Saturday, December 17, 2011
Overheard in Washington DC -- an explanation for Fast and Furious.
The lie before the crime. "Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz" ("The community comes before the individual")
"Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz" ("The community comes before the individual")In the 12 years between 1933 and 1945, the Nazis massacred over 20 million people. Fueling their murderous evil was the philosophy of collectivism, so integral to Nazi society that it was inscribed around the edge of every Nazi Reichsmark coin."Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz" ("The community comes before the individual") concretizes the collectivist belief that individuals have no rights and that "the greater good" is the only standard of value. Under such a system, man is not an end to himself, only a tool to be sacrificed for the Führer, autocrat or ruling mob.Only capitalism regards man as a sovereign individual with an inalienable right to his own life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Government recognition and protection of individual rights is the hallmark of a moral, peaceful, productive society.Shipped with excerpts from Leonard Peikoff's The Ominous Parallels, each authentic Reichsmark coin contains 5 grams of silver and serves as a foreboding reminder of the dangerous evil of sacrifice for "the public good." $24.99
Praxis: A discussion solicited on "The Poor Man’s Guide To Survival Gear."
The author notes that his article is a "starting point" not a compendium. I like the guy's attitude in this article, although I disagree with some of his recommendations (mileage may vary), but he fails to mention the principle "survival" question, which is first and foremost not "how?" but "where and with who?".
A well-intentioned "prepper" fleeing TEOTWAWKI in some city is just fodder for some out-lying community's roadblock. The "not in my lifeboat" sentiment will rule the day and few will take the time to ascertain your good intentions, or even more importantly your skills and what you bring to the post-disaster party that can benefit the families of the men behind the guns at the community roadblock. Having been undoubtedly victimized by other less principled refugees before you get there, they will be in no mood for negotiation and, depending upon the expected length of the societal breakdown, will have little Christian charity left in them of the sort that commands that they take food out of the mouths of their children and give it to a stranger.
So, the first question is "Got resilient community?" Then the second question is "Got militia?" Answer those two and you won't have to bugout anywhere.
But, that said, I welcome the discussion on this praxis article.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Texas gets a navy (again).
A few folks may remember the killing and shooting on Falcon lake down here. I know bass fisherman from Michigan like to fish the lake. The Sheriff down here requests you be armed. Well I am happy to let the tourist fishermen know the first Texas DPS Gunboat (There will be atleast 6) has been commissioned today. And yes, those are machineguns. Texas is not counting on the Feds anymore to protect bass fishermen or jet skiers on the border! Come on down and visit!
Cop, writing on Austin Bass Fishing forum:
First off, they don't have 50's. Gun mounts are a twin M240 (7.62) in the front, single mounts on the sides. Secondly, these things were built expressly for Lake Falcon and the border down by Brownsville.They will train a bit on Lake Austin and Decker, but they will not be used to patrol the lakes here. That's APD and TCSO's job.The state bought these mainly because the feds won't do a damn thing about armed incursions on Falcon. Really not intended for drug interdiction. Wasn't even part of the written proposal. This is a gunboat, pure and simple. (sorry to break the news to all you "drug war" guys)Sad fact is, the use of them will be so hemmed in by ridiculous rules of engagement that they'll never fire a shot.
This is a growing trend. The Sons of Guns TV show just recently armed a patrol craft for a Louisiana sheriff department:
Now, on to what you saw in the first episode of this season. We were contacted to arm a sheriff’s patrol boat for duty on the Mississippi River petroleum corridor. The task included a dual mount with a MARK 19 grenade launcher and a 240 Bravo machine gun as well as a grenade/smoke grenade launcher. They wanted the right mounts and the right systems to defend the river.When the job came down through Sheriff Gautreaux for the demonstration and up-arming of their 32-foot patrol boat, we were damn excited. They have a nice flotilla, a 27-footer in that same style, and probably a dozen other boats that they use. We wanted to make this one stand out. These guys in the sheriff’s office do everything from search-and-rescue, pulling drowned fishermen out of the rivers, pulling people out of treetops during flooding to dredging the rivers for bodies, drug interdiction and dealing with homeland security issues. They are a top-notch, professional organization.Since I kind of take a military outlook on everything, we figured if you’re gonna arm up, then do it right. They wanted the ability to sink, destroy, and of course, to show that ability as a deterrent.The sheriff and the colonel who run the river division both felt that they would have a steady firing platform off the rear for the fully automatic machine guns. They use a Barrett 82A1 on the bow and wanted to keep it there. The boat driver, who’s an old brown-water Navy hand just laughed when the question came up and said, “I can point the ass-end of this boat anywhere you want it. Just tell me what you want to hit.” OK, that kind of solved that.Plus, it’s not the Mekong Delta, man, it’s the Mississippi Delta, so there’s slightly different forces at work here.The region these men work in contains many heavily populated areas, and there’s almost always traffic on the river. When you’re cutting loose with a .50 cal. or even a .30 cal. on the water, the bullet can skip off and travel a long way. It may seem counter-intuitive, but sometimes you’re going to be a lot safer with a 40mm grenade launcher.
Well, I for one am certainly glad of THAT. Okay, Lake Falcon, under state jurisdiction, I can see. Those are nasty desperadoes down there. But if every riverine county in America is going to be in an ego-driven arms race for gunboats now, the only good I can see is that it represents more of that arms technology transfer from the military to within the reach and grasp of the armed citizenry. Other than that, the militarization of local police -- most importantly the militarization of the PSYCHES of local cops -- proceeds apace. Fellows that jet around in such craft are hard put to claim that they are "peace officers."Here's the video of the Sons of Guns project:
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Sipsey Street Exclusive: Oh my, a Fed forensic audit of Sipsey Street, whatever shall I do?
So, the latest whispers are that the DOJ was shocked that an email their San Diego US Attorney wrote one afternoon ended up moving at the speed of shit through a goose to the Issa Committee and, here, featured in the pages of Sipsey Street the next morning. Pursuant to this outrage, I am told that I will be the focus of a forensic email audit to find out who tipped me off. Although, I must add, whether or not they have obtained a court order to do this remains unclear at this hour. But then the wiretaps mentioned in the email may not have had court orders up front either, so hey, all may not be fair when it comes to the Feds but at least it's consistent.
Some folks have asked me if it was wise to release the email with such rapidity. Others have expressed irritation that they were not consulted. Well, folks, it is like this. Readers will recall that this blog has been hacked by party or parties unknown, causing me no end of aggravation. I have been poked in the eye by somebody, and although I'm not ready to assign blame to the DOJ it is no great leap to believe that somebody on their Winter Solstice card list did. Consequently, when the means of delivering the counter-stick-in-the-eye presented itself, I seized it, and poked.
There is a lesson here, for those in the Hoover Building and Main Justice to consider. Now, let us assume that DOJ, whose myrmidons certainly have the resources to do a forensic audit on my emails, have the ability to figure out who hacked my blog. No great leap of logic there. Now, there are a lot of documents laying around my office these days with duplicates -- electronic and hard copy -- just about everywhere unfindable and only a small percentage of these have been released with my usual acerbic comments putting them in perspective.
All I can predict from this set of circumstances is that every time somebody pokes me in the eye and makes my life miserable with a hack, I'll try to find something real embarrassing to poke back with.
So, Fibbies and DoJ-gers, it is in your best interest to keep my blog hack free.
Seems reasonable to me.
How about you?
Sipsey Street Exclusive: "ATF’s Tom Brandon Named ticklethewire.com’s Fed of the Year." Let me tell you something about this much ballyhooed schmuck.
Fed of the Year? He sure is, but not in the way that he is being portrayed in this article.
From Tickle the Wire:
Thomas E. Brandon, the straight-shooting, well respected and extremely able veteran of ATF, who was sent around the country this year to try and mend some of the agencies pressing problems, has been named ticklethewire.com’s Fed Of The Year for 2011.Brandon, an ex-Marine who is currently ATF’s number two person in Washington, started the year off as special agent in charge of ATF’s Detroit office, where he was very well respected.In the spring, after the agency started coming under Congressional fire for Operation Fast and Furious, Brandon was sent off to Phoenix to head up that office and try and improve morale and straighten out matters. . .In late August, acting director Ken Melson stepped down. In October, as part of a major shakeup at the agency, Brandon was summoned from Phoenix to become the number two guy in Washington.
Much respected? Yes. Even the guys at CleanUpATF.org welcomed him. "A straight shooter"? Well, you be the judge. Sources tell Sipsey Street that right after he was transferred to Phoenix, Brandon screwed up. That is, he took his charge to clean up Phoenix seriously. In the process, he began to follow the leads that the dissident agents of Phoenix Group VII had followed before being pulled off the surveillances of the straw buyers which were leading to the smugglers and money men.
In short order, Brandon was told to back off, say our sources. He continued to push -- until he was summoned to a meeting with the FBI and DOJ higher ups and given the "national security" warning. The FBI paid informant that the ATF agents had unknowingly identified was a "piece of slime, but a protected piece of slime," according to one source. Brandon was ordered to back off and he very meekly did.
My sources say that the Issa Committee could very profitably interview this "stand up guy" for information on who warned him to stay away from the protected FBI paid informant.
So, is he "Fed of the Year"? Oh, yeah, I'll go along with that. Brandon is everything craven and cowardly that we have come to expect in the senior executives of the ATF and FBI.
Fed of the Year? Yeah, I'll sign that.
"Colt Firearm’s Florida Move Has UAW Job-Killers In Connecticut Worried."
From Red State. Personally, the more firearms manufacturing jobs transferred to Free America, the better.
It begins. Predatory regime of both parties provides citizenry with another reason to shoot first and ask questions later when a raid party comes to your home.
Barack Obama has abandoned a commitment to veto a new security law that allows the military to indefinitely detain without trial American terrorism suspects arrested on US soil who could then be shipped to Guantánamo Bay.Human rights groups accused the president of deserting his principles and disregarding the long-established principle that the military is not used in domestic policing. The legislation has also been strongly criticised by libertarians on the right angered at the stripping of individual rights for the duration of "a war that appears to have no end". . .But another conservative senator, Rand Paul, a strong libertarian, has said "detaining citizens without a court trial is not American" and that if the law passes "the terrorists have won"."We're talking about American citizens who can be taken from the United States and sent to a camp at Guantánamo Bay and held indefinitely. It puts every single citizen American at risk," he said. "Really, what security does this indefinite detention of Americans give us? The first and flawed premise, both here and in the badly named Patriot Act, is that our pre-9/11 police powers were insufficient to stop terrorism. This is simply not borne out by the facts."Paul was backed by Senator Dianne Feinstein."Congress is essentially authorizing the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens, without charge," she said. "We are not a nation that locks up its citizens without charge."Paul said there were already strong laws against support for terrorist groups. He noted that the definition of a terrorism suspect under existing legislation was so broad that millions of Americans could fall within it."There are laws on the books now that characterize who might be a terrorist: someone missing fingers on their hands is a suspect according to the Department of Justice. Someone who has guns, someone who has ammunition that is weatherproofed, someone who has more than seven days of food in their house can be considered a potential terrorist," Paul said. "If you are suspected because of these activities, do you want the government to have the ability to send you to Guantánamo Bay for indefinite detention?"
What then shall we do? A predatory regime of both parties has provided the citizenry with another reason to shoot first and ask questions later when a raid party comes to your home. Must we wait for a Supreme Court decision that comes months, if not years, after the first attack before we begin shooting at every federal officer or soldier who approaches our homes? The inalienable right of self defense says no. These unprincipled idiots are playing with matches in a powder magazine. And the first match of this new box just got struck.
The optics of cover-up. Holder thinks that if he prevents the mothers of Gunwalker from appearing on camera along with his face he can ward off the ghosts of his guilt.
“I know they’re lying . . I know they’re just nothing but liars.” -- Kent Terry, Brian Terry's dad, reacting in the Daily Caller to claims made by Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer that they didn’t know about Fast and Furious.
Today, it’s a privilege to be joined by several of our key public safety partners. These five police executives – Chief [Fred] Bealefeld of Baltimore, Commissioner [Ed] Davis of Boston, Chief [Rodney] Monroe of Charlotte, Chief [Ralph] Godbee of Detroit, and Commissioner [Charles] Ramsey of Philadelphia – have been leaders in developing and implementing innovative and effective crime prevention strategies. They have also worked closely with the Department in advancing critical efforts to reverse the alarming rise in law enforcement fatalities in recent years. The work we do along the Southwest border is influenced by the efforts they have undertaken in their own cities. -- Eric Holder, Hearing, 8 December 2011.
When Eric Holder began his opening statement on 8 December, five liberal Democrat police chiefs sat behind him like a phalanx of lackey myrmidons. The optics of this moment, and the machinations of securing the seats directly behind the witness table, were carefully crafted by the DOJ in order to avoid what they most feared -- Eric Holder having to testify with ordinary citizens, or worse, Mr. and Mrs. Terry and Mr. and Mrs. Zapata, sitting right behind him within the camera's steady gaze whenever he lied, obfuscated, dodged and weaved.
As it happens, the Terry's and the Zapata's were not there, although some folks expected them to show. But the fact that "Holder's generals" were speaks volumes.
(Side snark: The use of general's stars on the shoulders of police chiefs is, to this citizen, ludicrous. The display of four stars (and at least one was a five-star) in duplication of military rank is past egotistical silliness for a mere politically selected police bureaucrat.)
For what Eric Holder and his fellow Gunwalker conspirators fear is the rise of a group, no matter how small, similar to the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo -- The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo -- an association of Argentine mothers whose children "disappeared" during the Dirty War of the Argentine military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, is a unique organization of Argentine women who have become human rights activists in order to achieve a common goal. For over three decades, the Mothers have fought for the right to re-unite with their abducted children.In protests, they wear white head scarves with their children's names embroidered, to symbolize the blankets of the lost children. The name of the organization comes from the Plaza de Mayo in central Buenos Aires, where the bereaved mothers and grandmothers first gathered. They have continued to convene there every Thursday afternoon for a decade.The Mothers' association was formed by women who had met each other in the course of trying to find their missing sons and daughters, who were abducted by agents of the Argentine government during the years known as the Dirty War (1976–1983), many of whom were then tortured and killed. The 14 founders of the association, Azucena Villaflor de De Vincenti, Berta Braverman, Haydée García Buelas, María Adela Gard de Antokoletz, Julia Gard, María Mercedes Gard and Cándida Gard (4 sisters), Delicia González, Pepa Noia, Mirta Baravalle, Kety Neuhaus, Raquel Arcushin, Sra. De Caimi, started the demonstrations on the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, on 30 April 1977. Villaflor had been searching for one of her sons and her daughter-in-law for six months. She was taken to the ESMA concentration camp on 8 December 1978.The military has admitted that over 9,000 of those kidnapped are still unaccounted for, but the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo say that the number is closer to 30,000 - a predicted 500 among this figure are the children born in concentration camps to pregnant 'disappeared' women and given to military related families, whilst the remaining number are presumed dead. The numbers are hard to determine due to the secrecy surrounding the abductions. Three of the founders of the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo have also "disappeared". After the fall of the military regime, a civilian government commission put the number of disappeared at close to 11,000. In January 2005, the body of French nun Léonie Duquet, a supporter of the organization, was exhumed, without an established identity. Duquet's disappearance had caused international outrage towards the Argentine military government. DNA tests concluded, on August 30 of that year, that the body exhumed in January was that of Duquet.Azucena Villaflor's remains, together with those of two other pioneer Mothers, Esther Careaga and María Eugenia Bianco, were also identified by a forensics team in mid-2005. Villaflor's ashes were buried at the foot of the May Pyramid in the Plaza on 8 December 2005. -- Wikipedia.
Note that the Argentine junta did not at first treat the Mothers seriously. When more mothers and Argentine citizens joined them, they did what they were used to: the set the secret police on them. Yet despite the fact that some of their own were "disappeared" to intimidate the others to go home, they did not. In time, they formed the principal moral indictment of the military regime. The "disappearances" became a major international cause celeb and contributed to the downfall of the generals.
Of course the "general" in the present case, Eric Holder, doesn't have the option of "disappearing" Mrs. Terry or Mrs. Zapata. In Mrs. Terry's case, though, Eric got statistically lucky -- the fact that Brian's cousin is a current serving Secret Service agent and early on jumped in as the "family spokesman." Sources say, however, that, according to one, "he acts more like a DOJ handler than a family spokesman," keeping media people as far from the family as possible. To what extent the Secret Service man had in the decision by the Terry's not to attend the hearing is unknown. This reporter has never contacted them, nor the Zapatas, nor intruded on their grief.
But Eric Holder fears their grief. You may depend upon it. The contrived image of the "lackey generals" sitting behind him at the opening of the 8 December hearing tells us as much. And he is right to fear it. If the American and Mexican mothers of the victims of the Gunwalker Scandal ever get together and begin to dog his trail in an Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo, he could not stand the indictment of public opinion. He could not stand the ghosts of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and all the Mexican victims of his Gunwalker conspiracy, standing behind their mothers, pointing their bloody fingers at one man responsible for both their deaths and the cover-up thereof.
That is why those fake generals were there, to ward off the ghosts.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Now yer talkin'! House GOP proposes ‘lost confidence’ resolution on Attorney General Holder.
I like this idea. It forces every mother's son of them congresscritters on the record. There will be GOP "leadership" jerks pissing their pants over this as well as Dems.
Nearly two-dozen Republicans are backing legislation stating that Congress “has lost confidence” in Eric Holder to continue as attorney general. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and supported by 21 GOP co-sponsors, resolves “that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has lost confidence in the Attorney General of the United States.”
FOX: "FBI Director Denies Cover-Up Involving 'Fast and Furious' Guns Found at Border Agent's Murder."
Of course, we should believe him, right? Later, he will claim he was lied to, just like Holder.
More confiscationist silliness from the Sincere Advocate of Civil War Department (as long as nobody shoots his treasonous ass).
"No more guns."
We need to outlaw firearms in the hands of all civilians and start to collect every one of them and melt them down for railroad track. Yes. It would be a big job, but the longest journey begins with but a single step, in the right direction. The military and the police are the only people who should have them. No more guns!Thanks for the reminder to buy more ammo when I have the money.
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