Prosecutors fight Reese motion to vacate felony convictions on gun sales

The crux of the government's arguments revolve around testimony of Jose Roman, a member of La Linea, the enforcement arm of the Mexican Juarez cartel trying to save his own skin. As this column reported two years ago, when it noted “Records don’t back witness for the prosecution in Reese gun case,” Roman has been a career criminal since the age of 17, smuggling illegal aliens, guns and drugs, and who has been offered a plea deal in exchange for testimony. Significantly, he also admitted on the witness stand that he had provided false statements while making firearms purchases from the Reese’s gun shop.

After Oklahoma Beheading and ISIS Threats, Arkansas Firing Range Becomes First To Exclude Muslims

While FFLs and range operators have a great deal of latitude in their business dealings, it is doubtful that a blanket ban based upon religion is remotely viable on First Amendment grounds. This is no more legally viable than a ban on Baptists or Catholics.

It is also monumentally stupid.

Priceless. And speaking of communists. . .

So, I'm walking down the aisle at the thrift store yesterday and what do I see but a double-extra-large example of this tee shirt, brand new:

Looking at the price tag and roughly calculating the tag-color discount-of-the-day plus my old fart's percentage, I saw that it was less than a buck, I had to have it, so I carried it up to the register, pleased as punch. The line was long and I was short on time to go pick up Rosey, but no matter. While I waited, I held it out in front of me, fully displaying the iconic image, looking at it and smiling. Some clueless young bearded slacker was behind me in the line and commented, "Wow. I like the tee shirt." "Yeah," I enthusiastically replied, "it'll make a GREAT target the next time I go to the gun range. Images of commie murderers always make the best aiming points." You should have seen his face. Priceless.

Herschel Smith rightly refers to this as "news from communist controlled territory."

Jersey City And Responsible Gun Manufacturers

Man Who Defends His Life In No-Knock Raid Now Faces Death Penalty

"I’ve said it before and I’ll keep pressing on the issue. My home is my castle, and I don’t care what judge has signed what piece of paper. If you come at my home, especially in the middle of the night, you’re going to get shot, cop or not. I won’t differentiate because I cannot trust uniforms and announcements. Criminal gangs have now taken to wearing uniforms and making announcements."

"My home is my castle. It doesn’t belong to you, and it doesn’t belong to the state. If you are law enforcement and want to come in my home, call and make an appointment. Got it? If that isn’t good enough for you, if you think there is evidence of something or other you want to see, then put good detectives on the job (like you did at one time in history), watch for me to leave, detain me, and then take me back to the home and let me use my key to the front door. Or get a locksmith. In other words, use your brains to gather evidence. Otherwise, I don’t care if you lose that evidence. I only care about my safety, and the safety of victims like Mr. Guy."

George Zimmerman to break media silence on Armed American Radio

Unknown at this time will be the extent of anticipated reactions by those in the angrily vocal camp against George Zimmerman, notably from personalities like Al Sharpton, and from members of the New Black Panther Party, who in 2012 offered a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman's capture. It is for reasons of personal safety and security, as well as so the interview does not get disrupted and halted by protesters, that the physical location is being withheld.

Praxis: 25mm boxes -- what experiences have you had with long term storage using them?

I've never used these Bushmaster 25mm ammo boxes for long-term storage and I'm wondering how many uses folks have found for these air-tight, water-tight containers?

Here, a fellow using them for panniers on his bike.

Here, a post discusses the use of 25mm M791 Ammo Boxes as Flashlight Storage.

They are, it seems to me, heavier than metal ammo cans of similar volume. Still, does anyone have experience using them tactically, or for long-term storage?

Police chief sues to overturn will of the voters, make gun rights 'alienable'

Dotson wants to use the power of government to overturn the overwhelmingly popular will of the people. That's kinda dangerous with an armed populace.

Mind your head.

Oklahoma attack underscores benefit of guns, self-defense

Loaded 12 Gauge shotgun as universal language. A Southern breakfast: Grits, gravy and guns

As for the shotgun, Stewart said the idea to keep it out in the open came from a customer who owns a pawn shop in Tuscaloosa. Stewart said the customer told him that after his shop was robbed, he got a shotgun up, pulled the pump down and set it behind the cash register. "He said, 'That's a universal language,'" Stewart said. "'Everybody understands what that means.'"

Money pours into Connecticut governor’s race from third-party groups

Two political action committees registered with the IRS — one supporting Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the other supporting Republican businessman Tom Foley — have so far amassed a total of nearly $5 million in contributions to spend mostly on TV advertising, often condemning the other candidate. Other groups, including gun rights and gun control advocates, are also pumping money into the election.

Practical marksmanship. Three to one -- he got two.

Third suspect sought in deadly gas station shooting in Canton

China thinks it can defeat America without battle

China's Deadly Miscalculation in the Making

Geneva Report warns record debt and slow growth point to crisis

“Over my career I have seen many so-called miracle economies – Italy in the 1960s, Japan, the Asian tigers, Ireland, Spain and now perhaps China – and they all ended after a build-up of debt.”

Another brilliant idea from the Connecticut Collectivist Tyranny.

Sandy Hook Commission Calls For Government Crackdown On Homeschools

The Death Of Shop Class And America's Skilled Workforce

As shop teachers around California retire, high schools aren’t replacing them and shop classes are closing. There is no training for teachers going through university to learn how to teach shop. This trend isn’t limited to California, according to John Chocholak who has testified in front of California State Assembly and Congress on the subject of shop class, he is seeing shop class killed in Florida, Wisconsin, Texas and many other states. Shop class is dead and so are the potential trades people that would be born out of that early exposure to a tool or machine. What is America going to do without skilled workers who can build and fix things?

Good question.

Good luck with that, you collectivist harridan.

DNC’s Donna Brazile Calls For Scrapping Constitution To “Save America” From Conservatives….

Speaking of freedom of speech, blue-clad official thugs don't much care for it either.

“Copblock” Is a TERRORIST Site, And People Who Visit It Are Terrorists

What passes for freedom of speech in Hamburg (no, not Nazi Germany, silly, Hamburg, New York)

Hamburg man agrees to take down anti-SAFE Act sign

Mind your head. Practitioners of the religion of peace help make the case for open carry.

Breitbart reports "Oklahoma Beheader Linked to Al Qaeda Leader Awlaki, Boston Bomber's Mosque."

You know, if many more of these beheadings take place, open carry advocates are going to be welcomed with open arms.

"'Patriots' are ready to defend their right to keep guns"

Mark Pitcavage, ADL's "militia expert."

Fear of the federal government’s interference with Second Amendment rights and suspicion that elected officials are ignoring the “will of the people” have provoked a resurgence of self-described patriots across the country who say they are preparing to defend themselves and their rights.

Praxis: The strategic power of small acts

An interesting Australian analysis of 4GW as practiced by the Jihadis.

Two images sent by a friend.

I liked that one, but I had to laugh at this one:

Timing is everything.

Changed Senate rule eases way for Holder successor

Democratic changes to the filibuster last year should give President Obama's attorney general pick a gliding path through the Senate in the lame-duck session. Last November, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid changed Senate rules so that nominations for Cabinet positions and most judicial posts needed only 51 votes, instead of the 60 that had been required. That means the person President Obama nominates to succeed Attorney General Eric Holder will not face a potential Republican filibuster.

"'Jesus was not a member of the NRA;' no biblical grounds for emphasis on self-defense."

The indiscriminate support of gun rights in American society has become "the worship of idols," Laser said, "And that's blasphemy. For Jews, there is the biblical mandate from Leviticus: You don't stand by while your brother's blood is being shed."

Mysterious private police force destroying legal pot.

No warrant: Camo-clad soldiers drop from helicopters, chop down plants, vanish

Sharyl Attkisson Blasts Media’s Fast And Furious Coverage: “We Should All Be Embarrassed”

“We should all be embarrassed that we’re leaving it up to a conservative watch dog group to do the job that I think we should all be doing,” Attkisson said. “If the media pressed harder, reported more on it, made a bigger issue of these inexcusable restrictions of information under this administration maybe something could be done about it. If you reported it every day on the evening news, I think that the drumbeat might actually change things.”

I've got a better idea. Why don't we just quit taxing the things to death and take the profit motive out of the smugglers' hands?

Former ATF Agent: Empower Police To Nab Terrorists Cigarette Smuggling.

Since 2006, the tax rate on NYC cigarettes has gone up 190 percent — consumers now pay $4.35 to New York and $1.50 to NYC per pack, which often cost more than $12. Consumers in nearby states, such as Virginia and Delaware on the other hand, pay closer to between $5 and $8 a pack. “When there’s such a disparity, it increases criminal activity,” Mariano said. “I know that for a fact.” Smugglers can sell a pack for $8 in New York — well below the market price — and still profit at $3 a pack, Mariano explained. The high profits, combined with the ease of smuggling and “ridiculous” tobacco smuggling laws that amount to what he calls a slap on the wrist, has led all sorts of criminals to use cigarettes as currency.

Mind your head. Well, we didn't have to wait long for that. More inter-faith outreach from the religion of peace.

Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace

While questioning the suspect's co-workers, investigators learned he had recently started trying to convert several employees to Islam, Lewis said. Moore police have asked the FBI to aid in the investigation and look into the man's background because of the nature of the attack, Lewis said.

Johnson and the suspect were hospitalized and in stable condition Friday, Lewis said.

Lewis said he does not yet know what charges will be filed, adding that police are waiting until the man is conscious to arrest him.

Suggested reading.

After one of my many presentations following my return from Rwanda, a Canadian Forces padre asked me how, after all I had seen and experienced, I could still believe in God. I answered that I know there is a God because in Rwanda I shook hands with the devil. I have seen him, I have smelled him and I have touched him. I know the devil exists, and therefore I know there is a God. -- Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, Canadian commeander of the ill-fated UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, writing in Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda.

I am not a multi-culturalist, nor am I a moral relativist. I am a professed, if somewhat flawed, Christian. However, it struck me the other day in all the denunciations of the unrestrained violence being done in the name of the Muslim religion that some of the folks doing the denouncing had an imperfect understanding of their own religion's dark and bloody history. As a remedy to that, I would like to suggest a quick read of William Manchester's slim volume A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance.

Here is a pdf of the book available online.

Religions are sets of beliefs as practiced by man. That I am a believing Christian does not cause me to ignore the fact that professed Christians before me acted wholly contrary to the teaching of Christ. Sin is sin, murder is murder, rape is rape, evil is evil, regardless of which banner the Devil's disciples of the moment may fly. The fact also is that in the recent centuries, godless collectivism as practiced by governments of various stripes made murder on an industrial scale that dwarfs in size at least anything done over all of time in the name of God.

Still, Manchester reminds us that the Christian religion was perverted by men to do very anti-Christian evils in its name. And in some quarters it still is. Such knowledge should engender humility, and caution, for those of us who may be tempted to let our anger at evil suck us in to acting like the evil-doers we profess to fight.

Shalom.

As several post cards and email well-wishes I have received remind me, Rosh Hashanah is being celebrated in 2014 from sundown on Wednesday, September 24, to nightfall on today on September 26. I would particularly like to thank CY from Brooklyn for the card wishing me and those I love "a year of peace, health and happiness." The card came to me yesterday at a particular low point and I was touched and renewed by its simple sincerity. Thanks, CY and Shalom to you and yours too.

Two Videos of American Airstrikes on ISIS That Should Scare Iran

Hitting the same spot again and again takes extreme precision. And that’s exactly what we see in this footage of a strike on “an ISIL compound” near Raqqa on Tuesday.

Why Holder Quit

The backstory of how Obama lost his ‘heat shield.’

There’s also at least one high-profile long-shot on the informal list being circulated inside Obama’s camp: former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who left Washington in 2013 to take over the massive University of California system, according to one Democrat with close ties to the White House.

See also: Clearest Sign Yet the GOP Will Take the Senate: Eric Holder to Resign

"Eric Holder's Fast and Furious Fiasco Was Media Scandal, Too."

No kidding.

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's Sister on Timing of Holder Resignation: "Not a Coincidence"

"I do not find it a coincidence that Eric Holder chose now to resign after Judge Bates denied the request from the DOJ to delay the release of the Fast and Furious documents. I personally think Eric Holder was really hoping that the documents would never be made public to my family and the American people," Terry-Willis tells Townhall. "Will we ever get the accountability for my brother, Brian, Jaime Zapata and every other person who lost their lives to the guns from this horrific scandal? I don't know, but I have a serious gut feeling when we finally see what is in those documents....the dynamics of this investigation are going to change and hopefully the people involved are brought to justice. Eric Holder can run, but there will be no hiding. The truth always reveals itself."

Want To Avoid Getting Raped by a Cop?

This is the advice of George Brown, a captain of the Oklahoma State Police, shared during an interview with a local NBC News affiliate in the wake of revelations that three Oklahoma cops (see here) have been arrested for sexually assaulting women. Asked how to avoid being raped by a cop, Captain Brown urged potential victims to “…follow the law in the first place, so you don’t get pulled over.”

Kennedy heir shows ‘progressive’ threats to freedom include more than guns

“I think it’s treason,” he continued. “Do I think the Koch Brothers are treasonous -- yes, I do ... Do I think they should be in jail -- I think they should be [enjoying] three hots and a cot at the Hague with all the other war criminals.” As an attorney with the finest education from exclusive schools money can buy, Kennedy certainly must be aware that conviction for treason can be punishable by death. And subjecting American citizens to international tribunals for “war crimes” over political differences in environmental policy is not only unprecedented; it’s stark, raving nuts.

Jumpy stormtrooper shoots driver over alleged SEAT BELT VIOLATION.

"Why was I shot?!?"

Fast and Furious Crime Boss to Resign. (It won't save him from the war crimes trials.)

Eric Holder To Step Down As Attorney General

Warthogs forever.

Obama Goes To War With Weapons He Scrapped

122nd Fighter Wing deploying 300 airmen to Mideast

You gotta be kidding. Some people never learn. Romney channels Adlai Stevenson.

Dead elephant party zombies stalk the earth, seeking amnesiacs who will vote for them.

Byron York writes that "Romney 2016 is for real." It would seem that Romney is channeling the ghost of Adlai Stevenson.

Stevenson was defeated in a landslide by Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election. In 1956 he was again the Democratic presidential nominee against Eisenhower, but was defeated in an even bigger landslide. He sought the Democratic presidential nomination for a third time in the election of 1960, but was defeated by Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Other than the fact that she never should have been arrested by New Jersey stormtroopers in the first place . . .

Shaneen Allen Is Free (Basically)

‘Everytown’ marks political debut by endorsing safe candidates

The Colorado endorsements all go to Democrats. As do those for Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party), Nevada, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

The other thing that’s immediately apparent is they are all Democrats, they are all “progressives,” and for the most part, they are either incumbents or in “safe” races. What’s also evident, particularly in governor races, is the Republicans have not fielded unabashedly “pro-gun” contestants in two out of Everytown’s three. So while gun owners in Connecticut may go with Tom Foley over Dannell Malloy, their main object is to get Malloy out. Ditto, in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper challenger Bob Beuaprez got a tepid 79 percent rating from the National Rifle Association. Perhaps that’s enough to induce gun owners to hold their noses and vote Republican, but it’s hardly the fire-in-the-belly inspiration needed to assure a championship game victory.

News Concerning Open Carry

The implication is that open carriers will be arrested. They’d better not be. As we’ve noted, there is state preemption now and open carry is legal everywhere in Missouri.

From Herschel Smith: Conspiracy Theories And Ideological Purity Among Preppers And Patriots

Herschel says, "Mike is nicer than I am." You could get arguments on that proposition from any number of people, including the Attorney General of the United States. ;-)

China Thinks It Can Defeat America in Battle

But Beijing seems to be overlooking U.S. submarines

Feinstein's lust for confiscation of 'assault weapons' unmitigated by time

But, as she revealed in a statement to ProPublica this month, she still wants a ban, still wants it to be permanent (no "sunset provision") and still wants it to be confiscatory .

Malloy courting women in close re-election race

A Sept. 10 Quinnipiac University Poll determined 46 percent of likely voters support Foley for governor while 40 percent back Malloy and seven percent support conservative petitioning candidate Joe Visconti.

Attack of the Killer Watermelons. More proof, if any was needed, that Green is the new Red.

And there's that socialist clasping hands crap again.

Climate Movement Drops Mask, Admits Communist Agenda

St. Louis 'open carry walk' will celebrate Amendment 5, raise awareness

The intent here, of course, is not to put the planned Open Carry Walk on the same level as those historical events, but to note that very little of worth is accomplished without both risk and effort.

"Our Westgate Is Coming."

No one wants to think about Westgate Mall, or how it could have been in Raleigh, or Tampa, or Sacramento, or Cleveland, just as easily as it was Nairobi.

"We are building peace from within, and for that, you need disarmament."

Venezuela's Maduro launches civilian disarmament plan

Opposition activists have accused the Venezuelan government of hypocrisy. They allege that officials have armed "colectivos", pro-government groups which have clashed with anti-government protesters during demonstrations, while paying lip service to the disarmament plan. On Sunday Mr Maduro said his government "continued to pursue the dream, the utopia of a Venezuela in peace", and promised to build "peace with love, justice and a will to work".

Hezbollah's armed drones.

Hezbollah's use of drones to target another militant group shows how warfare is changing: The monopoly of states on the use of military force is eroding, and new technology is leveling the playing field between states and militant groups.

Enter the conflicted dragon. Misadventure by military miscalculation? It appears that Chinese "command and control" isn't all that it should be.

In light of Xi’s remarks, it seems highly likely that PLA leaders have at times acted without the consent of the Communist Party’s senior leadership and, more critically, against the strategic vision of that same leadership.

Aren't they all? Aspiring tyrants, I mean. More along the lines of "Green is the new Red."

Robert Kennedy Jr., Aspiring Tyrant. He’d like to charge the Kochs with treason and send climate-change dissenters to jail.

The United States government, Kennedy lamented in an interview with Climate Depot, is not permitted by law to “punish” or to imprison those who disagree with him — and this, he proposed, is a problem of existential proportions. Were he to have his way, Kennedy admitted, he would cheer the prosecution of a host of “treasonous” figures — among them a number of unspecified “politicians”; those bêtes noires of the global Left, Kansas’s own Koch Brothers; “the oil industry and the Republican echo chamber”; and, for good measure, anybody else whose estimation of the threat posed by fossil fuels has provoked them into “selling out the public trust.” Those who contend that global warming “does not exist,” Kennedy claimed, are guilty of “a criminal offense — and they ought to be serving time for it.”

Time To Take Their Toys Away

In June 2013, as nearly all of Idaho’s 44 sheriffs publicly pledged not to enforce any new federal anti-gun measures, Raney used an op-ed column in the Idaho Statesman to lecture the public that the Constitution’s “supremacy clause” means that “every state shall abide by the laws passed by our Congress.” Raney accused his colleagues in Idaho and neighboring states of being “indulgent” toward their misinformed constituents and “making hollow promises to protect you from the intrusions of the federal government.”

"Why Colorado's Gutless Gov Is in Trouble."

It was Hickenlooper who caved to East Coast gun-control zealots and partisan White House lobbying. As Democratic state legislators rigged the hearing process, snubbed Colorado constituents and insulted Second Amendment-supporting women during hearings last year, Hickenlooper was chumming it up on the phone with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Vice President Joe Biden.

Leniency for ‘anti-violence activist’ who took gun to school suggests favoritism

A so-called “anti-violence activist” who brought a gun to school causing a lockdown, and who then reportedly lied to police about it, has been sentenced to a conditional discharge of 100 hours of community service.

What a self-absorbed jerk.

Semper Latte: Obama salutes Marines, coffee cup in hand

Remember, no matter how much ammunition you have, it will never be enough when war breaks out.

Churchill rejected Lord Kitchener's WW1 ammunition plea, letter reveals

Now Why Would The ATF Be Asking About Internet Sales?

It asks, "Have you conducted or do you intend to conduct internet sales of firearms? If yes, list the websites from which you conduct your internet business." If you go to this link, you can see that the prior version of ATF Form 8 did not have this question on it.

Been a rough last couple of days.

I'll have more later. I'm trying to finish the third part of my series on where to draw the line.

Obviously they all became career criminals out of deep-seated resentment of their parents for having given them such ridiculous, hard-to-spell names.

Edvis Miquem Galloway, Savon Khalif Hardaway, and Kalmeaice Kawanna Williams

3 Suspects Try to Rob Gun Seller With His Own [Unloaded] Gun, but End Up Getting Held at Gunpoint, Arrested

Brother Pratt puts his finger on the central truth of citizen disarmament.

Democrats Push Gun Control Because 'They're Afraid Of Getting Shot And They Ought To Be!'

"They clearly want to exercise power that, in their judgment, would cause enough push-back to stop them from doing what they're doing," Pratt said. "And I just said in a nice way that they're afraid of getting shot and they ought to be! That's what the Second Amendment is all about. They ought to be afraid of an armed people so that they don't get into a situation where they would actually provoke violence."

Amen, Brother Pratt.

Tribal warfare. Another anecdote of a collapsing civilization.

Thieves allegedly rob six victims in name of Michael Brown

A quote from the novel Malevil comes to mind:

Suddenly I realized something. What we were in the process of doing in Malevil, and quickly, very quickly now, since speed was the precondition of our survival now, was learning the art of war. The evidence was blindingly obvious. There was no longer any state to guard us. There was no order but our guns. And not only our guns, but our wiles. We, who at Easter, not so long ago, had no other concern but to win the Malejac local elections, were now in the process of inculcating in ourselves, one by one, the implacable laws of primitive warrior tribes.

Guns are green. (No. Really.)

Hundreds of Justice Department Attorneys Violated Professional Rules, Laws, or Ethical Standards

Administration Won’t Name Offending Prosecutors

New Jersey editors show end game in call for mandatory gun 'buybacks'

The antis just don’t know how to make that happen, which leads to frustration and rage when they realize that ultimately, they’re the ones who are impotent to force their will on no-compromise gun owners, their childish Alinsky Rule 5 insults about “compensating ammosexuals” notwithstanding. The fake egalitarians realize there’s not enough billionaire-funded Astroturf to cover over the grassroots, and that their incessant blood-dancing only makes a big splash with those inclined to wallow in gore for gain.

Drunk Crashes Through Window Of Medieval Weapons Hobbyist, Hilarity, Stabbing Ensues

If you’re going to get drunk and then go for a drive in your car that you just reported stolen, get involved in a police chase, wreck your car, and then decide that your next brilliant move is to break into a home… well, maybe you need to pick your “victim” with a little more care.

Chinese Student Spies Overwhelm US

"In military affairs, quantity has a quality all its own." -- Clausewitz.

Intelligence agencies around the world typically regard China’s approach to spying as sloppy and unprofessional. While many other countries focus on stealth and finesse for espionage, China’s focus is on mass numbers. While regarded as unprofessional, China’s approach has also been extremely effective. The challenge posed by China comes down to a simple fact: it has too many spies for foreign intelligence agencies to keep track of.

The Days of Elijah. "These are the days of great trials -- Of famine and darkness and sword."

From Allen West comes this remarkable video of Marines at Camp Pendleton singing Days of Elijah in a worship service. West comments:

Oh boy, this here video is surely going to send the head chucklehead of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Mikey Weinstein, into a apoplectic state of frothing hysteria. And you can imagine that the leadership of the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation is running about gnashing their teeth and tearing at their clothes. This video taken at Camp Pendleton shows U.S. Marines at a Christian worship service singing the upbeat Christian song, “Days of Elijah.” And as you will see, they are very enthusiastic about the song.

Here are the lyrics.

The lyrics explained here: The Story Behind Days of Elijah

And speaking of reds. . .

Hillary Clinton, Saul Alinsky correspondence revealed.

File under "Green is the new red."

Greens: Climate march shatters record

"Gabby Giffords gets mean."

Gabby Giffords, irreproachable figure of sympathy, has fashioned an improbable new role for herself this election year: ruthless attack dog. The former Democratic congresswoman, whose recovery from a gunshot wound to the head captivated the country, has unleashed some of the nastiest ads of the campaign season, going after GOP candidates in Arizona and New Hampshire with attacks even some left-leaning commentators say go too far. And Republicans on the receiving end are largely helpless to hit back, knowing a fight with the much-admired survivor is not one they’re likely to win.

Confident the regime will protect her, Lerner is arrogant and unapologetic.

And she wants you to feel sorry for her. Poor, poor, pitiful her.

Poor Hickenlooper.

"Hickenlooper's troubles started with the 2013 legislative session in which Democrats, enjoying control of both chambers, enacted an ambitious agenda that included gun control."

National Political Secret Police Find It Tough. Poor Babies. What's so tough about being SPLC's sock puppets?

Top-level turnover makes it harder for DHS to stay on top of evolving threats

The departures are a result of what employees widely describe as a dysfunctional work environment, abysmal morale, and the lure of private security companies paying top dollar that have proliferated in Washington since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The department’s terrorism intelligence arm, for example, has cycled through six directors during the Obama administration, decimating morale and contributing to months-long delays in releasing intelligence reports, according to interviews and government reports.

What's so tough about being SPLC's sock puppets?

I've grown to dislike the sheepdog metaphor, but Rhodes makes some good points here.

"Sheepdog vs. sheepdog?"

Hardly surprising. Police Authorities Implicated in Australian Gun Thefts

Using registration lists compiled by one bunch of criminals to serve another bunch of criminals.

Ferguson and Fairfax: Profiles in Official Cowardice

More than a year later, John Geer’s family still doesn’t know the name of the officer who killed him. The last day of Geer’s life was Aug. 29, 2013. His longtime partner Maura Harrington had moved out with their two girls and the breakup seemed amicable until that day. Geer became upset, started drinking, and tossed some of Harrington’s belongings into the front yard. She dialed 911, hoping Fairfax County police officers would calm him down. Instead, they killed him.

"We have a president who basically has created a lawless atmosphere in Washington.”

Rand Paul blisters Obama and Clinton, calls for GOP diversity

Look out Elmer, they're coming for you, too. Courtesy of the great Oleg Volk

Regarding the latest push to ban "sniper rifles," Oleg Volk had already predicted it:

Terry sister assails latest administration Fast and Furious stonewalling

“Learning that Eric Holder has asked the judge to delay turning over thousands of Fast and Furious documents has enraged me,” Terry-Willis acknowledged. “I thought about writing Eric Holder a letter to ask him one simple question ‘Why?’ I came back down to reality assuming, as usual, the question would fall on deaf ears and never be answered. “If Eric Holder or anyone else in the Administration did not know about the horrific Fast and Furious scandal prior to the death of my brother, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, then what is it they are afraid of in the documents?” she asked. “Wouldn't they want to know the same questions as my family?

Uh, huh. "U.S. immigration protesters drop U.S. border blockade plan."

A plan by U.S. protesters against illegal immigration to block traffic at more than a dozen border crossings in the southwest on Saturday was canceled after organizers said they received online threats from Mexican drug cartels.

Collectivist CT Gun Grabbers Endorse Malloy

Like this is a big surprise. Endorsing the power of the state to disarm and attack your fellow citizens.

“We stand for liberty and individual rights. They stand for taking our liberty one chunk at a time,” Wilson said. “These are the people the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the Constitution.”

No, these are the people the Founders had in mind when the Sons of Liberty went around tarring and feathering Tories.

Anti-gun ‘study’ implies racist outcomes from gun ownership

Because if it’s just guns, it stands to reason to expect this latest report to show similar results for the five million members of the NRA, arguably the most armed-to-the-teeth civilian population on the planet. Maybe the public health hoplophobes can get back to us after they've compared our homicide rate to, say, that in the gun-free UK...

LewRockwell.Com notices my little blog.

At What Point Revolution?

NBC's call to treat home invaders 'like royalty' even worse than first appears

And since "treat them like royalty" clearly means to Zeins and NBC that the home invaders should be given everything they want, one could easily be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that they believe that "royalty" should be treated as superiors. From that, one cannot help but wonder if they would prefer that we still were under British monarchic rule.

Revolutionary War fort gun ban rule an affront to history and to heroes who sacrificed all for freedom

It almost seems like some historical society hoplophobe decided to put the notice up on his own authorityand see if it would work. Whether the sign and its applicability to the code section it cites would withstand a legal challenge is unknown, but it certainly is inviting of one.

The stupid bastards really are puzzled. Well, all I can say, is God bless Larry Pratt and GOA.

But, but, if you wish it, it just has to happen, right? Whatever Happened to Gun Control?

It certainly didn’t look like things would turn out this way. In the days after the shootings, almost everyone involved in the gun debate anticipated big changes. The National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre may have blustered publicly against gun control, but as The New York Times later reported, the NRA’s top lobbyists were negotiating with the White House and Senate Democrats on background-check legislation under the assumption that it was inevitable. . . But persistent misinformation and agitation by far-right members of Congress and gun groups even more rigid than the NRA slowly doomed the effort. Republicans who said they’d support background-check legislation started to waver, often citing bogus fears of a national gun registry that the bill explicitly forbade. The NRA began feeling the heat from groups like Gun Owners of America, which urged a no-compromise approach, and its lobbyists dropped out of the negotiations. By the time the bill reached the Senate floor, everybody knew it wouldn’t pass. And with no bipartisan Senate bill on his desk, House Speaker John Boehner was free to never talk about reform again.

"There’s a new war on terror. So just what is Obama’s mysterious FBI director up to?"

Well, the short answer is "probably no good."

Look out, Elmer Fudd. "And Then They Came For The Bolt-Actions."

“There are three groups who will buy these rifles — insurrectionists, terrorists and hate groups,” Fineman said in a recent statement. “Given the sniper rifle’s deadly accuracy, no one is safe — this cannot be allowed.”

"Mob Violence, Terrorists, & Fears of Tyranny: Are You Arming & Armoring Up?"

“If Darren Wilson gets off, you all better bring every army you all have got. ‘Cause it’s going down,” said one speaker.

Ezekiel Emanuel: We Should Die at 75

Ezekiel Emanuel is one of the nation’s premier Obamacarians. He has the president’s ear. He is for health care rationing. And now, he wants us to die at 75.

Australia, ISIS And The Role Of Guns

Self defense is a luxury when times are safe. When times become hard, the giggling and jokes go away, and people begin to think grown up thoughts. Those who want to continue to think as children pretend that the police will take care of them. Adults know better.

A Glimmer of Hope for Shaneen Allen

“His website is all about guns. But when it extends to the Shaneen Allens of the world . . . to law-abiding citizens making an honest mistake — you want to destroy them over that?”

So, you want me to grieve that there's not going to be one more socialist country in the world?

Not going to happen. Scotland votes 'No' to independence

Latest Holder court maneuver continues DOJ Fast and Furious stonewalling

An important analysis piece from David Codrea.

Where to draw the line? Part Two. "When someone publicly announces his appetite for your liberty, property and life, you should believe him -- and act accordingly."

Judah walked among his brothers and fellow rebels and spoke to them of the thing for which they fought; “Oh my fellow soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully, you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty of worshiping G-d.

“Since therefore you are in such circumstances at present, you must either recover that liberty, and so regain a happy and blessed way of living, which is that according to our laws, and the customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings; nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this battle. Fight therefore manfully; and suppose that you must die, though you do not fight; but believe, that besides such glorious rewards as those of the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall then obtain everlasting glory.

“Prepare yourselves, therefore, and put yourselves into such an agreeable posture, that you may be ready to fight with the enemy as soon as it is day tomorrow morning.”

As I reposted last night, I asked this question six and a half years ago: "Where to draw the line?" This repost was motivated by some recent headlines and some from the distant past that I ran across in the past couple of days. If I could sum up the lessons of these disparate stories, it would be with a line that I have used many times over the years: "When someone publicly announces his appetite for your liberty, your property and your life, you should believe him -- and act accordingly."

That sentiment distills down into one sentence my essay from way back in 1999, What I Have Learned From the Twentieth Century.

I was reminded of that when David Codrea shared this link from the Rabbinical Council of America with me, entitled "2014 Resolution: Gun Violence in America," which declares that "the RCA favors restricting Americans’ easy access to weapons and ammunition and encourages all to desist from recreational activities that desensitize participants to killing, weaponry, and violence."

One wonders what Judah Maccabee would say to this resolution. Or this mother:

In a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise and European Jews are removing the Mezuzahs from their doors so that they can't be so easily identified by the new combination of Jihadi beheaders and Hitler's great grandchildren who want them dead, such disarmament advocacy is plainly suicidal. Again, I say, when someone publicly announces his appetite for your liberty, property and life, you should believe him -- and act accordingly.

A faithful reader recently drew my attention to a New York Times article from the 21 March 1933 edition. Unfortunately the NYT charges for access to its archives on-line and frankly I don't have the money to subscribe, so I put off reading it until I could get down to the Birmingham Public Library and view it on microfilm. In this case, though, my poverty paid off. For if I merely got the article alone, I would not have read the news of the day that accompanied it. And therein was the most important lesson.

The initial article of interest can be found on Page Ten of that day's NYT and it is entitled "Nazis Hunt Arms In Einstein Home."

Albert Einstein in 1933.

Berlin, March 20 -- Charging that Professor Albert Einstein had a huge quantity of arms and ammunition stored in his secluded home in Caputh, the National Socialists sent Brown Shirt men and policemen to search it today, but the nearest thing to arms they found was a bread knife.

Professor Einstein's home, which for the present is empty, the professor being on his way back to Europe from the United States, was surrounded on all sides and one of the most perfect raids of recent German history was carried out. The outcome was a disappointment to those who have always regarded Professor Einstein's pacificst utterances as a mere pose.

The elimination of Jews from responsible positions goes on . . .

Einstein's summer home in Caputh, circa 1929. The Nazis raided it for arms and found a bread knife.

Now this is a fascinating anecdote, to be sure. But to get to page ten, you have to scroll past the first nine pages of that day's edition and it was on the front page above the fold that other stories provided the background and the context of the smaller story -- and demonstrated the larger lesson.

The lead story was provided by the Times' Berlin correspondent, Guido Enderis. (Enderis, it should be noted, has been criticized by historians as being excessively pro-Nazi.)

REICHSTAG MEETING TODAY IS PREPARED TO GIVE HITLER FULL CONTROL AS DICTATOR

Berlin, March 20 -- It was announced tonight, on the eve of the convocation of the new Reichstag, that the Hitler government would ask it for dictatorial powers lasting until April 1, 1937, or until the replacement of the present Legislature by another.

By the terms of the draft of an empowering act sent to the Reichstag tonight, that body is to be excluded from legislation unless the Cabinet invites its cooperation and the government is to have the right to promulgate laws and decrees outside the channels prescribed by the Constitution even if they conflict with its provisions. . .

The Reichstag Fire had happened on the night of the 27th of February and the regime made maximum use of the panic occasioned by it.

What this meant in practical terms was made plain by an accompanying story, also on Page One:

NAZIS TO PUT BAVARIAN FOES IN CONCENTRATION CAMP; 'REPUBLICAN ARMY' LEADERS TO BE HELD WITH REDS

Munich, March 20 -- Chief of Police Himmler of Munich today informed newspaper men here that the first of several concentration camps will be established near this city soon for the detention of thousands of Communists, Marxists and leaders of the Reichbanner organization.

He explained that in the long run it would be impossible to hold in jail those who would be arrested and to release them would only mean renewed agitation. Such measures as were planned, he added, must be carried out without any petty scruples.

He also announced that the Socialist press in Bavaria would remain suppressed until April 4.

In the process of putting Bavaria under the control of the government at Berlin there has been a sweeping campaign against all the leaders of the Left parties and reports have indicated that the arrests have run into thousands. In particular the new authorities undertook to break up the Reichsbanner, the army formed by the republican elements as an offset to the monarchists and the Nazi brown shirts. This organization has been ordered dissolved throughout Germany.

The problem of keeping the vast number of political prisoners led Dr. Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior, to announce recently that they would be put in concentration camps and kept at hard labor.

Heinrich Himmler in 1933.

In the same issue was a first-person account of the atrocities being carried out by the Nazis against Jews by the novelist Lion Feuchtwanger.

TERROR IN GERMANY AMAZES NOVELIST

LION FEUCHTWANGER FEARS CIVIL WAR IF VIOLENCE IS CONTINUED IN REICH

SAYS REGIME HOLDS BACK

Author Believes World Will Never Know How Many Jews and Others Have Been Slain

BODIES FOUND EVERY DAY

Red Cross Workers Are Prevented, He Declares, From Aiding Those Injured In Attacks.

Bern, Switzerland, March 20 -- Immediately before I left America, and shortly before the German elections, I told my anxious friends abroad that any idea of pogroms in Germany was unthinkable. President Von Hindenburg's name and the solid foundations of German culture were pledges against such occurrences.

During my journey across the Atlantic we received disturbing wireless reports regarding acts of violence against the Jews. These seemed incomprehensible, but in Paris I met the first refugees from Germany. The stories they related were dreadful. The told of some things compared to which the reports of the atrocities during the war paled.

I found it hard to believe these accounts, although I knew that the people who told them were trustworthy in every respect. In no way were they radical. They were democrats and members of the Catholic Centre parties -- pacifists who all their lives had worked in favor of political mediation and negotiation and men who hated all forms of exaggeration.

However, they declared they had seen, with their own eyes, how attempts had been made to throw people out of underground trains in motion simply because they looked like Jews. They had seen people pulled from motor cars and beaten -- women and young folk too -- because they were thought to be Jewish.

These refugees had also heard despairing stories of women whose husbands and sons had been dragged out of bed and inhumanly beaten and about whom nothing more had been heard or seen. . .

Lion Feuchtwanger, 1933.

Feuchtwanger's account is long and filled with the very real atrocities which were happening at the time, but it was these concluding paragraphs that struck me most forcefully:

I assume that the storm troopers alone are responsible for all they have done -- that must surely be so. It is certain that President von Hindenburg has no idea of the outrages. Probably Chancellor Hitler, too, has had nothing to do with these things personally. And Minister Goering can scarcely be suspected of complicity.

The gravity of the situation lies in the fact that the government clearly no longer possesses any authority over its so-called police organization.

The unfortunate thing is that these people have taken the former wild speeches of Hitler too literally. They were promised that when the revolution began the golden age would set in at once. Now they want the heads which they had been promised they would see rolling on the ground. They want lampposts decorated with dead bodies. The reult is pogroms such as Germany as not seen since the Jewish persecutions of the fourteenth century.

I greatly pray that the government may succeed in calling a halt before the ill treatment, the torture, the slaughter of the thousands of Socialists, Catholics and Jews lead to a civil war such as the world has never seen.

I had to read that over three times before I was fully convinced that Feuchtwanger wasn't writing it tongue in cheek. No, he really believed that these atrocities represented a government out of control rather than one fully in control of what its minions were doing. I suppose he was trying to convince himself more than the audience he was writing for. Yet the "civil war" that Feuchtwanger prophesied was made impossible because by the time he wrote this for the Times, the Reichsbanner, the militia formations pledged to defend the Weimar Constitution, were already in jail and headed for concentration camps, dead or in hiding.

Of course we now know that von Hindenburg, in whom Feuchtwanger put so much confidence, knew exactly what was going on. Although ailing, von Hindenburg wouldn't die until August of 1934. Yet the novelist certainly shouldn't have had any illusions about Hitler's intentions after reading Main Kampf. And as we see from the article quoting Himmler above, one had only to read the newspapers of the day to see which way the wind was blowing. Yet Feuchtwanger clung to his illusions because he desperately needed to. Such thoroughgoing evil was frankly beyond his knowledge and experience. And the Nazis had just begun. It would take twelve years and tens of millions of dead before they danced the executioner's jig themselves.

YET WE KNOW WITH PERFECT HISTORICAL HINDSIGHT THAT SUCH THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH ANY REGIME, INCLUDING THE ONE WHICH CURRENTLY RULES OVER US IN CONTRAVENTION OF THE CONSTITUTION AND EVERY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE FOUNDERS HAD OF HOW THE GOVERNMENT THEY CRAFTED WAS SUPPOSED TO WORK.

No, we don't have the excuse of Feuchtwanger's wishful thinking. And so, we must ask ourselves the same question that the Reichsbanner men waited too long to answer -- Where do we draw the line? I'll try to answer that in Part Three. But remember, when someone publicly announces his appetite for your liberty, property and life, you should believe him -- and act accordingly.

Praxis: AK in Emergency Mode.

Broken bolt carrier? No recoil Spring? No dust cover? No problem! Dima demonstrates abilities of AK rifle and how to continue to fight with "broken equipment".

Praxis: Poor Man's Drone

Flying 3D X8 6 Axis 2.4G 8CH GPS FPV RC Quadcopter RTF

See also here.

Brady Campaign lawsuits against online ammo dealers aim to cripple 2nd Amendment

At the very least, this suit is intended to lay the groundwork for making it impossible to buy ammunition online. Shoot any "oddball" calibers, that are unlikely to be found at any local shops? You're out of luck . . . and out of ammo. And that is the whole idea.

Hardly surprising.

Department Of Justice, Media Matters Coordinate To Attack Reporter

Action hero’ Neeson proves to be typical Hollywood hoplophobe

“I am totally for gun control in the U.S.,” the actor, who became a citizen five years ago declared, decrying the number of guns owned in the country that took him in and rewarded him with fame and fortune. “I’ll give Britain its dues, when they had the Dunblane massacre in Scotland, within 24 hours the gun laws were changed so you could not have a handgun.”

"Fake Warsaw Pact Soldier?"

BOLO: Fake Warsaw Pact Soldier With A Mohawk Ambushed PA State Police

Hickenlooper fading?

GOP Candidate Takes 10-Point Lead in Colorado Governor’s Race

Where to draw the line?

Over six and a half years ago, I wrote this piece drawing on the German experience and asking the question "Where to draw the line?" I subtitled it, "More along the line of grim thinking inspired by government misconduct in the Olofson case." I present it here because the question is still pointedly relevant, as another post that I plan for tomorrow will further demonstrate.

When the 23rd Regiment was finally back in Boston after the ordeal of April 19, adjutant Frederick Mackenzie wrote in his diary, "I believe the fact is, that General Gage was not only much deceived with respect to the quantity of military stores said to be collected at Concord, but had no conception the rebels would have opposed the King's troops in the manner they did." -- General John Galvin, The Minutemen, Pergamon-Brasseys, 1989, page 244.

Where to draw the line?

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe, 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution

Libertarian Wolfe made her famous observation above in the mid-nineties. Now here we are more than ten years later, even more isolated and politically disenfranchised, and we must ask the question: how far do we have to go to get past "awkward?"

History never exactly repeats itself and thus is an imperfect guide. Studying history "we see through a glass, darkly." Still, there are patterns in history that deserve our close attention, so we may better understand how to act in the present and to enable us to better predict the future. Through history, we understand that no idea, bad or good, ever truly dies. We are also shown that people, being human, repeat the mistakes of their ancestors, over and over again. Indeed, there is no one blinder than a historical amnesiac.

Flag of the Reichsbanner, the German military organization sworn to defend the Weimar Republic.

So when we consider the question suggested by Claire Wolfe, that is, when are we past the awkward stage and into the day of "shooting the bastards," we must consult history for examples to guide us. I offer firstly a lesson in waiting too long from William Sheridan Allen's outstanding study, The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town (Franklin Watts/Grolier, 1984):

And yet, one has to ask the question, what happened to those who had sworn resistance? What happened to the Reichsbanner, which had repeatedly asserted, in the years before Hitler came to power, that when the expected Nazi coup came they would be able to defend the Republic? In Northeim, at least, the Republic was destroyed without a single blow struck in its defense. The Reichsbanner, with all its plans for instant mobilization, had its members struck down one by one, its leaders imprisoned, beaten, hounded from their jobs and their homes without any resistance from the organization as a whole.

Perhaps the basic reason for this was that there was no Nazi coup d'etat. Instead there was a series of quasi-legal actions over a period of at least six months, no one of which by itself constituted a revolution, but the sum of which transformed Germany from a republic to a dictatorship. The problem was where to draw the line. But by the time that line could be clearly drawn, the revolution was a fait accompli, the potential organs of resistance had been individually smashed, and organized resistance was no longer possible. In short, the splendid organization was to no avail; in the actual course of events it was every man for himself. (Allen, p. 191)

The Reichsbanner parades past the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, 1929.

Even after reading Allen's work, I have often wondered why the German opposition just laid down without a fight. Back in the nineties, I was talking to Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, and one of us (I recall it was him, he thinks it was me) made this observation: "If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had possessed a Mauser rifle, 20 rounds of 7.92mm ball and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would have been an obscure footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."

True enough, whoever said it. But as Grant Hammond observed about Colonel John Boyd's seminal theories of warfare:

"There is another trinity in Boyd’s strategic catechism as well. It is a concern for what he lumps together as moral-mental-physical aspects of opponents. Most definitions of war define them as contests in physical violence. Boyd sees them mainly as moral struggles won as much by mental as physical prowess. But he sees the complex—moral-mental-physical—as a single entity, a synthesis that can be broken down analytically but must be understood as a composite whole. It matches another Trinitarian composite, that of people first, ideas second and things third. This happens to be the opposite of the way most militaries approach problem solving by focusing on technology, platforms and weaponry first, ideas about their employment second and people—who are largely interchangeable and ultimately, are expendable—third. This way of thinking has little utility in Boyd’s Way and in fact, may be the seed of many a defeat." (Source: Grant T. Hammond, The Essential Boyd).

Many Americans, especially us small "r" republicans, take heart when we recall that the American citizenry possesses more small arms than most of the world's armies put together. And as Clausewitz observed, in military affairs quantity DOES have a quality all its own (just ask any Korean War veteran about his first experience with a Chinese human wave assault).

Still, as Napoleon insisted, "The moral is to the physical as three is to one." We cannot be protected by our possession of a hundred million rifles if we lack the will use them. Iraq was an armed society, yet the Saddam dictatorship had little trouble tyrannizing that country for decades. And it cannot be doubted that there are many American gunowners who would, at the first command of an American tyranny, turn in their weapons simply because they are "law-abiding" people who "don't want any trouble" -- simply because, in fact, they have forgotten what it is to be free. They have grown used to doing what the government tells them to do. And perhaps that was the problem with the Weimar republicans:

The Northeimer Reichsbanner itself was ready to fight in 1933. All it needed was an order from Berlin. Had it been given, Northeimer's Reichsbanner members would have carried out the tested plan they had worked on so long -- to obtain and distribute weapons and to crush the Nazis. But (the local Reichsbanner) would not act on its own. The leaders felt that single acts would come to grief, would possibly compromise the chance when it finally did come, and would, in any event, be a betrayal of discipline. They felt that their only hope was in common action, all together, all over the Reich. Hadn't (their national leaders) said that only a counterattack should be made? So they waited and prayed for the order to come, but it never did. And while they waited the Nazis began tracking them down, one by one. (Allen, p. 191)

The Germans, wholly indoctrinated in obeying orders, were incapable of acting without them. Because their would-be tyrants represented "the government" and cloaked their wolfish actions in "legal" sheepskin, because their own "leaders" could not or would not give the order, they all ended up in a concentration camp -- leaders and followers -- without ever having struck a blow. I am again reminded of Boyd's "moral-mental-physical" dynamic by this observation of Allen's:

"This situation, where even heroism was denied the men of the democratic Left, came about in no small measure because of the failure of the Social Democrats to understand the nature of Nazism. Just as their basic premise in the years before Hitler came to power was the erroneous assumption that the Nazis were essentially Putschists who could not possibly attract a mass following, so their basic premise after Hitler came to power was the equally erroneous assumption that his would be a government similar to the others of the Weimar period." (Ibid, p. 192)

Because of their inability to see the enemy for what he really was (and if ever there was an enemy who delighted in shouting his intentions to the rafters it was Hitler) they went straight from the "awkward stage" to the concentration camps without ever firing a shot.

Die Garde der Republik marching song of the Reichsbanner.

Thinking and Acting before Feeling

Now, contrast the behavior of the Germans to that of our Founding Fathers. This is best illustrated by reading Gordon S. Wood's The Creation of the American Republic, 1776 - 1787:

In the American Revolution, Wood wrote, "there was none of the legendary tyranny of history that had so often driven desperate people into rebellion. The Americans were not an oppressed people; they had no crushing imperial shackles to throw off. In fact, the Americans knew they were probably freer and less burdened with cumbersome feudal and hierarchical restraints than any part of mankind in the eighteenth century. To its victims, the Tories, the Revolution was truly incomprehensible. Never in history, said Daniel Leonard, had there been so much rebellion with so 'little real cause.' . . . The objective social reality scarcely seemed capable of explaining a revolution . . .

As early as 1775 Edmund Burke had noted in the House of Commons that the colonists' intensive study of law and politics had made them acutely inquisitive and sensitive about their liberties. Where the people of other countries had invoked principles only after they had endured 'an actual grievance,' the Americans, said Burke, were anticipating their grievances and resorting to principles even before they actually suffered. 'They augur misgovernment at a distance and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.' The crucial question in the colonists' minds, wrote John Dickerson in 1768, was 'not, what evil HAS ACTUALLY ATTENDED particular measures -- but what evil, in the nature of things, IS LIKELY TO ATTEND them.' Because 'nations, in general, are not apt to THINK until they FEEL, . . .therefore nations in general have lost their liberty.' But not the Americans, as the Abbe Raynal observed. They were "an 'enlightened people' who knew their rights and the limits of power and who, unlike any people before them, aimed to think before they felt."

(Source: Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, UNC Press, 1969, pp. 3-5)

The Founders were people who believed in "preserving the spirit of resistance." To take Abbe Raynal's words to their conclusion, the Founders aimed to think AND act before they felt. Unlike the Germans, their "awkward stage" ended at Lexington green, and ultimately led to liberty.

In the light of recent events such as the Olofson case, it seems plain that our own "awkward stage" may be perilously close to drawing to an end. There are those who still insist that such unconstitutional outrages perpetrated under color of law deserve nothing more than verbal condemnation or further attempts at legal redress in a "justice" system rigged against us (as if these thugs pay attention to the law anyway). Used to inaction and afraid of even voicing the threat of justifiable self-defense, these timid souls, these "summer soldiers and sunshine patriots," would have us wait for true tyranny before acting.

This was not the way of the Founders. They understood that tyranny is best strangled in its unholy infancy, before it becomes a raging beast. They understood the threat, they prepared to meet it and, in the end, they defeated it. The Germans of the 1930s did not, and they were devoured.

I say we would do well to emulate the Founders rather than the Germans, to think and ACT before we feel, when it will be too late. This is important not only for those Americans who wish to remain free, but for those on the other side who unthinkingly seek to rob us of our freedoms and for those in the middle who (ignoring the Law of Unintended Consequences) sit idly by, content to watch the destruction of the American republic on television while thinking it has nothing to do with, and can have no effect upon, them.

If we small "r" republicans do nothing else, we should let the rogue elements of our own government know that in addition to outnumbering them, we still preserve the spirit of resistance, despite have been marginalized politically by the two major parties. Perhaps, if everyone understands that, the Redcoats (now wearing black raid gear) will not once again blunder and unknowingly march out from Boston into an unexpected but perfectly predictable butchery contest.

By our words, our preparations, our training and our actions we, the armed citizenry of the Republic of the United States of America, still have the opportunity to convince them of our unyielding determination to remain free. It may be our last best hope to preserve uninterrupted both our God-given liberties and the domestic peace we have come to love too much. While it is better to be "awkward" than to be dead, it is better still to die fighting than to be enslaved without a fight.

Just ask the Germans of the Weimar Republic.

So THINK and ACT before you FEEL. The Founders did.

Taking this morning to reassess.

Folks, I'll be honest. It's been a struggle lately. I am faced with some tough resource choices in my plans for Colorado and Connecticut, the black dog has returned and is perched upon my chest and I continue to struggle with my health. I'm taking the morning off (at least) to do some serious thinking about my responsibilities -- and my duties -- to you, my family and the larger struggle. Keep me in your prayers.

Obama's Self-Defeating Fight

The presence of Westerners in IS, indeed, IS’s aggressive efforts to recruit Westerners wouldn’t pose much of a problem for the US if it were willing to secure its borders and recognize the root of the problem. But as US President Barack Obama made clear over the summer, and indeed since he first took office six years ago, he opposes any effort to secure the US border with Mexico. If these jihadists can get to Mexico, they will, in all likelihood, have no problem coming to America.

Judge rebukes ATF over treatment of agent who infiltrated Hells Angels

The ATF managers involved in the case happen to be the same senior officials in Arizona who mishandled the Operation Fast and Furious case -- the botched anti-gunrunning sting -- including Agent in Charge Bill Newell and his assistant George Gillett.

New Anti-Gun Strategies

“Assault weapon” bans have proved very unpopular — but the anti-gun lobbies aren’t giving up entirely.

Another coup for Sharyl Attkisson.

Benghazi Bombshell: Clinton State Department Official Reveals Details of Alleged Document Review

Anti-gun ‘Tampon Run’ game puts messy spin on blood dancing

“New York City high school students Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser met at coding camp and recently completed their project Tampon Run -- a video game to point out that menstrual cycles are normal... and guns are bad.”

Big surprise.

Holder presses delay on Fast and Furious documents

‘No Angel’ Dobyns wins “David and Goliath’ challenge against ATF

Jay Dobyns claimed victory Tuesday following an order in his favor by the United States Court of Federal Claims, the retired Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent announced in a news release on his website. The decision marks a legal resolution for a bizarre and outrageous personal nightmare that included death threats against the agent and his family and the arson of his home, and resulted in his having to take the government on in court.

Things fall apart.

The Great Unraveling

Rabbis reject calls for ‘gun control’ by Jewish religious groups

Rejecting calls for more federal gun laws by the Rabbinical Council of America and the Orthodox Union, a dozen rabbis have issued a joint statement rebuking the position of those groups, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership announced Monday in a member alert and press release.

Herschel Smith on "The Worst Gun Bill Ever."

Well, there are many bad gun laws, and it’s hard to pick out the worst one. But it’s seems true that the recent surrender on the assault weapons ban by the anti-gunners is a misdirect. It isn’t what they’re really interested in. This is what they really want.

The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing. This is the only thing that we can possibly do to keep our children safe from both mass murder and common street violence.

Unfortunately, right now we can’t. The political will is there, but the institutions are not. Honestly, this is a good thing. If we passed a law tomorrow banning all firearms, we would have massive noncompliance. What we need to do is establish the regulatory and informational institutions first. This is how we do it. The very first thing we need is national registry. We need to know where the guns are, and who has them.

“(Remington Arms is) going to find a big difference in employees when they go to Alabama."

"There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." -- Matthew 13:42

Singing sad songs in King Cuomo's Empire.

Well of course Boehner's testicles are still in Obama's FBI-file lockbox, so what else did you expect?

House Republicans say yes to Obama

"Póg mo thóin." With an appetite far bigger than his fork or his mouth, gun-grabbing anal sphincter O'Malley thinks he qualifies for George Washington's chair.

A long-shot bid in 2016 may suit Martin O’Malley.

I've already told him what I think if his presidential ambitions: "Póg mo thóin."

"Texas Police Prepare to Defend International Bridges From Militia Groups."

Again, I ask, WHO are these people?

“We will not allow these groups to disrupt the economic commerce of our region and we are prepared to use force to keep the bridges open,” said one law enforcement officer who spoke with Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity. The officer explained that the bridges are not symbols of illegal immigration, but rather, they are vital parts of the local economy. “We cannot allow them to be shut down by lawless behavior from people who claim to be promoting the rule of law.”

Breitbart Texas spoke with several law enforcement professionals about whether the reported plans by militia groups to close the bridges were true and, if so, what the law enforcement response to the planned incidents would be. All of the agencies with officers who spoke with Breitbart Texas explained they believe the threat to be credible. The officers indicated that local, state, and federal law enforcement are working together to deliver an appropriate response.

‘Reporter’ sheds pretenses of objectivity repeating Sly James food and guns lie

James, of course, is merely doing what he does as an anti-(private) gun politician and doctrinaire Bloombergian mayor -- exploiting violent crimes by restricting rights of those who don’t commit them, and ignoring that Kansas City homicides are overwhelmingly concentrated in “a 13-square-mile segment of the 319-square-mile city" (and one that votes solid urban Democrat). All while being personally protected by a detail of taxpayer-funded, instantly-reacting bodyguards.

Some praxis feedback. "We of the current generation of warfighters are very, very spoiled."

Reacting to my post, "Repacking 5.56 NATO reloads in military packaging -- bandoleers and stripper clips," an anonymous commenter said:

I can keep 180 rounds in six 30 round magazines, held in a double stack six pocket magazine holder strapped to molle vest or pack. I understand stripper clips, but I'll take a fully loaded mag in a pinch.

Indeed. Many folks, myself included, have a "Ready Box" for each rifle. In the case of AR series rifles, that's usually a three pocket, six-mag bandoleer like this one packed in a PA-108 SAW can:

For AKs, I use a Chinese five-pocket magazine bandoleer like this, also packed in a SAW can:

But you cannot, nor should you, pre-pack all your reserve ammunition in magazines. The question is, what do you do when that initial 180-rounds is exhausted (as it could certainly be in one firefight)? And even if you were able to load many magazines in like fashion ahead of time, what happens when you are asked to resupply ammo to a neighbor who has a Ruger Mini-14? Using the military duplicate packaging in the post allows you to pack large amounts of ammunition that is still ready to load in those magazines -- of whatever type -- when they empty out and in a much faster fashion than bulk boxes.

Responding to my post on sandbags and Improvised Resupply By "Speedball," a veteran of four deployments in the Middle East and Southwest Asia wrote:

Not to extrapolate from my own inexperience (to paraphrase you), but I doubt the modern GI would have much experience with this method. Unless you had the opportunity to serve on a remote outpost in Afghanistan would you have need to rapidly resupply. I certainly never did, and my deployment experiences span the entire course of the GWOT.

In that respect, we of the current generation of warfighters are very, very spoiled. A few things have been written on just how spoiled we have been since Vietnam were each engagement was decided by superior small arms, CAS, and virtually inexhaustible indirect fire support. We have had some nasty conditions, but victories were pretty much in the bag from the start. Not to say that the Islamofascists were as a whole worthless. They had a few good ideas along the way. But even at their worst, they still were nothing compared to one Anzio, one Bunker Hill, or even one day of Chosen.

Now what does that mean for the current generation of warfare, be it with muzzies, the Chinese or the local Mutant Biker Gang? No one has retained this knowledge and so it would be wise to remember when victories are not so decisive from the start.