Tag Archives: The People

A Refuge From Refugees? Christians Need Not Apply

05 Tuesday Jul 2016

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In honor of the June jihad, Hussein Obama admitted more than twice as many “refugees”to America in June as he did in May – 2,381 from Syria alone. Of that number, only eight were Christians – all the rest were Muslims with the exception of one who did not state a religion. That means the percentage of Christian refugees incoming in June was about .3%.

Something doesn’t add up. Assuming all these people are hapless, innocent victims of Washington’s proxy war in Syria, why wouldn’t there be a more even distribution of religions represented? Syria, according to Wikipedia, is nearly 8% Christian. That means 190 of the 2,381 should have been Christian – 8 percent not 8 numerically. Could it be someone doesn’t want Christians in a Christian country? Could it be ethnomasochism at work?

Now, let’s assume not all of these people are victims looking for help. 2,381 is a big enough number and we know the ranks are already skewed. What if some are coming to get revenge (and welfare) against America for its interventions in the Middle East? Or, just to commit crimes – like raping little girls in apartment complex laundry rooms.

These questions are on the minds of people in Rutland, Vermont, where residents are not so sure they want 100 of the new “refugees” in their town.

“To bring in 100 Syrians refugees is absolute lunacy,” [Dr. Timothy] Cook said. “They could be 100 people from Quebec and we’d still have to make accommodations for them, and it would fall to Rutland city taxpayers.”

“We’re not able to do it, and we’re not open to it,” said Cook, who helped found the opposition group Rutland First and says residents, not the mayor, should decide whether the Syrians come to town.

Rutland is small town America – about 16,000 residents. The new push is to settle “refugees” in smaller towns and cities, as the big cities have already become breeding grounds for crime and terrorism.

It’s the new Amerika. Better put some cameras in the laundry rooms.

Homage to the Ancients: Afflictions and Inspirations

05 Tuesday Jul 2016

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Maybe I’ve spent too much time recently on the evils of Islamic terrorism (yes, ISIS struck again in Saudi Arabia at the end of Ramadan). It is what it is; and I see it as two ancient evils combining to wreak havoc. One the one hand, the terrorists themselves are desperately trying to carry on a 1,400 year-old war about a cousin and a brother-in-law or some such stupidity. On the other hand, the governments of the West are doing what governments have done since the institution was invented – meddling for power’s sake. Both of these traditions have gotten really old; one would think people would have had more than enough by now. They haven’t. There’s something about ancient traditions, even the bad ones, that keep us coming back.

Traditionally people the world over have lived in little tribes, marked by readily identifiable characteristics – geographical, ethnic, religious similarities. Frequently, the little tribes would war with their neighbors. These wars are often the basis for reported history, as if human beings have nothing better to do than to kill each other. I remember reading Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present some years ago and being surprised the old man didn’t concentrate exclusively on martial conflict throughout his sweeping narrative of the rise and todder of the modern West.

The end of the modern West (as we knew it) are interesting times. There seems to be a mad rush to intermingle many if not all of those little warring tribes together within the societies of modern, civilized nations. This could have never sounded like a good idea to the sane but there have been a multitude of reasons and excuses given for doing so. Lately, the organizers are dropping their pretexts – “we’re just doing it, damn it!” In fact, they seem to be on the cusp of revealing a dark, sinister truth behind their endeavors – the outright genocide of white, European peoples, maybe. Some are already shouting this but they are, as yet, radicals not confirmed by the mainline lunatics. None of this will end well.

Tribes imported from the third world are praised for their savagery towards the native hosts. Of course, it can’t be called savagery – that would be racist. Just praise them and let them loot, rape, kill, and burn at will. The natives are told they are inherently evil. It is implied that they deserve to be looted, raped, killed, and burned. But, that is not racist.

One could easily look at history for direction in the future and see a war brewing. A lot of the white folks are not buying their own extermination, just because. A lot of them are armed – many heavily. A lot of them are beginning to itch for a fight. Lest the fools forget, no one has ever done war like the West. Also, history shows over and over that this type of ethnomasochism has occurred before. It never ends that well for either side, especially for the invaders. If it comes to blows this time perhaps we should, after the canon smoke clears, take account of who initiated the pogrom …er… program. Perhaps those instigators deserve special retribution.

Yet, through all this, hope shines on – and is tied to other ancient traditions to boot.

Early this morning the West, despite all the inherent evils, celebrated another milestone of civilized progress. While lesser men blew themselves up and beheaded each other over “disrespect” and other bullsh!t, the Men of the West successfully orbited another spacecraft around the planet Jupiter.

Little Juno the science probe arrived at the fifth planet in the wee hours to begin a years-long mission to record magnetic, mass, gravitational, weather, and other information about the gas giant. I wrote another because the probe Galileo did a similar job over twenty years ago.

Juno will scan deep into the swirling clouds of Jupiter, tracking wind and weather phenomenon. Think of it as an interstellar political science project – observing the hot air and wind of a gas-bag. Therein lies the ancient connection: Jupiter (the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Zeus) was the king of the gods. To conceal his identity and motives he wore about him a cloak of clouds through which none could see. Except Juno, his wife (Hera), could see through the clouds; she alone could fathom Jupiter’s demeanor. Modern science imitates ancient art.

The moral of this story, great people, is that even as we fight off the hoards and hounds of Hades, we advance. There is great hope for the future.

Concept art (now reality) of Juno in orbit. NASA.

Sobering Thoughts on Independence

04 Monday Jul 2016

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Paul Craig Roberts offers up some incredibly poignant commentary on American freedom and independence, some of which dove-tails with my post earlier this morning:

On July 4th all across America, there will be patriotic speeches about our soldiers who gave their lives for their country. To an informed person, these speeches are curious. I am hard-pressed to think of any examples of our soldiers giving their lives for our country. US Marine General Smedley Butler had the same problem. He said that his Marines gave their lives for United Fruit Company’s control of Central America. “War is a racket,” said General Butler, pointing out that US participation in World War I produced 21,000 new American millionaires and billionaires.

When General Butler said “war is a racket,” he meant that war is a racket for a few people getting rich on the backs of millions of dead people. According to the article in the American Journal of Public Health, during the 20th century 190 million deaths could be directly and indirectly related to war.

…

In the United States, patriotism and militarism have become synonyms. This July 4th find the courage to remind the militarists that Independence Day celebrates the Declaration of Independence, not the American Empire. The Declaration of Independence was not only a declaration of independence from King George III but also a declaration of independence from unaccountable tyrannical government. The oath of office commits the US officeholder to the defense of the US Constitution from enemies ”foreign and domestic.”

In the 21st century, Americans’ worst enemies are not al Qaeda, Iran, Russia, and China. America’s worst enemies are our own presidents who have declared repeatedly that the orchestrated “war on terror” gives them the right to set aside the civil liberties guaranteed to every citizen by the US Constitution.

His is a dual archive column of considerable length for a holiday read but well worth the effort. Today is a day for Americans to celebrate individuals standing up against government and tyranny (synonyms, really), not for standing up and cheering the government on.

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Happy Independence Day!

04 Monday Jul 2016

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Every month has a fourth day. July is special because on that particular fourth day the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The thirteen American colonies, already at war with Great Britain, declared themselves sovereign states and completely free from the Crown.

Thomas Jefferson, Timothy Matlack, et al, listed various offenses committed by King George III such to necessitate the war and declaration. I have noted a few of the major complaints against the King and included illustrative pictures for reference. Among the several accusations it was alleged the King:

Improperly governed by interrupting the due order of legislative authorities – (like this);

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Obstructed justice – (like this);

David Griffin

Sent government agents to harass and rob the people – (like this);

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Kept standing armies among the people in peace time so as to subjugate the civil authority to the martial – (like this);

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Imposed taxes on the people – (like this);

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Deprived the people of jury trials – (like this); and

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Imported armies of hostile foreigners – (like this).

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Funny there are so many examples today of problems thought solved 240 years ago.

Here is the entire text of the Declaration:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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Amidst all the fireworks, cookouts, and state adulation, please take a moment to consider the reasons why the United States declared Independence from Great Britain. Ask yourselves if those values are worth reconsidering today.

Happy birthday, America!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Nostalgia

02 Saturday Jul 2016

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On Monday the United States turns 240 years old. Almost everyone will enjoy a day off, fireworks, and cookouts. But, as this Youtube video shows, very few people today can connect the significance of July 4th to the spirit of what it means to be American.

I almost dislike the Fourth anymore. All the firework-watching, barbecue-eating, vacationers will celebrate their “freedom” under an unfathomable dome of laws, rules, regulations, and new norms that make life anything but free. Much of the celebration will be directed towards the government, adulation in the name of liberty of the very thing that squashes liberty.

Two-hundred-forty years is a long time for societal continuity. Comparing the rhetoric of American life to the reality makes me wonder if our best days are behind us.

Consider, if you will, this incredible collage of 1940s-50s advertisements put together by Reason: Happy 4th: These Vintage Ads for Capitalism Will Make You Proud to Be an American, Katherine Mangu-Ward, July 2, 2016.

Reason, The Ad Council-Standard Oil.

All of the ads are unabashedly pro-American and pro-capitalism. Many celebrate the accomplishments of 1950 America compared to those from 1900. Many, like the one I display above, celebrate modern, suburban family life. Scenes like the one above look like America.

True, if we kept on comparing and contrasting some things, the 21st century would look like the good new days. My phone has vastly superior video capabilities than any television from 1950. Were I transported back to the 50s right now, I would have in my possession the two most powerful computers in the world. Our cars are safer, more fuel-efficient, better, if uglier than those from the 50s. We have 900 channels on television. Every building is air-conditioned. But, are we better for all the new, universal comforts and conveniences?

You can see something in the pictures that I don’t have to describe. All of the people pictured are happy, they are family oriented, they look dignified. They had good reason to smile while smoking pipes and watching Junior play with the dog. Back then America was growing – in terms of prosperity and of income and opportunity. They had laws and regulations then but those did not extend into every facet of daily life as they do now. By and large, we were then one big homogenous family. There was a certain comfort associated with that era which technology cannot rival.

Today all of these happy 1950s Americans would look out-of-place in most parts of our daily landscape. Can you imagine one of those well-dressed, smiling families striding through a Wal-Mart clogged with 400-pound, EBT card-wielding slobs? No. Each group would think the other recently departed from employment with the circus. Can you imagine people today talking openly and with pride about American capitalism, growth, and family oriented spirituality? No. They would be accused of committing micro-aggression upon micro-aggression.

There will be a lot of flag waving come Monday. But, more often than not today the flag is frowned upon as it may invariably offend some newly arrived intruder who sees America as little more than a welfare check and a place to convert to third world status.

Two things are to blame for this decline: the government, which seeks to dominate everything, and; the people who accept it, trading happiness and freedom and dignity for gadgets and gluttony. Loafing is not leisure. Frivolity is not freedom. What a better world we would have today if we could keep the true advancements, trade the glittering state-worship (and the state) for peaceful prosperity, and, most importantly, return to a happy, prideful sense of civilization.

When or if you celebrate this long weekend, pause to ask what you truly enjoy about post-modern America. Is it just pomp and frolicking for a day or is it a real celebration of human spirit and freedom?

Armed Citizens Are The Only Viable Answer

01 Friday Jul 2016

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Three years ago, then Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said armed citizens may the only solution to fight terrorist attacks.

Speaking in the wake of the Westgate Mall massacre in Kenya, Secretary Noble said:

“Societies have to think about how they’re going to approach the problem,” Noble said. “One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves are so secure that in order to get into the soft target you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.”

Interpol means “International Criminal Police Organization” for those of you recently divorced from the X-box. Think of it as the world’s police agencies cooperating to fight crime across borders. Think of the Secretary General as the world’s police chief. Ron Noble is now the immediate past leader of the group. Here’s part of what he told ABC News in 2013:

Citing a recent call for al Qaeda “brothers to strike soft targets, to do it in small groups,” Noble said law enforcement is now facing a daunting task.

“How do you protect soft targets? That’s really the challenge. You can’t have armed police forces everywhere,” he told reporters. “It’s Interpol’s view that one way you protect soft targets is you make it more difficult for terrorist to move internationally. So what we’re trying to do is to establish a way for countries … to screen passports, which are a terrorist’s best friend, try to limit terrorists moving from country to country. And also, that we’re able to share more info about suspected terrorists.”

In the interview with ABC News, Noble was more blunt and directed his comments to his home country.

“Ask yourself: If that was Denver, Col., if that was Texas, would those guys have been able to spend hours, days, shooting people randomly?” Noble said, referring to states with pro-gun traditions. “What I’m saying is it makes police around the world question their views on gun control. It makes citizens question their views on gun control. You have to ask yourself, ‘Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past with an evolving threat of terrorism?’ This is something that has to be discussed.”

“For me it’s a profound question,” he continued. “People are quick to say ‘gun control, people shouldn’t be armed,’ etc., etc. I think they have to ask themselves: ‘Where would you have wanted to be? In a city where there was gun control and no citizens armed if you’re in a Westgate mall, or in a place like Denver or Texas?'”

Three years have given us plenty more examples similar to Westgate – Paris, Paris again, Brussels, Orlando, Istanbul, etc.

During that last three years Western governments have done nothing to stem the flow of terrorists across borders. If anything, they’re increased the flow. At the same time they continue to generate additional irritation in terror-prone regions. This vicious and near-suicidal scheme proves definitely that the governments cannot be trusted to protect their people – which is really the only valid reason to have governments.

Noble’s alternative idea, of extraordinary security over soft targets will not work. Virtually all places where ordinary people go on a daily basis are soft targets. There are simply too many of them and too few resources to guard them officially. That, and the terrorists are finding new and innovative ways around heightened security even at “hard” targets – places like the Istanbul airport. They only way extraordinary security everywhere would work would be to have everyone (or most everyone) become security officers.

Everyone being security would mean an armed and vigilant citizenry. Thus, that is the only viable solution to stemming the tide of terror. It rarely makes local news and never appears nationally, but every day armed citizens in places like Colorado and Texas shoot or subdue armed attackers. How many of these vigilante actions have prevented Paris, Orlando, or Westgate-style terror incidents?

In Israel, where most people are armed everywhere and all the time, terrorists do not attempt mass shootings. It’s one thing to strike and then wait for or escape from the police. It’s another to open fire and immediately have all surrounding people return fire. In Israel the terrorists long ago switched to suicide bombings. This practice is growing throughout the West – usually performed in conjunction with shootings.

It’s very hard to defend against bombs. Gun attacks, however, are deterred by the threat of immediate gun responses. An armed and active citizenry would put a dent in the accomplishments of jihad.

Ultimately it will be impossible to stop all attacks – especially those utilizing explosives. To stop those the people must demand governments either do their job – and get the terrorist elements out – or get out-of-the-way so the people can do it themselves.

None of this is appealing to the state. Having proved itself useless, dangerous even, the government will rightly fear an armed populace, especially if the people manage to connect the dots between the state and the terrorists. The term “revolution” comes to mind. Thomas Jefferson blessed this concept. As Nathan Bedford Forrest said, “A government that fears arms in the hands of its people should also fear rope!”

The state, evil but not completely stupid, is beginning to take measures to counter the threat of the righteously indignant and armed people. They still do nothing about the terrorists. They are against us as much as the terrorists are, maybe more so.

An armed populace is the only answer. Guns up!

Liberty Alliance.

*****

On a related note, here’s today’s Viernheim update. Nothing. I don’t think they’re coming clean; they’re counting on the goldfish-like memories of the masses. So, here’s what I think happened.

I think the shooting incident at the Kinopolis was a failed false flag event. (Chuck Baldwin explains how to spot one – a real one.) I cannot speculate on the intention of the flag – heck, this is all speculation anyway. The shooter was a German national and mentally ill. He was likely as not the son of immigrants. He was probably recruited by some German agency in the same way the FBI and CIA use patsies to further terrorist schemes, real and fake, in the U.S.

What was the nature of the recruiting? Who knows. Ferreting out real terrorists? Maybe. Building sympathy for immigrant “refugees”? Maybe. Pushing more gun control? Possibly. A blow to Brexit or support for the EU Reich? Perhaps. Something. The nut probably went off the reservation – out of direct control of his handlers – and then went rogue. Having some new ideas in his already scrambled mind, he likely decided to act on his own – in about as a pathetic a manner as possible. That would explain his rambling, excited demeanor and his use of fake weapons.

The SEK quickly gassed and gunned him down and is now silent in a cover-up. ISIS and other terror groups would never claim responsibility or even association with such a failure. They like successes – like Paris and Istanbul and Orlando.

Time may tell if some eye-witnesses come forth with information, if the police leak the truth, or if some investigative journalist in Europe runs with my ideas. I’m done with the story until I hear something concrete.

 

The Collins Amendment: I Don’t Buy The Gun-Fly Lie

30 Thursday Jun 2016

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Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has proposed the Terrorist Firearms Prevention Act of 2016, popularly known as the Collins Amendment. Who could possibly be against such a thing? I am, for one. Her proposal is similar to Diane Feinstein’s S.551 and several other meaningless measures floating around the septic tank of Congress. Her’s is the one in the news today having passed a procedural vote 52-46. Here’s the majority of the Amendment (click the picture for the whole thing):

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Collins Amendment. Senate.gov.

The vote had to be of the unrecorded, oral variety as I can’t find reference to it. Congress frequently avoids such disclosure. Why would anyone want to readily know how his Senator voted on something anyway? There are reasons a rational man would oppose such a “common sense” law. Anyway, support for this version of gun control is being hailed as some sort of crack in the GOP/NRA wall against a safer America.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is a co-sponsor of the Act so we can assume he was among the 52. His explanation of its provisions highlight the problems with the Amendment and various other government projects. Per the Times story:

Republicans find it much easier to explain enacting gun restrictions to constituents devoted to the Second Amendment if they can frame their position as an act against terrorism.

“The Constitution’s a sacred document, but it is not a suicide pact,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a gun owner. “This is not hard for me. Due process is important, but at the end of the day, we are at war.”

Graham clarified in a press release:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement after voting in support of the Collins amendment to prevent terrorists from buying guns.

The amendment survived a procedural vote, 52-46, and remains eligible for a final vote.

Graham said:

“At the end of the day this really is about counter-terrorism, not gun control. We are a nation at war against radical Islam and under increasing threats both here at home and abroad.

“President Obama’s foreign policy has been a failure and helped give rise to the very threats we face. I have long argued we must do more to counter the threat abroad. However, it is also important we take steps here at home to protect ourselves as well. It’s why I supported the Collins Amendment.

“Simply put — I don’t want anyone who is too dangerous to fly on a plane to buy a gun.

“To be on these lists today means there is reasonable suspicion and credible evidence that the individual in question is involved with or in support of terrorist activities. There are about 109,000 people on these lists and 99% of them are foreign nationals, not U.S. citizens. There are only about 2,700 Americans who could be impacted by this measure.

“I believe in due process and I was insistent the amendment contain provisions to ensure those who should not be on these lists can clear their name. We put the burden of proof on the government to show the individual is a danger and should not be allowed to purchase a gun. If the government fails, the individual’s rights are upheld and the government will pay their legal tab.

“This debate will continue and I will continue to work to find common ground that both protects the rights of law-abiding citizens and prevents terror suspects from purchasing guns. The differences between the competing approaches are narrowing.

“I will continue to strive to be a senator that can bring us together and find common ground in times of great threat.
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He’s right about continuing to strive to be a senator but all wrong beyond that.

The Act isn’t about counter-terrorism or about gun control. It’s just another law and another burden on the people.

Graham is correct that Hussein Obama’s policies have only made the threat of terrorism worse. To be fair though, Hussein Obama has only continued the disaster of a policy put in place by Bush 43. And Graham’s proposals on the subject, whenever he spouts off, are always of the kind which would make things EVEN WORSE.

At home he says there are 109,000 people on the watch lists. Of those only 1% or 2,700 are U.S. Citizens (closer to 2.5% by my math). If 106,300 foreign nationals are on the lists of suspected terrorists, why the hell are they not rounded up and deported immediately?

Neither Graham nor any other Senator really cares about Due Process. This proposal, like S.551, has a huge loophole to allow the Attorney General carte blanche authority over who goes on the list and allows the government to ultimately assert national security as an end-around to avoid due process in court. By Graham’s math that means 2,700 Americans right now could be out of luck; the list would surely grow if the Act passes into law. Don’t look for any of the foreigners to go home; in fact, more and more will just keep coming.

Graham’s position may be summed up as: “We’re at war (with an enemy we created and brought home). Therefore the Second Amendment and due process of law can go out the window.”

The saddest part of all this (as if it isn’t sad enough) is that the whole thing is pointless. Gun control does not work to stop gun violence. Period. None of the criminals and terrorists Collins and Graham feign interest in stopping would be subjected to any provisions of the Act. The University of Chicago “just discovered” that criminals don’t buy guns the legal way (surprise, surprise!). So much for soft gun control controlling crime. Even hardened European gun control does next to nothing to stop gun violence. When it comes to government gun control it’s all about the state controlling citizens and about perception (image over substance).

Then there’s the issue of bombs…

All this shows again and again you cannot trust the people who created the problem to know how to solve it. Don’t buy the gun-fly lie.

Senators propose more burdens on the People. NY Times.

The Gist of ISIS List the FBI Missed

28 Tuesday Jun 2016

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ISIS, as part of the June jihad, published (somewhere) a list of some 8,000 ordinary people – mostly Americans – the terror non-group wants dead. As the Wall Street Journal and Snopes pointed out, the list appears to be a random collection of names easily obtained on-line. The disturbing thing is that along with the names ISIS included addresses and other contact information. Actually, being on such a list, even if it is random, is a pretty disturbing thought.

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Also disturbing is the apparent failure of the FBI to notify many Americans of their inclusion on the list. According to a Circa news story, many people didn’t know they were potential targets until the Circa reporter informed them.

The current list brings the number of Americans, by name, ISIS would like to see murdered to around 15,000. ISIS is not a state; it’s barely a group. But it has a wide reach via the large network of lone wolf terrorists and terror cells conveniently located throughout the West. The name Omar Mateen comes to mind.

The odds of being a terror victim are relatively low but the threat exists. In the past few years we’ve seen attacks at nightclubs, theaters, races, offices, political events, restaraunts, newspaper offices, and many other locations. Regardless of the odds, it would be nice to think law enforcement would notify people specifically called out (even if randomly). They don’t hesitate to notify people who they claim owe taxes. The government’s priorities may be out of whack. Are yours?

What is Gun Control?

27 Monday Jun 2016

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Gun control…

For some it’s about taking advantage of tragedy and belittling those they hate. I almost didn’t include this first story due to the inherently bigotry and low-brow “journalism” behind it. Still, here it is. A woman in Texas, a self-described Second Amendment proponent and gun owner, committed an atrocious crime (the facts of which I don’t have and don’t want) – she apparently murdered her own daughters after an argument. The woman was also shot and killed by the police. Three women dead for no good reason – terrible.

Enter Helen Thompson writing on American News X. Thompson offered up an assessment of the crime in terms both racist and anti-Christian.

Too bad for Christian Christy Byrd Sheats two daughter’s, 17 and 22, Sheats had a gun with which to “protect her family.” That gun was used to gun down both girls in the street after a family argument.

Sheats was then killed by police after refusing to drop her weapon, literally bringing home the insanity of the famed phrase “from my cold, dead, hands.”

Note the immediate description of the shooter as a Christian. Would Thompson dare describe a Muslim terrorist as a Muslim terrorist? I think not. I did a quick Googling of “Helen Thompson” and “Muslim” and the first thing I saw was Thompson berating Donald Trump for trying to “initiate a Muslim witch hunt”. I guess witch hunts aren’t even for witches anymore – just Christians.

Thompson continues:

This woman appears to be the poster child of white, GOP America. She praised her religion, loved veterans and country music, praised Ronnie Reagan and George W., and loved her guns. She was a Texas resident, originally from Alabama. This woman literally reeked of right wing Americana — of normal, gun-loving life. She loved her grandmother, had been bitten by a black widow, and basically, seemed to love life and her children.

The white America. Would Thompson ever write about one of the thousands of murders committed by blacks each year (47% of total murders vs. 10% of the population)? No. It’s just a white, Christian, all-American kind of thing. Y’all wouldn’t understand.

Thompson didn’t even call for more gun control beyond her ridicule. “No good guy with a gun stopped this senseless murder by a ‘good guy’ with a gun,” she ranted – what a tired, worn, anecdotal, and worthless “argument”. If not even true in this case – the police officer “good guy” used a gun to stop the white, Christian bad gal.

Maybe some of the problems the left has with guns in America comes more from a hatred of America and its people than from a hatred of guns. These cretins, seething in their hatred, want the government to disarm all the white Christians – and everyone else of decent persuasion.

I have no use for the government at all. Some people on “my side” do. Droves of my friends boast about obtaining their concealed carry permits. Actress Kelly McGillis just joined the ranks of the permitted carriers following an attack at her North Carolina home.

I like that they have armed themselves in a world seemingly gone mad but I do not like the way they have done it. Why a permit from the state? I know it’s the law in most places. I understand that. Most people who get the permits are law-abiding. It’s a law that shouldn’t be abided by – or exist. Why should there be permits for the exercise of the right to carry anyway? Rights do not require permission slips.

I sympathize with and applaud Mrs. McGillis’s decision to arm and defend herself. I found it odd though that she took the measure following a home invasion. North Carolina does not require a permit of any kind to defend oneself at one’s home. I realize she obviously wants protection outside her house too. Thus the permit. And, thus, my problem.

Running to the government for permission to protect one’s life is little different in my mind to running to the government to prohibit others from protecting themselves. Either way, the government is not the answer. Usually, it’s the problem.

In a sense everyone wants reasonable “gun control”. Some, like Thompson, would have the state “control” guns by banning them from white, Christian hands at least. Gun owners generally favor the responsible, personal “control” of the individual firearm. If, to them, that means acquiescing to a state law, then they do it. Either way it’s the state, the state, the state. How about some gun control for the state itself?

In addition to regulating firearms, the government has a long history of widely distributing them, usually with terrible consequences. Most of government works like that – they find a small problem and come up with a solution that creates a bigger problem. I suppose it justifies their existence. I don’t see the need.

A few years ago the ATF was caught red-handed selling and then giving guns to Mexican drug cartels and to criminals. Some of those guns came back, fast and furious, and were used to kill Americans. The ATF isn’t alone. They are novices compared to the CIA. The “intelligence” agency has taken to giving arms to Syrian “rebels”. Many of those weapons were stolen and ended up on the black market – gun show of choice for terrorists. And, you guessed it, some of those arms have killed Americans. By arming one side (maybe more) of this conflict which does not concern the U.S. the government helps generate more angry “refugees” who then migrate to the West for various purposes – some for aid and reflief, others for revenge and crime. Little problem, “solution”, bigger problems.

Government agent Joe Biden oversees “gun control” while exploiting “loopholes” at a Jordanian gun show. NYT.

The left tries to scare people with stories of white, Christian Americans wielding automatic assault rifles and rocket launchers. They want the government to do something about it despite the fact it isn’t a problem. The government does do something! It supplies “Kalashnikov assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades” to rebels and then to the black market and to terrorists. Nice, huh?

Another of the left’s arguments for more government control is that the firearms available when the Second Amendment was ratified were flintlocks and thus those are the only ones the people are entitled to keep and bear. By that logic, shouldn’t the CIA be running muskets and not rocket launchers? Maybe people like Thompson should limit their writing to quill pens. All beside the point.

How about less government for a change? How about limiting or banning the state’s use of firearms (and rockets and grenades)? Might that make for a safer society? As is, they give us freedom control, crime, war, mindless intervention, black markets, and terrorism; all that in addition to rules, regulations, taxes, inflation, oppression, etc. More government, more crime. Why have it or its controls?

False Information: Ours and Theirs

26 Sunday Jun 2016

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Nowhere are double standards more noticeable than in the political realm. Two stark examples came out last week and are still developing.

In Idaho three juvenile “refugees” kidnapped and raped a five-year-old girl in a laundry room of an apartment complex. “Refugees” and rape go together so well they’re often conjoined – “rapefugees”. Just part of the enrichment process say the elite. The cowboys in Idaho ain’t having it. They’re mad as hell but are behaving rather tamely. 100 years ago the suspects would already be swinging in the wind.

In Germany last week an armed man took hostages at a movie theater. According to police he was armed with fake weapons but they shot him down anyway – a reasonable response to a hostage situation.

Here’s the rub:

The German incident happened four days ago and still we know nothing of the identity of the suspect nor his motives. In most cases like this (Paris, Orlando, etc.) the police release this information even as the attacks unfold. Why the silence here? What are they hiding? This case is beyond strange. The police must at least know the suspect’s identity. The only conclusion I can draw is that they are hiding something – withholding information. Are not the people entitled to know what is happening?

In Idaho the facts are there for all to see and all (almost all) are mad as hell about what happened. Enter the federal government. The U.S. Attorney for Idaho has stepped into what is a purely local, state-law case. She’s not in this to help with the prosecution of the criminals – she’s just threatening the good people of Idaho into silence.

“The spread of false information or inflammatory or threatening statements about the perpetrators or the crime itself reduces public safety and may violate federal law. We have seen time and again that the spread of falsehoods about refugees divides our communities. I urge all citizens and residents to allow Mr. Loebs and Chief Kingsbury and their teams to do their jobs.”

Why threaten victims and their supporters into silence? What is the Department of Justice [SIC] trying to hide here? This threat comes from the same criminal government that simply can’t import criminal “refugees” fast enough. The answer is obvious.

“The spread of false information … may violate federal law.” I thought that was a federal standard operating procedure. Mr. Powell told the U.N. Saddam was building WMDs. False information. They say a small office fire that burned itself out collapsed a 40-story skyscraper. False information. The VC attacked the Maddox. False information. Israel did not attack the Liberty. False information. Income tax withholding is temporary, to defeat Hitler only. False information. The Viernheim shooting was not terrorism. Your children are safe around rapefugees. And on and on and on…

How anyone can possibly trust this gang of murders, thieves, and liars is beyond me. The government needs, in any case, to either come clean or shut up and go away. In fact, they should just please go away.

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