-long gunfight, in which they employed subterfuge to make the terrorists believe they were up against a more formidable fighting force.

…

Another is about Noam Tibon, a reserves general from Tel Aviv who, within an hour of the terrorist incursion, led a hastily assembled intervention team to the home of his son — Amir Tibon of the Haaretz newpaper — in Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

The team killed several terrorists outside several homes, including that of his son, Amir, who was holed up inside with his wife and daughters.

A third account revolves around Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, the 25-year-old security coordinator of Kibbutz Nir Am. She and her uncle Ami led a guard detail so alert that it killed two terrorists as they were trying to enter a nearby chicken farm. This response was so effective that it made the dead invaders’ entire detachment lose the appetite for entering Nir Am.

…

Back in Ein Habesor, local resident Noam Gotliv says, “We’re only hearing the tip of the iceberg of the bravery that Israelis showed over the past two days.” Gotliv used a handgun to fire from close range on terrorists armed with rifles. Another resident armed with nothing but an axe stayed with Gotliv’s wife, Julie, and three children inside their home shelter in case the terrorists breached the gate.

Lesson Not Learned

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You would think with such a vivid example less than a month previous they would understand why the right to keep and bear arms should not be infringed.

From The Times of Israel:

Coming to a public space near you: Guns. Lots of guns.

Weapons should only be distributed to citizens if common sense precautionary measures are applied, including extensive background checks before issuing a license and monitoring of license holders.

We may have to wait until the state of emergency ends before public debate can take place over these risky new regulations, meanwhile, we can only hope it won’t take a tragedy for the national security ministry to take measures that ensure deadly weapons don’t end up in the wrong hands.

Are these people just mind bogglingly slow learners? Or is there some sort of motivation I cannot fathom?

Damning Evidence of Corruption in U.S. Politics

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Quote of the Day

Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight.

And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.

Hunter Biden
July 30, 2017
WhatsApp message to Hery Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management
A Second American Civil War Has Begun

Never before I have seen such damning evidence of corruption in U.S. politics.

This has a very good chance of leading to interesting times.

Prepare appropriately. I want an underground bunker in Idaho.

Why?

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This is unheard of:

US halts exports of most civilian firearms for 90 days

The U.S. has stopped issuing export licenses for most civilian firearms and ammunition for 90 days for all non-governmental users, the Commerce Department said on Friday, citing national security and foreign policy interests.

The Commerce Department did not provide further details for the pause, which also includes shotguns and optical sights, but said an urgent review will assess the “risk of firearms being diverted to entities or activities that promote regional instability, violate human rights, or fuel criminal activities.”

The Commerce Department declined to comment beyond the posting on its website.

The halt covers most of the guns and ammunition that could be purchased in a U.S. gun store, said Johanna Reeves, a lawyer who specializes in export controls and firearms with the law firm Reeves & Dola in Washington.

Reeves said she had not seen the Commerce Department take such a sweeping action like this before. “For sure they have individual country policies – but nothing like this,” she said.

Export licences for Ukraine and Israel, as well as some other close allies, will be exempted from the temporary halt in exports.

Why would they do this now? A concern about guns and ammunition getting into the hands of Hamas? An attempt to hurt U.S. manufactures?

A Change in the Direction of the Wind

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Quote of the Day

If it’s clear that the last two weeks have been a wake-up call, the next question is: Why?

Part of the answer is the sheer depravity of Hamas’s terrorism. That depravity has made the justification and celebration of their acts by those who police pronouns that much starker. The contradictions and moral bankruptcy of a worldview that spends years worrying about microaggressions and tone policing, but can’t decide what side it is on after the beheading of babies, aren’t exactly difficult to spot.

Bari Weiss and Oliver Wiseman
October 23, 2023
A Political Reawakening? A mass emergence from the woke slumber.

I detect a change in the direction of the wind. We live in interesting times.

Luxury Beliefs

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Quote of the Day

Their worldview includes fixed positions on race, gender, decolonisation, sexuality, slavery and the Palestinians. Although much of this causes real harm, particularly to teenagers and Jews, these ideological positions are signifiers of social status rather than authentic moral positions. They are luxury beliefs.

It is striking how closely this group adheres to these orthodoxies. Because it is a question of identity, it is almost unthinkable for devotees to hold some of those views but not others, and very hard for them to change their minds. Last week, Jeremy Corbyn appeared unable to revise his vision of Hamas as “friends” even in the aftermath of the massacre.

Jake Wallis Simons
October 15, 2023
Why liberals have ended up cheerleading for jihadism

I like the label, “Luxury beliefs.” That describes the beliefs of gun control advocates as well. The people advocating for gun control will not be materially affected by the banning of guns and they like pleasure of feeling morally superior in ridding the world of the yucky guns.

Beautiful and Inspiring

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Quote of the Day

Yesterday was a victory. For freedom fighters to break out of a 15-year blockade so successfully under the inhuman genocide of Israel was so beautiful and inspiring to see. It shows the world that we will always fight and always resist and we need to celebrate these acts of resistance because this was a success. Revolutionary violence initiated by Palestinians is not terrorism – it is self-defence…

Hanin Barghouti
October 7, 2023
Pictured: Activist who called Hamas attacks ‘beautiful and inspiring’

It has been said that one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter. In this case I think the more applicable adage is that in war the truth is the first victim.

Even if you were to accept the claim Hamas is a group of freedom fighters, Israel gets a vote on what to call them. There is probably some Yiddish phrase that I am clueless of but is the rough equivalent of “dead meat”.

My guess is that the leaders of Israel have a thought process something like, “What price did Hamas think they would have to pay for this evil treachery? Okay, now multiply that price by 1,000. We are now going to deliver that price it as quickly as possible.”

By the time the IDF has finished with Hamas, people like Ms. Barghouti will no longer call Saturday’s attack “beautiful and Inspiring”. She will realize what she called “genocide” on Saturday will soon be “the good old days.” And the most positive name for Saturday’s attack will be “The Great Mistake.”

Dianne Feinstein

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U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein died Thursday night.

To gun owners she probably is best know for her famous quote:

If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in, I would have done it.

Diane Feinstein
February 5, 1995
CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes

She is also well known as willing, perhaps even eager, to lie to advance her unconstitutional gun banning agenda:

One could claim there is a silver lining to Senator Feinstein’s hatred of our specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. Her activities were a motivational factor in the creation of Boomershoot.

Many people, who will remain nameless, have been saying things like:

DING, DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD!

Dianne Feinstein has been the primary pusher of gun control since I was just out of college and the 101 California law-firm massacre happened. Good fucking riddance.

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I will not speak ill of the dead.

Diane Feinstein is dead. And that is good.

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A very small number of people are telling us we should be praying for Dianne Feinstein and that our celebration of her death is in poor taste.

Fuck that. Forgiveness is between her and God, and she had zero remorse for her actions while alive.

People like her are responsible for disarming thousands of Americans and putting them into positions where they can’t defend themselves or their families.

We’ll celebrate in exactly the same way when Nancy Pelosi, Beto O’Rourke, Michael Bloomberg, or anyone else of that ilk finally keels over.

Can’t happen soon enough.

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Good people celebrate the death of tyranny. Be good people.

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As a general rule of thumb you shouldn’t celebrate people’s deaths just because you disagree with them. With that being said it goes way deeper than just disagreeing with her. She was a genuinely awful human being. I’m only sad she didn’t croak sooner.

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Why should we mourn or speak highly of a tyrant that had been destroying our country for 50+ years?

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I see nothing wrong with rejoicing in the demise of a tyrant.

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All I can say about Diane Feinsteins passing is, “Good riddance”.

Those thoughts do not match mine. I did not smile or celebrate the hearing of her death.

Her death saddened me. I wanted her to live long enough to be prosecuted and spend her last years in prison.

Office of Gun Violence Prevention

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Quote of the Day

I am appalled that Joe Biden is putting the gun prohibition lobby on the White House payroll. I know that many pro-gun rights members of Congress are working on legislation to prohibit funding for this obnoxious scheme.

I wonder how much of their time will be spent keeping guns out of Hunter Biden’s hands now that he has been indicted on gun charges?

Alan Gottlieb
September 20, 2023
CCRKBA CHAIR ‘APPALLED’ GUN GRABBERS WILL BE ON WHITE HOUSE PAYROLL

For more information about what President Biden is planning read these articles:

I wonder about something different than Gottlieb. I wonder if these people realize being on the government payroll with their jobs being the infringement of specific enumerated rights can be used as evidence at their trials. The same goes for those who vote for such an office.

Flawed Logic and Contempt

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Quote of the Day

The flawed logic of this unconstitutional law is second only to the contempt for which the authors and Gov. Pritzker hold for the constitutionally protected right of the citizens of his state to keep and bear arms.

Lawrence G. Keane
NSSF Senior Vice President
August 16, 2023
Gun Organization Sues Illinois Over New Firearm Restrictions

I’m not sure. I could see the contempt ranking higher.

In other news, August is National Shooting Sports Month.

Quote of the Year!

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If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.

No limit.

Please let us know.

Elon Musk @elonmusk
Xeeted on August 5, 2023

Free speech absolutist? It sounds like it.

This is very cool if it results in the destruction of the cancel culture.

But, of course, it depends on what the definition of “unfair” is. Who is to be the judge of that?

You Know Your Friends By Their Enemies

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Quote of the Day

That the leftist echo chamber in unison is doing everything it can to discredit the movie, the actor, the man who started the group by rescuing children and the group that rescues children should tell you something. They are over the target and laying down truth bombs right and left. The sound of leftist heads exploding…it’s a beautiful thing.

Sheila Stokes
July 16, 2023
THE SOUND OF LEFTIST HEADS EXPLODING

I have nothing to add.

UFO Evidence?

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Quote of the Day

If they can travel light years or at the speeds that we’ve seen, defy physics as we know it, fly underwater but don’t show a heat trail, then we are vastly out of our league. We can’t handle it. We couldn’t fight them off what we wanted to. That’s why I don’t think they’re a threat to us, or they would already have been.

Tim Burchett
U.S. Representative (R-Tenn.)
July 12, 2023
Evidence Shows UFO Tech ‘100 Percent’ Not From Earth, but That’s Not a Threat: Rep. Tim Burchett

“If.”

As cool as it might be to make “first contact” I’m waiting for the clear and convincing evidence to be made public and get a few million more eyeballs on it.

Open Defiance of the Constitution

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I’m hearing the echo’s of their Democrat brethren from sixty years ago in the deep south. They have announced the deliberate defiance of SCOTUS rulings regarding freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights:

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes promised Friday to ignore a major Supreme Court ruling that prevents the government from compelling speech.

After the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Friday that Colorado cannot require a Christian web designer to create wedding websites for same-sex couples that feature messages violating her religious beliefs, Mayes vowed not to enforce what she called the “woefully misguided” majority’s decision. The case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, challenged the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA), a law that prohibits public accommodations from restricting services based on sexual orientation.

Mayes promised to continue enforcing Arizona’s public accommodation law “to its fullest extent.”

If only we had a President willing to exercise whatever police powers are required to enforce SCOTUS decisions and protect the rights of the people in Arizona. Maybe that will happen in early 2025. I could see it being a 2024 election issue.

The day when we get to enjoy their trials is getting closer.

AR-15 in Lawful Hands Brings Down Mass Shooter

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Intense:

Via a Tweet from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

See also: