ATF’s rule of three strategies and double-dipping rewards

You sometimes meet the most interesting people at the gun range.

Fast & Furious: Who knew what? Report could detail the chain of decisions behind Fast, Furious

But don't hold your breath.

The other high-ranking administration official to have learned of Operation Fast and Furious was Kevin O'Reilly, a national security staff member in the White House. Emails written in 2010 show that William Newell, then the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Phoenix office, told O'Reilly about Fast and Furious.

The administration refused to let congressional investigators interview O'Reilly.

For some conservative critics of the Obama administration, tying Operation Fast and Furious more directly to the White House is the dreamed-of objective. A group called The Conservative Caucus is offering a $100,000 reward for information showing that the White House was involved in Fast and Furious as an effort to further a gun-control agenda.

David Codrea: Treaty with Mexico takes death penalty off table for Terry murder suspect

"The arrest announced Friday by Mexican federal police of Jesus Leonel Sanchez Meza, a suspect in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, will bring another perpetrator closer to justice if found guilty, but at the same time hits a legal roadblock that could complicate the prisoner’s extradition from Mexico to the United States. Unless assurance are given that the death penalty will not be sought or imposed, Mexican authorities will refuse to turn Sanchez Meza over for prosecution."

John Robb channels Kipling

Keeping Your Head When All About You Are Losing Theirs.

Praxis: Short Fingers and Fat Butts

Handgun Fit for Defensive Shooting

"Major Strasser has been shot. . . Round up the usual suspects."

"Major Strasser has been shot. . . Round up the usual suspects."

Mexico arrests suspect in 'Fast and Furious' killing.

Mexican federal police announced Friday that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Jesus Leonel Sanchez Meza is one of the five men charged with killing Terry in December 2010 during a shootout in Arizona near the Mexican border. One is on trial in Arizona, and the other three remain fugitives. Sanchez was arrested Thursday in Sonora state.

Mexican officials, in cooperation with the FBI, made the arrest in Rocky Point, Sonora, on Thursday afternoon, said federal sources familiar with the case but not part of the investigation. Sanchez was taken to Mexico City to begin extradition proceedings.

"Deja vu all over again." Sign of the times. "Smith & Wesson Posts Insane Earnings, Revenues Skyrocket."

"It's deja vu all over again." -- Yogi Berra.

As the winds of war began to stir in the months leading up to the Civil War...Sam Colt was shipping many of his guns to the South. Around this time Colt is believed to have changed the Company address on his guns from "New York City" where its sales office was headquartered...to the factory address in Hartford, CT in an effort to appease his Southern pro-slavery customers. The reason, as we understand it, was that many Southerners viewed NYC as the epicenter to the abolitionist Movement. After Lincoln's election in November 1860, Southern purchases seem to have intensified right up to the outbreak of the war in April the following spring. However, once the war began and the South officially became the enemy, Colt quickly changed his barrel addresses back to New York City. Love or hate him, Colt certainly understood the sentiments of his customers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line and he worked hard to fulfill their needs. -- Antique Arms, Inc.

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge posts the above chart of Smith and Wesson revenues with this comment:

"When the final bubble does pop (and here we make the wild assumption that no intelligent extraterrestrial life will be found to bail out the central banks in time), at least everyone will be locked and loaded."

Durden is referring to this press release from Smith and Wesson.

The Blaze picks up the same story and posts it under the headline: "Smith & Wesson Posts Insane Earnings, Revenues Skyrocket."

I guess there's a whole lot of folks who think, like Yogi Berra, that it's deja vu all over again.

A Confederate and his Colt.

David Codrea Exclusive: "Chief Counsel’s Office still calling shots at ATF despite report, source alleges." B. Todd Jones -- just another sock puppet (in a long line of sock puppets) for the anti-gun Chief Counsel's Office.

B. Todd Jones -- just another sock puppet (in a long line of sock puppets) for the anti-gun Chief Counsel's Office.

"Crediting Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Deputy Director Thomas E. Brandon for a problems analysis summary is not justified, an insider source told Gun Rights Examiner yesterday. The 'Quick Hits' report admitting to retaliation and ethical violations by the Chief Counsel’s Office was the result of a Field Agent Advisory Panel, and Brandon’s role was not to direct or participate in the document’s development, but simply to receive it after it had been prepared."

“The question should be, ‘what has he done with it since he got it?’” the source continued. “To my knowledge, not much of anything.”

Adding to concerns over inappropriate and problematic influence by the Chief Counsel’s Office over day-to-day operations and management decisions, another allegation corroborates concerns that nothing is or will be changed under the caretaker stewardship on behalf of the Holder Justice Department by Acting Director B. Todd Jones.

“After the issues detailed by the FAAP were first posted on the intranet homepage - they were quickly taken down by order of the Chief Counsel's Office,” the source maintained, citing retaliations that have occurred since Brandon was presented with that document.

“DOJ runs ATF through B. Todd and don't mistake for a second that Brandon is second-in-command,” the source continued. “He answers to Greg Serres [Deputy Chief Counsel] who is always at BTJ's side.

“Don't give agents and people hope where there is none,” the source cautioned. “Management has heard all those ‘Quick Hits’ before. They didn't do anything about it then and haven't this time around either.”

Whether Darrell Issa and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will investigate the report’s observations of undue influence and ethical violations, whether they will raise this as an important issue with the Inspector General and whether it will figure prominently in the long-anticipated OIG report on Operation Fast and Furious, and whether they will do anything to introduce new hope and bring the Chief Counsel’s Office to account remain to be seen.

So it would seem that B. Todd Jones is just another sock puppet (in a long line of sock puppets) for the anti-gun Chief Counsel's Office. And Tom Brandon, whatever his inclinations are, is just another ATF bureaucrat unwilling to do the right thing if it jeopardizes his pension.

Praxis: Low-Tech Solutions to High-Tech Tyranny

"[Disclaimer: The following is a series of fictional accounts of theoretical situations. However, the information contained within was taken from established scientific journals on covered technology and military studies of real life combat scenarios. We do not condone the use of any of the tactics described within for "illegal" purposes. Obviously, the totalitarian subject matter portrayed here is "pure fantasy", and would never be encountered in the U.S. where politicians and corporate bankers are forthright, honest, and honorable, wishing only the sweetest sugar coated chili-dog best for all of mankind…]"

Are Chinese Banks Hiding “The Mother of All Debt Bombs”?

Seems to be the case.

And what happens to the regime when the bomb goes off? Scared totalitarians usually find an excuse to go to war.

ATF’s latest gun grab

Agency reduces due process for seizing firearms.

David Codrea Exclusive: ATF document admits to retaliation and ‘ethical violations’. Congressman Issa, are you paying attention?

Go to link here to read entire document.

An undated internal “Quick Hits” problem identification analysis forwarded to Gun Rights Examiner by an insider source yesterday points to “poor management,” an “unfair disciplinary system” that includes “retaliation,” and “ethical violations” from the Chief Counsel’s office among the issues requiring management resolution.

The document, represented by the source as the result of meetings between Deputy Director Thomas E. Brandon and a “working group” that took place earlier this year, accuses Counsel of “inhibit[ing] leaders from doing the right thing” by having “too much involvement in all bureau processes,” and among its solutions recommends “Do not tolerate ethical violations from Counsel” and “Establish transparency wherein counsel cannot mask activities, records, etc. with ‘privilege.’”

“Poor management has killed morale,” the document admits, recommending that the concern that “management takes care of management” requires the bureau “Punish managers commensurate with their level of responsibility…higher position + intentional malfeasance = greater discipline and accountability.”

Among related problems specified were an “unfair disciplinary system…disparity of discipline between management,” and, significantly, “retaliations.”

Tom Brandon, ATF's Great Hope?

. . . This new document containing admissions of many of the things reported and alleged outside the bureau should be of interest to those investigators, insider advisers to this columnist, insist, particularly because of the anticipated testimony of the Justice Department Inspector General, initially scheduled for September 11, but now perhaps to be postponed if the report currently under draft review is delayed—something advisers have cautioned to watch out for, and a concern seemingly confirmed in a story filed yesterday by The Los Angeles Times that cited a letter from the IG.

“I think that as a basis for the oversight hearings that we have been promised but not yet seen, this is wonderful stuff,” one adviser told Gun Rights Examiner about the Quick Hits document. “ It shows that Brandon and Company are willing to reform and provides a template for questions by the Congresscritters that would get to the heart of the matter. Indeed, an honest performance by Brandon at such a hearing may be the only thing that can save the institution. I found the criticism of CC (Chief Counsel's) Office to be magnificently spot on.”

“This could be real fodder for the hearings,” another agreed.

Congressman Issa, are you paying attention?

Praxis: the 5.56 NATO M855A1 "Brown Tip" cartridge.

"New M855A1 Enhanced Performance Round smashing expectations."

David Codrea: Marine police training response ignores civilian rights concerns

"Inquiries about police personnel training with United States Marines have resulted in a boilerplate response that glosses over civil liberties concerns and fails to acknowledge and address specific questions about those operations, a September 5 letter from USMC Public Affairs shows."

Your tax dollars at work. CDC seeks to prepare for the zombie apocalypse.

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

I have been asked by some of the uninitiated if I have anything to do with this . . .

Kerodin's latest con. I do not. I generally don't subscribe to anything proposed by a convicted -- and self-admitted -- federal extortionist who has also had contact with the ATF in a criminal case. (Making him, if nothing else, eminently blackmailable by the Feds. Heh. If so, an ironic end for an extortionist, wouldn't it be?)

I've spent quite a while ignoring Kerodin lately but when someone brought this spot-on post from California Yankee to my attention and then someone else asked me, in all uninformed innocence, if I had anything to do with III Arms, I realized I needed to put up this disclaimer.

Sadly, anybody who sends this guy money will likely get more (and less) than they bargained for.

Thanks, Diane, for reminding us of the collectivist threat to our liberty and property.

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an out-right ban, picking up every one of them... 'Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in,' I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren't here." -- Diane Feinstein on CBS "60 Minutes", February 5, 1995.

Senator Dianne Feinstein says she'll reintroduce assault weapon legislation.

Dianne Feinstein announced Wednesday that she’s re-entering the battle over gun control during her keynote speech to the California delegates to the Democratic National Convention. . .

She promised California delegates she’d return to Congress to reintroduce “an updated assault weapons bill.”

At the delegates' breakfast, she said that, "Weapons of war do not belong on our streets, in our classrooms, in our schools or in our movie theatres."

Nice of her to remind us all in prime-time of the collectivist threat to our liberty and property.

Oleg Volk's latest.

Home invader repellent.

David Codrea: Nugent, NRA hold key to Romney executive privilege pledge.

Is it too much to expect that politically influential people who represent themselves as gun rights leaders use that influence to persuade Mitt Romney to do the right thing and show some leadership himself on this? It’s only small fry desperate to get an important story out who need to resort to incessantly banging pots and pans for media attention, political attention and “gun lobby” attention. Nugent and Cox would get the right people’s attention immediately.

Mr. Romney, Tear Down This Stone Wall. Revoke executive privilege on Fast and Furious.

Mitt Romney addresses the NRA.

As I was very ill yesterday, my partner in anti-crime David Codrea broke the story: Romney asked to revoke executive privilege on Fast and Furious if elected.

Here's our letter:

September 4, 2012

Mitt Romney

Via electronic correspondence

Subject: Revocation of Presidential Executive Privilege on “Fast and Furious” Documents

Dear Candidate Romney,

On June 20, 2012, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole wrote a letter to Rep. Darrell E. Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform informing him “that the President has asserted executive privilege over the relevant post-February 4, 2011, documents” subpoenaed as part of the committee’s Operation Fast and Furious “gunwalking” investigation.

These documents are essential to determining the truth about falsehoods stated to the committee and later withdrawn by the Justice Department. Former federal prosecutor.

Rep. Trey Gowdy has demonstrated the Obama White House cannot legally assert executive privilege to shield these documents.

“The reason we have privileges is to protect the relationships…No privilege is absolute,” Gowdy has stated. “Every privilege can be defeated, and usually they can be defeated by an indication of criminal conduct."

“There was a demonstrably false letter sent from the Department of Justice on DoJ letterhead to a United States Senator and therefore to all of Congress,” he continued. That letter was misleading, deceptive, and provably wrong. We are seeking the documents that would help us understand how a letter that materially false could be drafted, approved, delivered to a United States Senator. That’s the information that Congress was seeking. The White House and the Department of Justice are seeking to prevent us from getting that information by asserting that third tier, lowest level, weakest form of executive privilege.”

You recognized the wrongness of the administration’s actions in your July 17 release, “Transparent Hypocrisy: Obama's Fast And Furious Broken Promises,” when your campaign informed voters “After Slamming The Use Of Executive Privilege During His 2008 Campaign, President Obama Is Now Using It To Avoid Telling Americans The Truth About Operation ‘Fast And Furious.’”

A few months earlier, in April at the NRA Annual Meeting in St, Louis, you expressed your personal enthusiastic support for Congressional investigations.

“I applaud Congressman [Darrell] Issa and Senator [Chuck] Grassley for their work in exposing the Fast and Furious scandal,” you proclaimed to an enthusiastic assemblage of NRA members.

“And of course I applaud NRA leadership for being among the first and most vocal in calling upon Attorney General Holder to resign or get fired,” you added.

Sir, we need more than your applause.

If elected president, you will have the authority to revoke claims of executive privilege made by your predecessor. You will be able to give the American people the truth about the “materially false” information first provided, then rescinded, and then covered up by the Obama administration. You will be able to demonstrate your leadership and commitment on determining the truth about Operation Fast and Furious and holding those responsible for it truly accountable.

Mr. Romney, tear down this stone wall.

Will you pledge and commit, that if elected in November, you will rescind Obama’s executive privilege order and direct your Attorney General to fully cooperate with and assist the Committee in document production and whatever else it needs to finally determine and tell the American people the truth?

Sincerely and seriously,

David Codrea

Mike Vanderboegh