The Conditions are Ripe for a Major Middle Eastern War

It’s a huge amount of fire power, rivalry and armed conflict concentrated in a comparatively small region. And this tinderbox could blow up into a major conflagration, with destructive consequences unparalleled since World War Two.

Haven't yet received confirmation of my press credentials for the NRA Convention in Nashville.

"It's Vanderboegh! Try to ignore him."

Of course I'm about as popular with them as a skunk under the the front pew at church on Sunday morning, so maybe that has something to do with it.

On the importance of using correct terminology.

Cops as road pirates -- Again.

"An hour later, the deputy seized Sanchez-Ratliff's cash. Despite a clean criminal record and a search that turned up no sign of drugs or other illegal activity, the deputy concluded the money must somehow be linked to a crime."

Interesting, but nothing that some determined infantry with Javelins couldn't handle.

Russia's Armata Super Tank: Part of a Master Plan

Wars never end. Something that should be a caution to those who would thoughtlessly start them.

The Chechen Wars Cast a Long Shadow

White House ‘home rule’ stance only applies to restrictions and controls

“Gun laws that are made by the District of Columbia should be made by the District government,” oxymoronically-named White House press puppet Josh Earnest advocated. “Home rule is important.”

"Enforcement light on Colo. gun restrictions."

Twenty months into implementation, Colorado's controversial gun-control laws are mostly unenforceable and have done little to nothing to attain bill sponsors' goals, according to gun rights advocates and statewide data.

The NRA Anti-Defamation League weighs in.

The more streamlined Waynermobile gets lapped by The Little Rascals' downhill soapbox racer entry funded by GOA.

An anonymous commenter, although I have a pretty good idea who it is, writes a comment in response to this post.

"And yet you need a ride and/or lodging at The NRA Annual Meetings in Nashville. Why don't you just join the anti-gun protesters in Nashville? That may be where you belong. Why the hell do you want to go to The NRA's annual meetings, since you're so much against them? You do use your voice, but it comes out of both sides of your mouth. I think you're just jealous, because The NRA has more influence to preserve Amendment II than all the other pro-gun organizations combined. Hooray for The NRA!"

Now, if this is who I think it is (and I love the man like a brother) I would respond thusly.

My disdain for the NRA (especially the present leadership since the LaPierre-engineered coup against Neal Knox)is born of twenty years of personally-witnessed disappointments, failures to act on opportunities, and sellouts on critical issues galore. The NRA, when it does move in the interest of firearm rights, usually has to be dragged kicking and screaming to the fight, and even then makes an inconstant and unreliable ally, more concerned about fundraising and making the press love them than actually winning the fight in question. My memories of the their reluctance to get into the Fast and Furious fight, followed by their use of it to raise money under the lying pretense that they were "alone in the wilderness" on the issue early on is particularly vivid in my memory.

There are many good men and women in the NRA, including some on the board. There are also many long-time scoundrels on that board like Grover Norquist, selected because they are loyal to the LaPierre regime. If I poke fun at the NRA leadership it is because they are an easy target who have done much to deserve my disdain. I still have hope that the NRA will one day become as uncompromising as GOA, but being a practical man, that's not the way to bet. In defending the regime of Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox, you are defending amoral manipulators who are not deserving of your commendable loyalty to the organization. I'm sorry, truly sorry, that you are offended by my posts, but the NRA leadership has done much to earn any sneering I do.

Another case of mistaken triumphalism. AWR Hawkins sez: "Haters Of Self-Defense Face Unrelenting Defeat Everywhere."

Try telling that to the folks living in fear of tyranny behind enemy lines in CT, CO, NY, MD and Wa state. Here's my comment to the author, AWR Hawkins:

Another case of mistaken triumphalism. Try telling that, AWR, to those folks who get up every morning in states now behind enemy lines like CT, CO, MD, NY and Washington state, not knowing if when they get home that the gun raids will have started. Try telling that to the practitioners of armed civil disobedience in those states who have declared publicly that they "Will Not Comply," putting themselves and their families on another government list. The only reason the raids haven't started is that the politicians who passed these laws are frightened of the personal consequences if they do. They truly don't know whether to defecate or go blind. Why don't you, instead of this blind optimism that is obviously occasioned by your own personal distance from the problem,, give some ink to the brave men and women who are engaged in this armed civil disobedience campaign behind enemy lines?

Update

I have been getting some inquiries (some in the form of criticism for slacking) about why I haven't been doing more original work lately. It is a fair question and deserves an honest answer. The fact is that, quite apart from the diagnosis of the resurgent liver tumors, I have had some fairly stiff problems with eating and drinking lately. The esophagus is proving increasingly problematic with acute pain on swallowing, worsening heartburn, and occasional inability to eat without regurgitation. Yeah, I know, too much information. But the fact of the matter is that these problems have caused some weight loss -- I literally have to force myself to eat -- and point to worsening stenosis in the esophageal junction.

I will be getting a swallow study on Wednesday which should tell us more, and will let you know what's up. I am still hoping to cover the NRA convention and then to do a run out to Colorado and Washington state (and perhaps Oregon, we'll see). In the mean time, keep me in your prayers please.

Need an extra mag or two for Zoe's .45 Star PD

Factory mags being "unobtanium", does anybody have experience with these aftermarkets?

Texas Secessionist Invited To Moscow And Seeks Russian Support For His Cause

"Stupid is as stupid does, Forrest."

See also the Google translation page: I arrived in Moscow at the invitation of my friends from the "anti-globalization movement in Russia." I'm going to meet with a number of public organizations that are close to us in spirit and have common values ​​with us.

Meet stupid.

Israelis are starting to figure it out. Obama is as great a threat to the Jews as Haman was.

And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or do him obedience, then Haman was full of wrath. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had told him of the people of Mordecai; so that Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai. (Esther, 3:5-6)

“The president of the United States is lashing out at Israel just like Haman lashed out at the Jews,” he said.

See also: 'U.S. Negotiating Team Mainly There to Speak on Iran’s Behalf'

Government supports dismissal of Ares Armor case against ATF

The government disputes that its “classification of the EP80 as a firearm was arbitrary,” and claims its actions are consistent with prior decisions.

Obama contest discriminates against undocumented immigrants and minorities

Organizing for Action is giving people a chance to be flown to the capitol to meet with the president. They can enter the contest on one of two ways: Sharing their story of how they came to embrace the “progressive movement,” or alternately, by sending in just their email address and zip code without including a story.

"What Really Happened to Harry Reid?"

A fair question.

Pining for hemp and the treason trials of 2017.

Private Emails Reveal Ex-Clinton Aide’s Secret Spy Network

See also: Wiped clean. "No Copies of Clinton Emails on Server, Lawyer Says."

And: Senate GOP asking new questions about emails for Clinton and Abedin, who had special employment status

Heller Foundation raising funds for machine gun lawsuit

The Heller Foundation alerted its supporters in a Friday email and corresponding post to its Twitter feed that it has joined with the plaintiff and his attorneys by promoting, collecting and administering financial support for the Hollis v. Holder lawsuit.

Kit Lange goes radio.

Kit Lange of Liberty for All writes: "I will be hosting a weekly radio show beginning 2 April from 1600-1700. This week's guest is Cope Reynolds, who will be discussing the role of the militia, and how to start/run an effective unit."

The Patrick Henry Society Show.

Open Letter to the Adjutant General of Washington State

We implore you to do your duty as a free man, as an American, and as an officer. But make no mistake—regardless of your decision, ours is already made.

"Conservatives, Get Serious."

He thinks the Second Amendment should be applied, well, selectively, that owning certain types of guns should depend on where you live. He “would rather you not have” a semi-automatic weapon if you live in a city, for example. (And 5 million NRA members would rather you just stopped right there, please.)

C'mon, Montana. What kind of police state crap is this?

"AN ACT REVISING LAWS RELATED TO FILMING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS DURING CONDUCT OF OFFICIAL DUTIES; REQUIRING A PERMIT TO FILM ON PRIVATE PROPERTY; PROVIDING PENALTIES; DEFINING "LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER"; AND REQUIRING RELEASE WAIVERS FOR CERTAIN PERSONS.

Montana House Bill 633 will require members of the media to obtain a $100 permit and a release waiver to film or photograph police officers or face a fine of $500.

Of course the anal sphincter who introduced this piece of cop-worshiping garbage is a member of the GOP: Rep. Dale Mortensen (R-Billings), HD 44.

Mailing Address:

446 Caravan Ave.

Billings, MT 59105

Phone Number: (406) 855-1424

Email: Rep.Dale.Mortensen@mt.gov

Just in time for the NRA convention: The Waynermobile and his trusty sidekick SmallCox.

Remember that $15 grab bag from last weekend's gunshow?

I mentioned it here. Well, I've gotten around to unpacking my plunder and separating out the dross from the gold in the hardware and parts and found this nugget, brand new. It is a Lyman 17 AHB front sight. Not bad, eh?

BTW, the .35 S&W Auto pistol cartridges (quantity 3, see list at above link) in the same bag are worth at least $5 a piece. So when you see what looks like a bag of miscellaneous scrap on a table at a gun show or flea market, give it a glance. Thar's gold in them thar baggies.

Self-Hating Jews, Self-Hating Americans, Self-Hating Whites

A lot of that going around.

The latest from the Elmer Fudd Anti-Defamation League.

Fudds object to being called Fudds.

See also David's comments here.

The Evolution of 3-D Printed Firearms

We don’t know if Defense Distributed will succeed in printing a carbon fiber lower receiver. But at some point, rapid advances in 3-D printing technology ensure that someone will.

A partial listing of some of the things that the New York senator has tried to ban over the years.

Meet Chuck Schumer, One of the Most Trivial Pols Ever. And Your Next Senate Minority Leader

'Gun control' politician compares cops to ISIS, says he’d shoot them first

“My ISIS is the police,” Chambers said. “If I was going to carry a weapon, it wouldn't be against you, it wouldn't be against these people who come here that I might have a dispute with. Mine would be for the police. And if I carried a gun I’d want to shoot him first and then ask questions later, like they say the cop ought to do.”

"Army Special Operations Command pushes back against alarmist claims about upcoming exercise."

In the slide show, a map of the southwest region of the United States labels Texas and other territory as “hostile” or “insurgent pocket.” The document also refers to coordination with law enforcement agencies.

Finally catching up.

I've had more sleep in the past couple of days than I've had in a while. Will try to catch up with my backlogged emails today.

Anniversary: 27 March 1836. The Goliad Massacre

"Well, gentlemen! In eight days, home and liberty!"

Shackleford's Red Rovers were among the slaughtered prisoners. It is said that in the aftermath of Goliad, every planter family in the Tennessee Valley of Alabama went into mourning, having lost sons and fathers to Mexican perfidy.

Here is Captain Jack Shackelford's Account.

With "friends" like these, who needs enemas? "California GOP Embraces Gun-Grab Program."

Republican legislators are known for their support of gun rights, yet a letter they sent regarding state Attorney General Kamala Harris last week has a man-bites-dog quality about it. A dozen state GOP senators called for an oversight hearing to examine why Harris has been too slow to confiscate the firearms of so-called “prohibited persons.”

Police Raid Small Family Farm, Charge Family, Seize Animals Because they were Free Range.

The irony here is that the state will lock you in a cage for filming the horrific atrocities at a factory farm while simultaneously trumping up ridiculous and petty violations if you aren’t a factory farm. Just who does the state “protect” by doing these things?

I guess this is what passes for "a woman's right to choose" these days

Woman Throws Molotov Cocktail At Pro-Life Activists

Zimmerman statement coverage highlights media shallowness

Through “sins of omission” or just being unaware, the press keeps information from reaching all who rely on them as their major sources for “popular” news and opinions. Perhaps those who do depend exclusively on "Authorized Journalists" deserve what they get, but their votes cancel out those of the better informed and more involved, and that’s something those in power are counting on.

The latest treason (if you're still bothering to count them as they go by).

U.S. Caves to Key Iranian Demands as Nuke Deal Comes Together

Obama's in town.

Coming out of the thrift store this morning, I saw one of the escorting fighter jets landing at Birmingham airport. To make things simpler for the Secret Service (and to catch up on my rest) I've spent most of the day at home. Back in the 90s, when I had a full-size Chevy pick-up truck and Bill Clinton came to Birmingham, I put a tailgate-sized sign on the back which said, "Hide yer women! Clinton's in town."

The unmarked tail car I had for that day blipped their little portable blue light and pulled me over on the ramp to the 1st Avenue railroad overpass and asked if they could take my photo next to the sign. Sure thing, I replied, and posed while these laughing Secret Service guys got pics.

It was suggested that I do something similar for Obama, but frankly, O just ain't that funny, and besides, what message would I use? "Hide yer guns! Obama's in town." I don't think so.

Mainstream press confirms ATF's Jones going to NFL

Jones will take on the job of disciplinary officer, providing special counsel for decisions related to player misconduct.

Looks like we'll be breaking the law in Oregon, too. "Private transfer gun owner registration bill fast-tracked in Oregon."

The Bill in question is Senate Bill 941, being represented by proponents as merely a “background check” measure. That OFF responds by calling it a registration bill is hardly hyperbole. No less an authority than the U.S. Department of Justice, in a 2013 National Institute of Justice summary report on firearms violence prevention strategies, noted “Universal background checks ... Effectiveness depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration...”

"The Old Man and the Sea of Black Mob Violence."

They didn’t count on the Old White Dude with a bat.

If we refuse to obey, it doesn't matter what the GOP and Democrats "debate."

Colorado's gun debate will likely rage on for years.

My email to the author:

From: georgemason1776@aol.com

To: megan.schrader@gazette.com

Sent: Thu, Mar 26, 2015 6:02 am

Subject: Your story is beside the point -- the law is already being flouted by large numbers of armed civil disobedients.

As someone who is a leader in the national "We Will Not Comply" movement -- which ranges from Connecticut and New York to Colorado to Washington state -- and as someone who has personally broken CO's magazine law by smuggling 30-round magazines into your state, it doesn't mean a fart in the wind what the politicians "debate." We have already nullified their laws and dared them to do anything about it. And they don't know whether to defecate or go blind. Why don't you go back to those same Democrat politicians who passed the law and ask them when they intend to enforce it? And ask them what they expect will happen when they do.

Mike Vanderboegh

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com

"Please, victimize us."

Overwhelming numbers of campus collectivists agree: please, victimize us.

The concept of God-given inalienable rights gives Texas editorial writers gas.

"Please leave God out of the gun debate."

Conflation alert. Collectivist wets his pants over the Three Percent. "If you think ISIS is our greatest threat, think again."

Conflation occurs when the identities of two or more individuals, concepts, or places, sharing some characteristics of one another, seem to be a single identity — the differences appear to become lost. In logic, it is the practice of treating two distinct concepts as if they were one, which produces errors or misunderstandings as a fusion of distinct subjects tends to obscure analysis of relationships which are emphasized by contrasts. -- Wikipedia.

SPLC-inspired conflation lies: Three Percent equals sovereign citizen equals methamphetamine-fueled LVPD snitch cop-killers like the Millers.

This comment from the author "21st Century Pacifist," is instructive:

Under any definition opposing the Federal government when implementing the law of the land and doing it as an armed force is sedition. In any other country in the world the vigilantes at Clark County would have been killed for opposing the legal government of their country. To do so in the tradition of the open land principles of the XIX century is even more odious.

Ironic application of "pacifism" to use lies to solicit government violence against your own people, no?

Hearing on government’s motion to dismiss machine gun case set for April

Oral arguments on the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss a case before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division are set for April 23 Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn ordered Tuesday.

ATF backs off of ammo ban, but it's the "sporting purpose" test that needs to go

Until Congress gets off their duffs and removes constitutionally offensive language like “sporting purpose” from the nation’s gun laws - and ideally repealing most of those laws - we insist that the ATF, and the entire executive branch, stop trying to expand and extend their invasion on the rights of the citizenry, and interpret the existing laws in the most favorable way possible for the people who entrust them with that authority.

Rather suspicious, don't you think?

Germanwings Pilot Was Locked Out of Cockpit Before Crash in France

The long-expected Saudi Arabian - Iranian regional conventional war gets closer.

Saudis begin airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen

Now THAT'S funny.

ATF grounds drone program as agents can’t maneuver them correctly, report says

Inconvenient truths about Jones’ successor at ATF warrant investigation

Let me tell you something about ATF "gunwalking." Did you know that if you go to Wikipedia, you'll find no mention of either me or Mike, or our documented roles in breaking the story while imploring both Congress and the media to even notice it? Go ahead-- go explore that last link for a few minutes and see all the reporting that was done before the rest of the media had written word one. Now find anything in that early reporting that later investigations did not bear out -- notwithstanding discrediting attempts by those taking their talking points from the administration. Several people interested in a complete chronology of events have tried to change that, but their entries were always edited out within a day or so.

It Can Be Done.

Almost four years ago, I posted this about a volume of poetry that dates from the 1920s: "Fate only picks on the cowards and quitters, So give 'em both barrels--and aim for the eyes." I've been struggling with health and other issues lately (headed to the doctor again today), so I pulled down It Can Be Done again last night to peruse its pages. As I wrote then:

And finally, I think, my favorite of them all. I vividly recall Bob Wright's recitation of this poem of Grantland Rice's, entitled On Down the Road, at a militia FTX campfire back in 90s out at "Fort Stinking Desert," New Mexico. I knew it, of course, but nobody can recite it like Bob.

 Hold to the course, though the storms are about you;
    Stick to the road where the banner still flies;
    Fate and his legions are ready to rout you--
    Give 'em both barrels--and aim for their eyes.

    Life's not a rose bed, a dream or a bubble,
    A living in clover beneath cloudless skies;
    And Fate hates a fighter who's looking for trouble,
    So give 'im both barrels--and shoot for the eyes.

    Fame never comes to the loafers and sitters,
    Life's full of knots in a shifting disguise;
    Fate only picks on the cowards and quitters,
    So give 'em both barrels--and aim for the eyes.

    -- Grantland Rice, From "The Sportlight."

Iran's Proxies Have Killer Ground Robots

The vehicles are somewhat crude. They appear to use commercial security cameras with LED flashlights — instead of military-grade optics that can overcome haze, recognize targets and acquire data for precise engagements. Compared to aerial drones, UGVs have limited range, endurance and a narrow field-of-view. Their machine guns also pack a relatively light punch. But they’re still useful. UGVs can scout narrow alleyways in cities, enter houses to attack snipers and inspect for booby-traps. They can cover checkpoints or act as mobile watch dogs. They can perform critical tasks without needing immense supplies.

Hope springs eternal.

Jeb Bush’s Nightmare Scenario

More corruption.

Report cites favoritism for Terry McAuliffe and brother of Hillary Clinton

Jeff Knox: The Biggest Threat to Our RKBA – Amnesty.

Wouldn’t it be a tragic irony if we allowed people coming here seeking freedom and individual rights, to be the death-blow to that dream?

Now this is not only bad news for the ATF, it is funny.

Even so, the Court believes it is crucial to provide substantive speaking opportunities to young lawyers, and that the benefits of doing so will accrue to young lawyers, to clients, and to the profession generally. Thus, the Court encourages all lawyers practicing before it to keep this goal in mind.

Note to the "Ted Cruz is not an American" conspiracists.

Your comments go to the same place as "Sandy Hook was faked," "9-11 was a false flag," and "5,000 ways David Rockefeller and the Jews hate me personally." Send them to Alex Jones, please.

Well, isn't this interesting? "Expanding military training activities in Cooper Creek" (Georgia) area.

By Jim Walker, District Leader, Georgia Forest Watch: "Don’t be surprised to encounter Army Rangers in the Cooper Creek area."

I have long been accustomed to seeing soldiers and signs of their activity in the vicinity of Camp Merrill, the Ranger training base in the Etowah watershed, and as far away as Hickory Flat in the Noontootla watershed. They even use the Appalachian Trail. But until this year, to my knowledge, they have never operated as far away from the camp as Cooper Creek.

Back in June, Georgia ForestWatch District Leader David Govus came across two soldiers on foot and one in a pickup truck near Bryant Creek, a tributary of Cooper Creek. Talking with them, he learned that they were scouting out potential helicopter landing zones in the area because, as the sergeant said “the colonel wants to step out.”

The first confirmation that this has been accomplished was on a Sunday in early November. While David was leading a hike in the Cooper Creek area, he met six big army trucks. A soldier on foot in the lead was very helpful in squeezing the wide trucks past the hikers’ vehicles on the narrow road.

Then in December, I had an opportunity to observe the whole operation in action. Accompanying a Forest Service employee going out to core some trees and survey a couple of older stands included in the proposed Cooper Creek project, we came upon a blazing fire. Expecting hunters, instead we found six soldiers with two jeeps, two trailers, and a very large canvas tent, maybe 200 square feet. Not wanting to interfere with their operation, we talked with them to make sure that we would not get in their way. No problem, they said. They would be conducting a three-day training exercise, but the bulk of the troops would not be arriving until later. They also told us that these exercises would be happening on a regular basis, and “you can expect to be seeing a lot more of us.”

With the soldiers’ permission, we went on up the ridge to measure the diameters of selected trees and core them to determine their age. About an hour later, I heard two helicopters approaching and could see that they were heading toward a food plot about a mile and a half away. Because of the terrain, I could not see them land, but they were out of sight only briefly before returning the way they came. The helicopters made four or five trips to the same location, and as we passed by their campfire on our way out, the soldiers verified that those were their guys coming in.

In an apparently unrelated incident, I recently happened to be at Wilscot Gap, where the gated road to Brawley Mountain (FS45) begins, when a big pickup truck turned in toward the gate. I thought it must be Forest Service employees and went over to talk with them. But the truck was not a Forest Service one. The driver was not in military uniform, but the passenger who got out to unlock the gate, was. We had a brief, friendly conversation during which he informed me that, “This is a military road.” “No,” I contradicted him, “it’s a Forest Service road.”

Saipan gun controls challenged to comply with current U.S. law

“A Navy veteran and his wife are challenging a ban on handguns in Saipan, arguing in federal court that the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands is bound by the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment,” Stars and Stripes reported Friday.

This guy makes so many errors "correcting history" it would be laughable were the mounds of bodies not so high.

All of his writings argue against any kind of regulation of firearms. His argument that the Jews, who couldn’t buy guns, were defenseless because of that is faulty. The roundup of Jews who were sent to concentration camps was committed by the Waffen SS, the toughest arm of a tough army.

The latest from Washington state: "Anti-Gunners Fail to Understand That We Will Not Comply."

"We’ve answered what we’re willing to lose. Perhaps those who seek to take our liberty should answer it as well, because we will not comply. Not if you arrest us. Not even if you shoot at us, and remember, we will shoot back. In order to take our liberty, you will have to kill us."

Also from Herschel Smith (He's on a roll.) "Take Away White Man’s Guns."

“White guys cannot be trusted to use guns responsibly. It is time to stop giving guns to white guys,” Grimes added. ”I mean, it’s time to stop giving guns to everybody, but we can start with the white guys. . . As a bonus, we can collect their tears for research and resource purposes while they line up to surrender their weapons,” Grimes said.

Hahahahaha … is that the way you think this is going to go down, deary? You’re going to pass a law to make our guns illegal, and we’re just going to line up to turn them in? We’re going to cry while we do it? You don’t get out much, do you?

The more likely scenario is this. Against the advice of the police, you pass a law that makes our guns illegal. The police have to enforce the confiscatory policies you learned in your idiotic sophomore collectivist classes in college. Blood runs in the streets, women weep for being made widows, and children weep for being made fatherless. The police curse you for making policies they have to implement while you sit perched on your elitist throne. Civil war consumes the nation, the electrical grid goes down not to return for years, medicines are unavailable, and the economy has collapsed. The things called the federal reserve and the stock market are but a distant memory of a different time that your children will never know except as told in fairy tales and stories.

You didn’t consider that possibility, did you? You’d better.

From Herschel Smith: Army And Marine Corps On M855 Ammunition

So in summary, the SOST is much like the .223 pointed soft point for game hunting, except that it has a copper shank. If a reader would like to weigh in on the effects of the copper shank, please do so (in an educated fashion – and do not allow this to become yet another worthless argument over 7.62 v. 5.56). Finally, don’t forget the main reason for the lethality of the 5.56 mm round, which is the fact that it is frangible and immediately fractures into pieces leaving multiple tracks through ballistics gelatin. See the excellent paper Small Caliber Lethality: 5.56 mm Performance In Close Quarters Battle. It appears that the Army has forgotten the simple things.

“Weapons always get broken,” he said. “That’s why I have to repair them.”

A tip of the boonie hat to Herschel Smith, who provided this link: "Skilled gunsmith helps Kurds turn ISIS' guns on terrorists."

In their fight against ISIS, the Kurdish army known as Peshmerga has a secret weapon – a second-generation gunsmith so skilled he can practically turn a bucket of rusty bolts into a killing machine for the rugged, but cash-strapped, fighting force.

Bakhtiar Aziz works in a dimly lit basement shop in Erbil, refurbishing guns taken from the enemy, bringing broken and even decades-old firearms back to life and helping to outfit an army as short on weapons as it is long on heart. On a recent day, he inspected an M-16A4 assault rifle badly damaged in a coalition airstrike. Pocked with holes, missing a large section of the barrel and with human hair wedged in its moving parts, the gun was found by Peshmerga soldiers near the town of Gwer.

“The Americans gave it to the Iraqi Army, then when ISIS came, they took it from the Iraqi Army,” Bakhtiar told the military blog War Is Boring. “Now after the American airstrikes against ISIS, the weapon is in the hands of the Peshmerga.”

Aziz’s shop is outfitted simply with a work bench, chair and tools. An arsenal of firearms, including old muskets, line the walls. He learned his trade from his father, who openly repaired weapons for hunters, and secretly fixed them for Kurds who resisted Saddam Hussein. Now, with the Peshmerga battling ISIS along a 600-mile front line, Aziz is putting his skills to work repairing weapons for the fight against the Islamist terror group.

Now this story illustrates a number of points that I have made in the past. First, the Kurds, like the Haganah in the Israeli War of Independence, have few friends and so are making do with what they can. (A further indictment of the U.S. policy of refusing to seriously arm the Kurds, our only real friends in that part of the world.) It also demonstrates the futility of "gun control," for in truth there will always be people who can "practically turn a bucket of rusty bolts into a killing machine." I know such folks, and their skills are truly amazing. Finally, it reinforces the need for budding logistics officers to remember never to discard anything as truly useless and to have a plan to scavenge future battlefields for the raw material of resistance -- not just broken weapons and dropped ammunition but packaging that can be reused, web gear, the list is endless.

3 Reasons Ted Cruz Could Win

Now, this isn’t to say Cruz’s path is a clear one. Historically, outsider conservative candidacies like his are not very successful. But it’s clear he believes he’ll be the exception, and not without good reason. The traditionally powerful factions of the Republican Party have less control than they used to. What’s also clear is that his campaign is likely to be one of the most aggressive of all of those who are playing with the idea of running. He’ll go after the other candidates directly and have no hesitation about causing trouble. It’s the sort of thing that endears him to the right, but may make him a lot of enemies in the process – but when has Ted Cruz cared about that? He’s Sonny Corleone, and he’s here for a fight.

"Fast and Furious Cover-up Rewarded in Appointment of New ATF Director."

Brandon's team player credentials, earned by keeping ATF silence, explain his continued value to the administration.

Anniversary: They don't make 'em like this fellow any more.

March 23, 1775. Patrick Henry at the Second Virginia Convention.

Penn and Neeson flops show audiences shunning anti-gun ‘geri-action’ heroes

Sean Penn’s heavily-advertised “The Gunman” had a disastrous opening weekend, “bombing” with only a $5 million take, Box Office Mojo reported Sunday. Also fizzling is Liam Neeson’s “Run All Night,” which opened March 13, and has pulled in a tepid $19.7 million to date.

Did departing ATF director's latest escapade pave way to NFL?

Nevertheless, B. Todd Jones threw the yellow flag about a month ago, charging the M855 round with "unsportsmanlike conduct." He, though, intended to impose a penalty of far greater than 15 yards. Perhaps that's just what the NFL needed to see from their prospective new sheriff in town.

Sorry. Rough night, woke up too late to do any serious posting.

I'll have more later.

Well, of course, why wouldn't they? They own his ass with his FBI file.

Dems want to empower Boehner

Cities using work permit aliens to enforce gun edicts and laws against citizens

With increased militarization of police, and with “[m]any cities ... reducing the minimum standards to attract candidates,” a primary concern leaders sworn “to secure the Blessings of Liberty” ought to guard against is the presence of de facto foreign troops enforcing gun bans and disarming Americans on U.S. soil. It's fair to ask if this is what the Framers really had in mind when they recognized what was "necessary to the security of a free State."

Well, that was less than optimal.

Finished the day at 3PM and came home exhausted. Tally for today: Virtually no table sales of my own, no hat sales, no purchases, no meet and greets. Stayed busy selling my table-buddies' stuff. Had some bouts of vertigo, in the middle of one of which I discouraged a couple of shoplifters. (Although I did meet a reader who was working another table in a wonderful encounter. Didn't have much chance to talk though, since we were both busy.) Came home with my stuff packed in the back of a friend's open pickup truck in a driving rain, necessitating a dry-and-salvage operation when I got home. (Proper planning prevents piss-poor performance.) To sum up, as good a day as I had yesterday, today was a bust.

Anyway, I collapsed after that and only just now enabled the blog comments and glanced at my email. I'm turning in. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Collectivist subversion of liberty, like rust, never quits.

Democrat to Meet With New ATF Director to Revive AR-15 Ammo Ban

These tyrannical assholes must think this is a winning issue for them.

This guy hasn't been paying attention to the armed civil disobedience movement.

"America is Screwed Unless ‘We The People’ Get Baptized Afresh In Our Founders' Rebel Spirit." If he had been paying attention to the Liberty for All folks in Washington state, or the We Will Not Comply movements in CT, NY, CO and MD, he might not be so pessimistic.

One of the things I love about gun shows: Misc. Grab Bags.

So, yesterday at the show I bought for $15 an overstuffed quart baggie of junk.  He had $25 on it and I talked him down to $15.  Inside the junk baggie were, among other things:

** A collection of allen wrenches, misc hardware (screws, nuts, etc.)

** An RCBS #2 shell holder, a Herter's No. M-3 shell holder for .30-40 Krag, a CH Die Case Trimmer Holder 301-1 Group G (waiting an email back from CH to see what it fits), three antique sling swivels, hooded front sight with dovetail base (application unknown)

** 3 wheat pennies, a 1913; a 1941 and a 1946.

** The following projectiles:

.30 caliber rifle, Qty 32
.32 caliber pistol, qty 28
8mm rifle, Qty 2
.38 pistol, Qty 3
.30 caliber pistol, Qty 1
6mm rifle, Qty 1
.25 caliber pistol, Qty 1
.22 caliber rifle, Qty 2

Total: 70 projectiles.

** The following loaded antique cartridges:

.35 S&W Auto , headstamps WRA  Qty 2, Peters Qty 1  (had never heard of such, but they sure enough existed)  Total: Qty 3
.32 Auto, WRA, Qty 2, Rem UMC Qty 1  Total: Qty 3
.32 S&W, Rem UMC  Qty 1
.32 S&W Long, Rem UMC, Qty 1
.38 S&W, UMC, Qty 2
7.65 Luger, WRA, Qty 1
.38 Special, US Military, RA 56  Qty1
.44-40 Win, WRA, Qty 1
.44 S&W R, Rem UMC, Qty 1
.44 Mag, Super X, Qty 1
.45 Colt, Rem-UMC, Qty 1
.45 ACP, Chinese headstamp(?)  Qty 1
.303 British, Super speed, Qty 2
.30 Army (.30-40 Krag), WRA Co., Qty 1

Total: 22 antique cartridges

Not bad for $15, eh?

I hope all you budding ordnance men and women are paying attention.

Shell: A man works on a mortar shell inside a cave used as a weapon factory operated by rebel fighters from Suqour al-Sham Brigade

"Syria's DIY weapons: The rebels fighting the Al-Assad regime with rockets and shells that are hand-made in caves."

Basic: The men use basic welding tools to prepare their mortar shells and other weaponry

Rebel fighters in Syria are developing their own hand-made weapons as they battle the government regime. Fighters from the Suqour al-Sham Brigade are setting up weapons factories in caves to make shells and rockets as they take on the might of President Bashar Al-Assad's regime.

Welding tail fins.

Prepared: The rebels are seen here preparing a range of devices to fire at President Bashar Al-Assad's forces.

Secure: The rebel fighters have built their weapons factories deep inside caves in the Idlib Province.

Remember Kurt Hofmann's patches?

Another New Jersey outrage.

"New Jersey’s Gun Laws Are as Confusing as Its Highways"

Ares Armor chortles over B. Toad Jones departure.

"Under the tenure of B. Todd Jones, the ATF seemed to have a carry and conceal permit for Obama’s assault on the Second Amendment."

Good day at the show yesterday (if more than a bit exhausting).

Here's some local coverage on it: "ATF ammo ban for the AR-15 is a hot topic at the Gun Show: ATF Director B. Todd Jones resigns." (I'm in the accompanying video.)

Mike Vanderboegh, a member of the "Three Percenters" and founded the Sispsey Street Irregulars blog said, "The ATF reached a bridge too far. They discredited themselves. They haven't given up. In fact, the bill the democrats introduced in the House, which has no chance of passage, indicates an appetite not only for the M855's but also for any rifle ammunition."

Had a good day meeting and greeting friends old and new. I'll be there again today, but don't wait too long because I don't know how much I've got left in me for the whole day.

The bitter disappointment of the racial collectivists is palpable.

"Officials: Evidence in hanging doesn't support foul play." You know they're cussin' at the SPLC right now. They were looking at another ten million or so in fundraising off this poor man's death.

Maybe the NFL's going to get into gunrunning.

ATF director Todd Jones joining NFL as ‘investigative counsel’

Francis and Elizabeth Lewis. They sacrificed their lives and fortune for your liberty.

The soldiers destroyed books, papers, and pictures, ruthlessly broke up furniture, and then, after pillaging the house, departed taking Mrs. Lewis with them. She was carried to New York and thrown into prison. She was not allowed a bed or a change of clothing and only the coarse and scanty food that was doled out each day to the other prisoners. For three weeks this continued during which time she was not permitted to communicate with anyone outside.

Oh, to be a garbage man in Serbia.

Serb order to secure corrupt monopoly of violence creates garbage hazard.

The Serbian parliament passed laws last month requiring “strict conditions for owning firearms, including medical and psychiatric checks,” Reuters reported Tuesday. Citizens who have not proven a "genuine reason" to persuade the state to grant them a license have been ordered to turn in their arms to a police amnesty program by June 4 or face up to five years in prison. In addition to over one million registered weapons, it is believed hundreds of thousands of unregistered guns, holdovers from the Yugoslav Wars, have been secreted away by participants and their survivors, who know better than to leave themselves defenseless after having experienced widespread violence and instability firsthand. And government, as usual, in its zeal to control all, has responded to crime by holding everyone accountable, and created unintended consequences where the "cure" can be more deadly than the disease.

What really pisses them off is that they made a power play against Bibi and lost.

White House Antagonism Toward Netanyahu Grows.

Incompetence in tyranny is still the worst sin a collectivist can commit. Too bad they don't do Stalinist purges anymore (yet).

ATF chief handled bullet ban 'sloppily,' Dem says

Am now set up at the gun show.

You'll be able to find me tomorrow and Sunday at tables I-24 & I-25.

Well, that was less than optimal. Hat production comes to a standstill (although actually it already was).

The lady who runs the embroidery shop and I came to a difference of opinion about whether she was continuing to lie to me about the constantly-shifting delivery date on the last fifty hats or whether she was merely over-promising on an imagined and ever-tenuous reality (a charitable way of saying she was lying). Yesterday, after putting me off yet again, she asked me in front of another customer what I wanted her to do. I told her I merely wanted her to do what she promised to do in the time frame she promised to do it. Apparently this was beyond her ability, so today she handed me back the hats untouched and unceremoniously demanded I leave her shop, actually knocking her business card out of my hand and threatening to call the cops. The woman either a. has neither business sense nor communication skills; b. has difficulty telling people the unpleasant truth; c. mental problems; or d. all of the above. What this means in the short run is that until I find another embroiderer, I am suspending sales, and have thus removed the pics on the upper right column. I do have enough to finish out the orders I have in hand, although I won't be able to provide hats in brown. If you are okay with black, let me know. Sorry. I'll let you know sometime next week if I can find another embroiderer.

ATF, DOJ, media confirm Jones stepping down as director

“As the first ever Senate-confirmed Director of ATF, his indelible legacy will serve as an inspiring example for all those who follow him,” Attorney General Eric Holder wrote in a Friday morning Department of Justice press release.

See also: ATF Director Jones resigns, setting stage for White House battle with NRA

Requiem for the career of cover-up artist B. Toad Jones

ATF Director B. Todd Jones Stepping Down After Nearly 4 Years on Job

Iran endorses nuclear EMP attack on United States

"Iranian military documents describe such a scenario — including a recently translated Iranian military textbook that endorses nuclear EMP attack against the United States," he wrote. A knowledgable source said that the textbook discusses an EMP attack on America in 20 different places.

Very rough night.

My apologies, but I'll try to have more later.

One small part of Jade Helm 15 (note the date on the article).

Commissioners Endorse Plan for Green Beret Training

It's always the fault of the evil NRA. (Boy, if they only knew.)

Did ATF delay the 'bullet ban' because of public outcry?

"The right to carry doesn't give right to go looking for trouble."

Various letters to the editor.

I'll be at the Birmingham Alabama Gun Collectors Show this weekend.

Both days. I'll be working a table with friends and raising money for future operations. Drop by and visit.

Of booger hooks and bang switches.

Gun-hating 'James Bond' violates cardinal safety rule in ‘Spectre’ promo poster

Uh, huh. Well, someone will have to tell me how this turns out, for I don't subscribe to HBO.

"Government watches the rise of well-armed American militias."

Legal compliance firm for gun dealers says B. Todd Jones leaving ATF for NFL

Lucky NFL.

Request to Conduct Realistic Military Training: JADE HELM 15

JADE HELM is a challenging eight week joint military and interagency Unconventional Warfare exercise conducted throughout Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado.

JADE HELM is a US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) sponsored exercise to improve the Special Operations Forces' UW capability as part of the National Security Strategy. JH will run from 15 July through 15 September 2015.

The Sting: How the FBI Created a Terrorist

Richard Worms, the FBI squad supervisor, describes Osmakac as a “retarded fool” who doesn’t have “a pot to piss in.” The agents talk about the prosecutors’ eagerness for a “Hollywood ending” for their sting. They refer to Osmakac’s targets as “wishy-washy,” and his terrorist ambitions as a “pipe-dream scenario.” The transcripts show FBI agents struggled to put $500 in Osmakac’s hands so he could make a down payment on the weapons — something the Justice Department insisted on to demonstrate Osmakac’s capacity for and commitment to terrorism.

Methinks thou dost protest too much, for truly, personnel IS policy.

Someone has criticized Scott Walker and Derek Hunter doesn't like it one bit.

Is that a cucumber in your pants, or are you just frightened to walk the collectivist paradise of the inner city without a firearm?

Obama guns and vegetables contention derived from Sly James’ claim

Just when you think the government-monopoly-of-violence advocates of CSGV can't get any any loopier.

CSGV condemns 'insurrectionist imagery' of civilian standing up to Chinese tanks

Well, I say, God bless the "insurrectionists."

You know, it is perhaps not so very strange how CSGV is managing to ignore the armed civil disobedience movement. You would think that it would fit right into their meme. It must take mighty self-discipline to ignore us on the fund-raising level because they are abjectly frightened to give us publicity on the strategic level -- for the "I Will Not Comply" movements in the various states are achieving their worst nightmare, nullification of all their collectivist appetites for other people's liberty, property and lives.

Glad we were able to piss you off, Obama.

Former Senior White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer admits that one of President Obama’s angriest moments in the White House was after the Senate blocked his push for gun control. “I think one of the most angry I’ve seen him was after the Senate failed to pass background checks in 2013.”

Hey, man, do you know where can I buy some of that "global warming"?

"NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, captured this solar image on March 16, 2015, which clearly shows two dark patches, known as coronal holes. The larger coronal hole of the two, near the southern pole, covers an estimated 6- to 8-percent of the total solar surface. While that may not sound significant, it is one of the largest polar holes scientists have observed in decades. The smaller coronal hole, towards the opposite pole, is long and narrow. It covers about 3.8 billion square miles on the sun - only about 0.16-percent of the solar surface. Coronal holes are lower density and temperature regions of the sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. Coronal holes can be a source of fast solar wind of solar particles that envelop the Earth."

Police recording bill presumes to authorize journalists, threaten gun owners

From David Codrea: As one of the two “mere” bloggers banging pots and pans to get that noticed, I take personal exception to government issuing de facto press licenses with criminal penalties should an independent upstart act like all he has rights, too -- probably because I was once threatened with arrest for daring to ask a question of a public figure at a public press conference. I was again threatened by a U.S. Marshal for reporting on ATF inspector harassment of a gun shop, and had to defy ATF when they complained to a judge and presumed to define who could cover their activities.

Fake gun shop video raises questions about truth, compliance with laws

A video produced by States United Against Gun Violence purports to show a fake gun shop in New York City appealing to first-time buyers, who are then recorded on a hidden camera as a man behind the counter turns them against making a purchase by telling them how the firearm he hands them was used to take human life. As per standard practice, a well-financed Astroturf operation relying on slick professional illusion-casters is counted on to make up for lack of grassroots support.

Why UC Students Voted to Remove American Flag

Of collectivism and convenient propaganda targets.

If you want to know what I think about flags, I refer you back to Flags, Both True and False

Criminal Violence as Political Theater: Standard Operating Procedure for the FBI

"The Fixer." Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis.

“I’m the department’s `cleaner,’” Margolis explained to an incoming Attorney General, according to a profile in the National Law Journal. “I clean up messes.” During a career spanning a half-century and nine presidents, Margolis has tidied up the Regime’s bloody business from the Pine Ridge Reservation to Gitmo. He is precisely the kind of official who would see nothing unusual, let alone reprehensible, about federal agents providing machine guns to criminal gangs, or torturing a man to death in an Oklahoma prison cell in order to cover up federal complicity in domestic terrorism.

Ooooh. I'm really scared now.

Major black rap star calls on blacks to kill white people with witchcraft

The E.N.D. Game and the End of Games. "No tyrannical politicians or their bureaucratic, economic or propagandist minions were harmed in the filming of this exercise." And R.A. Bear advises: "In the event of civil war, aim for the nabobs."

An Indian nabob.

A Field Training Exercise, generally shortened to the acronym "FTX", describes a coordinated exercise conducted by military units for training purposes. Field training exercises are usually practice "mini-battles" which provide fairly realistic scenarios and situations based on actual situations a unit might face if deployed. -- Wikipedia.

There were armed citizens training in the desert of Arizona and up on the Llano Estacado of eastern New Mexico this weekend. Likewise in the melting snows of Ohio and Michigan, in rainy North Carolina and Alabama, and behind enemy lines in Connecticut, Colorado, New York and out in Washington state -- and those are just the ones I know about personally. These are formally known as Field Training Exercises, or FTXs, a variety of what are sometimes sloppily referred to as "war games."

Webster's Dictionary defines the word "game" with a variety of meanings that are great and small, even contradictory. The first listing is "an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement." This is not what those folks engaged in military training were about. Diversion and amusement were the last things on their minds.

There is an increasing sense in this country that night is falling, that we are at the end of our previously bright, sunny, optimistic day and, perhaps, arriving at the sudden end of days for many of us. It is this foreboding that motivates otherwise busy people whose lives are full of competing demands to put them aside and train to efficiently defend themselves collectively -- to practice how best to kill other folks who are trying to kill them. This is no game, at least not one played for sport.

There are other definitions of the word "game," of course. Webster's tells us that among these are "a procedure or strategy for gaining an end (tactic)" and "an illegal or shady scheme or maneuver." There are a lot of those kind of games being played by forces of the militarized federal police these days. Activists in Washington state report being tailed, out in the middle of that state's eastern high desert, by small convoys white Tahoes with heavily tinted windows as well as other forms of harassment -- designed to pressure them into unforced errors of minor traffic laws so that they may be "legitimately" detained for interview and arrest. This chicken excrement police state activity actually does more to illustrate the Feds' essential limp-dicked impotence than anything else, but it also is an invitation to the kind of misadventure that can get people inadvertently killed -- or start a civil war.

Another definition of "game" is "a physical or mental competition conducted according to rules with the participants in direct opposition to each other." Yet another is "animals under pursuit or taken in hunting." With these we begin to approach the mindset of those tax-paid meatheads in the white Tahoes. Their misapprehension is that the rules by which they've operated for years still obtain. (See my earlier post U.S. Marshal's Service: Risking Civil War From A Failure of Institutional Memory. Bundy Ranch -- only with bullets this time.) They really believe that they are the mighty imperial fedgov and that they've got more guns, power, intelligence and determination than those of us who still believe in the Founder's concepts of liberty do. Used to dealing with common criminals, they feel comfortable in their certainty that we're just a variant of that reality. They believe that they are the hunters and we are the game. And they will be the hunters (for we have no interest in anything besides being left alone) until they really screw up and the tables are turned, when they will become the game as well. And they will be astonished when that, sadly, tragically, but predictably, happens. Some of them terminally so.

As an amateur historian, this is not something I'm advocating -- indeed I'm doing my best to avoid it -- but it is something that is entirely foreseeable. For words on a page are powerful things and they can kill. The words that will later be used to justify the killing of you and me and many, many innocents are already written in some dry bureaucratese in an agency report, a federal judge's decision, a "Presidential Decision Directive." They will be hauled out after the fact in some Nuremberg maneuver to explain that all those deaths really weren't their personal fault. They were only executing "the law" and "policy." You don't have to be able to cite the document and page to know that. Our death warrants are already written -- if the powers that be are stupid enough to try to enforce them in their ignorance that they are in fact mutual death warrants -- a suicide pact for an entire society, a whole country, and the end of everything they and we have known.

End: noun, "a point that marks the limit of something; the point at which something no longer continues to happen or exist." -- Webster's Dictionary.

The E.N.D. Game: "Exterminating the Nabobs of Dictatorship."

I was made aware recently of another game now being played by some liberty-minded folks in this country. Mindful that 4th generation warfare requires a very different sort of FTX, these people are playing what I call the E.N.D. Game, for "Exterminating the Nabobs of Dictatorship."

Now "nabob" is not a word you encounter in conversation. The apex of its usage in American politics came about when Spiro Agnew called the news media the "nattering nabobs of negativism." Still, it is a very descriptive word for certain purposes.

According to Webster's "nabob" comes from the Hindi word navāb (nawāb in Urdu and nuwwāb in arabic) meaning "governor" during the period of Mogul Empire. It is defined as "a very rich or important person; a person of great wealth or prominence." Synonyms include "big boy, big cheese, bigfoot, biggie, big gun, big leaguer, big-timer, big wheel, bigwig, fat cat, heavy, heavy hitter, heavyweight, high-muck-a-muck (or high-muckety-muck), honcho, kahuna, kingfish, kingpin, major leaguer, muckety-muck (also muck-a-muck or mucky-muck), big shot, nawab, nibs, nob [chiefly British], pooh-bah (also poo-bah), wheel." Phew. Well, you get the idea. In the bureaucratic terms of tyranny this adequately describes the decision takers and the war makers. Not the foot soldiers. No, these are the Heydrichs, the Eichmanns, the people whose orders fill the trains, get them running in the same direction to the east -- to the showers and the ovens.

The E.N.D. Game is, as they say, in developmental stage, but its practitioners tell me that it involves "grey men" and volunteer "nabob" targets. A team of grey men and women are given the name of a target -- the volunteer nabob -- and sketchy information as to his or her job, whereabouts, etc. The grey men then flesh out an intelligence profile of the nabob, beginning with untraceable research (using anonymous computer and library open sources). This information is crafted into a surveillance plan, then an action plan. Finally, comes the field training exercise where the nabob is, shall we say, forcibly retired in a simulated sense.

A variant of the Assassination Game, the E.N.D. Game is much more complex and puts a premium on techniques that minimize forensic traces of the participants.

It is played ONLY with volunteers, as the use of such techniques on an actual nabob would be highly illegal, even absent the last act, simulated or not. Were it a video game, it would come with the disclaimer "No tyrannical politicians or their bureaucratic, economic or propagandist minions were harmed in the filming of this exercise."

It is an interesting game, and I am looking forward to seeing a complete praxis on how to win it. I only pray it comes before the E.N.D. Game is transmogrified by the events created by a blundering nascent tyranny into the end of games -- and the end of days -- for many of us.

LATER: Ramsey A. Bear, with his usual incisiveness, has distilled down the previous essay in one short line: "In the event of civil war, aim for the nabobs."

That's all right. If this keeps up, one day the American people will execute a FOIA request at the muzzles of their rifles.

White House office to delete its FOIA regulations

More power for the American Stasi.

FBI’s Plan to Expand Hacking Power Advances Despite Privacy Fears

A judicial advisory panel Monday quietly approved a rule change that will broaden the FBI's hacking authority despite fears raised by Google that the amended language represents a "monumental" constitutional concern. The Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules voted 11-1 to modify an arcane federal rule to allow judges more flexibility in how they approve search warrants for electronic data, according to a Justice Department spokesman.

Known as Rule 41, the existing provision generally allows judges to approve search warrants only for material within the geographic bounds of their judicial district. But the rule change, as requested by the department, would allow judges to grant warrants for remote searches of computers located outside their district or when the location is unknown.

Oh, me! Oh, my! Another evil plot by the wicked firearm industry: resurgence of college shooting teams.

“We literally have way more students interested than we can handle,” said Steve Goldstein, one of MIT’s pistol coaches.

David Codrea nails the Grover Norquist threat on Armed American Radio.

MP3 here.

Collectivism always eats its own, especially if incompetence in carrying out the agenda demands it.

Pravda-on-the-Potomac fact checks Hillary's press conference.

Iran's 'Swarm War' Against the Islamic State.

Interesting.

The Iraqi push into Tikrit features loads of Iranian weapons. And the pint-size Safir jeep is one of the most distinctive of them all. Dozens of the rocket launcher-equipped, Iranian-made buggies are in Iraq, helping out Iraqi troops and allied Shia militias. The buggies reflect Iran’s preference for swarm tactics, which emphasize deploying large numbers of simple, cheap vehicles in order to outmaneuver and overwhelm the enemy. . .

Some of the Safirs in Iraq boast rocket launchers. Others pack direct-fire weapons, such as 106-millimeter recoilless rifles. All of them are lightweight, brute-simple vehicles — perfect for the hastily-trained recruits who increasingly fill out the ranks of Baghdad’s beleaguered army and the Iranian-backed militias that reinforce it. The buggies are similar to the infamous machine gun-toting “technical” pickup trucks that have fought in most of Africa’s modern wars. Minimally-trained irregular troops can deploy the swift little vehicles to strike and even surround the enemy in an urban environment — like a swarm of insects. With so many individuals in the swarm, each darting around so quickly, it’s hard to swat them all.

The vehicles allow a military force without modern communications equipment to perform flanking attacks. The jeeps can establish visual contact with neighboring vehicles at intersections, then drive toward gunfire in the event of a neighbor coming into contact with the enemy. Surveillance aircraft and attack helicopters are the best weapons for defeating a swarm. Islamic State has neither. The U.S. government appears to appreciate the Iranian methods. The Pentagon has begun providing technical-style trucks to Iraqi troops.

See also, from October of last year: Iranian support for Iraqi militias becomes increasingly apparent

Kurdish fighters fire a M40-type 106 mm recoilless gun from an Iranian Safir jeep near Tuz Khurmatu in Iraq on 31 August.

Members of Kataib Imam Ali fire a 107 mm multiple rocket launcher from an Iranian-made Safir jeep.

And note that the Iranians aren't too worried about supplying arms to the Kurds either:

Kurdish militias are also using Iranian weapons. Kurdish fighters were photographed with a Safir jeep and recoilless gun near Tuz Khurmatu in August. A photograph published that emerged on social media sites in early October showed Brig Gen Soleimani apparently posing with Kurdish fighters near Tuz Khurmatu. The Qods Force commander reportedly helped co-ordinate Iraqi government forces with Kurdish and Shia militias to retake the town of Amirli in August. Given the location, the Kurdish fighters were probably affiliated to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) that controls the east of the Iraqi Kurdish region.

Climate change hypocrisy ignores environmental impact of illegal immigration

Those who would impose this on the rest of us permanently have no answers and aren't interested in finding them, providing one more proof that all the climate noise they’re making is yet another deception to mask and advance a different agenda.

Meanwhile, we refuse to seriously arm the Kurds.

Iranian Weapons Pour into Embattled Tikrit

I am working on a major piece but . . .

it was a rough weekend and rougher night. I'll have it by evening, I hope.

"Villalba has dug himself a hole he could very well spend the next two years clawing his way out of."

New questions about Texas’ scandalous “Cop Watcher” bill

Open Letter to the Sheriffs of Washington State

"In the last few months, the citizens of Washington State have come under fire from both state and federal officials. They have been subject to everything from surveillance to being viewed through the scope of a sniper’s rifle—manned by a fellow citizen. The people have appealed to the governor to no avail. According to Governor Inslee’s office, he has no jurisdiction over the federal authorities who seek to subvert liberty and control the populace. He is incorrect, but the People accept that he is complicit in the criminal enslavement of the citizens."

On the theology of self-defense -- even in church. Perhaps, given current reality, most especially in church.

No Guns In Church In Alabama?

(BTW, with the crippling of the Alabama teacher's union and the Alabama Democrat Party well on it's way to becoming extinct everywhere but in the black precincts, this proposal has a snowball's chance in hell of passage. Still, Herschel's commentary is a valuable one.)

Glenn Beck’s charges against NRA director divert attention from amnesty threat

And the thing is, even if Beck and the noise he’s making on this somehow succeed in keeping Norquist off the board, it distracts from another issue NRA is deliberately ignoring that this column has repeatedly raised, and that again, is confined to a relatively obscure venue: the danger a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens poses to government recognition of the right to keep and bear arms. Norquist supports amnesty, absolving and keeping foreign lawbreakers in this country.

Glenn Beck: Wayne LaPierre is opening an ethics investigation into Grover Norquist.

Glenn Beck Makes Big Announcement About the NRA and Grover Norquist

Don't panic, but common sense is breaking out all over in Sanford, FL

Sanford airport police hold gun rather than arrest armed passenger stopped by TSA. Cops return passenger's weapon after he comes back from trip

Sharyl Attkisson Gives TED Talk on Astroturf and Manipulation of Media Messages

In this eye-opening talk, veteran investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson shows how astroturf, or fake grassroots movements funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.

Sorry I'm getting going late.

Rough night.

Read this through, twice, then think how the cluelessness and inbred insularity of the Mandarin class applies to their failure to understand US and the Law of Unintended Consequences as well.

"Putin vs. the preppies and the Ph.D.s: Outsiders, not insiders, change the world."

BOYCOTT US AIRWAYS.

Here's what the bastards are saying about their recent misadventure of shunting me from one failure to another leaving me high-and-dry (and costing me two one-way car rentals) to the person who purchased the tickets:

The airline said you could've gotten on the first flight and been late which was due to "act of God". The second one they claimed you were late. In either case they said I was not entitled to a refund. It is what it is.

By the way, I was in time to catch that second plane by more than a half hour. The person who bought me the tickets is out to the tune of more than $1600.00. I get about 10,000 page views per day on this blog. Surely we can take at least ten times that amount out of US Airways' hide by refusing to fly them. Register your agreement to do so in the comments below.