America's Established Religion

 "We Actually Do Have an Established Religion" writes Robert Spencer:

... Our established religion in the United States as we approach the second quarter of the twenty-first century is Leftism’s contemporary sexual obsession and confusion, contempt for masculinity, erasure of femininity, obsession with racism real and imagined (mostly the latter), and all the rest. Today LGBT pride flags are proudly (of course) displayed at U.S. embassies around the world, there are openly “gender fluid” and transgender government officials, and officials at the highest levels, including the president of the United States himself, heap fulsome praise upon Leftist societal and sexual fads.

* * *

    Biden’s leftism isn’t generally recognized as a religion, but it very much is one, as can be seen all over, for instance in the transgender pronoun fantasies and hunt for heretics who dare to “misgender” a particular fantasist, and the fervor with which supporters of abortion vowed to fight against all restrictions to the practice after Roe v. Wade was overturned. But since this secular ideology is not understood to be a religion, it is not seen as an established creed in violation of the First Amendment, as it would be in a sane polity. If it were, then the solution to it would also be found in the First Amendment, in the prohibition of such an establishment, and provisions such as school lunch money being withheld from schools that refused to indulge insane gender faddism would be seen as establishing a religion and accordingly ended.

Why You Shouldn't Move To Idaho

From the Daily Mail: "Angry residents of Idaho town say retired California cops and firefighters flocking there aren't conservative enough - and fear they'll enact liberal policies (but newcomers' hefty pensions have helped rejuvenate local economy)." The article relates:

    Californian transplants are stirring the political pot of a quaint Idaho suburb - with furious locals claiming they are not conservative enough to fit in.

    The new dynamic involving the Boise-bordering town of Eagle was unveiled this month by The Los Angeles Times, in the form of statements from residents - and local politicians - both new and old.

    They mostly complained about how, in recent years, the town of 32,100 has been bombarded with new arrivals from The Golden State - particularly those receiving hefty pensions following careers in public service.

    Abetted by pension funds, the long-in-the-tooth lawmen are swiftly supplanting longtime residents, they said - pointing to the so-called ‘liberal baggage' the ex-cops and firefighters are bringing with them as they move in from hundreds of miles away.

    This ideological clash recently came to a head in the town's mayoral election this month, during which City Council President Brad Pike won a resounding victory in a heated runoff over incumbent Mayor Jason Pierce. 

    The win, aside from serving as an upset, comes as California pension money is quickly becoming the 'lifeblood' of the area, in the words of The Times report. 

    The "lifeblood" of the area. Heh! That is quite the conceit. All they have done is "Californicate" the area, as locals like to say. 

    Even a few decades ago, Eagle, Idaho was still a semi-rural community just beyond the outskirts of Boise. But between the lower land prices, a quaint small-town "downtown" and a rather picturesque setting between the Boise foothills and the Boise river, it was rapidly bought up by people fleeing California, such that it became a "poor man's" version of Sun Valley. Now it is just an increasingly crowded suburb of Boise filled with expensive subdivisions (especially along the river), crappy (but pretentious) restaurants and offices. The problem, as this article attempts but fails to really describe, is that these imports bring their dysfunctions with them from California or wherever. It also doesn't help, as the article relates, that they move to the area flush with cash from selling a home in LA (or wherever) and a pension that is much higher than the average wage or salary and then buy up property driving the price of housing through the roof. 

    The irony in the article is that the dispute seems mostly to be between those that moved from California years ago and more recent California transplants. 

The Fruits of Immigration: Over 7,000 German Woman Raped By Refugees Since 2015

 Breitbart reports: "Germany: Over 7,000 Women Sexually Assaulted by Asylum Seekers Since 2015." And that is just of those we know. From the article:

    Since opening the gates to unfettered mass migration in 2015, at least 7,000 women have been raped or sexually assaulted in Germany by alleged asylum-seeking illegal migrants, an analysis of government figures has found.

    A report from the Swiss-German paper of record, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, claimed that statistics from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) show that more than one thousand women — mostly Germans — have been sexually assaulted by migrants seeking refuge every year since 2017.

    Extrapolating from this figure, the paper calculated that therefore at least 7,000 women have been raped or sexually assaulted by asylum seekers since former German Chancellor Angela Merkel ushered in the European Migrant Crisis in 2015 by unilaterally opening the gates of Europe to massive waves of migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

    Last year, NZZ reported, asylum-seeking migrants were vastly overrepresented in reported cases of rape and sexual assault. Out of the estimated 10,000 suspects, 6,366 were German while 3,679 were foreigners. Of those, 1,115 were asylum-seeking migrants, meaning that while they represented just 2.5 per cent of the population, they were responsible for over 11 per cent of the sex assaults and rapes.

Well, I guess the feminists were serious when they held up their "Refugees Welcome" signs and courted the Muslim men with flowers. 

    Speaking of the benefits of Muslim immigration, on Rumble: "Weekend Riots: Multiculturalism in London Isn't Going So Well." Just another weekend of immigrants attacking British police. But I'm sure that if some poor British guy shows up with the Union Jack the police will be quick to arrest him. 

The Insurrection Myth

Some more true facts dribble out about January 6 to destroy the Left's wet dream of an insurrection. From Gateway Pundit: "VIDEO SURFACES - Hidden from Public: Q Shaman Stands Outside Doors of US Capitol and Tells Everyone to Go Home - Reads Trump Tweet to Stay Peaceful and Go Home #Insurrection"--The Gateway Pundit. Quoting from the video:

Q Shaman Jacob Chansley:  “We’re going to throw up the tweet. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home. Okay? – This is America. You guys want to stay, that’s fine. Donald Trump has asked everybody to go home.”

Fellow Protester:  “Wait, read this.”

Jacob Chansley:  “Hold on… Donald Trump, quote, I am asking for everyone in the US Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence. Remember, we are the party of law and Order. Respect our law enforcement. … There’s a video.”

The article goes on to relate:

    This video, among others was omitted from Chansley’s trial. The Arizona man was later sentenced to 41 months in prison for walking inside the US Capitol, asking police if he was allowed to be there, was then escorted through the building by police, led a prayer in the US Senate chamber, and then read Trump’s tweet to be peaceful before leaving the premises.

    The DC Courts sentenced Chansley to 41 months in federal prison for this. 

The judge that sentenced Chansley should be impeached. The federal prosecutors should be fired and disbarred.  

Boo, Hiss: 9th Circuit Reinstates California Ban On Carrying In Public Spaces

 The Guardian reports:

    A federal appeals court on Saturday cleared the way for a California law that bans the carrying of guns in most public places to take effect at the start of 2024, as the panel put on hold a judge’s ruling declaring the measure unconstitutional.

    The ninth US circuit court of appeals suspended a 20 December injunction issued by a judge who had concluded the Democrat-led state’s law violated the right of citizens to keep and bear arms under the US constitution’s second amendment.

    The three-judge panel issued an administrative stay that put the injunction on hold until a different ninth circuit panel can consider whether to issue an even longer pause while the litigation plays out.

I wonder if Congress pulled their security whether it would change the judges' opinions about firearm ownership. 

Laying The Groundwork For Another Middle-Eastern War

John Bolton, a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. under George W. Bush and National Security Advisor under Donald Trump--and long a proponent for "regime change" in Iran, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Cuba, Yemen, and North Korea--has published an op-ed in the Telegraph calling for a war with Iran. In the piece, entitled "The West may now have no option but to attack Iran," Bolton writes:

    Houthi attacks on commercial shipping and US Navy vessels in the Red Sea threaten the global economy, endangering the vital Suez Canal trade route. As if 14 such attacks in the past month, and against Israel directly, were not enough, Iran has now joined the fray. The Pentagon said on December 23 that an Iranian-launched drone struck an Israeli-affiliated merchant ship in the Indian Ocean. 

    This marks the first time since October 7 that Washington has directly blamed Iran, even with over 100 attacks on US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iran-dependent Shia militia, on which the White House has fudged in assigning responsibility. Tehran denied the Indian Ocean attack, repeating its mantra that Hamas operates independently in warring against Israel. Nevertheless, India deployed guided-missile destroyers to the region, and seeks more evidence on the vector of the attack. 

    Just after Christmas, however, Iran committed the classic “Washington gaffe” – i.e., telling the truth accidentally – when the Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly described Hamas’s barbaric assault as “one of the acts of revenge for the assassination of General [Qassem] Soleimani by the US and the Zionists”. Hamas immediately denied the linkage, no more credibly than the Revolutionary Guard Corps’ subsequent effort to walk back its revealing “revenge” declaration. 

    The critical truth here is that Iran has directly committed an act of war against what it believed was an Israeli target. While hardly comparable to Hamas’s barbarity, Hizbollah and Houthi attacks, or Iran’s own massive arms and intelligence support, Tehran has now crossed the line of armed hostilities. The West’s operating assumption should be to expect more of the same. Iran has, for example, recently threatened shutting down commercial shipping across the Mediterranean. It is Iranian belligerence driving potential escalation, not Western self-defence. 

    The Biden administration, much of the media, and Iran’s propagandists will probably continue ignoring the reality of who is calling the shots in this conflict. But the evidence is growing inexorably that October 7 was intended to draw Jewish blood to implement Soleimani’s “ring of fire” strategy, with Iran pressing Israel on multiple fronts, directing operations via terrorists and state actors it has armed, trained, and financed. 

    Iran’s near-term objectives remain opaque. Was Hamas’s brutal surprise attack a one-off gambit, to see if Israel’s government collapsed; to assess Western support for Israel; to block an Israeli-Saudi exchange of full diplomatic relations; or some combination? Was Iran waiting to see if Israel became bogged down militarily in Gaza, and then decide its next step? 

    Or was Hamas simply the first Iran surrogate to launch? Hizbollah has fired rockets and mortars ever since, forcing Israel to evacuate civilians from a two-kilometer-wide strip along the Lebanon border. While Hizbollah has not yet initiated a full-fledged attack, it has husbanded its arsenal, perhaps awaiting the opportune moment. 

    Both Houthi and Shia militia attacks have been met with only feeble and ineffective Western responses. Neither Hamas, nor Houthis, nor Iraqi militia have yet prompted the US or Israel to retaliate directly against Iran. 

    Obviously, Tehran does not feel pressured enough to restrain its expendable surrogates, proving that the West has not established conditions for deterrence, thereby potentially cooling the conflict down. The White House and its media stenographers repeat endlessly that they do not want the current hostilities to spread, but Biden’s non-strategy, based on hope, will not succeed. 

    Only if Israel, America, Britain, and others show they possess the resolve and capability to impose significant costs on Iran, as punishment for its aggression, will they persuade the ayatollahs that proceeding further will bring them intolerable pain. Very likely, only direct military force, applied against critical targets inside Iran, will impose such costs, proving to Tehran it has miscalculated not only about Israel, but on President Biden and the West more generally. That is why the evidence of a direct Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the Indian Ocean is potentially so important. 

    It has been clear for years that overthrowing the mullahs, replacing them with some other form of government that enjoys the support of Iran’s citizenry, is central to decreasing insecurity throughout the Middle East. Arab funding of terrorist actions against Israel is hard to find today, especially as full, open diplomatic relations with Jerusalem continue to expand. If Iran’s line of credit to the likes of Hamas, Hizbollah, the Houthis, and other barbarians disappears, their ability to survive except in remote Afghan encampments will palpably decrease. 

    That is the outcome Washington and London should seek. Instead of pushing Israel for more “pauses”, “truces”, “ceasefires” or the like, allow Jerusalem to achieve its legitimate objective of eliminating Hamas as a military and political force. That is one sure way to convince the ayatollahs their gambit has failed, and their own end may be near. 

Behind Bolton's grand words is a serious flaw: the Houthi (and, by implication, Iran) are not generally targeting "commercial shipping" as Bolton suggests, but "Israel-affiliated or Israel-destined vessel[s]." Even Bolton acknowledged that the December 23 attack by Iran was on "an Israeli-affiliated merchant ship in the Indian Ocean." U.S. vessels have been attacked because the U.S. has intervened on behalf of Israel. 

    In short, Bolton is arguing that the tail (Israel) should wave the dog (the U.S.) and involve us in yet another costly Middle-Eastern war. And while he paints a picture of increased security if the Iranian government is overthrown, how well did that work out in Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan? 

Armenians In Israel Vow To Fight Israeli Efforts To Push Them Out

From the AFP: "Jerusalem's Armenians vow to keep up fight against 'settler' project." The gist of the story is that there have been Armenians in Jerusalem for at least 1500 years, and one of the historic sections of Jerusalem has been the Armenian Quarter. Nevertheless, probably because they are not Jewish, the Armenians (who are Christian) don't have Israeli citizenship and have been on the losing end of efforts to slowly nibble away at the size of the Armenian Quarter. 

    The issue that is the subject matter of the article arose when Armenians learned that "the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Father Baret Yeretzian, in charge of real estate affairs, struck a deal in 2021 with a Tel Aviv-based company," Xana Gardens Ltd., headed up by an Australian-Israeli investor named Danny Rothman. The deal involved the sale of 11,500 square meters (2.8 acres) of land--about 25% of the remaining Armenian Quarter. Rothman plans on building a luxury hotel on the site. After the Armenians learned of the deal, the Armenian church removed and defrocked Yeretzian and revoked its consent for the agreement.

    The latest escalation came after Nourhan Manougian, the Armenian patriarch of Jerusalem, on October 27 sent a letter to Xana Gardens formally notifying the firm of the "cancellation of the agreement".

    Then, "bulldozers, armed settlers accompanied by dogs, and residents of the Jewish quarter" arrived to the area, said the activist Balian, 27.

    The takeover attempt "took advantage of the chaos of October 7," he said, referring to the bloody attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel that triggered all-out war.

    "They managed to demolish part of the wall surrounding the parking lot [which was part of the land deal]."

Israel Threatens To Expand Conflict Into Lebanon

"Israel warns of war in Lebanon" reports Semafor. 

    Israel will attack more targets in Lebanon if the Lebanese government does not stop Hezbollah militants from launching rockets, an Israeli minister said on Wednesday. There have been constant exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah across the Israel-Lebanon border since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

However, the article points out, "Hezbollah’s response to the war in Gaza has been one of 'relative restraint' so far, firing missiles at the Golan Heights in a show of 'solidarity' but seeking to avoid the larger conflict its supporters would have desired, an analyst wrote." Nevertheless:

    Benny Gantz, a war cabinet member and Israel’s former defense minister, told reporters that “the stopwatch for a diplomatic solution is running out,” and that Israeli forces were prepared to intervene in Lebanon to remove Hezbollah from the border. Gantz’s warning came after what was reportedly the single biggest day of Hezbollah rocket launches since Oct. 7.

    While most experts believe neither Israel nor Hezbollah wants an all-out conflict, daily strikes have killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters and nine Israeli soldiers and ratcheted up tensions. U.S. officials fear that both sides’ attempts to take advantage of the other’s perceived reluctance to go to war could spark a wider conflict, the New York Times reported. “We are a mistake away from escalation,” an Israeli military official told the Wall Street Journal.

No Charges Against Mexican Farmers That Killed Cartel Members In Self-Defense

From the Telegraph, "Mexican farmers who killed 10 cartel members with sickles and shotguns ‘acted in self-defence’." The article relates:

    A group of Mexican farmers have been allowed to walk free despite killing 10 members of a cartel with sickles and shotguns in a “football field massacre”.

    The villagers engaged in a showdown with the gangsters earlier this month after they refused to pay them protection money.

    Armed with sickles, machetes and shotguns, the villagers killed 10 members of the notorious Familia Michoacana cartel at a football field in Texcapilla on Dec 8, and lost four of their own.

    Despite the showdown being dubbed by locals as “the massacre on the football field”, prosecutors from the state of Mexico concluded that cartel members had opened fire first and that the farmers had acted in self-defence with “the tools of their trade”.

That wasn't the end of the matter, though:

    Local authorities fear that the cartel has already exacted revenge for the defeat, with 14 villagers having disappeared in the days after the battle, including four children.

    Delfina Gómez, the governor of Mexico state, told Texcapilla residents that officials would not abandon them: “I tell you, you are not alone; we are with you.”

 But they are alone. The reason the showdown occurred is because the Cartel taxed extorted amounts from the farmers based on how much land they had under cultivation, but because of poor rains, the crop yields had declined. So the farmers set up the meeting to try and negotiate lower taxes extortion rates, which apparently didn't set well with the local Cartel leader. If the government had been fulfilling its obligation, this situation would never have arisen. If the Mexican government allowed its citizens weapons to defend themselves, this situation may never have arisen. 

    The article also points out:

    But the threat of violence from criminal gangs has led some Mexicans to seek protection by hiring private security forces.

    For example, also in the state of Mexico, chicken merchants from the city of Toluca have hired vigilantes to protect them from reprisals after they stopped paying extortion fees to criminal gangs. Last week four Toluca chicken traders were kidnapped in their warehouse and driven away in vans by armed men.

And these are the types of people that the Democrats, RINOs, the Chamber of Commerce, agricultural trade groups, and so on, are allowing and encouraging to flow across the border. 

VIDEO: King Phillip's War--Anti-Immigrant Backlash

Trigger warning: this video discusses the natives of New England and their racism, bigotry and xenophobia as they attack and kill immigrants and refugees simply seeking freedom and a better life in North America. If only someone had been able to explain to them that diversity is a strength and the benefits of the cultural enrichment brought by the refugees. 

VIDEO: "King Philip's War: The Most Important American War You've Never Heard Of"

Atun-Shei Films (17 min.)

VIDEO: Muslims Force 120,000 Christians From Homes

I just saw a post from Vox Day relating that Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is comparing Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler. This is terrible rhetoric on the part of Erdogan because it is inaccurate: Hitler had allied with Palestinians whereas Netanyahu is trying to exterminate or expel the Palestinians. It also reminded me of Muslim nations (apparently including with Turkish approval and material support) driving Christian Armenians from their homes in Nagorno-Karabakh and Turkey's bombing of Kurdish refugee camps as discussed in the videos below: 

VIDEO: "Media Blackout As 120K Christians Forcibly Starved, Exiled From Homes"

Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov (16 min.)

VIDEO: "Those who rely only upon the mainstream media to know what is going on are mugs and dupes"--History Debunked (5 min.)

Cultural Enrichment: Venezuela Exporting Its Murderers To The U.S.

From Reuters: "Venezuela murder rate dips, partly due to migration - monitoring group." The article relates that "[t]he murder rate in Venezuela, one of the world's highest-crime countries, dipped in 2018 as some criminals apparently joined millions of law-abiding compatriots in leaving the crisis-stricken country, a local crime monitoring group said in a report on Thursday."

    The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence (OVV) said in its annual report that Venezuela still had the world's highest murder rate, 81.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, but it noted that figure was down from 89 in 2017 and 92 the year before. Director Roberto Briceño attributed the drop in part to migration.

    "The majority of the Venezuelans who emigrate are honest people who have been forced to look for work elsewhere, but many criminals are among them," he told reporters, citing press reports on crimes in other South American countries. 

Denver Mayor Upset Illegals Coming To His Sanctuary City

It's all well and good to virtue signal when someone else has to bear the costs. Not so fun when the chickens come home to roost. From Breitbart: "Denver Mayor: My Sanctuary City Is ‘Ground Zero for America’s Migrant Crisis’ — Migrants Need to Be Spread Out." 

On Wednesday’s “CNN News Central,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stated that his sanctuary city “is now ground zero for America’s migrant crisis.” And that one thing they need the federal government to do is distribute migrants to different cities around the U.S.

Uh, no. So long as Denver votes for illegal immigration and holds itself out as a sanctuary city, it should welcome illegals and serve as a sanctuary. Many of these illegals--at least so they contend--are fleeing political violence and oppression such that they are afraid of being arrested. So how does Denver fulfill its role as a sanctuary city if it is going to send these illegals to other jurisdictions where they face arrest and possible deportation. Isn't this just perpetuating the trauma that the illegals have suffered. No, liberal/leftist morality requires--REQUIRES--that we send more illegals to Denver and other sanctuary cities and counties. 

Refugees Welcome: The Personal Costs of Illegal Aliens

Breitbart indicates that "Biden’s Border Inflation: Illegal Aliens Cost Each U.S. Taxpayer $1,200 in 2023." It goes on to relate:

    In 2023, millions of illegal aliens residing in the United States cost every American taxpayer nearly $1,200. In total, taxpayers were billed $150 billion this year to pay for illegal immigration.

    The cost of illegal immigration to taxpayers is summarized in an annual report from the Federal for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), detailing the baseline burden that illegal aliens have on Americans.

    “Every day, hundreds of millions of dollars in American taxpayer money are spent on costs directly associated with illegal immigration,” the FAIR report states. “Only a small fraction of these costs is ever recouped from taxes paid by illegal aliens, with the rest falling on the shoulders of American citizens and legal immigrants.”

    This cost estimate, for instance, does not include lower wages, lost jobs, or higher housing costs as a result of illegal immigration.

    This year, the FAIR report suggests, each taxpayer was billed close to $1,200 to pay for the nation’s more than 15 million illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children, commonly known as “anchor babies.”

    “At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $182 billion to cover the costs incurred from the presence of more than 15.5 million illegal aliens, and about 5.4 million citizen children of illegal aliens,” the FAIR report states. “That amounts to a cost burden of approximately $8,776 per illegal alien/citizen child.”

Those that support the importation of illegal aliens need to pay more for their actions. Thus, I support sending more illegals to every state that went for Biden in 2020.

Diversity Is A Strength: Palestinian Protestors Try To Close Down More Of New York

From the Daily Mail: "Massive pro-Palestine protests erupt in New York City: HUNDREDS of demonstrators try to force their way into the World Trade Center as Times Square is taken over." 

    Hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators have marched on Times Square and the World Trade Center, continuing protests in a week where anti-Israel marchers have shut down traffic at JFK Airport.

    Chants of 'Biden you will see, Palestine will be free' and 'Israel bombs, USA pays, how many kids did you kill today?' was part of the rhetoric used by the protesters. 

    Effigies representing children killed in Gaza were seen after people took part in silent procession which was organized partly by elderly Jewish groups through Midtown Manhattan earlier Thursday.

Religion of Peace: Hamas Raped, Tortured, Mutilated Women

The Daily Mail reports: "Women raped by Hamas were found with nails driven into their thighs and groin and were passed around by terrorists who slaughtered them after or even during gang-rape, horrifying new witness accounts of October 7 reveal." From the article:

    New devastating accounts of sexual violence and torture enacted on defenceless Israeli women by Hamas terrorists amid their brutal October 7 attacks have emerged. 

    Images shown to the New York Times by Israeli authorities showed a woman who had dozens of nails driven into her thighs and genitals in a savage example of mutilation, while other clips displayed the corpses of soldiers and civilians alike who had been either shot or stabbed in the groin.

    Another dark image dubbed 'the woman in the black dress' showed the corpse of an Israeli later identified as Gal Abdush.

    She is seen splayed on the floor, legs wrenched apart with her vagina exposed, and covered in burns. Her lifeless body was crumpled in the dirt next to the husk of a heavily damaged car riddled with bullet holes. 

 And yet these are the types of people that liberals want imported into the West. 

More: "The Times viewed photographs of one woman’s corpse … with dozens of nails driven into her thighs and groin"--Legal Insurrection.

They're Afraid: Maine Secretary of State Removes Trump From Ballot

"Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, announced Thursday evening that she is blocking Trump from appearing on the state's ballot based on false claims that Trump incited an insurrection against the United States." 

    "I am mindful that no Secretary of State has ever deprived a presidential candidate of ballot access based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment," Bellows wrote in her decision. "I am also mindful, however, that no presidential candidate has ever before engaged in insurrection. The oath I swore to uphold the Constitution comes first above all, and my duty under Maine’s election laws, when presented with a Section 336 challenge, is to ensure that candidates who appear on the primary ballot are qualified for the office they seek."

    “The events of January 6, 2021 were unprecedented and tragic," Bellows continued. "They were an attack not only upon the Capitol and government officials, but also an attack on the rule of law. The evidence here demonstrates that they occurred at the behest of, and with the knowledge and support of, the outgoing President. The U.S. Constitution does not tolerate an assault on the foundations of our government, and [Maine law] requires me to act in response.”

    Bellows, the top election official in the state, had heard legal challenges from both sides of the issue earlier this month before announcing her decision on Thursday. The move comes a day after the Michigan Supreme Court rejected efforts to remove Trump from their state's ballot.

The article notes that "[l]ike the Colorado Supreme Court, Bellows suspended the effects of her decision pending appeal."

Oops: Washington Post Admits Report of Trump's Call To George Sec. of State Fake News

One of the key pieces of evidence used by the Left to assert that Trump was trying to overturn the 2020 election was a supposed call to the Georgia Secretary of State demanding that the state "find the fraud" and telling an investigator that she would be a "national hero". The call had been secretly recorded but "accidently" deleted. But a copy was recovered from a computer showing that key details were changed in the Washington Post's reporting eliciting the following from the Post:

Correction: Two months after publication of this story, the Georgia secretary of state released an audio recording of President Donald Trump’s December phone call with the state’s top elections investigator. The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump’s comments on the call, based on information provided by a source. Trump did not tell the investigator to “find the fraud” or say she would be “a national hero” if she did so. Instead, Trump urged the investigator to scrutinize ballots in Fulton County, Ga., asserting she would find “dishonesty” there. He also told her that she had “the most important job in the country right now.” A story about the recording can be found here. The headline and text of this story have been corrected to remove quotes misattributed to Trump.

 Of course, the damage has been done and will not be undone.

A Roundup Of Firearms Related News/Articles

 Just some stuff I've come across recently:

• "A History of Carry: 40 Years Armed"--Dave Spaulding, Guns & Ammo. Spaulding discusses the firearms he has daily carried over his life beginning with the revolver he first used when he started training as a law enforcement officer in 1976, through the changes to the handguns over his law enforcement career, and his switch to Glocks after retirement. He discusses some of the things he liked and didn't like about particular handguns and accessories (e.g., holsters).
• "The Quest for The Low Bore Axis – Magnum Edition – The Wildebeest from Down Under"--The Firearm Blog. Australian engineer Bernard Besselink has come up with a design for a semi-auto pistol that has the barrel below the recoil mechanism and breachblock. The article goes over the basics of the design and operation (including linking to a couple videos). Because the design needed a powerful cartridge--at least in its early design iterations--Besselink designed it to use .357 Magnum. He is using a Desert Eagle magazine. It is a very science-fiction looking weapon.
• "With One Week Remaining, 99.4% of Illinois Gun Owners Have Said ‘No Thanks’ To Gun Registration"--The Truth About Guns. It may have something to do with a leak where state officials admitted in private that they intended to use the registry to seize firearms after the next mass shooting:

    Why are so few Illinois citizens complying? Aside from the fundamental 2A conflicts, there’s also the leak from the Governor’s inner circle to “close the existing owner loophole” as reported by Guns Save Life.

So what is next?  Following a mass-casualty incident, especially if it happens in the Land of Lincoln, the Governor will announce a plan to “close the existing owner loophole.” Their words, not ours.

Governor Pritzker will back legislation to call for those who have registered guns and accessories to surrender those registered items to the police after 90 days or so.  Failure to do so would result in felony charges.

By mandating the surrender of those registered items, they can determine who has complied and who has not. Those who have not can expect ISP-led “firearm compliance teams” to knock on their doors.

• "The Fatal Funnel: Dealing with Doors" by Richard Nance, Handguns Magazine. Self-explanatory, I think.
• "Combat Medic: The Life-Saving Work That Starts Once You’re Shot" by Jon Wayne Taylor, The Truth About Guns. If you think this article is just about applying a tourniquet, you'd be wrong. The author begins:

    The best medicine on any battlefield is fire superiority. That simple mantra, or some version of it, is written in just about every tactical medical manual and tactical combat casualty care course ever taught. And for good reason.

    If you’re unfortunate enough to be shot, the most important thing is to ensure that you aren’t shot again. That means limiting your attacker’s ability to continue firing and limiting his mobility are your primary concerns.  The best way to do that is by returning effective fire.

Yes, it talks about first aid and tourniquets, but also the need to return fire, call for help, etc. Read the whole thing.

•  "That's a Hit! Caldwell's Flash Bang Hit Indicator"--Guns & Ammo. This is a devise that attaches to the back of a steel target (using hook and loop fasteners) just slightly sticking out on one side to reveal a line of bright LEDs. When the target is struck, the LEDs light up indicating a hit. This is particularly helpful when using weaker ammo that might not solidly ring the steel or if the steel is so far off that the sound is no longer audible.
• "Seattle homeowner exchanges gunfire would-be burglars amid string of neighborhood robberies"--New York Post. The article reports on certain burglaries believed to be by the same criminals, including one where the burglars were unsuccessful in breaking down the door initially, left, and returned later with sledge hammers at which time the homeowner was ready for them and exchanged some shots, using a rifle. Here is the money quote:

Seattle police said the robberies share a similar set of circumstances to a series of robberies that happened earlier this year, in which all of the victims were of Asian descent and the suspects were all black males. 

• "Ruger ReadyDot Pistol Sight: Fiber-Optic Big Dot"--Handguns Magazine. Ruger has decided to enter the optics market for handgun reflex sights. The difference here is that Ruger decided to make it as rugged and dependable as possible. Thus, it uses a fiber optic to collect the light--there are no electronics--and it is not adjustable. The dot is 15 MOA which is quite large, but probably acceptable for a handgun. The article indicates that "[i]t weighs just 0.25 ounce and measures 1.6 inches long and 0.95 inch wide. It’s just 0.75 inch tall from the top of the rounded window to the base of the optic, making it one of the smallest and lightest red dots on the market today." It also uses the Shield RMSc footprint. Although it won't work in complete darkness, the author's testing showed that it still worked in very dim lighting where he could no longer read a newspaper headline or see the numbers on the face of his watch. Price, by itself, is supposed to be $100.
• "Losing Count: The Empty Case for 'High‐​Capacity' Magazine Restrictions"--Cato Institute. A lengthy, detailed analysis. From the lede:

    There are three main problems with these bans. First, the term “high‐​capacity” is used by legislatures to describe standard, common equipment rather than magazines that stretch a weapon’s capacity beyond its intended design. Second, discussions of the issue are replete with fundamental misconceptions about firearm magazines and their place under the Second Amendment. In fact, some courts have held that magazines have no constitutional protection at all, contravening precedent indicating that the right to keep and bear arms protects all bearable arms in common use, including their magazines and ammunition, regardless of the arms in existence at the time of the Founding. Magazines are not mere accessories, but essential components of modern firearms.

    Third, there is little evidence that high‐​capacity magazine restrictions have any positive effects on public safety. To support these laws, states point to horrific crimes involving large‐​capacity magazines. But the connection between the crime and the magazine is conjectural at best, while the prohibitions against such magazines have disrupted the lives of many otherwise law‐​abiding gun owners — and all without any evidence of improvements in public safety. In some courts, it seems that merely uttering the phrase “gun violence” suffices to justify any exercise of state power. These policies are ineffective, dangerous, and unconstitutional.

A Video Review of Tite-Group Pistol Powder

The author tested loads using Hodgdon's Tite Group pistol powder in .38 Special +P, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, and .45 Colt. The performance in the .38 Special and .357 Magnum loads were "meh", but the extreme spread and standard deviation of the velocities for the larger caliber loads was quite impressive. I haven't used Tite Group before, but after watching this video I may have to give it a try.

VIDEO: "TESTED: Hodgdon Tite Group"

Ultimate Reloader (23 min.)

Throwing Good Money After Bad--Biden Sends Final Support To Ukraine For This Year

The Daily Mail states that "Biden sends $250million of weapons to Ukraine in FINAL aid package until Congress can approve more cash for Kyiv." Per the article:

    President Joe Biden announced a $250 million weapons package to Ukraine on Wednesday in what officials said could be a final amount of aid from the U.S. unless Congress approves new funding.

    Biden has asked Congress for another $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, but Republicans are refusing to approve the assistance without an agreement with Democrats to tighten security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    The White House has warned that without the additional appropriation U.S. aid for Kyiv will run out by the end of the year.

    The package includes air defense munitions, anti-armor munitions, ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems, and more than 15 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

The article notes that Congress has approved more than $110 billion in assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. 

    By way of comparison, as I noted a few months ago, "[i]n January [2022], Biden announced his administration would distribute $27 billion over the next five years to fix or rebuild thousands of the nation’s bridges. The current estimate to repair all bridges in the U.S. is $125 billion, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers." So for the cost of the Ukraine war alone (including Biden's most recent request) we could have repaired every bridge in the country and still have billions left over.

    Why does Biden care more about Ukrainians than Americans?

Chinese Dictator Cleaning House

 According to Newsweek, "Corruption Scandal in Xi's China Leads to Dozens of Arrests." From the lede:

    Scores of officials have been snagged in Chinese leader Xi Jinping's campaign to cleanse vulnerable sections of the military of corruption, a China-focused consulting firm says.

    The ongoing reshuffling "will have extensive ramifications for the chain of command, as well as the combat readiness/ability to function normally of critical [People's Liberation Army] infrastructure," Canada-based Cercius Group said.

    Over the summer, Xi suddenly replaced top generals in the PLA Rocket Force, which oversees China's nuclear and conventional arsenals. Li Shangfu and Qin Gang, who were then China's defense minister and its top diplomat, disappeared within weeks of them, just months after being appointed to office.

The article adds:

    The investigation has two targets: political and financial corruption, the firm told Newsweek.

    The goal of investigations in the first category is to ensure "everyone dances to Xi's tune when it comes to a potential Taiwan campaign," Cercius said. Xi also seeks to oust potentially disloyal PLA officials who are "forming cliques."

Even the second category--financial corruption--is less about corruption (which is the norm in any communist or socialist government) but about military readiness. That is, Xi doesn't want to have what happened to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine--inoperable vehicles and missing equipment or supplies--happening to China. (Remember that Russia's initial invasion was hampered because their vehicle tires were cheap Chinese products that failed). Or as the article relates:

    However, the brand of corruption in PLA organs responsible for procuring and developing equipment goes beyond embezzlement and kickbacks from state-owned enterprises, Cercius said.

    Critically, it affects China's ability to wage war—because corruption that results in subpar quality control of military equipment chips away at combat readiness.

    Xi's "best-case scenario" would be transferring "low-level or potentially defective" equipment to other developing countries and resetting production under more stable conditions after the dust from the reshuffle has settled, the consulting firm said.

Awesome. Instead of just ditching the defective equipment they will sell them to some unsuspecting sucker. Russia, perhaps?

Federal Judge Blocks California Gun Control Law From Taking Effect

Fox40 reports: "Federal judge blocks new California gun control law from taking effect in January 2024." From the article:

    A new California law that would restrict licensed gun holders from carrying their firearms in many public places will not go into full effect on Jan. 1 as scheduled, after a federal judge deemed it unconstitutional.

    The law, Senate Bill 2, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 26 and included an array of gun control measures. On Dec. 20, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney issued an order to stop one of SB 2’s regulations, the ban on licensed gun carrying in a public place. According to SB 2, it would have been illegal in California for licensed gun carriers to have their firearms at bars, churches, parks, public events, stadiums, casinos, financial institutions, medical facilities, on public transportation, and other places.

    “The Second Amendment preserves a fundamental constitutional right for law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” Carney said in his ruling. “Increasingly in modern times, with ‘the ubiquity of guns and our country’s high level of gun violence,’ ordinary law-abiding people feel a need to carry handguns in public to protect themselves and their families against violence.”

Basically it is a law intended to protect criminals from armed victims. In a high trust society, people wouldn't need to carry firearms for protection and wouldn't feel the need to do so either. But liberals have done everything they could to transform the U.S. into a low trust society. 

Cultural Enrichment: Previously Eradicated Diseases Return To U.S.

From Gateway Pundit: "Leprosy, Polio, Malaria, TB, Measles… and Massive Unscreened Illegal Immigration." From the lede:

    Successful public health campaigns and medical advances have enabled the United States to conquer a range of disfiguring and damaging diseases. Polio, which paralyzed thousands of Americans annually, was wiped out by widespread vaccinations. In 1999 the nation’s last hospital for lepers closed its doors in Louisiana. A global campaign eradicated smallpox, while lethal tuberculosis, the “consumption” that stalked characters in decades of literature, seemed beaten by antibiotics. Measles outbreaks still occur from time to time, but they are small, local, and easily contained.

    Recently, however, some of these forgotten but still formidable infectious diseases have begun to reappear in the U.S. For two years running, polio has been detected in some New York water samples, and this fall, leprosy re-emerged in Florida, where cases of malaria have also been recorded.

And don't forget the bedbugs. 

Related: 

• "Tropical diseases may be spreading via infected dogs brought to U.S."--UPI.
• "Flesh-eating parasite spread by sand flies has foothold in U.S., scientists say"--CBS News.

Chicago Demanding Federal Bailout Over Sanctuary Status

Breitbart reports: "Chicago Mayor Johnson: Migrant Influx 'Not Sustainable' Without 'Significant Federal Support'." Yes. Chicago is a "sanctuary city"--meaning that it will not enforce or cooperate with the enforcement of federal immigration law--but it wants the federal government (i.e., the rest of the nation) to subsidize its insurrection. From the article:

    Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said Wednesday “CNN This Morning” that the current migrant influx into his city was “not sustainable” without “significant federal support.”

    Johnson said, “Since taking office a little bit over seven months ago, my administration has responded to this humanitarian mission with the full force of government. We have roughly 15,000 people living in shelters, temporary shelters here in Chicago, nearly 27 shelters. A total of 4500 children are in our Chicago public schools system, providing health care and also making sure that we are screening individuals as they come through the city of Chicago, providing, again, onsite vaccinations at all of our shelters.”

15,000! That's all! That's not even two days worth of the illegals flooding into Texas. I think Texas needs to ship more illegal aliens to Chicago since the mayor there doesn't seem to fully appreciate the consequences of his support for illegal immigration.

Diversity Is A Strength: Fears of Shia/Sunni Fighting In UK

From the Daily Mail: "Fears grow of sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslim migrants of Bibby Stockholm as authorities are told prayer sessions should be segregated." 

    Officials should consider providing separate prayer rooms for Sunni and Shia Muslims living on the Bibby Stockholm to avoid sectarian clashes, a government report has found. 

    The split between the two main sects of Islam is a major cause of conflict in the Middle East and can lead to unrest at sites where migrants are being housed in the UK, according to a Home Office equality impact assessment. 

    The document says that this can cause 'adverse behaviours' and 'consideration should be given to separate worship areas'. It adds that interactions between the two groups 'should be monitored'. 

Maybe officials should consider not providing any prayer rooms at all and kick out the invaders.

This Is How Liberals Help The Working Class

"California Pizza Hut Franchises Lay Off Over 1,200 Delivery Drivers Due to State Raising the Minimum Wage"--Legal Insurrection.  They raised the minimum wage to $20/hour. "Customers will now have to use third-party apps like DoorDash to deliver their pizza."

    Three points come to mind about this:

    First, anybody with half a brain understands how the supply/demand curve works, so the reasonable conclusion is that California legislators understood that a bunch of people would lose their jobs because of the change in the law and did it anyway.

    Second, to the extent that this was driven by concerns about the cost of living in California, the cause of the high cost of living is mostly the result of other policies championed by the left, namely high immigration (legal and illegal) driving up the cost of housing and everything else combined with a stifling regulatory and tax environment.

    Third, this appears to be part and parcel of the continued war against small businesses, who are the most likely to be affected by this change in the law. Yes, many of the fired pizza delivery drivers will be forced into offering services for applications like DoorDash (and, therefore, probably not realize any real financial boost from the law) but it will enrich large companies like DoorDash.

RIP Gaston Glock

 Armed Defender Gear Review is reporting that Gaston Glock has passed away.

VIDEO: "Rest In Peace Gaston Glock"

Armed Defender Gear Reviews (1 min.)

Woke-ism Summarized In One Headline

"Justin Trudeau's government awards MEDAL to 'champion of diversity' trans activist who got Canada's oldest rape shelter defunded for refusing to house transgender women"--Daily Mail. Leftists seem to experience deep pleasure at making life miserable for other people. Like the Ogre referred to in the article above, who probably felt some glee at further traumatizing women who had been raped. 

Music Video: "I've Got The Clap"

It looks to be a parody of the insipid sing-a-long videos produced for children, but I could see some Leftist teacher showing this to her students. Make sure to watch it through to the end.

VIDEO: "I've Got The Clap (Official Music Video)"

The Clintons (1 min.)

Answer: Because You Aren't Jewish

Question: "‘Why are they forgetting about us?’: Sudan watches allies turn from war to aid Ukraine and Gaza"--The Guardian.

When Owls Settled the West

 NBC reports that "To protect an endangered owl species, government biologists propose killing off other owls." You might remember from two or three decades ago how the timber industry in much of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California was shut down because it was absolutely necessary to save the spotted owl from extinction. Well, like most things we hear from environmentalists and the government, it was a lie. It wasn't the logging but the spread of barred owls that is driving the spotted owns to extinction. But when you are as heavy handed as the government, you have to smash quite a few eggs before you get one that doesn't have a bunch of egg shell fragments and can actually be used to make an omelet. 

    The article explains:

    The survival of one owl species hinges on the demise of another.

    That’s what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argues in its proposal to allow the agency to shoot hundreds of thousands of barred owls over the next 30 years in West Coast forests. The service says the barred owl, which is not native to the region, is crowding out the spotted owl, a close genetic relative.

    Without action against the barred owls, service biologists say the spotted owl could disappear from parts of Washington and Oregon within a few years and eventually go extinct.

* * *

    An undiscriminating eye might struggle to tell spotted and barred owls apart. Both have pale faces and brown-and-white mottled coats. They are in the same genus. Before the 20th century, a major differentiating factor was where they lived: the barred owl in the Eastern U.S. and the spotted owl in the forests of the U.S. West. 

    But the barred owl is slightly bigger, quicker to reproduce, more aggressive and less discriminating about where it makes its home and what it eats.

    Spotted owl populations have declined by about 75% in the past two decades and continue to decline about 5% each year, largely because of barred owls, according to an environmental impact statement describing the USFWS proposal. The proposal says there are more than 100,000 barred owls in forests on the West Coast.

    “They come into these areas. They reach high densities. They’re basically eating everything and competing with spotted owls for food,” said David Wiens, a supervisory research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey.

    The USFWS' proposed management plan calls for killing barred owls across about one-third of the spotted owl range in Washington, Oregon and California over three decades. The plan would remove the barred owl from 1%-2% of its current range.

    Crews of trained shooters would broadcast an owl call, attracting those nearby. Then, equipped with spotlights and shotguns, they would kill the birds.

In other words, because the spotted owl is less adaptable than the barred owl, evolution has selected it for extinction. 

    If you want a political metaphor, Americans are the barred owl, Leftists are the spotted owl, and the government is ... well, the government is still the government.

Why Are The Elites So Concerned With Disarming Us?

 Anonymous Conservative linked to this article this morning: "Pope Francis Wants Everyone Except the Men Protecting Him to Give Up Their Weapons"--Daniel Greenfield. Greenfield begins by quoting from a Bloomberg article:

    Pope Francis on Monday blasted the weapons industry and its “instruments of death” that fuel wars as he made a Christmas Day appeal for peace in the world and in particular between Israel and the Palestinians…

    “It should be talked about and written about, so as to bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war,” he said. “And how can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?”

While I certainly understand the desire for peace, I don't understand those who think it can be achieved by rendering others helpless before their enemies. 

    In the Book of Mormon, there is an account of a group of Lamanites that convert and lay down their arms (actually, bury them) as a sign and covenant of giving up their murderous and warlike ways. They had no illusions about what would happen, though, and knew that they were going to be attacked. And they were. They were only saved from utter destruction because many of the soldiers tasked with slaughtering the group became sickened by killing helpless people (it was an honor society and they were doing a dishonorable thing) and so also threw down their arms and converted. But the survivors wound up fleeing to a militarily strong nation where they were resettled into their own lands (no PC attempts to mix them into the general population!). And when war came, they did what honorable conscientious objectors have done throughout history:  they provided extra food and supplies in support of the war effort to make up for their being unable to take up arms. And when their sons were old enough to fight--and not being bound by the oaths of their fathers--their sons volunteered for service. In short, their giving up weapons was not because they thought it would bring peace to the world, but to bring peace to themselves by renouncing bloodshed, fearful that if they took up the sword again they wouldn't not be able to again give up the love of killing. And they certainly didn't expect everyone else to give up their arms.

    In Francis' case, we have the common image of a leader that believes that war or violent crime or both will magically disappear if everyone gives up their weapons ... except for them, of course, because they are too important. Greenfield points out that the Pope has his bodyguards, the Vatican is specifically protected by the paramilitary Swiss Guard who seem to be armed with the latest weapons of war, and the Vatican is more generally protected by the fact that Italy has a military and belongs to NATO.

    It's not just the Pope. My Church has a general policy of prohibiting the carrying of weapons in church buildings or at church activities and, in Utah, had the law changed so the Church could simply register with the state's attorney general rather than have to post "no guns" signs at its facilities. But, of course, none of this applies to their personal security details or the security services at the Church Office Building and Temple Square. 

    And, of course, we have political leaders such as our own last dozen or so presidents who, without exception, in one form or another have trampled on our Second Amendment rights while constantly under the protection of a small army of heavily armed Secret Service Agents, federal police, and Marines, with fighter jets, armed helicopters and sometimes naval carrier groups thrown in. 

    While there are all sorts of theories about this--and it will obviously depend on the leader whether it is something nefarious (like disarming the populace so you can then march them off to the gulag) or more benign (disarming the populace so criminals don't get hurt on the job)--it ultimately boils down to the fact that the state is a jealous god who desires a complete monopoly on violence. Because in the mind of the elites, a perfect society can only exist when the government can exercise perfect control.  

Post-Weekend Reading

What with Christmas and rush project at work, I wasn't able to get to this earlier. But both Greg Ellifritz and Jon Low posted links to various articles and commentary.

    First up is the latest Weekend Knowledge Dump from Greg at Active Response Training. A few articles that caught my attention:

• Concealed Carry And Your Family has recommendations/reminders about the importance of preventing unauthorized access to your firearms (although, based on my experience and reading of accounts of accidental shootings over the years, this tends to be more of a problem with visitors than your own children) and the importance of discretion--not only discrete carry but members of your family (or friends) saying anything about you carrying.
• An article on whether you "need" a sub-second draw. The author, Travis Pike, acknowledges it would be useful, but Greg's comments suggest that it might not be worth the effort versus other skills and types of practice.
• An article by Doug Casey on "Some Thoughts on Phyles, Islam, and Warfare". Phyles is a classical Greek term for tribe or clan so, as you might guess, the article is about people organizing into groups, albeit based around ideology instead of kinship. It is something we hear a lot about in the prepping community--you need to form or join a "tribe". But other groups are also forming their "tribes" and future conflicts might be based around these "tribes". We've already seen that here in the U.S. with criminal gangs and cartels and groups like the Weather Underground, BLM and Antifa. 
• An article on carrying non-metallic blades and spikes in nonpermissive environments.
• Restrictions on purchasing veterinary antibiotics.
• Pocket carry tips.
• ... and more.

    Jon Low also published a new Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter on Christmas Eve. Some links he mentions:

• "Mastering Emotional Intelligence: The Key to Responsible Concealed Carry" by Mitch Goerdt. Basically, don't carry if you can't control your emotions.
• A link to a video from Tucker Carlson about Kyle Rittenhouse, including a monologue and an interview with Rittenhouse.
• A "Critical Mass" video where Massad Ayoob discusses the pros and cons to a manual safety.
• "How To Start A CCW Training Regimen" by Richard A. Mann. He recommends practicing and mastering the basics, keeping a range book to track your progress, start a training program, taking advantage of dry fire, and more.
• Jon writes:

     I took the Vehicle Tactics course from Joe Shelton, Tyler Van Zant, and Bob Allen 

at Royal Range in Nashville, TN last night.  Some of the things I learned: 

  

     Bullets will go through side windows and door panels easily without deflection.   

 

     Much more difficult to penetrate front and rear windshields, and deflection is expected. When firing into the car through the front windshield with a horizontal trajectory, expect the bullet to deflect down if it penetrates.  It might glance off and not 

penetrate. When firing out of the car through the front windshield with horizontal trajectory, expect the bullet to deflect up, if it penetrates.  It might not.   

 

     Head rests generally have steel plates in them that pistol bullets will not penetrate.  

He has a lot more tips from the class, so be sure to check it out. 

• Another bit of information I found interesting:

  From the continuing education at Allied Universal Security Services.  

     On September 11th of 2021, 90% of the people in the World Trade Center evacuated safely.  [This should be considered a significant success.]  

     Work place homicides:  

85% Criminal (outsider, stranger) 

 7% Worker on worker (both parties employed at venue) 

 5% Domestic (domestic dispute that spilled over into the work place) 

 3% Customer / client 

[So security should primarily be facing outward with the goal of preventing the bad persons from entering.]  

• And for the science nerds, check out the video from Sabine Hossenfelder on an alternative to quantum gravity (and links to a couple articles on the topic). Essentially a rejection of attempts (such as string theory) to explain gravity using a quantum theory. 
• Jon writes:

    Oh, so you were sweeping and found a bug (and an interesting one at that).  Best not to dig it out of the wall and kill it.  Don't want the enemy to know that you know about it.  Might want to feed it (false info)?  But then the enemy  will figure out that you know about it.  Let's just turn it off, gently.  

     It's wintertime and cold.  Thermal stress will break the microscopic wires in the IC chips.  Get a "Presto Heat Dish + Tilt" from Costco for under $100.  This is not a space heater.  It will not warm the air in the room.  It is a heating element with a parabolic reflector.  It heats things up.  

     The wires will crack in about 30 thermal cycles.  So you can get this done in a month.  When you come into work, turn the heater on the bug.  When you go home at the end of the day, make sure to turn the air conditioning off.  

     Just a suggestion.  Let your imagination run wild.  

• And a lot, lot, more.... 

Zero Hedge: "'Mass Migration Blueprints' Reveal NGOs 'Carefully Planned' US Migrant Invasion, Report Says"

 Article here. It references information learned and documents obtained by the news website Muckraker, including maps and instructions to putative illegal aliens on how to get to the U.S. border and how and where to cross the border distributed by such groups as:

• Doctors Without Borders (Médicos Sin Fronteras in Spanish)
• The United Nations International Organization of Migration (IOM)
• Amigos Del Tren (Friends Of The Train in English)
• The Red Cross

The article also indicates that "[o]nce across the border, NGOs are also helping migrants with transportation across the US, such as providing seats on commercial airlines." 

What Do You Get When You Cross Poor Quality With Woke Messaging?

"Inside Disney’s disastrous year of box office flops" by Joseph Wulfsohn, who notes: "Out of eight major theatrical releases from Disney this year, seven of them significantly underperformed with audiences not just in the U.S. but overseas as well." And by underperforming, he means that they do not appear to have brought in enough revenue to recoup their production and marketing costs (keeping in mind that the studies have to split the box office with the theaters). Those seven losers were:

1. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 
2. The Marvels 
3. The Little Mermaid 
4. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
5. Haunted Mansion
6. Elemental
7. Wish

Disney is claiming that Elemental wasn't a flop, but based on the numbers, I don't see how it made a profit if one considers that there would have been marketing costs on top of its $200 million production budget. I doubt that merchandise licensing fees (i.e., toy and game sales) will make up the difference.

I Wonder Why That Could Be?

 I came across the following article from The Conversation: "White teachers often talk about Black students in racially coded ways." The authors actually have two main gripes.

    First, after discussing how a Texas middle-school teacher was fired for trying to explain to a class why all people are ethnocentric (something the authors describe as "blatantly racist") they marveled that they "discovered while performing a study at a predominantly Black school with mostly white teachers, many of them – whether consciously or unconsciously – often harbor negative racial views and stereotypes about Black students and their families. The key difference is they verbalize those negative views in less obvious ways than the Texas teacher." Yes. Why would they be careful about verbalizing those views? It is a mystery.

    Second, they "found that while Black students made up 89% of the student body [at a particular school they were studying], they represented 97% of all disciplinary infractions. Conversely, while white students made up 8% of the student population, they received only 1% of the disciplinary referrals. This early quantitative finding confirms studies from across the nation that showed that, even when controlling for rates of misbehavior and poverty, Black students are still disproportionately disciplined compared to their white peers." 

    In totally unrelated news, "Teens accused of LAUGHING while viciously stomping, kicking and punching father-of-three outside Kroger store until armed witness intervened are charged with murder after victim died in hospital"--Daily Mail. The victim was white. The teen murderers were black. 

Diversity Is A Strength: Christmas Edition

"NYC moves to 'level three' police mobilization as pro-Palestine supporters chanting 'Long live the intifada' and 'Christmas is canceled' storm Manhattan while mob surrounds Pentagon and NSA chiefs' homes amid nation-wide anti-Israel protests"--Daily Mail. From the article:

    Pro-Palestine protestors clashed with NYPD officers in ugly scenes in New York City as Christmas Day was marred by demonstrations against Israel in several US cities. 

    The NYPD confirmed to DailyMail.com it has moved to 'Level Three' police mobilization to combat the protests. A number of arrests are believed to have been made, however the number could not be confirmed as the situation is 'ongoing.' 

    Level three mobilization is the second highest alert level in the NYPD, meaning all special units are called into action and squad cars are sent out from every command center in the city. 

    Reports indicate several police officers have been injured in the melee, but the extent of their injuries are unclear. 

    Footage from the streets of Manhattan showed furious protestors facing off with a large police presence, with the crowds heard earlier in the day chanting, 'Long live the intifada.' 

    Demonstrators also descended on the homes of Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as they marked the holiday season with their families inside. 

* * *

    The pro-Palestine protests came as organizers vowed to 'cancel' Christmas celebrations while Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza, calling 'for mobilization not celebration.' 

    A flyer purporting to be from the organizers in New York called on people to gather outside the Newscorp building - home of Fox News - and to 'bring your flags, signs, keffiyehs and materials to build a nativity scene.' 

    Later in the day, a bright red nativity scene emblazoned with 'no joy in genocide' was became a central part of the protest as it travelled through Manhattan. 

    Protestors chanted 'one wish for Christmas, long live resistance' and 'no more money for Israel's crimes', while a large police presence lined the streets and stationed outside key landmarks to control the masses. 

    At one point, the crowd directly targeted the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, at the same time tourists walked along Fifth Avenue. 

Missing from the article: any reference to the FBI. 

The Invasion Continues

 The Daily Mail reports: "Christmas chaos in Eagle Pass as THOUSANDS more migrants cross US border into Texas after wading across the Rio Grande and wait to be processed." The article indicates an estimated 10,000 illegals swarmed the border on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. 

    Eagle Pass in Texas has been flooded with at least 10,000 asylum-seekers a day for weeks and the surge did not take a break for the holiday.

    Families including young children waded across the Rio Grande from Mexico and scaled barbed-wire fences all through the night and more once the sun came up.

    After immediately surrendering to border agents, once they could find the overworked officers to claim asylum, they were herded into pens by the hundreds.

    Long lines of migrants were seen patiently waiting for their turn to be processed, and were wrapped in 'space blankets' - sheets of foil commonly seen after marathons that effectively reflect heat. 

And the military is useless:

    So many are making the arduous journey that the National Guard was mobilized to help, though they are not allowed to enforce immigration law.

    Instead they just told the migrants it was illegal and dangerous to enter by climbing over the fence, and directed those who arrived to walk to the processing point. 

The Cloward-Piven Strategy At Work In California

The Cloward-Piven strategy "is the strategy of forcing political change leading to societal collapse through orchestrated crises. The 'Cloward-Piven Strategy' seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, amassing massive unpayable national debt, and other methods such as unfettered immigration thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse by overwhelming the system." It's initial goals was to introduce a guaranteed income via forcing so many people into welfare that the welfare systems would collapse necessitating a radical shift in the administration of welfare. 

    Although the revolution that the two Columbia University professors did not happen within their predicted time frame, we are well on the way to it now. While Cloward and Piven envisioned that welfare services could be overwhelmed by blacks being enrolled into welfare programs, it was not enough. But the massive influx of immigration may very well do it. Which brings me to this article from Legal Insurrection: "California Medicaid Soon Open To All, 'Papers or No Papers'." The gist of the article is that California is rolling out plans to expand Medi-Cal (that state's version of Medicare) to all illegal aliens. The plan was initially announced in December 2022, but the final piece is set to take place:

The Los Angeles Times reports that the last hole in universal coverage, people aged 26-49, is being filled in the New Year, and the expansion is being aggressively marketed, Medi-Cal will soon be open to all, ‘papers or no papers.’ 

And the estimated costs just keep growing: "As of May, the department estimated that the age 26-49 expansion would cost the state $1.2 billion in 2023-24, nearly double the previous cost estimate of $635 million." That revised estimate was many months ago and who knows that it will really cost. 

    The article notes that federal Medicaid funds cannot be spent on illegal aliens (for the most part) and so the state is using its own funds. But we all know that California is "too big to fail" and so if the state's finances were to collapse, it would use its political clout to obtain a federal bailout.  

Related: "What If Biden’s Open Border Fiasco Is The Final Act Of Left’s Infamous Cloward-Piven Strategy? (59% Of Non-Citizen-Households On Welfare As US Debt Hits $34 TRILLION And Unfunded Liabilites Hit $212.6 TRILLION)"--Confounded Interest.